(Note: You can also find this post on Front Towards Gamer)

Yesterday, Bethesda Softworks posted an image on its Facebook page of a mysterious man, who’s clearly seen better days. The photo’s caption consisted of a single word: “tomorrow.” As you can imagine, this launched the Internet into a collective state of apeshittedness, with numerous theories about what Bethesda could possibly have up its sleeve. Well, tomorrow has come, and as many suspected, the image is a screenshot from a brand spanking new trailer of Arkane Studios’ latest project, “Dishonored.”

The trailer itself is CGI, but from the looks of it, Arkane is taking some cues from Assassin’s Creed and Bioshock (the Lyon-based studio assisted in Bioshock 2’s development). Details are at still fairly sparse, but here’s what we know so far:

You play as Corvo, a bodyguard who’s been framed for the murder of a beloved Empress. You’re now an assassin, with supernatural abilities like teleportation, time control, and the ability to possess living creatures. The city of Dunwall has been besieged by a plague, and the government isn’t too keen on improving the 99 percent’s survival odds. Gameplay will indeed be open-ended, with players able to tackle confrontations using any combination of stealth, brute force, and powers. Dishonored’s city of Dunwall is designed by Viktor Antonov, the mind behind Half-Life 2’s City 17, so expect plenty of dystopia to go along with the game’s futuristically steam punk aesthetic.

Currently set for a late 2012 release, we’ll be eager to see what kind of appearance Arkane and Corvo make at this year’s E3. For more information on Dishonored, head on over to the game’s official site here.