Dishonored is a game that has been on my backlog for years and I wish I would've played it sooner because this was one of the best games I've ever played. Right up there with Arkane Studios' other masterpiece Prey.

Dishonored follows the story of Corvo Attano, bodyguard to the empress of the plague-ridden industrial city of Dunwall. Corvo is framed for the empress' murder and goes on a quest to save the princess Emily while seeking revenge against those who betrayed him. Corvo is provided aid by both a mysterious, god-like being known as The Ousider who imbues him with magical capabilities and a resistance group known as the Loyalists who are trying to reclaim Dunwall from its tyrannical overseer.

Dishonored has so many cool and interesting characters that feel very realistic thanks to the great voice acting work from a star studded cast. Corvo himself is a silent protagonist, but what really made me love him is the way the world and characters interact around with him and how his mission is to save princess Emily (Chloë Grace Moretz) who is practically his surrogate daughter who he'd go to any lengths for. Corvo aside, there's a former aristocrat turned mad woman named Granny Rags (Susan Sarandon), the genius inventor Anton Sokolov (Roger L. Jackson), Samuel (Ryan Cutrona) who's an old sailor commoner that acts as Corvo's boatman, and the no nonsense caretaker Callista (Lena Headey) to name a few.

The world-building of Dishonored is also quite fleshed out and fascinating. Dishonored is set in a dieselpunk dystopia, where both advanced technology and supernatural forces collide, where the world is suffering from a plague brought on by rats, the infected who are called 'Weepers' cry blood and become irrationally violent. After the death of the Empress, the corrupt oppressive government uses the plague as an excuse to purge citizens when they want. The design of Dunwall was modeled after London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland between the 1800s to the early 1900s. The city is powered by whale oil which is also used to develop all the advanced technology and that merely scratches the surface of the depth the world-building in Dishonored reaches.

Dishonored is primarily a first person action adventure game with heavy emphasis on stealth assassination combat, gadgets and magical powers. Dishonored also features role-playing elements such as upgrading abilities and equipment and making moral choices which effect the story and world around you. The game was designed in a way to where it is entirely possible for the player to do a completely nonlethal playthrough, not killing a single enemy including even key mission targets and boss enemies. However Dishonored takes heavy influence from the immersive sim genre and encourages the player to play their own way. Whether that be stealthy and nonlethal or chaotic and all guns blazing, Dishonored gives complete freedom to the player. There's so many various ways to tackle any individual mission or objective.

The movement and combat in Dishonored has to be someone of the best I've experienced. From your basic flintlock pistol and sword to a teleport dash, time-stop, possessing your enemies and even calling a swarm of rats to attack for you, there's so many fun and creative powers and abilities to try out and chain together and even just exploring the world is so much fun thanks to the fast and fluid movement. Using the Blink power to teleport and reach heights you couldn't previously or possessing a rat and going through sewer tunnel shortcuts are just a couple of the ways you can explore the world around you.

The level design is also a master-class in game design. Dishonored is broken into 9 individual missions, alongside a hub area and each secular level and set piece is thrilling taking Corvo to a number of locations including a military fortress, a noblewoman's ball and even a brothel. There is so much detail to the environments with many secrets to find and places to explore showing that your game doesn't have to be some massive open-world to be interesting and sometimes handcrafted missions are the better option.

Whether it be the fascinating plot full of political intrigue, the great world-building and interesting characters with fantastic voice acting or the fast, fluid combat and movement, detailed level design or the immersive gameplay that lets the player have complete control over how they want to play the game, Dishonored truly has it all and that makes it a game that I believe everyone should experience.

Reviewed on Jun 18, 2022


3 Comments


1 year ago

Great review!
@Yultimona, thank you so much for the compliment! I'm glad you enjoyed my review :)

1 year ago

The game has really aged super well. Great visual style and lots of fun ways through levels. Awesome review!