Dishonored is a stealth-action video game that was released in 2012. Developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, the game puts you into the shoes of Corvo Attano, the Royal Protector who is disgraced and dishonored (tsk tsk) by people after the assassination of the Empress and the kidnapping of her daughter, Emily; leading him to a journey of assassinating people of great importance in Dunwall in order to restore the Empress to the throne. I always heard great things about this series from people all around me, with some calling this one of the greatest stealth sims ever made. Does this game live up to the hype? I will explore that in this review.
The first thing I will talk about is the writing, story and worldbuilding. The story is pretty simple and serviceable: you are an assassin that kills some of the most prominent people in Dunwall in order to restore Emily to the throne and continue the imperial lineage. It isn't anything spectacular or jawdropping but it does not need to be anything more than that. The main cast of characters are also serviceable and grand enough. I think the best part of the writing is the worldbuilding - Dunwall is such a rich place when it comes to this aspect and each level describes what Dunwall is like so well. The game also demonstrates worldbuilding so well through gameplay - an instance comes where you are in the sewer and you first come across a horde of rats that eats corpses down to the point where nothing is left and that aims to demonstrate to the player a few things; that 1: The rat plague is dangerous as the hordes can literally eat you alive, 2: The movement of these hordes explains why the plague spreads so fast throughout Dunwall and 3: Why there are so many weepers (or people too infected by the plague to function appropriately - spitting out flies every time they cough and puke and their bodies rotting) around Dunwall as the hordes brought over the plague and infecting them. This is one of many examples of the excellent worldbuilding found in these games.
The second aspect that I will discuss about is the gameplay and level design. The level design in this game is so good with so many options to manuvuer the levels. You could fight all of the enemies and kill them, put them to sleep either through choking and sleep darts while playing stealthly or you could entirely avoid enemies and sneak past them, it is all up to you. The game gives you so much freedom and options in regards to playing through the game that it is crazy. I think the best part of the gameplay is how your actions during it impacts the game's world. The more enemies you kill, the more chaotic the world becomes and the differences between a low chaos and high chaos route become very apparent throughout the two playthroughs. There were certain moments in the game that made me stop and reflect on my actions in the game - the game is very upfront to you about the consequences of your actions. These factors make the gameplay truly unique and different from any other game that I played so far.
Some of the other things that really make this game memorable and iconic include the atmosphere, aesthetic and setting. Dishonored has a dark, gloomy atmosphere most of the time with it having a very worn out look throughout the game. It should be noted that a lot of games that generation did look like that, but I feel that it fits Dishonored very well. The setting of Dishonored is also fantastic and unique - a Steampunk, Industrial Revolution-esque city that is riddled with a plague is such a cool setting, is certainly one that not many games thought of. The music is generally pretty solid too, although it isn't really present that much in the game.
This is a game that I can't find too many faults in to be honest. I do have two main gripes however. The first one is that I wish there were more non-lethal options to knock out enemies - even if you could get into fist fights and knock people unconscious could have been nice alongside other options. My other gripe is the lack of a NG+ - I feel this is a game that would have benefitted massively from NG+ as you collect bone charms and runes throughout the game and it would be nice if you could fully unlock all of the skills and such. I do understand that this is a period of time where NG+ was not prominent in games - this is a feature that only emerged in the 8th generation of games.
All in all, Dishonored is a fantastic game and I easily recommend this to anyone who likes immersive sims or stealth-action games. Hopefully Dishonored 2 is good!
The first thing I will talk about is the writing, story and worldbuilding. The story is pretty simple and serviceable: you are an assassin that kills some of the most prominent people in Dunwall in order to restore Emily to the throne and continue the imperial lineage. It isn't anything spectacular or jawdropping but it does not need to be anything more than that. The main cast of characters are also serviceable and grand enough. I think the best part of the writing is the worldbuilding - Dunwall is such a rich place when it comes to this aspect and each level describes what Dunwall is like so well. The game also demonstrates worldbuilding so well through gameplay - an instance comes where you are in the sewer and you first come across a horde of rats that eats corpses down to the point where nothing is left and that aims to demonstrate to the player a few things; that 1: The rat plague is dangerous as the hordes can literally eat you alive, 2: The movement of these hordes explains why the plague spreads so fast throughout Dunwall and 3: Why there are so many weepers (or people too infected by the plague to function appropriately - spitting out flies every time they cough and puke and their bodies rotting) around Dunwall as the hordes brought over the plague and infecting them. This is one of many examples of the excellent worldbuilding found in these games.
The second aspect that I will discuss about is the gameplay and level design. The level design in this game is so good with so many options to manuvuer the levels. You could fight all of the enemies and kill them, put them to sleep either through choking and sleep darts while playing stealthly or you could entirely avoid enemies and sneak past them, it is all up to you. The game gives you so much freedom and options in regards to playing through the game that it is crazy. I think the best part of the gameplay is how your actions during it impacts the game's world. The more enemies you kill, the more chaotic the world becomes and the differences between a low chaos and high chaos route become very apparent throughout the two playthroughs. There were certain moments in the game that made me stop and reflect on my actions in the game - the game is very upfront to you about the consequences of your actions. These factors make the gameplay truly unique and different from any other game that I played so far.
Some of the other things that really make this game memorable and iconic include the atmosphere, aesthetic and setting. Dishonored has a dark, gloomy atmosphere most of the time with it having a very worn out look throughout the game. It should be noted that a lot of games that generation did look like that, but I feel that it fits Dishonored very well. The setting of Dishonored is also fantastic and unique - a Steampunk, Industrial Revolution-esque city that is riddled with a plague is such a cool setting, is certainly one that not many games thought of. The music is generally pretty solid too, although it isn't really present that much in the game.
This is a game that I can't find too many faults in to be honest. I do have two main gripes however. The first one is that I wish there were more non-lethal options to knock out enemies - even if you could get into fist fights and knock people unconscious could have been nice alongside other options. My other gripe is the lack of a NG+ - I feel this is a game that would have benefitted massively from NG+ as you collect bone charms and runes throughout the game and it would be nice if you could fully unlock all of the skills and such. I do understand that this is a period of time where NG+ was not prominent in games - this is a feature that only emerged in the 8th generation of games.
All in all, Dishonored is a fantastic game and I easily recommend this to anyone who likes immersive sims or stealth-action games. Hopefully Dishonored 2 is good!