Given how sharp the Dishonored formula is, I found it a little surprising to feel the onset of diminishing returns just three games in. I suppose the main failing is that Arkane’s willingness to explain their worldbuilding and their ability to actually deliver compelling stories in that world are wildly mismatched; we have to access troves of exposition that isn’t going anywhere in particular. As such, the gameplay has to shoulder the main responsibility to not just create a new level pack instead, and some of Arkane’s choices here feel like arbitrary ways of spicing things up, such as the changes to Dishonored 1’s excellent mobility power, Blink. Still, performing possessions with Semblance and gathering intel with Foresight are at least novel enough, and the base formula is good enough that the diminishing returns aren’t too bad, I just felt that there was little in this expansion that lingers with me once the joy of playing it in the moment has run out.