Good action in a distinctive world spoiled by stealth and balance issues
You play as Corvo Attano, protector of the Empress and trusted ally. You return to the city of Dunwall after trying to find aid for the vicious rat plague. While talking to the Empress, you are interrupted by teleporting assassins. They manage to incapacitate you and kill the Empress before your eyes. They also take the young Lady Emily, the true heir to the throne and last hope for the city. Conveniently you are left alive to take the blame. After escaping your prison cell, you must track down the perpetrators and rescue Emily.
Your first task is to meet with a group of loyalists who believe you are innocent. This ragtag group has associations deep within the corrupt military. With their help, you will kill or disrupt those who have turned your life upside down. The loyalists provide you with supplies and a place to sleep. The Hound Pits Pub, their base of operations, allows brief respite and simple exploration between missions. The structure of the world is a linear series of sandbox missions woven by a thin and clichéd narrative.
The world of Dishonored is well designed and enticing. The city of Dunwall feels similar to City 17 (Half-Life 2) with grey, oppressive structures associated with the overwatch forces. Good use of lighting, swarms of rats and detailed architecture produce a distinctive atmosphere that can draw you in. Audio logs and journals provide additional story much like they did in BioShock. A talking heart provides further contextual information and is probably the most interesting member of the entire cast. This heart locates Runes and Charms, scattered within the levels, which are used to acquire powers.
Blink is the first power you obtain and one of the most memorable features in the game. It allows you to teleport short distances, along the ground or on rooftops. You can teleport across an open area to avoid patrols or appear directly behind an oblivious guard to choke them to sleep. Blink can place you atop a street light, so you can knock out isolated guards with sleep darts. Reaching heights with Blink and surveying the area is not unlike the Assassin's Creed series.
Blink doesn't always work as advertised. It can ignore climbable ledges especially when looking directly up. Odd detection can result in situations where you miss ledges that should be climbable. This means Corvo can land ungracefully in the middle of irate guards several floors below. If you wish to avoid guards completely, Blink can make this trivial. The game is still largely improved by the inclusion of the Blink power, enhancing both stealth and action.
A handful of mostly unremarkable powers provide offensive and defensive capabilities. One power gives you control over small animals and later humans. This possession can be used to avoid guards or score easy kills. Freezing time can be useful although you'll rarely need it. It's probably impossible to grow tired of sending rats to consume or distract guards. Being able to see through walls is handy too. The passive powers that increase health or agility are docile in comparison. There isn't a huge variety of powers and you can't upgrade them all during one play through.
The non-lethal stealth options are limited when compared to similar games. Most of your actions involve sleep darts, choke holds, x-ray vision and the Blink power. These are no distraction devices and firing arrows near enemies sometimes goes ignored. You can't disable lights, not that there are many shadows to hide in anyway. There are security devices to rewire but they pale in comparison to the options in Human Revolution. It's a pity that you can rarely talk your way out of situations. Most weapons aren't designed for the non-lethal approach. Ten sleep darts is all you have for each mission and you cannot sell the deadly ammunition you never plan to use. Non-lethal stealth clearly comes second to the action.
Artificial Intelligence is crucial in stealth games and here it is merely adequate. The transition from guards seeing you to entering full kamikaze attack mode is extremely short. If they notice something at range, you can usually avoid full detection. If your boot sticks out from behind an obstructed railing, you will likely have the entire area of bad guys swinging swords in your general direction. Escaping initial detection isn't hard and enemies might go back on patrol within seconds. On the highest difficulty, guards are twitchy and have greater sensory awareness. Messing with the AI is never as enjoyable as in Thief: Deadly Shadows.
The AI has a tendency to glitch if you happen to be in the wrong place. This issue was most obvious during an assassination. After entering the target's room, a scripted sequence began in the adjacent room. My target slowly made his way to my location and I dashed into this nearby room to take down idle guards. After returning, my target remained outside never to enter. This forced me to reload my last save. With no logic to account for non standard solutions things can fall apart. While rare, this type of AI glitch happened enough to be disruptive during stealth.
The non-lethal, stealthy approach is not necessary, unless you want the morally superior ending or unique achievements. As an action game it shares similar mechanics with Dark Messiah, Arkane Studios last game. Direct confrontations are over quickly and there is less sword play than in Dark Messiah. There are fewer hilarious spells or environmental traps that send enemies flying too. No need to be patient or conserve ammunition with plenty of bullets from guards. Dealing with enemies is effortless thanks to sword block and capable weapons.
Combat can be creative if you want to fool around with the powers and weapons. Sending flesh eating rats towards guards and lobbing a grenade is a quick way to clear an area. You can even throw explosive whale oil drums or set razor mine traps to startle daft guards. Performing drop assassinations on Tall Boys is also rather satisfying. Creative action is its own reward because the most effective method requires minimal brains and fewer reflexes. The action is proficient but never competes with the naturally creative execution seen in BioShock.
Dishonored's defining moment came during a costume party mission. After identifying the target, you are told to bring her to the cellar alive. A brief conversation has you both in an occupied music room, unsuitable for non-lethal takedowns. The target quickly becomes bored of you, the mute protagonist, and walks off. However, she walks directly into the cellar alone and the nearby guards ignore the Corvo "lookalike" following close behind. On replay, after killing the guards, all three potential targets make their way to the same isolated room. This sequence highlights some flaws; superficial options, poor balance and silly contrivances.
After enacting my revenge, the resulting dish was a little cold. Dishonored never quite matches the many games it borrows from. Stealth is restrictive and AI problems hurt the cat and mouse gameplay. Luckily it still has some fun moments, especially when Blink and rats are involved. Being able to play the game in stealth or action is a good thing even if it isn't perfectly balanced. Significant differences to the final level, based on the chaos you generate, are certainly appreciated. If only the rest of the game was consistently excellent. Just like the act of revenge, Dishonored is a flawed solution that may leave you feeling a little empty.