The Man in the Mask - Corvo Attano
The most noticeable aspect of Dishonored is that it's set in the first person perspective, and is presented in such a way that complements the play style. It is rather dark both in storyline and atmosphere, and the aesthetics help bring the game's feeling of tension to the player; polished environments and attention to detail bring the ominous city to life, and establish an eerily hostile aura. This feeling carries over later on in the game, where you meet certain NPCs that are at first hard to distinguish from being friend or foe.
While Dishonored does present itself quite well it is by no means short of inspiration from other popular titles. It adopts a control scheme and game play elements that are akin to Bioshock: managing and upgrading magic spells, combat and scavenging the environment for supplies all have a very similar feel to the iconic series. However, Dishonored sets itself apart by applying these mechanics to an entirely different situation, which in turns creates an entirely different experience. The primary ability that Corvo gains is the 'Blink' - a spell that allows him to teleport a fixed distance in order to help move from cover to cover, traverse obstacles, and bypass enemies while remaining undetected. As you progress through the game you'll begin to experiment with the ability and a whole window of opportunity opens to the player, which is made possible through open-ended level design; there are a great number of paths and methods to reach your objective. The Blink also helps in the games pacing; timing it just right, you can assassinate a target just as you reach the end of your Blink, which keeps the game flowing, fast paced and generates memorable moments fueling great rushes of adrenaline.
Dishonored does not only hit that sweet spot for stealth, it also balances combat and the spells available to you. While avoiding battle altogether is ultimately the best course of action, there will be some moments where it'll be a necessity for survival. Combat is cleverly dealt with as it should in stealth games; taking on one or two guards at a time will not be much of an issue, but handling 4 or more will prove to be problematic. Ammo for gadgets such as your pistol is scarce and you must be very conservative when using it. Escaping and reconsidering your options will certainly be the smarter way to handle a situation where you've bitten off more than you can chew.
As previously suggested, Dishonored has an emphasis on methodical freedom, but actions that you choose to take do have consequences. At the end of each mission, you are rated on how much Chaos you have created; choosing not to kill enemies and rarely being discovered gives you a low Chaos rating, whereas obliterating everything in your path and making yourself a known presence promotes high Chaos. Low Chaos makes characters act more toward your favor when at your home base, and high Chaos not only affects NPC behavior but game play as well; there will be far more rat swarms, Weepers, and guards for you to deal with if you go on too many killing sprees. This also establishes a moral choice system which will have significant effects on the games ending.
While Dishonored is at its very core an excellent addition to the stealth genre, it does have its shortcomings. The aforementioned moral choice system, while at face value is a nice addition to the experience, is more weighted toward not killing your enemies. This does in fact conflict with other elements of the game; there are numerous gadgets and spells at your disposal that allows you to dispatch your enemies, both in flare and efficiency, but the game judges you for using such things despite claiming that it does not. The way characters frown upon your actions and watching events unfold in a darker fashion then subconsciously imposes moral sanctions on the player, incentivizing you to change your ways for a more favorable outcome. This, in turn, conflicts the notion of Dishonored emphasizing freedom - if the game truly did want to give the player complete discretion, choosing to kill targets would not be so frowned upon.
Story elements and most characters in the game are also bland and forgettable, while some had great potential to hold more of a presence but are simply not expanded or well-rounded enough. The Outsider - the mythical being that endows Corvo with his magical abilities - is set up to be an ambiguous character that is neither good nor evil, but never amounts to anything more than an occasional narrator, indicating that you have a lethal and non-lethal way of taking out the key target of your current mission, or recaps actions that you have taken during your playthrough. The Outsider's home world, The Void, is also never adequately elaborated and fails to establish its connection to the real world, despite Corvo making several visits to the floating islands throughout the adventure.
The atmosphere that Dishonored constructs so well is also disrupted far too frequently by loading times. During a mission, you can be expected to experience quite a few loading screens if you plan to explore every nook and cranny for power ups, supplies and easter eggs. Striving for low Chaos will also turn the experience into lots and lots of quick saving and reloading; being discovered triggers a combat situation that can only be resolved by either fighting your way out or being an escape artist. However, the latter option becomes nearly impossible late into the game because of much more challenging obstacles and a higher number of guards. These can have a very frustrating effect on the player if you strive to take the no-kill route for the best possible ending.
Even when taking Dishonored's flaws into account, it is a great experience that is well varied and keeps the player going for hours on end. With its open-ended missions, replay value and refined mechanics, it can certainly be a different experience each time you play it, making it a worthy addition not only to the stealth genre, but to gaming as a whole.