Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Immersive"

This has been a bad year for us gamers, only getting better now at the end of it, and part of that i can safely say is because of Dishonored. Here you play the role of Corvo Attano, bodyguard of the empress, and right of the bat you are unjustly held responsible for her murder and now have to clear your name and/or seek revenge on those who framed you. Dishonored is a stealth game highly focused on choices, and it can be completed without killing absolutely no one, and doing so results in a less dark outcome. But if you do seek the murderous pleasures then you sir have found it. Corvo has a considerable array of weapons and abilities, and that is where the game shines. You have endless possibilities. You can for an example stop time and place a grenade right in the middle of the room and stroll out just before it goes off or you can summon a horde of rats to devour that unfortunate guard standing alone in the corner, just to name a few. The gameplay is the strong point of Dishonored. It is mostly a stealth game but it can be action if you want, the experience is truly up to you. Most of the game consists in getting into x place and killing y person, with each mission putting you in a hub area that you are free to explore, giving you numerous ways to get to your objective and even throwing a couple sidequests your way. I can't stress enough how many possibilities are present in this game. To get to your objective you could just enter trough a window, you could possess a guard and walk right in or if you are feeling impatient, simply shoot everyone in your way, these being only a fraction of the paths you can take to get to your goal. The story in my opinion is the weak point here. It is nothing special, with bland characters and plenty of predictable moments and a few cliches, you won't get attached to any character or have the air taken out of your lungs by any event. The only positive point is the ambientation. The game takes place is Dunwall, a port side city with a steampunk setting, looking like a crossover between industrial England and City 17 from Half Life. The population has been drastically reduced by a plague and the ones that still survive hide in fear of the citywatch, making the city a truly desolating sight. Technically the game is okay, with a great control scheme and nice audio. The graphics are good but i experienced a few oddities, mostly textures that fail to load (based on my experience with the Xbox version) but despite that it still manages to present amazing sights of the decaying city and its inhabitants. Overall, Dishonored is a great experience, with great gameplay, nice audio-visual effects despite a few oddities and an obscenely high replay value, with each playtrough having a different outcome. The story is nothing to write home about but the game being absurdly fun and immersive makes up for it. If you are a fan of stealth games and action games or simply are looking for something different among the sea of shooters we've been getting lately, then you can buy this knowing safely you'll have a highly enjoyable experience.