Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Grows on you"

I almost put this into my trade in pile after an hour of game play, the story wasn't grabbing me, I felt no emotional connection to the main character or his cause, and the controls weren't very intuitive, then I possessed a rat and everything changed. Something clicked inside my brain and I started to enjoy the game for its game play rather than the week plot it threw at me. The cutsceens are only there to tell the player who they have to kill next which works when all you want to do is slaughter some more guards with my ever increasing arsenal of weapons, gadgets and powers. //The game play is very reminiscent of Deus Ex if a bit linear in comparison. You can explore the area you mission is set in looking for Bone fragments, Runes and Paintings talk to NPC's and complete side quests that may or may not help you in your goal for the mission. That happens in the first real mission anyway after that the game almost forgets about the side quest stuff and only throws ones at you that can change the outcome of the target's demise. Occasionally it will remember there were meant to be side quests and chuck one at you before you get back on the boat for your next mission but you feel as if there could have been so much more. The assassinations themselves are played out by giving you the option to complete them with or without killing the target, but when you compare this to Hitman for example you feel like your hand is being held all the way through the mission. //Dishonored offers you a variety of methods to deal with guards from Corvo's trusty Sword to summoning a group of rats that will devour anyone who blocks your path. There is also several non combat options which work well from freezing time allowing you to walk passed unnoticed to possessing rats fish or even people and walking on past the guards whistling what shall we do with the drunken sailor. Almost every power you can unlock is useful in its own way, which is a welcoming change from most games lobbing powers at you so thick and fast you get fed up and stick with whichever kills them fastest rendering the others useless. That being said what powers you want depend on the play through you are going for, for e.g. you don't need shadow kill an ability which turn enemies you kill into ash when you are going for a no kill play through so its down to the player to tailor their skill for the task at hand. //As I said at the start the story is week at best not giving the player any connection to Corvo and his plight. Emily the empress's daughter is meant to tug at your hart strings but after knowing he for 2 minuets before she is kidnapped you don't have time to develop a meaningful relationship with her making her just another mission goal. The only character I can actually recall having a personality is Samuel the boatman who takes you from mission to mission which is a little disappointing but if you can look past these flaws the gameplay picks up the slack. //Visually the game is great the art style is quite unique and environments are well made. Playing the game without installing it will give you a slight texture pop every time you enter a new area but your to busy to notice half the time. Loading times aren't great but again installing the game may solve this issue. The games difficulty is rather strange I started the game on very hard and breezed through the first 5 missions without much trouble so i would recommend starting it on at least hard if you want some sort of challenge. //All in all this is a great game with gameplay that lets the players imagination dictate there play and that more than anything else is something I appreciate most about this title well done Arkane studios, Bethesda well done indeed.