New IPs are hard to come by this late in the Generation. The new franchises have set it and developers are more hard pressed to come up with new ideas and new franchises when a new console is in the minds of most gamers. Arkane Studios is up to this task it seems and it brings us lucky gamers Dishonored; an open-ended game where players can play how they want. Does it deliver a new experience worthy of being put on the shelves with the best of them? Or should they be ashamed of themselves?
The story in Dishonored is a promising one. You are Corvo Attano; the bodyguard for the Empress and her daughter, and you are returning from an assignment. You were meant to find aid for your dying city of Dunwall that's suffering from a rat-spread plague. Your assignment ended in a failure and you returned to your Empress empty-handed. The Empress and her daughter greet you, only for the Empress to be murdered right before you and her daughter taken away. You are blamed for the murder and thrown in prison until someone helps you out. Once free, you join the Empress' Loyalists and begin to take out the people involved in the murder plot. As the game's tag line says "Revenge solves everything."
Now this is a fantastic setup but the game fails in one major area; you only get to see the Empress for about five minutes before she is murdered. There is no phase where you get attached to her or get to know her. She's just taken away from you. One area the game makes up for is that giving Corvo a masked form and no voice makes it easy to imprint yourself onto him. When something goes wrong for him, you feel it. It's only through this that the story is enjoyable to play through. One area where the game shines, however, is the lore. This is a well crafted world and there are tones of documents lying around that speak more of the world and how things play out in it.
The thoughts of having more games take place in this creative world is exciting. Overall, the story is good and would be great if you could get attached to the Empress a little.
The gameplay is a shining spot for the dead city. You play in first-person and sneak around open areas trying to complete your objective. Your objective is to kill a different person each chapter, but you decide how you go about this. You can choose to sneak around, taking everyone out silently or you can go all out and fight your enemies head-on. The head-on approach is not the best of plans most of the time since Corvo can't take much abuse. The game is playable in an aggressive manner, but it is best to mix it with stealth. Corvo is competent in a straight up fight, he has the ability to parry and counter and he can shoot his side-arm, which is either a crossbow or a pistol. The pistol is more powerful but it is loud and the crossbow is silent.
When sneaking around, you crouch to make yourself scarce and if you sneak up behind enemies, you can either kill them or knock them out. If you decide to knock them out be prepared to leave yourself open while you strangle them. If an enemy spots you doing this, you automatically stop strangling your target giving you another enemy to deal with. Killing the enemy divides the time by around 3 and they are gone for good. Killing is not always the best thing, since the game has two separate endings depending on how many people you kill.
Another aspect of gameplay are the Powers. Not too far into the game you gain the ability to use a power called Blink. This allows to teleport a short distance and uses some of your magic meter. You can find Runes scattered around the areas and you can use these to unlock new powers or passive bonuses. Each power or bonus has two levels and each power is useful in some way. This adds depth to the gameplay and it gives you a lot of options in how you can complete each mission. There are also Bone Charms scattered about that change different things about the game, such as giving you more health when you eat food.
You can also find money scattered about and this is used at a store in-between each chapter. You can buy mods and ammo for your weapons as well as some other useful abilities like faster movement speed. This all boils down to a fantastic experience, but it's hindered depending on your skill at stealth games. I found myself combining stealth and aggressiveness and I found it to be satisfying and it fit my playstyle. It's rare to see a game scale to a player's playstyle like this. I got scoled by the ending, but I had a fun time in the city of Dunwall.
The music in the game is dark and sombre with a touch of some aggressiveness. It fits the world very well and the voice work is fantastic. The sound effects are great as well and the creepy voice that accompanies some of your powers is a nice touch. Overall, it's very fitting.
The visuals are mixed in some ways. The textures and technical aspects of the visuals are average, some below average, but the art style sells the game. It's setting is sort of steampunk and the city of Dunwall is pretty interesting. It's all tall buildings and sheer cliffs and the main fuel source is whale oil. It makes a perfect setting for sneaking around and the dark, dirty and diseased streets of Dunwall help build a world that is threatened with death. Most of the buildings you get to enter are some noble areas and they all look like you'd expect. It all turns into a fascinating world that is very creative and fun to explore, technical inferiority be damned.
PROs
- Dunwall is a fascinating place
- Gameplay encourages play choice
- Allows for a perfect mix of combat and stealth
- Powers add plenty of depth
- Scattered collectibles add some incentive to explore
- Dark, sombre music sets the tone
- Dunwall looks like a plague ridden city
- Corvo has great presence
CONs
- Story starts very weak
- Stealth is favored
- Visuals are technically inferior
- Not much enemy variety
- Too much mayhem and you get punished
Overall, Dishonored is a fantastic game and a fantastic experience built upon a fascinating city and a great gameplay concept. The visuals might not be the best from a technical perspective, but the art style, gameplay and overall story make up for it. It's sort of artistic how a dying city can get worse thanks to the player. I've rarely felt like I was affecting a virtual world like I did when I played through Dishonored. I was the Reaper of Dunwall and I loved it.
Story: 8.0/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Audio: 9.0/10
Presentation: 9.0/10
TOTAL: 9.0/10