I honestly don’t remember what first drew me to Dishonored. Maybe my husband was watching the guys at Achievement Hunter play it, and I thought the gameplay looked cool? That’s the most likely explanation. But whatever the reason, I got it on sale, and then it sat in my Steam library forever, because that’s the kind of gamer I am. I now regret those wasted years.
Dishonored (2012)
Developer: Arkane Studios
Genre: First-person stealth RPG
Publisher: Bethesda
The Premise:
Dishonored is set in Dunwall, an industrial whaling city where strange steampunk-inspired technology and otherworldly forces coexist in the shadows. You are the once-trusted bodyguard of the beloved Empress. Framed for her murder, you become an infamous assassin, known only by the disturbing mask that has become your calling card. In a time of uncertainty, when the city is besieged by plague and ruled by a corrupt government armed with industrial technologies, dark forces conspire to bestow upon you abilities beyond those of any common man — but at what cost? The truth behind your betrayal is as murky as the waters surrounding the city, and the life you once had is gone forever.
Trying hard for no spoilers, because whoa there’s a lot of them.
Discussion: Holy cow, this game. I didn’t know I was looking for a sort of Assassin’s Creed meets Bioshock experience, but I guess I have been all along. Because Dishonored satisfied everything I need in a game. Fantastic story, great characters, fun and challenging gameplay, and great world building. Even the graphics of the original game hold up really well, even though it’s almost eight years old now.
To be fair, it’s a bit more like the Dark Brotherhood storylines from the Elder Scrolls games rather than Assassin’s Creed, since it’s a first-person stealth game. But there are supernatural elements to it very similar to the plasmids in Bioshock. In fact, there were a lot of things that reminded me of Bioshock. Things like the world, which was sort of a steampunk twist on a familiar looking city, and the really compelling storyline with a couple well-placed surprises.
In the first game, you play as Corvo, royal protector of the empress, and you’ve been accused of her murder. Your job is to find her daughter Emily, save her, place her on the throne, and clear your name of a crime you didn’t commit. After a short prologue which showed just how close Corvo is to the Empress and her daughter, I found this cause extremely compelling.
And Corvo, the silent assassin, is incredibly fun to play. I think Mass Effect is the only other game to make me feel so badass. (And I recently started Horizon Zero Dawn, so we’ll see how that one stacks up.) With powers like Blink and Dark Vision to supplement your more earthly skills and a world so open you literally have dozens of ways to get around a problem, this game is one of the most unique I’ve ever played.
With so many options, you can play how you like. You can sneak past everything (my favorite place to hide is on top of light fixtures), or you can rush in with your powers and your sword to cut down anything in your path. Take down your enemies with brutal assassinations, or work an angle and eliminate targets non-lethally. The choice is yours. And the world reacts to your choices. Low chaos playthroughs result in more hopeful outcomes while high chaos yields more rats and a decidedly bleak outlook.
I really love a game that can make me feel like a badass while still allowing me to be the ultra goody-two-shoes. Dishonored managed to make both low and high chaos playthroughs unique and challenging. In fact, I often went through and assassinated my targets before reloading a save and finding the non-lethal option just because I wanted to try out every single way I could do a thing.
Seriously well-done on all fronts.
Dishonored 2 (2016)
Developer: Arkane Studios
Genre: First-person stealth RPG
Publisher: Bethesda
The Premise:
Dishonored 2 is set 15 years after the Lord Regent has been vanquished and the dreaded Rat Plague has passed into history. An otherworldly usurper has seized Empress Emily Kaldwin’s throne, leaving the fate of the Isles hanging in the balance. As Emily or Corvo, travel beyond the legendary streets of Dunwall to Karnaca, the once-dazzling coastal city that holds the keys to restoring Emily to power. Armed with the Mark of the Outsider and powerful new abilities, track down your enemies and take back what’s rightfully yours.
Discussion: When I really like a book or a game, I have a hard time starting the sequel, usually because I’m worried it’ll somehow ruin what I loved about the first one. I loved, loved, loved Six of Crows, but I have yet to read Crooked Kingdom, because I’m too afraid. So, it took me a while to get to Dishonored 2. But somehow Arkane Studios created a game that I enjoyed just as much as the first one.
I’m not sure the story was quite as compelling as the first, but the difference was pretty negligible. And the gameplay was just as incredible, if not better, than the original. Right off the bat you have the option to play as Corvo or Emily, and I chose Emily, because I kind of wanted to see how the Empress stacked up to the infamous Royal Protector.
I wasn’t disappointed. Emily comes with some new tricks (or you have the option to play without powers which I haven’t even tried yet) that completely changed the way I thought about certain situations. Her Domino power, which allows you to link two to four enemies and then take them out all at once, was my new favorite. It gives a whole new meaning to the term crowd control.
Dishonored 2 still allowed for unique, non-lethal options and endless approaches to situations. And the ending felt earned in a way the first one didn’t for me.
But the way the second game really shone was in the level design. I thought the first Dishonored was well-designed, and then I played the second one. Dishonored 2 took everything I loved about the first game and just made it that much extra. Without spoiling anything I can tell you there’s a whole level that takes place in a clockwork mansion, which morphs and changes based on what switches are thrown and which modes are active. Blew me away with its complexity. And as if that wasn’t enough, later on you get to use a sort of time travel as a tool, slipping in between the past and the present to sneak around enemies and solve puzzles. It made my brain hurt in ways I didn’t know it could be hurt, but still I made my way through that level constantly muttering “this is so cool” over and over to myself.
In Conclusion: I don’t think enough people know about this franchise. I mean, I waited breathlessly for Skyrim. I played Borderlands 2 the week it came out. But this is a game of my heart, and I didn’t even know it existed until years after it came out. It’s a crime. I do still have the rest of my life to enjoy it, though, and another whole standalone game to play. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is waiting in my Steam library, and you can bet I won’t be letting this one languish at all.
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