Dishonored - Review

Dishonored received a lot of hype when it was first announced and it was a game that I was very excited about when I saw the first trailer, these days I try not to jump on the hype bandwagon because 9 times out of 10 I end up disappointed and then promise myself that next time I will wait and read the reviews before handing over my cash. But when It came to this game, I just couldnt help myself.

Assassin’s Creed suddenly comes to mind, my mind was blown at the thought of being able to freely free-run around an open world, carefully planning out assassinations and getting submerged in a rich storyline set in an interesting environment. Unfortunately It was a completely different story after playing it, as it was quite possibly the biggest disappointment of my entire gaming life; the word repetitive would be a colossal understatement, in fact it’s pissing me off just thinking about it so back to Dishonored, but wait, one quick thing, from here on I’m going to use the UK spelling of the word dishonoured simply because I’m sick of having spell check bitch at me.

So anyway, Dishonoured was one of those games that no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t help but get excited about it and I’m happy to say that it lived up to my expectations.
Firstly, if you aren’t familiar with the story I’ll give you a quick overview –
You play as Corvo Attano, royal protector to the empress of the city of Dunwall, one of the four nation-states that make up the Isle of Gristol. Confused yet?

You are framed for the murder of the empress, thus becoming dishonoured and taking on the role of an assassin hell bent on seeking revenge in a city that wants you dead. Armed with supernatural abilities the plague ridden city of Dunwall becomes your hunting ground. Choose to silently stalk your prey, go in guns blazing and blade waving or go for the middle ground and use a healthy dose of both. Your choices and actions have the power to dramatically change your fate and that of the city ruled by an oppressive regime.

I won’t go much further into the story than that because chances are, you already know a lot about this game even if you haven’t played it, so here are some of my thoughts.
The most striking thing about Dishonoured is the visuals, they bare resemblance to the Bioshock franchise but in my eyes the style looks way better in the Dishonoured universe, even though you’re playing in a grubby industrial city it is easy to see that the art team did not slack off at any point. The team have done a really good job with the Unreal Engine; the game does have that grungy feeling that so many Unreal Engine games inherit but the lighting and atmosphere really make Dishonoured stand out.
The inclusion of supernatural abilities is what really makes the game in my opinion, without them it would have still been a very good game and granted maybe a bit similar to the Thief games but with them, it adds a whole new dimension to the way you play, The Blink ability for example gives the player great control of the environment, allowing you to instantly teleport to a nearby spot, it gives you free rein to go almost anywhere and fully use the environment to your advantage, other abilities include, bend time, possession and devouring swarm, where you summon a swarm of flesh hungry rats to feast upon your unfortunate foe (it looks and sounds pretty gruesome), these and the other abilities can be used to accomplish missions and traverse the environment in a number of different ways, therefore giving the player multiple ways to complete tasks.

Another feature that I like is that you are able to use multiple powers simultaneously, for example you can stop time, blink onto a guard’s path and plant a spring razor trap in front of him before blinking away and watching as the guard triggers the spring razor and bursts into a shower of body parts before you, nothing puts a bigger smile on my face.

Now for one minor complaint, to me it just seems like the violent and loud option has been made out to be the path that failures take, so much focus is put on the stealthy route that I sometimes feel like I’ve played the game wrong by slicing and dicing my enemies, for example at the end of the level you get a summary screen and you get a nice tick in a box if you managed to complete the level undetected, but no reward or pat on the back is given for taking the kick-ass option. I don’t know about you but I’m a perfectionist when it comes to…well, anything. In every game I like to collect everything and explore every possible nook and cranny, so when I see that summary screen and see that I didn’t deserve that tick in the box I always feel like I have lost out, and honestly I try to take the stealthy option but it never goes smoothly, I always cock up and end up having to gut or decapitate a guard and before I know it, there’s a pile of bodies and a very traumatised Corvo covered in blood and guts.

Apart from this though you are guaranteed to have fun with this game, on top of everything else there is also an RPG element to the game, you can upgrade Corvo by improving his weapons, stats and abilities by either having one of your inventor allies craft something for you or by collecting bone charms and runes hidden in the environment, although this is a nice touch, I have seen other games do a way better job of this (Deus Ex Human Revolution springs to mind), the list of available upgrades aren't exactly overwhelming but it’s enough to scratch that RPG itch at least.
Overall, dishonoured is a fantastic stealth action adventure game that should not be missed, with great game play, a unique and atmospheric universe with interesting characters and a lot of focus on player choice, Dishonoured (or Dishonored) Is definitely one to put on your Christmas list! Or like me you can be really impatient and buy it yourself right now. Go on, you know you want to.

Reviewed by Mark Wilson - 6/12/2012