It’s been covered for months now, and was just released – the first-person assassin game, Dishonored. Set in a steampunk world where an empire of swords and cloth uniforms has discovered whale oil, transforming it to an industrial superpower of guns, war ships, and advanced defense technology. On the flipside, assassins also have access to magical power granted by the Outsider, an unknown, yet powerful entity who alerts you of your possible actions while playing the game. And this all happens while the city is under a deadly rat plague.
Dishonored is the perfect recipe for mayhem, cloaked in revenge for being betrayed. And this all really hits the fan because the Empress is murdered, and her only heir is Emily, the daughter (that apparently it seems like you, Corvo the Lord Protector, conceived with her). Damn.
Bethesda was kind enough to hand us a Steam code for the review of the game, and my full impressions of the game can be read, after the break.
Price as Reviewed: $59.99 at Dishonored (select retailers)
What Is Amazing About Dishonored
The story line. The world that the isle city, Dunwall, is set in. The gear, the characters, the powers you can use, the ridiculous assassinations you can take on, and the fact that you can beat the entire game without killing a single person. Something of which I ignored, because I went all out, even hitting the dark ending where – spoiler alert — Emily dies. Of course, there’s a Light Ending, where everybody is super happy, even if you do kill some people in the process — I just killed too many. Lulz.
“You mad, bro?”
I’ve spent approximately 9 hours playing the game, on maximum settings for PC, and it looks great. To be honest, if you want to compare Dishonored to another game — which is impossible, because it is so unique, thanks to Arkane Studios and Bethesda — then compare it to something like Assassin’s Creed III, Deus Ex: HR, Bioshock. One of the first things you notice however, is how Dishonored, while not being on the cutting-edge of graphics technology, is the cutting-edge in the art department — it looks like a very artistic game, and it is. The graphics have enough light, motion, and texture detail to make it look 2012-ish, but scaled back in their coloring and artwork so that it looks almost like a really good comic book. It’s hard to describe, and I personally felt it was best understood by just playing the game.
My last comments in this section about Dishonored is that you can choose its path. Not that you can selectively fight, bypass hard parts, or make them harder depending on what abilities and upgrades you activate while playing the game, but by playing it a certain way, you change how you’ll enjoy it. Having assassinated with blood, sweat, and tears, from the nobility of Dunwall (poor little Emily!), to the scoundrels of guards, overseers, and infected citizens, I turned it into a more first-person/survival/assassination/stealth type game. But if you played it smarter (likely safer, and less deadly) you would have found that Dishonored quickly could become a fun, stealthy, reconnaissance game. And that you knew you had a mission: to incapacitate (not kill) all those you stood between you, the Lord Protector, and the Empress’ daughter, who is also an Empress.
What I Didn’t Like, Personally
“I love killing this guy.”
Wait, wait! Don’t hurt me. My dislikes for the game are actually pretty justifiable.
First of all, you can’t see your legs while playing it. And considering how you’re an agile assassin, jumping off, up, and around windows, tables, stairs, chains, and rooftops, seeing your legs could add to the feeling that you were really doing this. Another reason I say this is because if you lean Corvo, your assassin, to a more agile skill set, he can take higher falls by hitting his palm on the ground for support — but you can see his legs, so it seems odd.
“Revenge solves everything.”
Oh, and also I didn’t save Emily. It kind of bothers me. It’s not Arkane Studio’s fault, but I’ll blame them for it anyway — I even slowed time down, and I couldn’t save her.
*Mad assassin face.*
Should You Buy It?
Score: 9/10
Yes. Go buy it now. On Xbox 360, on Steam for PC, on PlayStation 3, even. Just do it. Dishonored is worth having in your games library, and if you play it right, it should be on your desktop or on the top shelf, to the left, where all the cool games that stand the test of time go.
