Dishonored review

There's a new game out there that takes the best of two worlds, and creates it into something great. Take the best part of Bioshock and the best part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and what you should get is Dishonored. Dishonored is a brand new IP, and if this turns into a series, I can expect great things from it. Dishonored takes you in the role of a bodyguard, Corvo Attano, who witness the brutal death of a High Priestess he was sworn to protect. With her body at his feet Corvo is blamed for the death and is set to prison. This is where the story of revenge begins. You get most of the training while you escape. You can sneak past everyone, or kill everyone on sight. The choice is entirely up to you. This is what this game excels at, choice. It may not look all that clear, but if you look around you will find what you need.
One of the smart things about Dishonored is the ability to check out the way you play the game. Each mission takes about an hour, or 90 minutes to complete. It's a meaty game with multiple ways to play, and it encourages you to try each one. Most of the time in Dishonored, you will be called to assassinate high ranking officers. These sections of the game are thrilling, exciting, and the most rewarding. Getting there can be just as tense. Thankfully, you have supernatural abilities at your disposal to use. You can see through walls, move quickly to one place to another, and even posses rats. Anything you need to do to eliminate your target is all there. The only thing keep you from doing that perfect playthrough is runes. Runes are there to help you upgrade your abilities and even giving you new ones. The more the runes are needed the better the upgrade. Unfortunately, you can't carry over your new found abilities once you finish the game. So the replayability is diminished. There is also bone charms, which gives you small boosts when you find them. One will make your sword swing faster, or one will make you climb faster. These and the Runes are easy to find, but a bit of a challenge to get to.


There are two main ways to play the game, lethal or nonlethal. Nonlethal is a lot of fun. Lethal, however, does come with a downside. When it comes to combat, the game isn't as exciting as the rest of the game. It just consisted of, how is attacking me and where are they at. You can use your abilities to make it easier on you, but it's just better off to try not to kill anyone. When I did kill anyone in the game, it was because I was seen and there was a small band of guards attacking me. I tried to go as nonlethal as possible. Careful planning is what you need if you plan to ghost the entire game.

The story is solid enough, until that third act rolls around. I love a good plot twist, but I don't like plot twist that is there just to make the game longer. If that third act never came, I would have greatly enjoyed the game more. It takes everything that made most of the game great and tosses it aside. There was no point whatsoever for what happens. The ending wasn't even satisfying.

One of the best things about Dishonored is the look of the game. It's not dark and full of brown it's got this distilled look that shows signs that this world was once beautiful. There's history in this world, and the dozens or so books and notes you will find will help you invest in this world. The voice cast is solid enough. It's got A list talent like Susan Sarandon, Brad Dourif, and Chloe Grace Moretz. While it's nothing amazing as you would expect, it's still great enough to believe in the characters. The loading 99 percent of the time isn't long, but there was a mission where the load time became too long, and I had to restart the mission over. Thankfully this was a one time event as the rest of the game played smoothly.

Despite the major gripes I have with the game, I still enjoyed most of it. The third act, no carry over, and combat is the worst part of the game, because the lack of carry over I can't see myself play this again. It's a great game to have for the weekend, but there is not much to go back to. If you do decide to play it again, at least you know that you can play using a different strategy.