Revenge solves ALMOST everything….
Dishonored tells the tale of Corvo Attano, a man forced into becoming an assassin when he is framed for the murder of the Empress and the kidnapping of her daughter, add in a city full of plague-diseased people and rats that will eat any corpses they come across and you’ll find that Dunwall isn’t the nicest place in the world…
The game is a first-person action game with a stealth twist to it, but really the team at Arkane Studios provide you with so many ways for you to complete your goal. If you want to go storming in with tons of abilities and kill everyone in your path, you can…but Dunwall changes along with it, bringing more rats to the town and so on, I personally prefer the stealth path and the game does feel more natural with it, perhaps I did feel more compelled to be stealthy and merciful because of the game’s achievements, but also because of how the game changes depending on the path you choose.
Corvo can upgrade abilities and even gain supernatural powers like Blink which lets you jump across great distances Matrix-style, while combat is a mixture of gun and swordplay. Fighting enemies does have mixed results, but you can always take them out with tranquilizer darts and choking them from behind, Dunwall itself is a pretty big place and the game does feel very open-world for a game like this, you’ll come across side-quests and some rather interesting characters to say the least.
What’s so endearing about Dishonored is that you can simply choose to play in your own way, yet it’s not perfect…the combat can come across as a bit clunky and the AI is unpredictable, sometimes incredibly dumb and allowing you to almost walk past them, while catching you when you least expect it. The game recommends you to save often and if you are hoping to get a perfect stealth record, then this is the best way to do so. It’s not just deciding to kill/spare the targets or to be stealthy or deadly, Dishonored is memorable because it has more to it than meets the eye, it’s a combination of ideas and it feels like a breath of fresh air in this gaming era of sequel-itis.
In terms of visuals, Dishonored is a brilliant looking game around 90% of the time…with the odd off-putting texture emerging now and then, the framerate is solid and the voice-acting is very well done with the likes of Brad Dourif, Carrie Fisher, Susan Sarandon and Chloë Grace Moretz lending their vocal talent. The soundtrack is also stellar with some truly memorable tracks.
The Verdict
Dishonored is one of those rare games that only emerge a few times a generation, if at all. It’s changed the face of the stealth genre and while some elements do let it down somewhat, it’s still one of the most memorable games of the year. Don’t dishonour yourself by allowing it to slip through your fingers, play it..now.
