less than the sum of its parts
This review was written after my second stab at getting into Dishonored, a game that I didn't feel particularly absorbed by the first time around back in 2012 and, in fact, I put down after 2 hrs. On the advice of a friend I took another look at it recently. On balance that was good advice and I had a mostly positive experience.
The most immediately impressive thing about this game is the beautiful art style and excellent world design. What also becomes clear rather rapidly is while the emphasis is on stealth, the punishment for failing stealth is to move to a solid and varied combat model. Think of a more free-flowing Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but with a steam punk flavor.
However, when it came to the elements such as characterization and story, something was missing from Dishonored. The protagonist, Corvo, is silent and the dialogue and story choices for him seem stiflingly contrived by comparison with the meaningfully varied game play. I found myself caring very little about what the hell was actually going on in Dunwall. Which was a real shame because the beautiful environments and art style convey atmosphere and intrigue. A promising cast of characters were introduced, with much corresponding potential for much richness and immersion. Character development was not particularly great though and, as was the case with Bioshock, too much of the flesh to both the characters and the story was hidden in improbable audio-logs and 'notes'. This kind of mechanic has a contextual time and a place but when used in Bioshock & Dishonered (and to a lesser extent Dead Space) it feels forced. It is contrived and I'm pretty much fed up with lack of imagination in design when I keep encountering it.
Conveying narrative is tough but I really feel as if games can and should do better. I mean, System Shock did the audio-log thing better than most back in 1994. That was 20 years ago. 20. Can we look at other ways to deliver context, meaning and characterization please?
In short, Dishonored falls sadly short of 5/5 because even when I was having a lot of fun playing the game, the narrative failings meant that I didn't feel engaged enough to care about the overall outcomes, either for the story as a whole or for any of the characters... and when a title like this one has so much atmosphere, such a wonderful setting, and with so much promise to be something extra-special... falling just short feels all the more disappointing.