An action game first and foremost with a frustratingly difficult non-lethal option
Dishonored by Arkane Studios is one of the many games that tries to chase after what made Deus Ex special and ultimately misses the mark. Dishonored is an action game first and foremost with a frustratingly difficult non-lethal option. The game has an impressive setting but doesn’t do much with it because of a stereotypical revenge tale.
The game commits its’ first mistake early in the tutorial by informing the player that killing too many people will result in the bad ending. While I appreciate that the game’s transparency, it influences players from the get go to play stealthily in a non-lethal manner to see the good ending. The problem is there are ONLY two non-lethal options in Corvo’s repertoire, choking targets (which is only effective in 1 on 1 scenarios) and using sleep darts. The imbalance between lethal and non-lethal options are so skewed to the lethal side that if you play non-lethal you are limiting yourself from about 80% of all combat options.
The second mistake the game makes is that it shows a summary after each mission listing number of enemies killed, coins collected and so forth. The summary also lists two checkboxes indicating whether any persons (including civilians) were killed and whether Corvo was a “ghost” (indicating that no enemies were alerted). The explanation of how to get the good ending is never clear and I thought that I had to get both checkboxes to get the good ending. Getting the “ghost” achievement in a mission is frustrating because you’re never informed of whether you failed it midway in a mission. After checking online forums, I learned that in order to get the good ending you only need to have “Low Chaos” in each mission but even that aspect is not clearly defined. The “ghost” achievement isn’t necessary but prepare to save-scum A LOT playing non-lethal.
Playing the game lethal on the other hand is an absolute blast. You immediately feel like an unstoppable force, backstabbing foes, hacking electrical towers to zap enemies and summoning an army of rats to do your bidding. Depending on your skill, Corvo can pull off some really amazing feats and makes even the hardest difficulty feel like a cakewalk.
The setting of Dishonored is intriguing and promising. It takes place in an industrial revolution era where machinery runs on whale oil instead of coal. The plague is present and the poor are most vulnerable to it while the rich are enjoy lavish costume parties and visit luxurious harems. It's a shame that the game never fully takes advantage of the setting. The story is a by the books revenge tale. You can see the plot twists a mile away. The characters except for Emily are all one-dimensional and deliver cardboard performances. And there are a ton of books strewn about the world to give it flavor but I didn’t bother reading most of them because they broke the flow of the game. If you want a more engaging story experience I recommend playing both DLCs, The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches.
Ultimately I can still recommend Dishonored if you enjoy a fast paced combat game and aren’t especially interested in a deep story. The problems with the non-lethal option as well the throwaway story make this game average in my eyes and not a must play game.
