I originally played this game back in my Xbox 360 days, but I never finished it. I snapped it up on sale a few years later with the intention of making it a winter project, and then I got sidetracked by life. When the Gamer's Book Club started back in July, this was the first game chosen by vote to play together. Technically, the game runs for another two weeks, but those are clean up weeks to finish DLC or knock out unearned achievements. I finished a bit ahead of schedule.
Dishonored is a fantastic story that's hamstrung by repetitive game play. You are Corva Attano, the bodyguard to the Empress who is framed for her murder and the abduction of her daughter, and sentenced to execution. You escape, only to take your revenge on those who have framed you and retrieve the Empress' daughter to restore her to the throne as the rightful heir. There's some twists and turns in the story as to who dunnit, who Emily's father is, and what Corvo's place in this machination is. There's betrayal, betrayal of those doing the betraying, and lots of chaos--if you want it. The story is definitely the strong point here, and the game is a neat ride to see what Corvo does next.
The actual game play itself, however, is repetitive. You go to this place. You do the thing to the person. You get out. It's pretty much on rails as to what you do, but each level has a different target and a few collectibles. Sometimes, there's side quests, but overall, your goal is to kill or neutralize a handful of people, and that is very much the game's focus. Normally, a tight focus story isn't a bad thing, but it's so tightly focused that I was left scratching my head at a point. If you're going to include side quests, include a decent number. Why did the makers of
Dishonored bother at all? I suppose the alternative means of dealing with your targets could be considered side quests, but that's a stretch in my mind. I think the game could've done well either totally removing the Granny Rags plot line or expanding on the side quests significantly. The world is interesting and very steampunk, but we're confined to certain areas of Dunwall for most of the game. Getting to get out and explore would've been nice, too.
There's not too much to say about sound. The voice acting is average, and the sound effects are great, but I honestly couldn't recognize a score from the game if you played it for me. The only voice actor that stuck out to me was the guy who did Samuel the Boatman--he was great. Tallboys are a terrifying thing to hear when it's late and you're half asleep. Everything else is solidly average.
That brings me to the final thing I look at in these reviews: controls. This game is very much a product of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 era. The bumper brings up a wheel, and you use that to select a skill. While not a terrible system, it's been improved upon significantly in the decade since those consoles were king. The Steam version worked great with my DualShock 4, and it was pretty similar to what I remembered from my Xbox 360 days. Controls are a solid B-.
Overall, I want to like this game much more than I do. I think it could benefit greatly from an open world, expanded side quests, and controls that are as tight as the main quest line. It's not a bad game, but I don't think it's worth playing if you're spoiled by games that have evolved past the era
Dishonored represents. I know I have a lot of gripes, but on its release,
Dishonored was competing against games that got these things right. I rate the game a 3/5, but a modern remake of this game would go in my cart immediately. I want to give it a higher rating, I really do... but when you force yourself to finish something out, it's just not worth it.
3.0