Review: Dishonored

There’s something very wrong with the gaming industry today.  While this generation has brought a surprising amount of new concepts, technology and manes by which to elaborate on a gameplay experience, there have been far more detriments paid to the consumer.  Homogenization has entered our industry and, like some sort of plague, it has swept throughout the publishing and development scenes.  This focus has infected far too many talented teams by forcing them to focus on the largest common denominator and virulently making it impossible for great ideas to get off the ground.  For some reason, major developers and publishers believe that if it doesn’t look, walk and talk like the biggest selling franchises out there that it simply won’t sell.  This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Triple-A Stealth games have been one of the more damaged victims of this shift toward what could arguably be called ‘Call of Dutyism.’  Staple franchises like Splinter Cell, once a slow paced, thoughtful series about knowing just when and how combat should be pursued, have become action-filled murderfests.  Newer series like Assassin’s Creed and last year’s Deus Ex Human Revolution dabble in stealth but no new intellectual property this generation has really been all about flight rather than fight.  Dishonored, the new IP from Arkane Studios, looks to bunk this trend.

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Duties of the Royal Protector
Off the coast of the Pandyssian continent lie the Empire of the Isles, an industrialized nation spread across five islands with the capital being the city of Dunwall.  A whaling town, an entire industry has arisen from the slaughter of monstrous whales from which their carcasses are used to create refined oil that powers the cities that dot the Isles.  Recently though a plagued has broken out in Dunwall, eviscerating the lower tiers of society and slowly encroaching on the higher classes.

At the outset of the game, royal bodyguard Corvo Attano arrives back at Dunwall Tower from a month long diplomatic trip among the Isles in hope for a cure for the plague.  As Corvo relates to Empress Kaldwin and her daughter Emily the bad news the trio is attacked by mystical assassins.  Corvo is overwhelmed and he is forced to watch helplessly as the Empress is killed and Emily is kidnapped.  Attano is framed for the crime and tossed into prison but is able to escape six months later.  Arriving at a safehouse in a quarantined part of the city, Corvo meets with the Loyalist resistance members who aided in his escape.  A conspiracy amongst the most powerful figures in Dunwall’s society arranged for the Empress to fall so that they could seize power and Attano is charged with the task of finding Emily and putting her on the throne.

The tale of Corvo Attano, former Royal Protector turned revolutionary assassin, is one told through the eyes of a silent protagonist but whose voice is given breath by player choice.  Corvo’s quest isn’t so much one that forces the player to follow a strict narrative but is rather about offering the player a variety of options to complete objectives and returning to the Loyalist safehouse to receive the next mission.  Within these missions, player choice is crucial to the continuing story, affecting the events to follow and even changing the world around to based on your actions.  More on that in a moment.

Corvo’s journey is certainly an entertaining one but the more exciting parts of the overall story of Dishonored is one that Corvo doesn’t get to experience.  Arkane has built an incredible amount of backstory and lore into Dishonored, filling the world with dozens upon dozens of notes, journals, books and history, informing the player about such elements as the whaling industry, the religious fanaticism and the Rat Plague that has overwhelmed much of the city.  Whether you see it as a positive or a negative, the game is also filled with plenty of ‘what ifs’, leaving the player to wonder about unresolved plot elements but never in a way that frustrates you.  Beyond the background stories, the player will find a fairly diverse world of both good and evil characters, many of whom are morally grey.  Even NPCs whom are of little consequence to the overall plot will garner your attention, making you feel for their situation and gaining the desire to help, a moral frustration as the gameplay mechanics rarely allow you the opportunity to do so.  I found myself enthralled in what Arkane built in beyond just the standard mission structure of Dishonored, more so that I usually am when it comes to a strong narrative and, despite executive producer Harvey Smith’s confliction on whether to continue the series or not, I can only hope that we see a sequel in the years to come.

It should be noted that Dishonored can be completed in six to eight hours should the player choose to focus solely on completing story objectives and leaving alone exploration and secondary quests.  A much more fulfilling playthrough can be done in roughly ten hours and this can be extended even further if you attempt to do a no-kill or even a ghost runthrough.  Beyond that Dishonored does not offer a multiplayer component so a replay of the story is the only option for players who want to get more bang for their buck.  Sadly there is no ‘New Game Plus’ option available to players after completing the game but, given the length and breadth of the options available to the player, a second playthrough is highly recommended.

Merciful Pleas for an Unmerciful Crime
Corvo Attano certainly has his work cut out for him in Dishonored but, luckily for him, both his Loyalist compatriots and others make sure his is both skilled and well equipped for the task at hand.  In your travels you will be able to procure and purchase a variety of ammunition for a pistol or, for those wanting a more quiet approach, a crossbow.  Players can also upgrade the character’s weapons and equipment as well as Corvo himself, adding increased vitality or, most notably, enhanced agility that makes it far easier to get around the world.

Corvo isn’t just naturally talented and well equipped though: he’s also supernaturally powered.  Early on in the game you are visited by an otherworldly character known as The Outsider who gifts you his mark and access to several supernatural powers both neutral and offensive in nature.  Neutral abilities such as Dark Eye, which allows the players to see NPCs in the environment as well as their cone of vision, are worth far more than their offensive counterparts.  Another, Blink, allows you to teleport short distances and is easily the best of them all.  Those prone to exploration will swear by Blink and it will no doubt become one of your favorite powers.  Let us not forsake the offensive abilities though as they are quite useful in times where stealth fails or the player prefers to slaughter all before him.  Casting a Plague of Rats will result in your enemies being eaten alive, a most disturbing sight.  Players can also use Windblast to send enemies flying in a manner not unlike Skyrim’s Unrelenting Force.  It’s a fairly balanced supernatural package and one you will invest quite a bit of time upgrading.

In Dishonored, stealth is the name of the game and the developer definitely gives you a variety of ways and tools by which to evade your enemies.  Tall bookcases, rooftops, tables, desks and much more can be hidden under or on top of.  There is no small amount of items in the environment to utilize when sneaking through an area and Corvo’s powers make it that much easier.  Even when the difficulty is ramped up one can evade attackers without trouble so long as you are aware of your surroundings.  The stealth elements are simply superb and it’d be a shame for a player not to attempt a ‘ghost’ run, one in which the enemy never sees you.

Should you find that stealth is not your forte and a more action oriented experience is what you come to expect from games then Dishonored can certainly meet those needs.  Combat in the game is a mixed affair of melee and semi-ranged combat, albeit more focused on the former rather than the latter.  Melee played from a first-person perspective isn’t always particularly well done in this reviewer’s opinion but Arkane certainly got it right.  You utilize your sword on the right hand to strike and parry at your enemies while utilizing your projectile weapons and supernatural abilities on the other.  The targeting reticle for your off-hand projectile weapons is pretty generous and does not require center-screen aiming in order to properly mark an enemy.  The AI of the game is programmed, in many ways, much like that of games like Assassin’s Creed and the Batman Arkham titles, a single melee attacker going after you while projectile weapon-wielding foes taking aim at any time they please.  It definitely works, though in this reviewers opinion, a fight is not something to go looking for in Dishonored.

At the heart of the Dishonored experience though is the act of assassinating your targets and it is here that the game becomes the most exciting.  Each one of these assassinations can be a puzzle in and of themselves, some aware of your presence while other not but all of them being a challenge.  In many ways stalking your prey feels a lot like something pulled straight from Assassin’s Creed, leaving the player anxious before the kill and adrenaline-filled the moments after.  Probably the most tantalizing aspect of these kills is the act of not committing to the kill at all as Arkane programmed in the option of neutralizing the target without the need for death.  By completing certain objectives and side missions one does not need to kill their target, allowing you to take them out of the conspiracy’s equation but assigning them fates sometimes far worse than death.  It’s this ability to do a no-kill run that had this reviewer focused squarely on punishing rather than murdering on his first playthrough and I highly encourage exploring this possibility in your experience, dear reader.

The stealth, combat and the choices you make regarding your targets all tie into one final, crucial element to Dishonored’s story.  Known as the ‘Chaos system’, the city of Dunwall changes based on the player’s actions but this in no way should be considered a morality system.  Arkane makes it well aware that this is in no way a story about a noble hero but rather one about revenge and the consequences thereof so instead the game grades you upon what you do in the world you find yourself in in a most indirect manner.  Playing with a focus on killing or neutralizing your primary targets and aiding the various NPCs found in Dunwall will net Corvo a world wherein he can move around more safely and lands you a less dark ending.  Should your killing gaze be less focused and you even bring death to innocents then Dunwall become far harsher as more guards will patrol the streets and more plague victims, derogatorily known as ‘Weepers’, will wonder them, spreading the infection.  It’s very interesting to see how player actions can be affect Dunwall and its inhabitants, though it is much more subtle despite the polarizing results one can experience in a game like Bioshock.

The Familiar, Yet Alien
Arkane has done a fantastic job at introducing us to a world so remarkably alien to ours even though it has its roots in our history nearly two centuries past.  The city of Dunwall, modeled after 18^th and 19^th century English whaling towns, is decidedly less than your standard definition of steampunk and more of a fusion of Victorian-era design and sci-fi, raw metal oppression.  The most apt comparison to be made is in looking to the wonderful Half-Life 2 wherein alien oppression walls and technology meets Eastern European architecture and Soviet-era design paradigms.  This is more appropriate than one would think as Victor Antanov, the visual design director at Arkane, was also the art director for Valve’s 2004 wonder-hit.  Many of the elements, from the vehicle design to the oppressive quarantine walls desperately trying to hold in the Rat Plague, make Dishonored’s art design feel like Half-Life 2 if it were set 200 years in the past.  It’s quite wonderful and should rightly be celebrated.

It is fortunate that the art design is fantastic as it makes up for the one unfortunate part of Dishonored’s visual design: the graphics.  The game runs on Unreal Engine 3, an engine which made its debut in 2006, has already been showing its age and this is made even clearer in Arkane’s title.  While some texture work looks surprisingly good for such an old engine much of it appears muddled and bland.  In addition, some of the animation work looks a bit rough at times and I would have hoped for the characters to emote a bit more.  Those items being said however the game still looks great.

Whereas the visual design feels the pains of aging technology, the sound design is wonderful.  Sounds pop in the right places, ambient noises draw the player into the environment and loud sounds like gunfire and explosions have a rather nice ‘oomph’ to them with it comes to base levels.  The voice acting is particularly well done and draws on a surprisingly strong cast of actors.  Up and coming actress Chloe Grace Moretz (who played Hit Girl from Kick Ass) does a very believable Emily while other actors such as Michael Madsen, Lena Hedley and even Susan Sarandon make the list, rounded out by veteran voice actors such as Anna Graves and April Stewart.  The turnout for a game with such high quality talent isn’t unusual but for a unique, new intellectual property such as this, it is.

On the Cusp of Vengeance
Arkane Studios’ Dishonored bears the distinction of being that one unique IP that arrives every fall and makes everybody take pause for a moment.  Amidst a sea of sequels, overused game designs and rather unexciting ideas Dishonored stands out as one of the most unique titles of the year.  While many comparisons can be made to titles of years gone by, this title pays tribute rather than is a detriment to excellent titles such as Bioshock, Assassin’s Creed, Half-Life 2 and yet stays true to the stealth genre with influences from Thief and The Chronicles of Riddick.  Dishonored is a love letter to the stealth games and just what a title can be if you let a development team do what they want instead of forcing them to appeal to the masses.

At the end of this reviewer’s journey as Corvo Attano I can’t help but express excitement for Dishonored possible future and for what Arkane could be working on next.  Let us hope that, one day, we get to explore the other Isles and perhaps the Pandyssian continent.  For now though we have a fantastic stealth title and one worthy of placing on your shelf.