Dishonored

It had been a long time since I'd played a good story-driven FPS. 'Dishonored' designed & developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda caught my attention from the word go. It had been doing rounds with gameplay & cinematic trailers for some time now. I don't know what exactly caught my attention; was it the unconventional graphic style/art direction? Or the name Bethesda, who gave us the ever-amazing 'Skyrim', attached to it? Or was it the very Bioshock inspired gameplay? I just had to see for myself; and "SEE…I DID!"

The first thing you'll notice about the game is that it felt a lot like Bioshock and I'd like to quickly add that it's not a bad thing. A few minutes into Dishonored and you'll know that the gameplay only remotely resembles Bioshock. There is a good chance that you'd find the design and art direction more akin to Bioshock though, coz Arkane studios did previously work on the same in Bioshock. Comparisons aside, Dishonored puts you in the shoes of the royal assassin 'Corvo Attano'. Framed for the Empress' murder, a rage-impelled Corvo is propelled through a plethora of brilliantly designed levels for getting revenge armed with both mordacious arsenal of guns/arrows/grenades & supernatural powers. The plot really drills forward with enough twists and turns to strangle yourself in. "Set in the fictional industrial city of Dunwall, modeled after Victorian London, Dishonored follows Corvo Attano, a legendary bodyguard to the Empress who is framed for her murder and forced to become an assassin to seek revenge on those who conspired against him. Attano is aided in his quest by the Outsider, a powerful being who imbues him with magical abilities." – Wikipedia

On another note, I don't understand why all FPS games are going the RPG way these days. Even veterans at id adopted some role-playing elements for their last IP 'Rage'. I do understand nobody prefers just run-n-gun FPS games now and even I, myself wasn't so thrilled playing Serious Sam 3! Recently almost all FPS games are ridden with RPG elements. It's a boon to games like Dishonored and I promise I'll get back to that, but I miss those story-oriented linear games of the yesteryear, ala 'Return to Castle Wolfenstein'.

I have to say the graphics is stellar, courtesy of a modified Unreal Engine. The amount of textures and special effects floating around is impressive to say the least. It almost feels like a living painting: the sunbeams, the water, the caricaturistic character models, everything seem to just liven the Dishonored world beyond anything. It just screams how gorgeous a game could be rendered using the Unreal engine. I was very impressed with the load times especially when it renders the whole of a mission in just one load. There are usual flaws like minuscule texture loading issues and invisible walls but it never hinders the experience. It is not a sandbox game and hence the invisible walls but consider Dishonored a playground where you can play according to your choice. You can either go guns blazing in all 9 missions and kill everybody in sight which will cause a 'High Chaos ending' or go about stealthily and cause a 'Low Chaos' ending. The sheer number of alternative routes to complete a mission in this game will boggle your mind and here Dishonored shines. The game encourages you to play without killing a single NPC/Enemy. Yes, it seems it's possible to complete the game without any fatalities but it was tough for me to use those immensely satisfying powers and weapons. My fingers were almost twitching to use a spring razor or an explosive arrow. At its core Dishonored is still an FPS/RPG, just like Bioshock. Instead of Adam and Plasmids you have Runes and Bone Charms and yes it changes the way you play the game drastically.

The music and ambiance added plentiful to the already gratifying experience. From the eery 'Drunken Whaler' theme to the grim sewer ambiance everything rocks.

Clocking at 9+ hours I played and reveled in Dishonored and yes I am happy to say that it deserves the best new IP awards this season. Dishonored promises great and varied level design as well enemies, an interesting plot, good gameplay innovations and gorgeous set-piece moments. Revenge as it seems can be very satisfying. All thanks go to Arkane Studios for this sweet sweet game. This is exactly how a good game should be!

I think this game should be praised more for its immersive and compelling story rather than being a game itself. But of course I'm a huge fan of the revenge genre.

Still I think everything was done right from the intro to the ending because this just one of those games I would say gets you more interested into whatever is going on in their world rather than interactive gameplay, which definitely complements the whole revenge thing because revenge definitely needs a solid story.

It wasn't too long and not too short, because the game is pretty straight forward in what you have to do, and has a few RPG elements in it. Especially if you decide to be good or bad.

Oh and Michael Madsen should be added to the cast because his voice acting was awesome!

Dishonored is essentially a stealth-action-sandbox that does multiple things and succeeds in all of them beautifully. The dark dystopian steampunk setting is unique and fully realized with so much emphasis on details and lore that it's almost exhausting. Every level, every piece of environment, every location, book, npc is there for a reason.

The story is pretty much a political assassination thriller that you serve as the biggest piece of, your actions influencing where the story goes and how certain characters act. The levels also evolve based on how many people you kill, and again, it is perfectly fitted to the setting. More people killed equals more corpses, which leads to more unhygienic living, which leads to more sick people, for this you need more security etc etc.

While the story and the characters themselves are interesting, they are a bit lacking due to the voice acting being not that amazing. Sometimes it feels borderline robotic.

The most important part of this game is obviously though the gameplay, which is just great. Both the stealth and action mechanics are fully fledged and this combined with the brilliant level design makes for one of the most replayable single player campaigns out there.

The supernatural abilities are very unique and fun to use, and the tools at your disposal allow for some very gruesome encounters. Or not, if you don't want to. You can beat the entire game without killing or being seen by anyone. Player freedom and choice are the most important part of the gameplay. Whether you want to sneak past guards via a rooftop, straight up engage with them in awesome combat or possess a fish and swim away, it is all up to the player.

Excellence in every way.

I've never really liked the concept of stealth games. Sneaking around, trying to avoid attention… probably with frequent reloading of quicksaves until you make it through the more challenging sections unnoticed. It just seemed like a chore.

But I really enjoyed Dishonored. In the past, I've equated stealth with a sense of fear. But in this game, you feel deadly and powerful from the shadows. I loved studying the brilliantly designed levels from stealth- watching patrolling guards and scanning for alternate routes to your objective. Deciding how to approach the obstacles before me.

This game is filled with choices, after all. There are large choices- deciding the fates of prominent Dunwall citizens- but you are constantly making small choices as you progress through the game. I started out intending to be a ruthless assassin, but after murdering the high overseer and Pendleton's brothers- and being rewarded with extremely satisfying slow-motion kill animations- I found myself gravitating toward the non-lethal options.

This is probably a reflection of how invested I was becoming in the city of Dunwall. And let me make it clear that this is the game's biggest strength in my view- the setting. A dirty, plague-ridden, early industrial city with a dose of occult magic thrown in- all of it beautifully imagined. And there's this undercurrent of sorrow brought on by heavy reliance on whale oil, along with a general uncertainty about the future. This is great world building… it may not have quite the depth of the first Bioshock or Mass Effect, but visually, it is unforgettable.

My only real complaint is that the characters themselves were less than memorable, and the game's twist was a bit weak. But this isn't an RPG, and I'm glad it didn't try to be one.

All in all, Dishonored offers great stealth-based gameplay, elevated by one of the most memorable settings I've experienced in recent years.

Dishonored is an extremely atmospheric game. It, being an old game, still overcomes modern games simply by its sheer quality. The world is creatively designed both in visuals and in the gameplay. The characters don't feel like soulless puppets and can make you feel engaged with the story.

The overall very smooth gameplay is joyful and satisfying with many abilities and weapons. The most iconic one being the teleporting ability, which is so fun, makes a crucial part to this game's identity. Unfortunately, the gameplay is limited as players, who seek good endings, must play accordingly to the non-lethal standards. This is a huge problem as it makes the experience less fun. I prefer endings to be based on in-game decisions rather than on the gameplay. Counting how much percent people did you kill so you could qualify for a good ending seems honestly like a nonsense to me.

Nevertheless, the game is still a masterpiece that holds up till this day. It brings new standards to stealthy games.