Is Dishonored Worth Playing?

There are many different genres in the gaming sphere, and each one has a unique challenge. One genre that, in my opinion, doesn't get nearly as much attention as it deserves, is the stealth genre. Now, let me be clear, I'm not saying stealth games are ignored, they just don't seem to get much in the way of attention nowadays...that's very sad.

There are dozens of stealth titles out there, Splinter Cell, Thief, Assassin's Creed - maybe - and the topic of today's review: Dishonored.

Let's get into it.

Developing Dishonored

Dishonored is a stealth/action game that was developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda. The game is played in the first-person perspective and emphasizes player choice...I'm going to come back to this in a bit as it's one of the best aspects of the game.

The game was announced in 2011, and was initially revealed at the E3 Expo in 2012. Dishonored was released in October of the same year, and was met with a largely positive reception with particular praise aimed at the plot - although there was some criticism aimed there as well.

A Story of Revenge

Corvo Attano is the bodyguard to Empress Jessamine Kaldwin of Dunwall. Upon returning home from a months-long mission, he is framed for the murder of the Empress and kidnapping of her daughter Emily.

Six months later, the former bodyguard escapes prison and sets out to find the missing Emily and prove his innocence.

So, What Works?

Okay, so what works in Dishonored? Well...quite a bit, actually.

First off, the visuals are absolutely phenomenal! The city of Dunwall is like a steampunk vision of 17th Century London with lots of gothic architecture. The high rooftops and sharp angles on the buildings make for great fun when it comes to traversing the environment.

Story-wise, the plot is your standard revenge tale but it's very well-executed (if you'll excuse the pun) and flows nicely.

The characters and voice performances are absolutely phenomenal! Chloe Grace Moretz gives a great performance as the naïve Emily Kaldwin. Susan Sarandon is perfect as the crazy Granny Rags, and Michael Madsen is fantastic as Daud. The best part is that these are just a few of the names in the star-studded cast!

The sound design is also great with the moody music and many, many creepy ambient sounds serving to create a dark, brooding atmosphere. Combat is very satisfying and every fight can be a great challenge. One of the standout features, however, is the emphasis on choice.

An Emphasis on Choice

Dishonored has a lot of replay value because of the way it integrates player choice into the story. There are often multiple pathways to an objective, and the player is free to choose which path to take. The game's ending is also tied to choice.

There are two levels of chaos in the game, Low Chaos and High Chaos. The high chaos ending is much darker and has a very grim tone while the low chaos ending is the proverbial 'good ending'. There's apparently also a 'neutral' ending which I haven't found yet, but I'm a sucker for happy endings anyways so that's okay with me.

Is there Anything that Doesn't Work?

Well...I guess there are a few things that I'd take some issue with.

As good as the story is, and as much as I enjoyed it, it's still a very cookie cutter revenge story. There's nothing wrong with that, and the cast does a great job of making things interesting and keeping me invested in what's going on.

Each level or environment is very well-built and a lot of fun to traverse (like I said earlier) but they can often feel very linear at times.

There are also multiple tutorial pop-ups that have a habit of breaking up the flow of the action. Thankfully, however, you can just turn them off in the options menu.

Is Dishonored Worth Playing?

So, overall, is Dishonored worth playing? Yeah, it is. I think it's fair to say that this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea - to use a rather tired metaphor. It's much slower than your typical action game and while they look good, the visuals can be a bit weird at times. In my opinion, Dishonored is a game that deserves a fair shot, even if you just try it on a friend's computer.

With all that said, I leave it to you to play it yourself and draw your own conclusions. If you have played it, I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments. Thanks for reading, as always I hope you enjoyed this review!