I have to start this reviewing by being annoyingly British by saying; It's spelt with a U! D-I-S-H-O-N-O-U-R-E-D. I understand that it's an American game with the American spelling, but is it so hard to change the box art for British release?
Now that's out of the way I can actually talk about the game. The game that has been getting 9/10 reviews everywhere, the game that won tons of awards at E3 and the game that I... Was hugely disappointed by.
Dishonoured, as I will refer to it, is set in a sort of Steam Punk style Victorian Britain-ish empire of no particular name other than "The Empire" Confined to one particular city due to a plague outbreak in that city. You play Corvo, the Lord Protector of the Empress and her daughter. At the beginning of the game you arrive back in the city after two months away, requesting help from other cities on dealing with this plague to no avail. You meet the Empress' daughter Emily as you enter the city, she treats some what like a young girl might treat an older brother, and you are even given the chance to play hide and seek with her, partly to practice stealth and cover use and partly, I assume, to show the emotional bond between Emily and Corvo. After this you report to the Empress, during this exchange a group of assassins over power you, kill the Empress and kidnap her daughter, you are immediately blamed and arrested, the game then leads to finding out who the assassins are, finding Emily, clearing your name and freeing the city.
IGN called it "A breath of fresh air." which it is, in many ways, and I love what Bethesda and Arkane are trying in this game, so many new and old things mixed and matched in a game unlike most on the shelves today. I loved using the Blink ability to silently jump from place to place, allowing me to use perches normally unreachable, such as the top of a lamp post. In particular I recall clearing half of a mission without killing or being spotted, purely with the use of Blink, which even though this is obviously it's intended use, in a game full of so many choices, it still leaves you feeling proud of what you've done. I enjoyed the choice of killing or non lethal take downs too, this leaves the player feeling like they really do control the fate of the city, not just on a general scale, but a person to person scale.
Graphically, this game is beautiful, I think the only other games who's scenery I've looked at with such awe are the latest expansion for WoW and Skyrim. The style is unique, slightly cartoony but not over the top. Everything is crisp and realistic. The Steam Punk shows through largely in the clothing, over sized top hats, an array of waistcoats and Victorian style dresses among a very industrial environment works well. What I didn't find to be as beautiful as I do in other games was the story, I am a gamer who is very interested in story. I even made up my own back stories for my various MMO characters, story is a driving force behind my gaming. The story in this, well, it's intriguing but it's also weak, it doesn't keep secrets well, I was able to predict most of the story within the first 30 minutes of playing and it was so predictable I felt no drive to even watch my predictions unfold. Despite the hide and seek sequence I felt no connection with Emily and no drive to rescue her. It's even said in the story that she's to young to take her mother's place and stop the tyrannical new rulers.
My other major complaint, and what let the game down for me, was the combat. Stealth games and I have a love hate relationship, in that I love them, but can't play them for sod all. I rarely finish them and have never got the hang of them. Dishonoured sold itself largely on the basis of "Hey! If you fail at stealth you can still fight your way through!" Which I liked the idea of, a lot. I did try to play through killing as little as possible and staying in stealth as much as possible, however as I say this is not my niche, and I was spotted quite often and had to defend myself. Combat is equal to stealth for all of the first two missions, beyond that I found the enemies grew stronger much quicker than I did leaving me defenceless. My second big reason for buying this game was CHOICES! I love games that let you choose the route to go, or how to do something. What I didn't realise is that if you choose anything but perfect stealth, you will be punished, not much of a choice huh? The more people you kill, be it intentional or in unexpected self defence, the more weepers and rats will appear. What does this mean? Weepers are people infected with the plague on the verge of dying, they wander around weeping rather loudly, louder still if they see you, and attract a lot of attention. Rats, in large packs, will attack you, and can actually be a pain to kill due to their size, again, enemies will see and hear them, leaving you more likely to be spotted.
For these reason I could only give Dishonoured a 4 out of 10. I bought it honestly thinking it would end up one of my all time favourites, only to find out it punishes you for not being good at it straight away. Why would I want to play a game that won't give me the chance to get better at it?
P.S. The autosave sucks too.
~Rusty Mongrel.
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