Dishonored

Dishonored is a first-person stealth game featuring satisfying assassinations and fantastical magical abilities. Playing as a skillful bodyguard named Corvo who is framed for a terrible crime, you'll navigate the crumbling city of Dunwall to clear your name. With a focus on player freedom, exploration, and experimentation, Dishonored encourages the player to sneak around several detailed environments and plot their ideal plan of attack. By fusing exciting first-person action with an engaging world and atmosphere, Dishonored distinguishes itself as a wild adventure with lots of inventive scenarios.

Main Game Features

• First-person stealth-based action
• Over a dozen open-ended missions
• Unique supernatural powers to upgrade and unlock

Story

The story of Dishonored takes place in Dunwall, a fictional 18th-century city stricken with famine and poverty. You play as Corvo, the personal bodyguard of Dunwall's Empress Jessamine. After returning to the city from a lengthy trip, Corvo is framed for the murder of the Empress by a sect of power-hungry traitors, who also kidnap the young princess Emily. They quickly take hold of Dunwall and imprison Corvo, who escapes with the help of some friends who are still loyal to the Empress. Enraged by the betrayal and sworn to protect the princess, Corvo heads out into Dunwall to kill the traitors and reclaim the city. Each mission in the game has a somewhat self-contained narrative, focusing on the assassination target and their ties to the betrayal of the Empress. The main narrative slumps from time to time, but interesting characters and missions keep the story interesting. There's a lot of environmental storytelling to take in, as Dunwall is rich with side-quests to discover and notes that give more context to the story.

Gameplay

Dishonored offers quick and responsive stealth gameplay from a first-person perspective, similar to other games like the Thief series. Corvo can use both weapons and a variety of supernatural abilities to take down his foes, but if you prefer, the entire game can be completed through non-lethal means. The game is split up into several story missions, with a hub area to explore between levels. Each mission gives you one or more targets to dispose of, leaving it up to you to decide the best course of action. You'll explore a variety of interesting locales, including fortified castles, a brothel, and more.

Corvo has six unique abilities to find and upgrade, including a short range teleportation mechanic known as Blink, as well as the ability to see through walls and possess enemies. In addition to these active abilities, there are also several passive abilities to unlock, as well as forty perk collectibles to find. This provides lots of replayability, as it is incredibly hard to obtain all the perks and abilities with one playthrough. It's tons of fun to experiment with different ability combinations, making it enjoyable to replay previous missions with a different tactical approach.

Conclusion

If you're a fan of stealth and games that don't hold your hand too much, Dishonored is a great title to dig into. There's a lot of fun to be had with the game's various missions, as each provides a unique playground to execute cool kills and try out various abilities.

Pros:

• Non-linear mission objectives
• Fun navigation mechanics
• Highly atmospheric world

Cons:

• Difficulty spikes
• Stealth can feel awkward
• Lackluster overall narrative