Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

I work at a store that sells video games, and every time I walk into that particular corner of the store, I am always a bit discouraged by the fact that nearly every single game on the shelf is a sequel. Resident Evil 6, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Black Ops 2, Halo 4, Assassin's Creed 3, Borderlands 2... so on and so forth. I am not at all insinuating that sequels make for bad games, but they all have established universes, characters, and mechanics that tend to carry over from game to game in one form or another. I have every game I just listed, and they are all quite good on their own merit, to be sure; however, similar to Hollywood movies, it simply makes more sense to keep making sequels than to take a chance on an untested IP. While this modest strategy makes perfect sense from an enterprise perspective, gamers are left playing continuations and sequels year after year. And when we're this close to the end of a console cycle, you'd be hard-pressed to find a developer willing to take such a risk with the climate shifting so quickly.

Thank goodness Arkane studios has the balls to step up to the challenge.

Dishonored first appeared on my radar last year when I saw the first trailer. The story it showcased was focused on an oft-trodden path in gaming, but the style and presentation was so fresh and new, I quickly decided that this was one to watch for. Now that it's been out for a while and I've played through its somewhat short 10 hour campaign twice (with two different endings), I feel like I have a good bead on what makes this steampunk adventure tick.

Dishonored follows the tale of the ball-stompingly awesomely named Corvo Attano, first protector of the Empress of Dunwall. Upon returning from a diplomatic mission and being reunited with the kindly empress and her daughter, some assassins teleport in and murder the empress, absconding with the empress's daughter. Obviously, Corvo is fingered for the crime and finds himself instantly thrown in jail. What follows is a tale of love and betrayal, where friends become enemies and help is scarce. Upon escaping from prison by way of the most cartoonishly overused prison escape trope (tools in a cake... ugh...), Corvo makes his way to the hideout of a small resistance movement populated by characters that are as entertaining as they are depressingly stereotypical. They're a good mix of folks, from the dutiful admiral to the shifty-eyed nobleman. They all feel paper thin, but they help push the story along. Before long, Corvo meets up with The Outsider, a spiritual entity from beyond this plane of existence. He marks Corvo with a badass symbol on the back of his left hand. Why? The Outsider's motives are simply for his own entertainment. He doesn't much care what Corvo does with his newfound powers. He simply asks that Corvo give him a good show.

This was a bit disappointing. First of all, in the first Dishonored trailer, The Outsider visits Corvo while he is still in prison, and he is an actual person, not some nebulous dream-invader. Making him more of a religious figure actually disconnects me from the mythos that the game is painstakingly attempting to weave (there are cultists that you occasionaly stumble upon worshipping him); however what I LOVE about this premise is that a god-like and all powerful entity has given you magic powers for his own enjoyment and nothing more. Taking this hands-off approach, expecting little of the world as a whole... The Outsider's pessimism and human-like disdain for the world is a refreshing change, and he quickly became my favorite character in the game by far.

The big standout on the voice cast is Christopher Randolph, who lends his iconic voice to the technician that you purchase your items and equipment from. The rest of the voice cast is ho-hum and passable, for the most part. In the audio department, the biggest letdown is that Corvo never speaks throughout the entire game. In an interview with the developers earlier this year, it was revealed that this was a conscious choice so that players could put themselves in Corvo's shoes, thereby connecting further with the characters in the world. I am a bit shocked at this misstep. In a game like Skyrim or Crono Trigger where the adventure is massive in scale, with true freedom in all things, there is really no way to effectively add compelling dialogue for every race, choice, and motive. But in a game like Dishonored, a mute protagonist feels dated and lazy, especially in a game with such a short narrative. You never get to see Corvo, either. That badass steampunk skull mask he wears is only seen in the fleeting moments before he puts it on. There are no third-person FMV sequences in the game at all, so the whole game is played from a first-person perspective. This isn't bad or even new as a storytelling device, but I would have liked some third person stuff so we could really see Corvo, and not just BE him.

Graphically the game impresses, although not really in the ways you may think. The game isn't exactly a technical tour de force, and modest rigs will run circles around the game engine. No, what is so captivating about the game's presentation is how different it truly is. The textures on the walls, on the ground, in the bricks.... it's watercolor. I don't know how they did it. It's so subtle, so subdued and minimalist from a texture standpoint that I didn't even notice at first. Then I was looking around and it struck me. The textures themselves are of a hideously low level of polish and quickly pixelate and turn to mud the moment you inspect them fully, but the textures reveal a recurring theme throughout the game as a whole: it's amazing, just don't look too close. The steampunk world of Dunwall is at once old and new, with all manner of contraptions and machinery running on whale oil permeating the streets and homes. The character models are sufficiently cartoonish, with broad shoulders and long arms with long hands. Think of the presentation quite akin to a gritty Fable, and you'll have a good idea of what to expect. There are a lot of good ideas at work, and a lot of it looks amazing.... from a few feet or more.

The gameplay is the area that obviously received the most attention, and it works very well. I liked to go the stealth route, because it was an enjoyable challenge. Climbing around and blinking with your powers is enjoyable and very responsive. The combat is really simplistic, consisting of an attack button and a block button that allows instant kills if timed right, a la Assassin's Creed. With various equipment, you can stalk your prey from above or below, taking them out with gunshots, crossbow bolts, sleep bolts, or up close and personal with your badass butterfly sword. You also get some sweet powers, like the ability to teleport short distances, or take control of rats and fish to gain entry to areas you can't reach when human size. The levels themselves are large enough to have scattered side-quests that can open up new plotlines for your mission. For instance, in an early mission, I did a couple favors for some NPC's that I met, and by doing so I was allowed to leave my target alive, but they would suffer a worse fate than death. In fact, these side missions will often unlock brutal punishments for your marks much worse than what you could inflict upon them with your sword and crossbow. The actual gameplay is pretty refreshing and cool, forcing you to think on your feet. Hide those bodies though, because increased alarms definitely increase the challenge.

Add all this stuff together and you get a great game. The game is a new IP, and there isn't really much happening in this game that you won't find anywhere else, but what this game chooses to do, it does exceptionally well. But why I love this game has less to do with the game itself and more to do with what it represents for gaming as a whole. When the industry as a whole is content with throwing blank checks and sequels year after year, the fact that those sequels are good games doesn't hide the fact that the industry isn't really pushing innovation quite like it did a few years ago. While going the safe route at the end of a console generation is a smart move for business, taking chances will earn you acclaim and love from the gaming public.

Kudos to Arkane for taking such a risk, spitting in the face of gaming convention, and actually making a good game that offers something brand new to gamers. Grab your mask and raise a glass. Let's hope this blossoms into a franchise. The foundation has been laid for greatness.