Arkane Studios has enjoyed its fair share of the ups and downs of game development since its founding in 1999. Arkane was responsible for the development of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and contributed to the development of Bioshock 2. Arkane also partnered up with Valve, in 2007, for a Half-Life: Return to Ravenholm game that never materialized. Arkane’s experience with both RPG and FPS made the creation of a hybrid shooter/RPG inevitable; Enter Dishonored, which released on October 9, 2012.
Looks Like Rapture
The fictional city of Dunwall, the setting for Dishonored, is a steampunk dystopian wonderland full of plague, rat swarms, back-stabbing aristocrats, street gangs, and and drug-fueled madmen on mechanical walkers. Dunwall’s crumbling edifices and dull coloration remind me a lot of Bioshock’s Rapture, which makes sense: Arkane was involved in the development of the second game. Dunwall is a dying city, and while most of the population suffers from plague or fights over the scraps of what is left, the aristocracy profits from the misery of others. Life in Dunwall is cheap, and the street and ditches are clogged with the dead and mass disposal of the deceased is a common sight.
The Man in the Mask
The Empress of Dunwall, however, loved her city and wants the best for her people. As the game opens her royal protector, Corvo Attano, is returning from a special mission to seek aid from neighboring empires, by the order of the Empress. Unfortunately, Corvo arrives on assassination day and the Empress is murdered almost immediately upon his arrival, and her daughter, heir to the Empire, is kidnapped by the mysterious assassins. The conspirators blame Corvo for the deed and he is taken to Dunwall Prison for torture and a proper execution.
Gadgets Galore
Corvo is spared the executioner’s blade, with the aid of a band of Loyalists, who provide the means for our protagonist to exact revenge on those those who need it most and locate the heir to the throne. Among the goodies are the infamous mask, which has magnification properties when upgraded, an assassin’s crossbow, pistol, blade, nasty spring razor proximity mines, grenades, and stealth boots. Corvo also receives some supernatural aid from a mysterious deity, called The Outsider, who bestows “the gift”, which allows Corvo to use special runes and bone charms to gain spectral abilities. The special abilities include a limited range teleportation, a rat swarm, corporeal possession, a wind gust, infrared vision, time stop, and the ability to disintegrate slain targets. Dishonored encourages improvisation and provides enough tools of the trade that murdering folks becomes joyous experimentation. I have teleported to ledges above targets for a drop assassination, blown victims off of balconies to their deaths, planted a proximity mine on a living target in a crowd, rewired enemy defenses to kill defenders, and even booby trapped a toilet.
The Dark Side of Murder
Dealing death may be the highlight of this game, but murder in plague-infested Dunwall does have consequences. Dishonored translates Corvo’s death toll into chaos. A high chaos level will result in more rat swarms, increases guard alertness, more plague victims, and high priority targets will be harder to get to. Chaos will also affect things like infighting among the Loyalists and the general perception and treatment of Corvo by his peers and public, as well as affect the outcome of the game. Corvo can choose non-lethal methods to gain his revenge, but the choices are limited, and dealing death is far more fun than dealing sleep.
Leaving So Soon?
My only gripe with Dishonored is the brevity of my killing spree. Players could burn through the story in 10 or 12 hours if they were inclined to do so, and with a $60 price tag that’s around five or six dollars an hour. That being said, the game does reward multiple playthroughs, with plenty of collectibles and achievements that can only be obtained on a second or third pass. DLC master, Bethesda, plays publisher for this title and the first DLC, Dunwall City Trials, was already announced, and will release December 11, for 400 MS points, or the PSN equivalent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcSc4uBc3nQ
The Final Verdict
Yeah, it’s a short game, but I’ve played through it twice, as Good Sarcasmo and Bad Sarcasmo, and I’m still not ready to say goodbye to Dunwall. I’m still finding stuff that I missed on my first two passes, and I may have left someone alive, which would be a shame. The murder and magic of Dishonored are thrilling, and Dunwall is a very fascinating environment to paint red. My Dishonored experience was a lot like my previous trips to Rapture: the gameplay was satisfying and the imagery will stick with me for a long time. Had it been a longer game I could have scored it better. It’s not a perfect game, but it’s pretty damn good.
