Jokes aside of the thread title, this is one of the best title-based games I’ve played; as in, it is what the title is named.
I’m actually nearing completion of this game. Been hanging out on the MRT Server for Christmas this year. Will be writing another post about this.
So, what is DisHonored? It’s an FPS. But it’s a hybrid FPS. What do I mean? You can kill everyone, or kill no-one. But be careful how you do it, as it will change gameplay. Killing a key target isn’t the same as neutralizing one.
Anyway, let’s say it shows that not everyone in the world is kind-hearted, especially when the stakes are high and you have everything to lose. There is assholes in the world, everyone knows this.
You play as a guy named “Corvo”, the Lord Protector. It’s far in the past, where people bow in your presence (so it’s definitely not in the US). My guess, it’s in fictional Spain in the 19th century (even though it never tells you), with people speaking English. The city is named “Dunwall”.
You have been tasked several months in the past to get aid for this city you are protecting. There’s a plaque sweeping the land, and you’re finally coming home but with bad news.
You must take this info to your Empress, who you protect (you’re her bodyguard).
Also, a little girl named Emily, who has a huge role in the entire story. You give the Empress the letter, she gets assassinated by unknown bad guys and the little girl is captured and taken to an unknown area… and everyone blames you for doing it (as you’re unfortunately seen as the last one with the Empress) and throwing you in prison. The fact you’re a mute, you can’t tell them “It wasn’t me, assholes! D:“.
It’s been several months, and your execution is within the next day. You must escape to clear your name and track down the assassins that killed the Empress. Thankfully, you have help from an unknown group and manage to escape. Now, you are forced to become an enemy of the people of Dunwall; an assassin.
You’re also gifted supernatural powers from a man only known as the ‘Outsider’ who burns a special mark on your left hand which will give you the powers. How you use these powers, is entirely up to you.
The main power you get is a teleporting like ability called ‘Blink’, which is needed to access ledges and also can be used to get behind unaware enemies for takedowns. It’s similar to how it’s done in Deadpool, but more control.
Another one you can get, is the ability to see enemies through walls. This is an extremely useful power, as you can use it to learn enemy movement patterns and how best to approach each area.
You can also possess animals, and people to take the bullets for you. As a stealth trick, you can use it to get a guy away from his buddies and over to a secluded area for you to take him out quietly.
You’re also given a special mask to hide your identity which works for 1/2 of the game. There’s an upgrade you can get that gives the mask a zoom mode, which is useful in the later levels of spotting trouble.
The game also tries to say a message to you, of what are you? When knowing these guards used to be the good guys. They still are, but just doing their jobs to defend the city from the plaque and you (under orders of course, they see you as the enemy).
Can you really murder people trying to help, and live with the guilt? The life of an assassin is often a dark one. You can either be a true murderer, or someone that doesn’t take pride in killing fellow humans. What will you play as, when given the choice?
So, here’s my likes and dislikes;
Likes:
– You can decide your playstyle. Do you go in with guns blazing, a master assassin, or a pacifist and do non-lethal attacks in the entire game? You can even get the ‘Clean Hands’ achievement from killing no one in the entire game and using non-lethal takedowns.
– How you play, greatly effects how NPCs will look at you. For example, they might be scared if you kill a lot of people. Or feel that you still have a heart that you let this one or that one live.
– I both like and dislike some of the side-choices you can make in the game. One of them is killing off rats to help a survivor from being tore up by them. Do you let the survivor to rot, or risk never getting the kill nothing achievement and help? It’s often hard to be the good guy.
– This game has excellent replayability, which is rare even for me. I usually play a game once, complete, and that’s it. You can be a pacifist on your first run to get the Clean Hands and Ghost achievements, then brutally murder everyone like a true master assassin on your second! 😀
Dislikes:
– Bad face meshes. Only one that looks good is Emily. It looked like they were trying to make Borderlands-like faces and screwed it up.
– No way to unlearn powers if you decide to respec yourself.
– The powers system feels lacking in new abilities. Wish they added more.
– Only one upgrade option with powers?
I really, really like this game so far. Get it. Now. You won’t be sorry.