Dishonored
Producer: Bethesda Softworks
Release Date: October 9, 2012
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Rating: Mature
Genre: Action/Adventure
Keeping the Honor
Written by Josh Schilling
What is this? Is it a heavily hyped game that doesn’t have a 2, 3 or XIII after the title? It is a good thing for us that Bethesda Softworks isn’t afraid to take the risk of backing an original title. With recent games such as Rage, Brink and Hunted: Demon Forge, Bethesda tries to create franchises and not just try to exploit them and Dishonored is their latest game that tries to establish a foothold in the highly competitive gaming world.
Dishonored is a first-person RPG action adventure game that takes place in a pseudo-Victorian world fueled by whale oil, and you assume the role of the main bodyguard of the Empress. You play a highly skilled warrior named Corvo who ends up getting dishonored (go figure) who then embarks on a dark journey of revenge and redemption. The game has elements of magic that allows you a great deal of maneuverability when it comes to dispatching your foes. The missions actually get a little bit grimmer if you choose to murder your enemies rather than a more selective approach. The many different methods you may choose to eliminate the opposition is one of the standout features of this game, and if you so choose to spill blood, the combination of magic and steel create some very interesting kills indeed.
The world in which this story takes place is a disease-ridden, sad place that is wonderfully interesting to experience. The overall art direction is among the best I have seen in a game, and the environment serves as a major character. The voice acting is also a major plus in this story, with such names as Susan Sarandon, Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Madsen, John Slattery, and Brad Dourif all lending their talents in enhancing the overall feel of the game. With these factors in place it would seem that this would be a “must buy,” but there were a couple of issues with this game that left me wishing for what could have been.
The overall story is way too easy and typical. I know I can’t expect a “would you kindly” twist in every title I play, but the foundation of this game is way too good to have such a bland outcome. I wanted the story to draw me deeper into this rich, dark world, but instead I was presented with a typical revenge story where the only curve was easily foreseen early on. The other problem I had was with the Fable-esque character modeling. For you PS3 fans, this includes figures in the game with humongous shoulders and hands, along with Jay Leno type heads, that do the same pose and arm movements every few seconds. This is not a completely horrible thing, but it pulled me out of the world and kept reminding me that this was just another video game.
In total, the game is fairly short, but there is a great deal of replay value in this single-player game. You can redo any of the missions if you want to try a different approach, you can try and gather the many different objects that are available to discover, or you can find out how creatively you can kill an enemy like stopping time right when he shoots at you, then possess him and then move him into the path of his own bullet. That variety of action in addition to the overall feel of the world could have made this a Game-of-the-Year candidate, but instead it is just a bit shy of the mark.