The Steam Files #D.1: Dishonored

Developer: Arkane Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Release Date: 12 October 2012 (Steam)

Dishonored was an interesting purchase for me. I'd ignored most of the hype and indeed most of the reviews (including PC Gamer's, sadly) which meant I wasn't as excited by the game as some were. I guess it was probably Totalbiscuit's WTF review and a little bit of impulse buying that lead me to pick this game up.

Whaling is big business in Dunwall.

So, Dishonored is a game set in a Victorianesque steampunk universe, with the vast majority of the action taking place in the capital city of Dunwall, which is also a major whaling city. You play as the character Corvo, a Freeman-esque mute protagonist charged with protecting the Empress. The prologue to the game is quite simple, establishing the watercolour art style and the Victorian Britain sides of steampunk with the large Victorian-style buildings and the guardsmen walking around in helmets resembling those of British police officers in a very dark blue uniform.
Aside from the art style it obviously also introduces the plot, which starts with the assassination of the Empress you are supposed to protect, along with the kidnapping of her daughter and heir. Without spoiling any more, it suffices to say that the player, who isn't responsible for the death, is captured and accused of her assassination.

You'll meet all the named characters in this section again. Except the Empress.

This leads on to a fairly straightforward tutorial segment that involves Corvo escaping from prison and eventually escaping through sewers and away by boat to meet up with a group of 'Loyalists' seeking to return the Empress' daughter to the throne. I'll leave it there in terms of the plot, as I don't want to spoil it for those that (still) haven't played it.

The tools at your disposal are quite interesting and varied. Your main weapon throughout the game will be a folding shortsword (although for parts of the game it'll be static, where you've been relieved of your fancy gear) with a variety of secondary weapons and abilities to choose from. The steampunk style is carried over quite realistically to the equipment, with the sword looking more intricate than necessary in particular. You'll also gain access to a pistol, which you'll only use when you're in trouble because of its shockingly bad range and being loud enough to attract any guard within a significant portion of whatever area you happen to be in. More usefully, you gain access to a crossbow with three types of ammunition. The absurdly rare sleeping bolt is your only ranged non-lethal attack in the game, and as far as I know the only way to non-lethally take down an alerted foe. The standard bolt is very accurate with a bit of drop over range, useful for causing distractions, smashing one of those strategically placed explosive whale oil canisters, or removing those annoying propaganda speakers from their tethers. I wouldn't use them against an enemy, because they do a lot less damage than a well aimed bullet if you miss their head (or they have a helmet). Finally, you have the incendiary bolt. I learned the other night playing the game that these bolts are actually quite handy for one purpose. Enemies that are on fire will tend to stop attacking you whilst they try to put themselves out. Which is helpful if you're perilously prancing along a ledge dodging grenades.

After the crossbow, you have a few other tools. The springrazor, for instance, is a proximity mine. It's also not especially satisfying to use compared to sneaking up on enemies and slitting their throats, but if you need to draw enemies away whilst you move, putting it next to a patrol path makes a very neat distraction. You also have the grenade, which is very powerful for more violent playthroughs, but obviously less easy to come across. As you may imagine these grenades can also be cooked to time the landing with the arrival of a large patrol, for instance. Finally (if recollection recalls), you have the rewire tool, by far one of the most useful and amusing tools in the game. Attaching one of these puppies to a security device will turn it against the enemy. This has the effect of disabling alarms, but more amusing makes Walls of Lights (like a pain-field, if that pain-field was insta-death), Arc Pylons (like Tesla coils, only significantly more pissed off), and Watchtowers (big rotating things with searchlights that'll fire explosive arrows at you using a repeater if it spots you.) against your enemies, leaving you intact. This works best when the enemy is blissfully unaware of the change of security, and often leads to much confusion, as there's no-one to blame!

So, leaving tools behind, Corvo is also granted access (via upgrades, no less) to supernatural abilities courtesy of 'The Outsider', a rather pagan/Wiccan-esque deity who appears in embodied form to the player (and by the Outsider's inference to others as well, although there's no real proof of that in the game). I won't go through the whole list, as there are quite a few, but all of these abilities can be acquired and upgraded by acquiring runes (usually hidden) throughout missions and have two levels.
The principle skill you'll be acquainted with is Blink, which is a short-range line-of-sight 'teleport'. The game itself suggests that it isn't actually a 'true' teleport but simply a means in which you travel fast enough to cross certain distances without interaction with such forces as gravity, and arrive almost instantaneously. This prevents what would otherwise be a rather game-breaking ability (not to mention technically difficult) to teleport through and behind solid objects, such as wire fences or open-back staircases. A few of the other abilities are quite fun, such as Devouring Swarm, which summons plague rats that attack the nearest unfortunate being. Possession is fun, especially when levelled up to control humans, but increases vulnerability when possessing critters, as you die if they die. Finally, Bend Time is always useful when used correctly. At the higher level you can stop time for longer, and no doubt you can use your new lease of time to amusingly implicate someone in their own murder.

So, overall this game is a massive hit for me, and I'm taking a more care-free approach this time to uncover the second ending (the first ending is given if you minimise casualties and help civilians). I did struggle at times with the limited non-lethal options available, which made some sections near impossible without murdering people. The only other downside is that the game is quite short, and didn't fully explore the depth of Dunwall's lore. Obviously that leaves room for expansion packs and DLC and possibly, but I hope doing it this way hasn't compromised the storyline in the long run, as the story behind Dunwall and the characters is part of the charm.

My final conclusion is that you should definitely buy this game, if you haven't already done so. Yes, that means right now.

PS: Images may be a tad bit lacking, but I realised that the longer I spent playing the game trying to get more screenshots, the less writing was getting done. I may add some at a later date.

PPS: Given that Arkane have claimed their protagonist's silent demeanour to be greater than that of the legendary Gordon Freeman, I feel somewhat obliged to examine that at a later date, so keep an eye out for that.