Dishonored nailed a neat trick: If every game dev stops innovating immediately after you release an innovative game, your game will always be considered highly innovative.
I think I’m the only person who played through the entire game and didn’t like it. Yes, yes, I should probably have quit but I’m a bit of an optimist and hoped it would get better.
It felt to me like the game really didn’t want me to kill anyone. However it had any number of fun ways to kill people and then scolded me when I was naughty enough to (gasp) use them!
Also the rats were bizarrely low poly compared to everything else. Odd gripe, perhaps, but given how crucial they are to the setting it felt strangely shit.
It was unfortunately a product of its time where moral systems ultimately amounted to binary good guy/bad guy outcomes which was the style at the time. The system was designed to make you want to play it twice. If you’re used to the more modern moral ambiguity in today’s RPGs I don’t think anyone can blame you for disliking it.
I grew up playing Fallout 1/2, Deus Ex, stuff like that. Dishonored framed its morality system as “chaos” rather than good vs. bad but ultimately I had characters complaining about my methods. You brought in someone to specifically be an assassin and then you’re outraged that he kills people? I shot the damn traiterous boatman in the head at the end of the game.
IIRC you still get the low-chaos ending if you only kill the targets. It’s just by going wild and killing everyone that you get high-chaos, and I think this fits in the moral framing of the game.
I do agree with your gripe that D1 gives you a lot of fun ways to kill people and challenges you not to use them, while at the same time giving you very little nonlethal tools. They addressed this well in the sequel IMO, but I did also love the challenge and the temptation knowing that these enemies would be so easy to defeat with a rat swarm but I just shouldn’t. Like I said, keeps with the moral framing about the slippery slope of mindless revenge IMO
I’m reminded of a show I was watching and lampshading. One of the characters is exhausting to watch and the other characters comment on how much the character sucks. That’s great an’ all but I’m still stuck watching this character suck. Commenting on it doesn’t make it go away.
Similarly I could not use the tools the game gives me but they’re there for me to use. If I’m not supposed to use them then I might as well instead play something that wants me to play it!
Dishonored (1) is my favorite game of all time. I’ve put in so many hours across every console I’ve owned since it came out in 2012. Some of the best DLC story expansions of all time, too. Glad to see it still getting some love and mourning the fact that we’ll never get another game.
Ive played a lot of similar games and other games since it came out. I still think about this game.
Raphael Colantonio, the creative mind behind Dishonored, has started a new studio! Here’s an article about their next game
Wow that looks like a blast. I just finished my ~fifth playthrough of Bioshock: Infinite last week and that game looks like it would slot in right beside that. Thanks for sharing!
When I played the Dishonored series I had massive Thief vibes, I loved it! I looted everything and I killed no one, and it felt like good old times.
Reminds me, time to play them again!
That game is insane. Like, I played the game with a non-legal route because of the good ending and stuff. But after I finished the game, I wondered how other people played this game, and holy shit, we are playing different games lol. This game is very gorey I don’t even know it’s part of the core gameplay lol
Dude it’s a blast. When they came out I played through each Dishonored once slowly, methodically, and non-lethal. Then immediately started over and hauled ass just slaughtering anything that got in my way. Both ways are valid and so much fun!
I’ll honestly never understand the appeal of non-lethal playthroughs.
Yeah, it barely takes more skill and you can brag to your friends or whatever, but a huge appeal of violent games is actually killing people.
This isn’t just a violent game. It’s an immersive sim. The fun comes from the many different ways you can handle a level. Even in ways unintended to the developer. Not every game is Gears of War.
This isn’t just a violent game.
😂
I mean, it really isn’t though. You can totally play it that way, yeah, but that’s only one option. The story reacts to how you play and the decisions you make. I find the low chaos (less or non-lethal) ending to be my favorite. Also canonically Corvo isn’t a raving lunatic murderer, so if you’re looking for the “True” story experience that’s the way to go. He still kills some people, notably the Lord Regent, but spares others.
In Dishonored’s case, going all murderhobo gives you a bad ending, so there’s that too.
To some the increased challenge is worth more than triggering kill animations
The Thief vibes were stellar in Dishonored, I liked it more than Dishonored 2 to be honest! Dishonored had the right amount of stealthy gameplay, places you could hide easily without too much issue. I succeeded most levels as a ghost or with few kills, solid stealth gameplay!
Damn, I should really go back and play this. Bet it runs great on Steam Deck too!
That’s a great idea. Lemme add that to the queue. Right after I finish Hades 2 and baldur’s gate, and expedition 33 and…
Hey, those are on my list too!
I consider this game a classic
Weird stupid pedantic gripe but the way the headline is written is confusing. Isn’t it only possible “years later” that anything even could be considered a classic?
Dishonored is my favorite video game series of all time! I play that thing every year, lol. Love the stealth challenges and all the ways you can approach things. I really enjoy the sequels too, and this year I’ve finally gotten into the books. Fantastic game. Also they leaned heavy into the style, so 13 years later it still looks decent. Not nearly as aged-looking as “realistic” graphics from that time. Those still look decent too, all things considered. But stylized graphics tend to fit their current limitations better than pushing for realism.
THERE ARE BOOKS!?
And a few comics!
Novels
Dishonored: The Corroded Man
This takes place about a year before Dishonored 2, and POV characters include Emily and Corvo. I really liked this one. Especially how it expanded on the relationship between Corvo and Emily. Some neat character insights too. Emily is canonically a beefcake.Dishonored: The Return of Daud
This one follows Daud during the events of Dishonored 2 as he looks for the Twin-bladed Knife. Really cool concept that is once again brought down by Daud and his Daud-ness. “Woe is me, I killed the empress! Who can I push this blame upon to heal the hole in my black heart?!”. I’m making my way through though. It does show a bit more of Gristol that is outside of Dunwall.Dishonored: The Veiled Terror
I haven’t gotten here yet. It follows Billy Lurk after Death of the Outsider, and how she deals with the consequences of the ending of that game.Comics
I have not read these at all yet, and they may be hard to find.
Dishonored: The Wyrmwood Deciet
Dishonored: The Peeress and the Price
There may be more, but those are the only ones I’ve heard of.
My poor bookshelf…
