Platform: Xbox 360 

Developer: Arkane Studios

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Release Date (NA): October 9th, 2012

Genre: Action-Adventure, Stealth

Nerd Rating: 7 out of 10

Reviewed by Rhutsczar

Dishonored does feature downloadable content titled Knife of Dunwall. This will be reviewed at a later date.

Set in the plague-ravaged city of Dunwall, Dishonored follows the story of Corvo Attano, the last bodyguard to Empress Jessamine Kaldwin. Framed for her murder and the abduction of her daughter, Emily, Corvo is falsely imprisoned by the Empress’ Royal Spymaster and usurper, Hiram Burrows.

Six months later, on the eve of his execution, Corvo escapes confinement with the help of a shadowy group of loyalists who seek to eliminate those involved in the assassination of the Empress and restore Emily to the throne. He is further assisted by an enigmatic god called The Outsider, who grants him supernatural abilities for reasons equally mysterious.

Corvo takes on the role of fearful and infamous assassin as he pursues members of the coup one by one – but whether he is out for justice or revenge is another question. Dishonored features multiple endings which are contingent on Corvo’s actions and decisions throughout the course of the game.

Dishonored is an incredibly fun game, and while I don’t typically play games in the stealth genre, as I usually prefer something in the run ‘n’ gun genre, this game gave me a new experience I had never encountered before. Dishonored reminded me quite a bit of Assassin’s Creed, except in a first person perspective. One of the coolest features of Dishonored are the many in-game options that assist in your completion of your objectives. There are very few (if any) hindrances for the player to complete their goals. Dishonored is one of very few games that does this as well as it does.

One of the biggest pluses for me was the fighting mechanics. I remember playing classic stealth games such as Splinter Cell or Syphon Filter and recall a time when being discovered meant getting a game over. In Dishonored I was able to link combos with sword/gun/crossbow/magic to kill all my enemies. I always felt that pro-stealth games wanted you to run away and retreat to a safer location to regroup. Nay, this is not the case. Dishonored gives you the tools to fight back, to end your enemies. You just wont be rewarded the same way.

As I progressed further into the game, I discovered that Dishonored has a rating for the “chaos” in the world. The chaos level (high, medium, or low) changes enemy placement as well as events throughout the story. I am the kind of gamer that would kill often and sneak only when necessary. Unfortunately this resulted in a high chaos rating by the end of the game, so I’m trying to play through the game again to get that low chaos rate. In order to achieve the low chaos rate you have to kill less than 20% of the enemies on each individual level. That is the sheer epitome of stealth.

I can’t finish this review without talking about Dishonored’s art style. The locations, characters, and graphics are all perfect examples of how looks can definitely change someone’s outlook on a game. I initially didn’t like the animation, I felt that it took away from the overall theme and stylistic elements of the game. The more I played through, the farther I fought, the more the animation blended with all of the other visual element into the background. I just have to put this out there, the game definitely looks good and made for some impressive visuals while playing through an addicting game.

Overall, Dishonored is a very fun game to just take my mind off of things and kill some time. The fighting and stealth mechanics made the game actually a joy to play. I would definitely recommend this game for any “stealth” player, and I would also recommend any of the games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. If you want to check out another’s opinion on the game, take a gander at long time Nerd Bacon author Dovahkyle‘s review of Dishonored for PC.