QCF: Dishonored

Steampunk is a fantasy setting often overlooked by videogames and other media. Aesthetically, steampunk is one of my favorite settings and I was more than happy to jump head first into Arcane Studios new stealth action title Dishonored to see what cool gadgets and gizmos the world would come up with to help me assassinate the Lord Reagent and his fellow cohorts who murdered my Empress and left me to take the blame.

The best part about Dishonored would have to be the world of Dunwall itself. This post-Victorian early industrial revolutionary world is a sight to behold, along the way the world focuses on whales as the backbone of its economy and in some ways its religion. The world of Dishonored is one of the best realized worlds to come out of Bethesda in quite some time. The game is also visually impressive, especially on top of the fact that it’s running on the Unreal 3 engine. Some people may find the exaggerated physical features of Dunwall’s inhabitants distracting, but I love this game's aesthetic.

Throughout Dishonored’s nine or so levels you can choose to approach any of the objectives in any way you see fit. Each level is set up like a large multi-zoned world with side quests to perform and collectibles to find, but you can choose to attack the objectives in any way you see fit. Whether it be charging in and slaughtering all the guards, possessing a fish and swimming up a drainage pipe, or summoning a swarm of rats to devour your enemies while you hide in the shadows. All these different ways and methods allow Dishonored’s linear level based set up to play out in a multitude of different ways.

Luckily, the game controls well; all sword and melee attacks are set up on the right bumper and trigger, with gadgets and powers set to the left. The d-pad is set up for quick selection of your most used powers and gadgets, though I do think they could have used the face buttons more to help you spread the large amount of gadgets and abilities across more than just four quick slots. With only four slots and around 12 gadgets, weapons and abilities, you will most likely move in and out of the quick select menu often.

There are a few issues with the way the HUD gives you information. For a stealth game, it is very inconsistent about when a guard will see you or not. In one level a guard was five feet away and I darted between cover unnoticed while, during another level, the guard 20 feet away that just turned around saw me. What I’m saying is that the guard’s sight lines are very inconsistent. Also, the game claims that you can run in guns blazing to complete a level, though I don’t think that’s what the developers want you to do. Even with all of the weapon unlocks I would still be hard pressed to come out alive versus two guards and more times than not you will be facing four or five. You know, because gunshots and colliding steel is a nice way to announce your presence at the bad guys headquarters.

The game tries pushing you towards stealth but it's, at best, a mixture of stealth and action. Stealth systems are not perfect and the combat has its trouble keeping up with multiple enemies. But as a combo with the weapons and powers the game is still a blast to play, and really that’s all that’s important.

Though the world is full of interesting lore, don’t expect this to be a groundbreaking narrative experience. It takes a lot of queues from both Bioshock and Half-Life to tell its story, but this is not the story of Dunwall. This is first and foremost main protagonist Corvo’s Story. Very little is explained about the world except by books laying around, and the new things I discovered about Dunwall just left me asking more questions. Not to say that this is a bad thing -- the narrative hits the normal revenge tale beats and really ramps up, but then suddenly ends, which just left me wanting more.

What I believe Dishonored to be is a solid start to a great franchise. The world is interesting and unique, though nothing in this game is particularly groundbreaking, the fact that I was just left wanting more than the ten or so hours it took for me to reach the end is both good and bad. While the game ended too quickly for my tastes, the fact that I’m already stoked to see what else they go and do in this world is exciting. With all the great games to hit this year it may not be the best, but it is pretty damn good.