A party to remember

Corvo crashes Lady Boyle’s final soiree in Dishonored

DFORMAT PS3, PS4 / PUB BETHESDA SOFTWORKS / DEV ARKANE STUDIOS / RELEASED 2012 / SCORE 9/10 unwall might be a city in the grip of a rat-borne plague, but that won’t stop the rich from living it up safe behind their estate walls while a stone’s throw away the homeless lie dying. This particular masquerade is thrown by the aristocratic Boyles, and on Corvo Attano’s quest to avenge the murder of his Empress he needs to take one of the three sisters out. The problem? They’re all dressed identically, with only their costumes in different colours.

Getting in is the easy part: it’s a masquerade, and so you’re able to waltz right in, still wearing your assassin’s mask, as everyone thinks you’re dressed up as the silent killer ironically. But killing the correct person is going to be your, ahem, party trick. Guests have been challenged to discern which Lady Boyle is which. As the Lady Boyles mingle you can talk to guests for hints, or sneak up to the higher floors (guarded by security) and into bedrooms where you can rifle through diaries to find the identity of your mark. The colour of the true one is assigned at random each time you play, so you can’t take shortcuts.

That is, unless you take them all out to complete the aptly named “process of elimination” objective. Whether you puzzle out the correct Lady Boyle, or find a way to go on a killing spree without being torn apart by guards before making your escape, this shindig of masks and secrets pulls together everything you’ve been doing in the game at this point. The party is genuinely lively and oozing tension and, as is Dishonored’s way, it’s up to you to decide just how you’re going to take out your target

(while chomping down all their finger food, of course).