DISHONORED 2
Sneak and destroy
A GAME WITH a distinctive art style is a rarity in these days of potato-faced motion capture, and Dishonored has always been so very distinctive. Snarling frowns and raddled complexions stare out at you from every NPC, while the architecture you scurry across is as much a part of the game as the thin faces of the main characters.
For this sequel, Arkane is offering a choice. You can have more of the same, in a game full of references to things that have gone before in the first title and its DLC. Choosing to play as returning royal protector Corvo opens this up, his suite of powers familiar, but now able to be upgraded beyond anything the previous game offered.
A different way of playing is offered by Emily, Corvo’s daughter and a deposed empress, sculpted more for ranged combat and the manipulation of foes, eventually unlocking the powerful Domino ability that chains the fates of enemies together. Setting one on fire burns them all; an executioner can be linked to his victim, and lose his own head. Take that idea and have some cruel fun with it, especially if you then throw a doppelgänger of yourself, created with another of Emily’s abilities, into the mix.
It’s playing as Emily that sees Dishonored 2 come into its own. There’s only one path, no matter which character you choose, and entire ideas and ways of playing are dreamed up for one level only, then discarded to make way for something else. While Corvo can still ghost his way through as if he was never there, there’s something about his gruff delivery and heavy swordfighting that doesn’t sit right. Emily, able to stand off, observe, and affect happenings from a distance, is a better fit for the game.
Instead of differing missions, Dishonored 2 offers differing ways to play. Stealth may be better rewarded, and feel like the “correct” approach, but slashing your way through is just as valid. You just might not get such an exultant ending.
The rules are not left unbroken, though. An entire sequence that runs on clockwork could be a metaphor for the game itself, as guards follow their patrol paths and you pull levers to transform it, if it weren’t for the way NPCs surprise you. Save a civilian from a guard, and he might go running for more soldiers, rather than spare a word of thanks.
The new city of Karnaca deserves praise. The product of an on-team architect at Arkane, it offers a sunnier alternative to the smoky Dunwall, and shows off the abilities of the Void Engine, powered by idTech.
Dishonored2 is imaginative and beguiling in a landscape that features the Hitman DLCfest. It’s different and fresh, a perfect foil to the man-with-gun homogeneity of modern games, and deserves to be celebrated as one of gaming’s true originals.