Dishonored

A piece of art, this game has an amazing story, and multiple paths, so you can choose who you want to be, this is no doubt the best stealth game ever made, with amazing map design that adds ledges and vents for maximum stealth, to amazing combat systems that make you feel powerful, this game is very immersive, and you'll probably get sidetracked on it, this game also includes special abilities such as stopping time and teleporting, and yes it has zombies too.

I've already covered that one of my favorite subgenres of video games are metroidvanias. Mostly, I love when games feel immersive. Shooters are fun, sure, but killing everything in your way until you get to the next cinematic bit is only thrilling for so long. Some third-person (and a few first-person) shooters have even implemented some platforming bits, puzzle bits and role-playing (RPG) elements to keep the gameplay fresh, but nothing compares to another favorite genre of mine, the immersive sim. What is an immersive sim? The antithesis to RPGs, which allows you to define who you are as a character, immersive sims have clearly defined characters with clearly defined motivations. It's how you play the game in which the distinction between the two is apparent. To put it simply, the developers provide you a playground, a target objective (most commonly killing someone or stealing something), and hundreds of tools to accomplish the objective in whichever manner you see fit. Stealthy? Perfectly fine. Guns blazing? Knock yourself out. The developers are even fine with you ignoring the target objective all together and coming up with something entirely different (like sparing a target's life). Dishonored, like immersive sims before it, drops you into world rich with history and story to be uncovered (or ignored) around every corner. From the start, I could see why the developers, Arkane Studios, have received so much praise. Every inch of this game feels worth exploring, like a mystery I must solve, from trying to find ancient runes tucked just out of reach, locked doors with only a keyhole teasing what might be inside and collectibles scattered everywhere. I constantly found myself distracted and wandering off the beaten path. Then there's the gameplay. It's so much fun zipping around the city using the "blink" (teleport) ability, finding high perches to plan my route or crawling through the rat-infestated tunnels to avoid enemy patrols ('cause frankly, I **** at combat). Plus, unlike other games, your decisions actually matter and the game reacts to how to play. Like to go in and kill everyone? Cool. The bad guys will start wearing thicker armor. Did you chose to off people instead of sparing them? Fine. The next playthrough will have double the enemies. Did you side with the one character instead of the other? Well, now there's an entire area of the city that's hostile towards you. Oh, and that blink ability I loved so much, now there were bad guys that hated me for exposing their magic to the world. Immersion is what makes a game fun. A game that asks you to feel more invested and responds to that investment gives the biggest payoff in the end. Plus, my playthrough was unique to me, and that feels special.

Perhaps I've played too many games, and genres of games but this game disappointed me. I certainly won't say it's a bad game but I just didn't find it all that fun. Mostly this is a stealth based game and after playing Shadow Tactics I would say that their top down camera angle by far is my preference for similar conceptual gameplay. I found the stealth in this game disjointed compared to that one. Similarly I found better shooting elements in other games. I also found better emotional story in other games I've played too and this game did little to make me feel immersed as Corvo. This game is a good blend of many genres and I do feel it is a decent game but from my perspective the sum of its parts kinda waters down what I like most about specific genres and in this hybrid game I really felt bland playing it.

I know a large number of people enjoyed this game but I found it tiresome. While the game is sold on having deep and meaningful consequences dependant on which route you choose to take, I don't feel that's a fair description. The story is thin and the changes compared to your actions made are minimal. Also, being told that you can fight or stealth is a bit far fetched also, I found the combat clunky and the selection of weapons unimaginative. I was looking forward to a Stealth game as I love Metal Gear Solid but this was disappointing. I'm not sure where the comparisons to Bioshock are made either? The final problem I've got is the enemy AI. At one point on a No Kill run in the final level. A guard sat at the top of the stairs, not moving. Even throwing bottles behind him didn't move him. In the end I managed to get past him but it was ridiculous. The AI wasn't great all in all.

After one playthrough of this game I was done and although there were certainly things I liked about it, those did not change the fact that I wanted to get done with it AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. Why? Well the best answer is that the story was AWFUL. For starters, the player character is voiceless. Just imagine playing as Joel in the Last Of Us never hearing his voice and never seeing his face. I mean, there’s a reason why developers who want to tell a meaningful, convincing story use cutscenes and dialogue. As it is the feeling of being involved in this world is next to zero, you will simply be following orders in a paint-by-numbers plot. I guess that would be reason #2 why the story ****. Choices are also meaningless in this game. Unique NPC’s that you choose to spare have no bearing on the story. Nope. It’s the myriad thugs and guards that, should you choose to kill, make a difference which makes one wonder why there are so many lethal options in the game. So what happens is the little girl will become more morose and say “Kill anybody today?” as though you were a bad guy, and then, all of a sudden your boat driver on the last stage will act angry with you and alert the guards. Did I miss something? Did I play the game with malintent or was I simply playing how I wanted to? It’s a judgment of the player’s playstyle, nothing more. However, simply youtubeing the good guy ending revealed that they didn't plan two drastically different and rewarding ending cutscenes, just the same voiceover lameness that seems to pass for “multiple endings” these days. I did love the art style and the swordplay mechanics, though.