Review: Dishonored, Steampunk England Slathered In Whale Oil

Framed for a crime that he didn’t commit, Corvo Attano seeks vengeance against a usurper Lord Reagant that removed his Empress from life and power. The day before his execution, an unexpected resistance aids in Corvo’s escape, offering him a chance to strike back at his betrayer and claim vengeance. Developed by Bethesda and Arkane Studios for the PC, Playstation 3, and the Xbox 360, Dishonored is incredibly fun, immersive, and offers a new twist to the stealth genre, even if it’s a bit short. Playing through the levels as a stealthy steampunk ninja is challenging and fun, but sometimes the spoiled upper echelon needs a little less stealth and a few more exploding plague rats as a warm up to Corvo’s blade. It doesn’t really matter which way you approach the game, both work and both are a blast. All levels are sandboxes with open environments for players to explore, treasures to discover, secrets to unearth, and games to play.

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Dunwall is a rotten city, though only recently spoiled, and presents the perfect landscape and setting for players to stalk through. Each level is a joy to explore and chock-full of hidden passageways, small coinage, collectible trinkets, bone amulets, and questionable residents of the town. Tiny details slowly reveal how this city came crumbling apart. Vivid and blunt social stratification enriches the distinction between the town guard, employed by the aristocracy, and the hungry jobless proletariat scrambling to survive the brutality of their protectors, the rat plague, and the infected (zombies).

Aside from the standard peasant abuse, the inclusion of whale oil and other ridiculous technologies saturate the setting. Whale oil glows a phosphorescent pinkish color and somehow powers giant rotating turrets on security towers, disintegration force fields, and even Tesla coils. It is also explosive. These unfortunate sounding obstacles are the high-grade, whale-oil-powered subjugating war machines of the aristocracy. Even the peasant’s religious beliefs are under attack. A government inquisition purges all relics and occult markings of the Outsider, the deific being that grants Corvo Attano his supernatural powers.

This is why you don’t smoke whale oil.

The city and its residents share similarities as both are full of character and rich in design. Different NPCs ooze malevolence and others lecherous vices. The models themselves wonderfully reflect things like inner sadness, subtle guilt, rare happiness, and usually silent horror. Watch with glee as characters rub their faces in distress while their manual dexterity showcases the art style’s polished sheen.

Dishonored encourages exploration and creative (ab)use of unique powers to overcome any obstacles. Each of the levels are open environments that players sneak and/or stab their way through to complete the mission objective(s). Sure, Corvo handles his blade like a pro, but that doesn’t mean each opponent deserves an impromptu lobotomy; sometimes sneaking past and rewiring a disintegrating force field to then alert foolish guards on the opposite side is worth the effort and hilarious puffs of white ash.

Trading blade blows is as simple as pressing the parry button at the right moment and then closing in to deliver a brutal coup de grâce. Combat starts and ends quickly, though sometimes swords lock and a button mashing minigame throws back the loser completely open. Usually, only a stab or two to drops an enemy and parrying completely stuns an opponent, but taking on multiple enemies offers more of a challenge. Battling seven different gangbangers, two of which breathe fire, is possible, but difficult. That’s where the cheating —I mean, useful powers — comes into play.

Hey, aren’t you that guy? The one with the mask?

The abilities are, much like the rest of the game, designed to encourage and inspire creative solutions to the puzzle of the mission. Rats, if possessed, can crawl through small vents in the walls, but if players need to murder a person or two discreetly, they can also summon a swarm of plagued rats to devour the poor souls, body and all. It’s possible to slow/stop time to run past and rewire a Tesla coil before it shoots, teleport besides the guards, and blast them with a gust of air into a shocking and punishing death. Each ability has a mana cost, part of which regenerates. If abilities are used too quickly, mana quickly depletes, but a cautious and conservative use of supernatural powers sustains the mana bar almost indefinitely. A freaky metal/muscle beating heart displays locations of bone charms and runes. The bone charms offer small buffs, and the runes are used to upgrade powers. Slowing time is pretty neat, but isn’t outright stopping time even better?

Players use money to buy upgrades, like a magnification feature for Corvo’s mask or shoes that reduce the noise of sneaking. The shop also sells items like rewire kits, trip razor wire mines, ammo, sleeping darts, and even health and mana potions. Money is everywhere in the city; players need only look for it. At the end of each level, a screen displays stats from the level, like how many coins were collected out of the total in the level. No matter how hard you search, the total is always surprising. Just remember, robbing from the wealthy is never frowned upon.

Rats are a great distraction and a great way to  commit murder.

Slipping through the cracks of Dunwall to plunder its riches and punish the wicked inhabitants earns itself many gleeful hours; stabbing people in the face is morbidly (and unnervingly) addictive. Each of the hovels, or houses as the peasants call them, offer a wealth of knowledge and in-game currency. Dishonored has a rich, developed, and dynamic world. Stealing a mad scientist’s famous paintings is an excuse to build the world of the game and give the player money to spend. Eating food to regain health makes sense, especially when the food is interesting and appropriate like a can of whale fat. Dishonored shines in almost every way, but there’s one flaw: the plot is simple, predictable, and glaringly off note in the face of an otherwise symphonic harmony. I would have liked to see a longer game or even a new game plus to replay it with a bit of umph. However, the missions are an absolute blast, and the world is incredible and rich. Dishonored is definitely worth a play through, and then another.