Dishonored Kinda Disappoints

“Dishonored” is in no way a bad game, but that isn’t quite the same as being a game I like. I admire Bethesda for trying out a brand new IP, and I admire them even more for seeing that IP through with such polish, but what comes out the other end has a few problems that hold it back. Let’s get into why.

First of all, in the post-“Mark of the Ninja” world, I pity the fool who makes a stealth game. But even setting those high standards aside, not all the stealth works. First of all, hiding behind objects is central to the game, but the peeking-out mechanic is slippery at best and it’s often hard to tell when you’re exposed and when you’re not. Furthermore, even though the game gives you vision cones for your enemies (if you acquire that power), they’re very hard to see since they’re colored the exact same shade of piss-yellow as the enemies themselves. The fact that I can barely tell when a cone is pointed towards or away from me is a serious problem.

The placement of bad guys is also kind of headache-inducing. These guys are laid out like chess pieces, they have a supernatural ability to be looking exactly where you need to go at all times. I know stealth games require careful level design, but I just felt Arkane’s hand so heavily at all times that it got in the way of navigating my own course through the level. The result is one of the stealth genre’s most infamous failings: trial-and-error progression. A save anywhere feature is present (thank God), but its presence is a grim reminder that you’ll be using it as much as any of your special powers to get through this damned game.

More broadly speaking, I found the game’s morality system irritating. I’m all for open-ended gameplay, but the fact that killing targets results in more rats and a darker ending is just obnoxious. When I’m punished for one style of play, it doesn’t feel like you’re really leaving it up to me. If I can’t kill people, why do you make me carry a sweet knife around everywhere and teach me all these cool assassinations? “Bioshock” wisely relegated such morality decisions to Little Sisters, letting you take the high road at the expense of a little extra loot that evil might have netted you. “Dishonored” literally forces you to carry a knife you can’t ever use, and even pauses the game to teach you moves you better not ever actually do. That kind of bait-and-switching design made me feel restricted and got in the way of me having fun. (It should be noted that “Mark of the Ninja” also kind of did this, but since it was a score-per-level system, the player could more easily ignore it and simply play how they want to. Besides, the game allowed you don a stealth suit and get rid of your sword).

Another game I admired made this mistake: “Mirror’s Edge.” Like Arkane, DICE miscalculated how their design decisions would be perceived by the player. By even offering the achievement for a no-kill run through the campaign, they made a statement about how the game should be played. As a result, everyone insisted on playing that way, which made the game too hard. They later admitted this reaction was not their intention, and I think Arkane will find themselves in a similar position. The only choice I’m really being given by “Dishonored” is whether or not to play it the right way. Is that a choice anyone gets excited about?

Also, the storytelling leaves a lot to be desired. The world feels like a hodgepodge of too many different ideas, it’s almost like walking through an artist’s scrapbook. The presence of motor boats and bowler hats, among many other things, felt totally wrong to me. The dialog and basic story aren’t terrible, but they don’t hold a candle to the rich narratives and incredible sense of place that permeated “Thief” or “Bioshock,” which are “Dishonored’s” most obvious homage points. And while I know this is nit-picky, the graphics try to squeak by with very low polygon counts and not much texture work, and for me it didn’t pass. The game ends up neither fish nor fowl, stuck in some uncanny valley between cartoony and realistic. They should have just committed to one or the other.

Despite all of this, “Dishonored” is far from a bad game. The powers you can acquire are a lot of fun to use, the Rune upgrade system is inspired, the side quests work great and (much to my chagrin) killing people in the game is quite satisfying, whether it’s with a knife or a gun. It’s just that this is all weighed down by restrictive design choices. “Dishonored” is highly competent, but lacks excitement. It’s always functional, but it isn’t always much fun.

_AA

until the quiet comes