Following the recent unveiling of DEATHLOOP Arkane Lyon, I felt that a return to Dishonored was on the cards. A few things struck me, but foremost was just how well the prison break that opens the game proper lays out some aspects of the playstyles on offer, and alerts you to the type of world you will encounter outside the walls of Coldridge Prison.
It was only at the beginning of September that I finally finished Dishonored 2, and now I have finished Death of the Outsider, the expandalone title which serves as a fitting post-script to the Corvo/Emily Kaldwin arc of the Dishonored story. Corvo and Emily have been the duo at the heart of the series from the start, while Daud and Billie Lurk have spread their wings in the expansions to the base games. With Dishonored 2 putting Corvo and Emily’s story to bed, Death of the Outsider ends the story of Daud and Billie, and the unifying factor to everything, the mysterious Outsider gets his final swansong. …
It’s New Year’s Eve, and about time that I finished my series of entries in Our Year in Games. Through the first two parts of my chatter, I covered games from the last couple of years that I had spent quite some time playing this year, while in Part Three I covered three highlights from games released this year. Now, I have three further games released in 2016 that I want to talk about. Hit the break dear reader for musings on Battlefield 1, Hearts of Iron IV and Dishonored 2. …
It seems like most of the big reveals took place before the actual E3 event this year. The new Doom had a (tiny) trailer, XCOM 2 was revealed and so was Fallout 4. Then there was the case of Dishonored 2 which was accidentally revealed during a Twitch stream before E3 kicked off. My thoughts on Dishonored 2? Hit the break. …
The tale of Corvo and Daud that started in the opening act of Dishonored with the murder of the Empress comes to a close in The Brigmore Witches. The tale that has been told has been one of my favourite gaming experiences of recent years, and the world one of the richest. This is my Verdict on the last piece of DLC, The Brigmore Witches.
At the end of Corvo’s story I was eager to see more of the city of Dunwall and its surrounding locations. The Knife of Dunwall, the first part of Daud’s tale started off with two excellent levels but sadly fell flat with the final mission in the Flooded District. But with Daud, excellently voiced by Michael Madsen, returning to hunt down the leader of the witches coven, Delilah Copperspoon, The Brigmore Witches Blinks past the Flooded District taking place in some wonderful new locations.
It doesn’t entirely skip the Flooded District though, you start the final chapter in the Dishonored story in Daud’s base talking to your Lieutenant’s about how you are going to find a way past the city limits of Dunwall to Brigmore Manor. This opening scene neatly recaps where you left things in The Knife and sets the wheels in motion for the culmination of Daud’s dealings with The Outsider, Corvo and Delilah.
You can carry over any of your unlocks and upgrades from The Knife which lets you seamlessly slip back into Daud’s skin. You will need your wits about you as you return to Coldridge Prison, the scene of Corvo’s brilliant prison escape in the beginning of the core game. As you move through the prison trying to find Lizzie, the leader of the Hatters who has a ship to get you out of Dunwall, you see how the prison has changed since Corvo’s escape.
Guards are ever present, with those who are accused of aiding Corvo’s escape being executed on trumped up charges in the court yard and use of Sokolov’s electric pylons posing a daunting challenge. As ever you can approach the levels as you wish, I stuck with my attempts at keeping things quiet (helped by the wonderful quick save and load system saving my bacon a few times) as I explored the passages and yards first seen last year.
It is nice to return to a well crafted location from the original game yet the prison merely serves as a warm-up for the main course which comes in the second mission. It takes place during a bitter war between the Hatters and Dead Eels as you work your way through a myriad of locations towards your ultimate goal of getting access to Lizzie’s boat. I explored four distinct areas within this one level, though I am sure that the more aggressive players would manage it with only three areas.
This second mission in The Brigmore Witches is one of the finest examples of what Dishonored does best, provide wonderful environments for you to explore as much, or as little as you want. There are so many inconsequential story-lines that unfold in this mission that are great to listen to and appreciate.
The final level is brilliantly crafted as well, though I did rush through it a bit as the clock got ever closer to 1am when I was playing it. I’m sure there are great swathes of detail I missed, but what I saw was thoroughly enjoyable with a well struck ending. Low chaos after all.
If you haven’t picked up the DLC for Dishonored yet, do it now, it starts well with The Knife and reaches a perfect finale in The Brigmore Witches.
Verdict – Headshot
Platforms Available – PC, 360, PS3
Platform Reviewed – PC
Review based on Steam purchased copy. For more on our scoring system, please check this post.
It is time for more of Our Week in Games as the football transfer window approaches last orders, the kids get ready to go back to school and the end of year big hitting games get ever closer to launch. That’s right, we are now in September, a month where we will see Rome II and Grand Theft Auto V launch. You can see the latest GTA trailer after the break before we get down to business. …
The question that I am left wondering after completing The Knife of Dunwall, the first story based DLC for Dishonored is as follows. Is it worth you spending £7.99 to go back to the city of Dunwall for three missions? I’ll try my best to answer that question in this Verdict. Don’t even think about reading this unless you have finished Dishonored. …
Lo and behold, not 24 hours after Bethesda released this picture, they’ve popped up again to officially announce Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall.
This afternoon, Bethesda dropped a rather stealthy looking screenshot on its official Twitter account. Fans of Dishonored will find the surroundings somewhat familiar, as in the background Dishonored‘s protagonist Corvo converses with Empress Kaldwin, moments before her rather unexpected and stabby demise.
Dishonored is quite something, Chris loved it when he delivered his Verdict, but as one of the biggest titles of the year, and perhaps the biggest original IP of the year, it deserves to have more than just the one voice talking about it. After the break, you will find thoughts from a few of us here at Reticule Towers, enjoy. …