Dishonoured 1 week review

So to kick off the new blog I've decided to go with a 1 week since launch review of the new action-stealth game, Dishonoured, designed by Arkane and published by Bethesda.

Dishonoured in a word, is awesome. It's been getting a lot of criticism from the elitists of the gaming world who are never satisfied by anything, but that doesn't mean it's not a good game. It's a game where sure, you can run and gun your way through the entire level and complete the game in little over 7 hours, if you really wanted to. Then again, most games are like that. When you play Dishonoured, it's much more exciting and worthwhile to treat it like the stealth game it is, the whole point is to not be seen or detected and that's the challenge. Exploring the map and scouting for small advantages consumes (in a good way) most of the game time. Not to mention the creative killing. The guard down on that bridge? You could either call in a swarm of rats to attack and eventually devour him, shoot him from afar with your crossbow (any weapon can be zoomed in the same due to the mask that you wear being able to zoom) or you could instantly teleport behind him and slit his throat.

The game also beckons for creative ways to get around the map, and past deadly obstacles such as the Walls of Light; which are checkpoints set in narrow streets that will turn anything besides the guards into dust if it passes through. This means bullets, rats, containers, apples, bottles, anything (which I thought was a neat little surprise). Rewire those Walls however, and they'll work the other way around.

As far as the technical aspects of the game go, such as graphics, sound and functionality, it runs pretty well and I've caught no major bugs yet so far. I have the game for the PC and it runs at 60fps at max settings and resolution. The visuals are nice, and have a nice style that reminds me of Brink and Fable combined. There are a lot of little sound effects and small noises to hear while in game as well. The replay ability is pretty good, considering I waited months for Borderlands 2 and after playing it a bit... Got bored.. and I'm probably halfway through Dishonoured and I'm excited to replay the game on Hard mode with my own rules thrown in. (I never want it to end, that's the problem) There aren't many notable stealth games these days and most people just think of the Thief series or Assassins Creed when you say "Stealth Game", but hopefully Dishonoured makes the list. Seeming to combine positive elements from Bioshock, Brink, Fable, Thief, and Assassins Creed in it's own unique way makes it a downright fun game to play.

That concludes my first post, and technically my first formal review so it'll probably be a little sloppy. Next I'll be reviewing Borderlands 2, and later on Skyrim's Hearthfire DLC as well as what I think of the new Trinity APUs by AMD.