Back in 2012 when Dishonored was released by Arkane Studios and Bethesda it surprised a lot of people. Up until this game came out Thief Deadly Shadows was the king of stealth action. Dishonored’s slick controls, deep story, open world, and it’s chaos meter were mind blowing. This game quickly took the top spot as best stealth action game of all time. Sorry Splinter Cell. We love you but we are just being honest.
Thief for next gens was released last year with much hype and fan anticipation…and then it came out. Thief was supposed to be the series taking over the mantle of stealth king, but instead we got a sub-par, bland and tedious game. Many fans considered Dishonored the unofficial sequel to Thief Deadly Shadows, but when Thief for the next gens came out most pretended it didn’t happen. We are still waiting for Dishonored 2 to save us.
Recently the current next gens played host to an upgraded version of the game that came with all of the DLC. It was dubbed the ‘Definitive Edition’ and for good reason. This game holds its own graphically with Thief and in most cases blows it out of the water in all of the other categories. Let’s jump in, shall we?
GRAPHICS
Not much to say here except that while it may hold its own with some lower end next gen consoles the graphics do feel a little dated. It still looks amazing and I can’t really fault it for being a last gen product. I waited and waited for this to come out on PS Now to stream so when I found it this was going to be a purchasable game I was ecstatic. Blinking, running, stabbing, and choking my through Dunwall will never get old. It’s a diverse and beautiful environment that you can appreciated each and every time you visit. One of the highlights is the Lady Boyle mission’s masquerade ball. It is beautiful, challenging, and just a blast to play. The atmosphere of this mission carries over in to the Golden Cat brothel where you rescue Emily. Those are just a few examples of the beauty of this game.
CONTROLS
The controls for this game are hard to criticize. One of the beefs I have with the game is the Blink distance. It isn’t that easy sometimes to see where your target is when you are preparing to Blink across large spaces. Swimming can be a chore if you aren’t familiar with the sensitivity it requires to hold your direction. Overall, this game is polished in this department well beyond the controls in Arkham Knight and definitely superior to Thief.
STORY
You are Corvo Attano, a bad ass bodyguard for the empress that gets framed for her murder and the kidnap of her daughter. It is your job to navigate through the tangled web of deceit and exact revenge before saving the girl.
Thief’s story is…well there’s this thief who…. That’s how I would tell you about the story of Thief. It’s forgettable and disappointing. Dishonored has so many sub plots and optional side missions that it’s hard to get bored. They all tie in to the main story line and thanks to the Chaos system used in the game it can be a different experience every time.
What is the chaos system? In Dunwall, if you kill instead of using non-lethal means you will increase the number of rats and carriers of the plague that is threatening the city. You will get a less than stellar ending but it can be satisfying taking revenge in violent fashion. Non-lethal resolutions to main missions are challenging, creative, and definitely rewarding. I would play through it once using non-lethal means and then murder everything in your path the second go around.
FINAL VERDICT
For fans of the game like me it is nice to be Corvo again, but newcomers to the series will be pleasantly surprised at the way it has held up in its translation to the current next gens. This game comes with the DLC that allows you to play as the assassin Doud taking on the Brigmore Witches. You also get some replayable mini games in the Dunwall Trials add on. All of those are free with the purchase of the game.
Buy it!