Dishonored: The Knife Of Dunwall DLC Review

http://www.gameshampoo.com/magazine/articles/1587/dishonored-the-knife-of-dunwall-dlc-review.html

8.5/10

nice job

Pretty much agree for the most part, although I'm not sure about the section where he mentions being unable to knock out the butchers; I was able to knock them out without any problems.

So what is it like, peoples?! Everyone's really quiet!

I won't really get the chance to play until the weekend, so I'm eagerly looking for "waddaya-think" threads. I don't like the sound of too-difficult butchers very much, but if they CAN be knocked out, that's reassuring.

Our first review! Thanks for sharing.

How long is it?

It took me about nine hours getting all of the achievements, but I kept looking for things to loot. I'd say four-to-five hours per playthrough, which isn't bad for $10.

I just want to know what time tonight this will finally appear on the PSN?

I've been through three areas and it's taken me 4 or so hours. This is a truly generous DLC. Excellent work Arkane and Bethesda. It's really up to the quality of the full game. This is going to be a mandatory double playthrough to experience all the content. I feel spoilt we're getting another one down the line.

Here's another review.

http://thecontrolleronline.com/2013/04/dishonored-the-knife-of-dunwall-dlc-review/ - 9/10

I's nice bonus to visit a certain someone from the GI cover reveal that didn't make it into the full game.

It's great to see the fantastic reviews coming out already.

But then, I expected no different from Arkane. They should feel immensely proud of themselves.

Another review here, they say it's good but too short - 6/10

http://www.gamers-association.com/consoles/dishonored-knife-of-dunwall-dlc-review/

I can't say anything on the 'too short' comment because I haven't played it yet (other reviews - and some players already) are coming forward with a "Wow - great value for money" and the content is only ￡7.99 (UK) on Steam. One thing I'd take to task with this review is their criticism that the DLC content doesn't alter the base game - that's usual with a lot of game DLC and Arkane never suggested it WOULD. I have the Mass Effect trilogy stocked full of DLC story-based add-ons, most of which does not alter the base game story in any way. However, they finally discredit their own review by what they say at the end:

"Dishonored fans might be interested, if only for the additional lore and story elements..."

Who the heck else do they think it's aimed at?! Maybe they should have asked a Dishonored fan to review it for a more balanced review.

One thing I am disappointed with in the new DLC is that the story feels like a wasted opportunity. The new areas and addition of more side-missions is great, but I felt Daud's inner turmoil wasn't well-developed or concluded in a satisfying way. Overall though, Knife of Dunwall is definitely a great expansion although I'd like to see the next DLC flesh out Daud's character more.

Edit: incidentally, it took me about 5-6 hours to complete while playing a stealthy, almost non-lethal run.

Certainly better than the Assassin's Creed 3 DLC which is woefully short.


It's great when DLC does that (Elderscrolls and Fallout probably do this best) but a game like Dishonered is not really structured to do this - At least in this case the DLC complements the main game's storyline nicely; Again, something the AC3 DLC seems to fail on, why oh why did I buy the season pass for that game lol?

Chiming in on how it felt short. Ghosted it until the end of the second mission on the first play through and finished with low chaos/clean hands. Only took about three-four hours and found a bugged rune. Two more runs for the last of the achieves will add another five-six hours I would guess.

Eorogamer's review is out and a favourable 8/10: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-04-18-dishonored-the-knife-of-dunwall-review. They hinted at the same under-development of Daud that you did.

They also mentioned it being a fair bit harder than the original game. I'm therefore doomed!

Overall its great. But I think it will be much better when the next DLC comes out and they can be played together.

This is the unfortuate truth. The story is complete throw-away. [Spoilers] None of the minimalistic narrative elegance of Dishonored's story-telling technique is present in Daud's missions. The plot is revealed haphazardly through voice-over and cutscenes, which is disappointing but wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me except that it literally just ends with no resolution. The main antagonist had plenty of potential but the story is so rushed that she ends up being poorly realized and you don't even get to fight her or resolve her dispute with Daud in the end. It felt like an entire mission was just chopped off the end of story. Lurk's subplot was nice but way too abrupt (though she's a good character). The last level is completely recycled from Dishonored except you're killing Overseers instead of Whalers. AND the biggest slap in the face for me; they take you through the Empress' killing in a CUTSCENE. WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ME PLAY THAT SCENE OUT AS A FULL-ON MISSION, ARKANE?!??! Ugh. It's like the most iconic Daud-moment in the entire game and we don't even get to play it.

On the positive side, the game-play is still amazing, the Hatters are a very colorful faction and fun to kill, and the first mission is fantastic. Although I'd trade "Summon Assassin" for Posession anyday. Like Dig says, it's definitely fun and worth the 10 bucks, but it's full of holes and unrealized potential.

Its an awesome DLC, really no flaws except that the story was a bit too short. i hope the next one will be longer.

Finished my first play-through! I was an utter disaster, creeping through with the subtlety of an ogre in concrete boots. My hoped-for low chaos was a hopelessly high chaos ending of death and destruction everywhere. I think only me and a couple of rats survived!!

I think I understand why many people have commented that it seems harder. It's actually not so much that it's harder, but that it's just like our first play-through of Dishonored where there seemed to be guards everywhere and no sensible way to bypass them. Of course, as we became better at Dishonored, we found all the roof access points, drains and shafts that avoided the busiest guard areas, and I imagine it will be so with this DLC too. After my initial blind panic, I managed to choke out each butcher easily, feeling very pleased with my low-chaos approach. What made me then blow up the place after is anyone's guess, but suffice to say my low-chaos game ended at that point, and it was downhill from there!

My only criticism is the ending. It was such a sudden cut-off and THAT is why I think there are a few "too short" criticisms being levelled at this otherwise-excellent DLC. It felt like it should have been labelled Part 1 - with a "to be continued" in the final cut-scene, because nothing was concluded. It was all a total puzzle. I felt like I must have missed something big and had somehow caused an accidental ending prematurely. I was totally expecting a final show-down to understand who my antagonist is, and why - but all was left unexplained - like being turfed out of the cinema right before the end part of an epic movie.

Overall, I loved it and am already looking forward to my first replay. Value for money is about right: quarter of the game for quarter of the price. Locations and side-missions were thoroughly engaging and enjoyable (Arkane proves again that they have the edge on imaginative artwork), but the storyline (especially the ending) was a bit of an oddity and all too sudden unexpected ending - and I think it's this that has led to "too short" complaints. The DLC isn't at all short - it took me 6 hours easily, but the ending came far too quickly without any conclusion and it was this that gave the appearance of 'too short'.

Well, I thought it was pretty obvious that this IS "part 1 to be continued in the next DLC", no? That's why I didn't mind the abrupt and unresolved ending - I assumed this is just the first intalment of the story, served to us in pieces so we anticipate the sequel more or something (and dish out more money than the two are actually worth).

Well, first of all, there was no indication in-game that the DLC is a two-parter (like a To Be Continued... flag after beating the game, maybe?) so unless you come to the forums or read a review, it literally makes no sense. That's a problem in my opinion. The vast majority of any video game's fan base will never set foot on the game's forums, and how easy would it have been to just add TBC or Part 1 of 2 or something along those lines?

And secondly, a cliffhanger ending is fine by me but what we're dealing with here is an abrupt switcheroo of the bad guy with zero foreshadowing, and then BAM game over. It just felt like a cheat to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTDVDC4si8Y

Put together a review roundup here

http://www.bethblog.com/2013/04/23/review-roundup-the-knife-of-dunwall/

Gstaff, you'll tell Arkane how pleased we are with them, will you

Same here, tell them to keep up the good work .