» Sat Feb 02, 2013 2:10 pm Dishonored is a good game. Yes, it is. It's nice to see a game that isn't cookie-cutter and sterile. The lighting and the sound design is beautiful. It's cool to go from the sick dying in the streets to lavish mansions, to quarantined districts and fortified castles. All very cool.
However, the game feels so...limiting, somehow. And disappointing. Everything I've read about Dishonored praised how the levels feel like a part of a "living, breathing city". I didn't get that feel at all. Each level felt like...well, like a level, in the common sense of the word. I never felt like Dunwall was a realistic and functioning city; it felt more like a backdrop to place guards.
Now, here's my biggest problem: it's self-contradictory. Dishonored is all about "player choice" and incredible powers and abilities, etc. So you're given all these incredible, cool weapons and powers, right? But then you are discouraged from using them! The game says "Yes, you can use these cool tools, but you'll get an unsatisfactory ending and the game will be harder later on (High Chaos)". That doesn't seem correct at all. The game is praised for the amount of options you're given, but you're encouraged to not use these options. I did my first playthrough in High Chaos. And it was difficult. And the ending svcked. And it was awful to see Emily and Samuel and the others dislike you. Sure, I got to use some cool powers and techniques; but it didn't feel like it was worth it.
So, I think that, on paper, the Chaos system is cool. In practice, however, it feels limiting and contradictory. If there had been more options for low chaos (there's only sleep darts and sleeper hold) instead of the plethora of high chaos tools, then the game would've been better. And if Dunwall felt more like a city and less like a backdrop, it would've been more enjoyable.
This is just me talking. Tell me what you think. Am I dead on, or am I so completely incorrect it's insulting? Go ahead; let me hear you
