I got a few requests from my last review (on Dawnguard) to do another, so here's my latest set of biased, unprofessional opinions. Feel free to agree or disagree respectfully.

So guys, let's talk about Dishonored! First off, I'm going to answer your most important question: "Is Dishonored fun?". Yes. Go buy this game. In fact, stop reading this review and get yourself to the nearest video game supplier. Go ahead, I'll wait.

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You got it? Doesn't that cover look awesome? Alright, all joking aside, let's get down to business. You probably already know the basics of this game by now, but if not here's the low-down: royal bodyguard turned magical assassin seeks vengeance against a corrupt government after he was framed for the empress' murder. If this seems like a typical, clichèd set up to you......it sort of is, but we'll discuss that later.

Dishonored is primarily a stealth-action game, and a surprisingly versatile one at that. The game is not an open world, so if you're expecting that you may be initially dissapointed. However, you'll soon realize why this was done: in open world games it's extremely difficult to account for all the variables and choices players can make in a consistent and believable way (Ever wonder why Skyrim is the way it is?) It's not impossible, but it's clearly not what the developers wanted to focus on here. They were trying to give you as many options, tactics, and ways to progress through the story as humanely possible. They succeeded. Every task you need to complete, be it getting into a building, dealing with guards and assassination targets (lethally or otherwise), fighting, escaping, etc. is flexible and encourages experimentation. Dont want to barge through the front door? Climb the wall and enter a window. Better yet, why not possess a fish and enter through the drain? The way you play has an effect on the ending, and subsequent missions as well. Kill everything you see? Well jokes on you because now guards are all over the city thanks to your little massacre. It's a beautiful thing when a developer hands you all the tools you need and says "Go have fun with this".

The gameplay isn't without its very minor flaws, however. With all the different ways of experimentation, it's fairly easy to make yourself a living god, making the game pretty easy. It's not quite fair to tell the player gimp himself, but it's also not quite fair to tell the developers that they need to account for EVERY SINGLE WAY YOU CAN DO THINGS. Regardless, it's probably nothing the difficulty settings can't fix. The controls could, at times, be a LITTLE more intuitive and fluid, but it does not detract from the experience.

The only thing that really irked me was something I bet none of you will care about at all, but I'll mention it just for the heck of it. I hate first person games when you can't see your feet, especially in a game like this. I was expecting Mirror's Edge level first person, where you not only see your feet, but every action you perform allows you to see your limbs like you would in real life, making for a more immersive experience. What svcks is that here, you don't even see your arms grasp a chain or push yourself up as you climb. Like I said, minor nitpick but annoying nontheless.

Now, onto the story. This is very difficult to judge, for reasons you'll soon understand.

In terms of background lore, world-building, mythology and atmosphere, this game is near-perfect. The fact that they created an entire world beyond this one game is something I haven't seen done to the same level of depth since DA:O, where they created an entire, fully formed mythos for, at the time, one game. Most games, like TES, took years and several games to start expanding on its lore and carving out its own unique niche in the fantasy genre, but Dishonored did this in the span of a single development cycle, arguably in a more unique way. The undertones of spirituality / magic vs. Logic / science are very interesting and strangely relavent to the real world as well. Really though: there's a website where they show a map of the known Dishonored world. If you click on anything you will get a paragraph about the topic you selected. Not only does this lore go beyond Dunwall, or beyond the island of Gristol, or beyond the several countries that make up "The Isles", but you'll notice that these isles, the entire known world of Dishonored, are INCREDIBLY SMALL and in the middle of a collossal nameless ocean. Not only THAT, but there's also a full fledged CONTINENT to the east called Pandyssia which no one knows anything about, which is absolutely massive compared to the isles. This world is undeniably huge, and I can't wait to see where they take this IP next.

In terms of plot, dialogue, pacing, and story progression....how should I put this? .......Everything that was right with the lore is what's wrong with these aspects of the story. It is cliched, paced poorly in terms of plot and character development, the dialogue is often bland, and there aren't that many surprises. The bad guys, while interesting, seem pretty one dimensional in their motivations. This particularly bothers me. There's nothing wrong with making a villain that's just flat out BAD, but you need to do it well. A good example, in my opinion, is Jack of Blades from the original Fable. He was so mind-boggilingly one dimensional that it actually made him more intriguing than more sympathic villains. If I don't feel either connected to, or intrigued by, the villain then a lot of the drama falls flat on its face.

All this being said, I can't fault the story too much as the background alone more than sells the entire IP. They made this world to last beyond one game, perhaps beyond one genre of game (open world rpg anyone?). We were given a huge, intriguing, incredibly unique world to play with, speculate with, roleplay with, write with. We can only hope they work out the kinks with the story next time around.

All in all, Dishonored is an incredible game that should be experienced for the near-perfection of its gameplay, and praised for the incredible world in which it takes place. What do you think? Was I too soft? Not soft enough? Tell me what you think.