Combining excellent stealth with idiosyncratic abilities, Dishonored is highly recommended
The story in Dishonored is nothing new plot-wise, but it's too bad Arkane Studios didn't attach more interesting sub-plots to strengthen the story's core. There are no memorable characters except for, perhaps, Sam the boatman. For a stealth game in which you play a masked assassin who infiltrates and executes a regime's most notoriously wicked leaders, Dishonored falls short in more than few ways. Its strengths are where it matters most, however: gameplay; few first-person games execute stealth as well as Dishonored, and Corvo is capable of some edgy supernatural powers that make Dishonored a memorable experience.
The importance of decision making (good and bad) is heavily emphasized in Dishonored, and the player's decisions affect the overall "Chaos" in the game. Killing sprees will raise the Chaos just as merely choking guards/enemies until they're unconscious will keep it low. It's hard to tell how the Chaos affects the game, but if the description of Chaos at the beginning of the game is any indication, higher chaos means there will be more enemies who are on alert and negative reactions from characters in general. With low chaos, there will be fewer guards on alert and Corvo will have more paths and chances to complete side missions open to him.
Dishonored is published by Bethseda, but this is certainly no open-world game. Instead, Dishonored allows the player some freedom within a linear construct. Each location/objective is marked on-screen (unless you turn the marker option off), so you always know where to go next. However, one can get pretty creative in getting from point A to point B. Corvo can scurry along rooftops, railings, shafts, crawl through ventilation systems, and use some interesting super powers to make it safely to desired destinations.
Magical artifacts called Runes and Bone Charms are hidden in Dunwall's numerous districts. Each Bone Charm enhances or endows Corvo with a perk. Up to three can be equipped at one time, and they have effects such as improving health regeneration, the likelihood of finding a certain type of ammo, or decreasing damage from specific types of attacks from enemies, and more.
Runes are the most prized possession in the game, and Corvo can use them to purchase new abilities. Many will remember Dishnored for the Blink power. It allows Corvo to pinpoint and zip to a location within the blink of an eye (no pun intended). Blink, by far, is the game's most versatile power; it can be used in a variety of ways including dastardly escapes and stunning kills. Aside from Blink, you can, with Runes, purchase other notable powers such as Devouring Swarm in which a pack of flesh-eating rats will attack your target. There is Possession, in which you may possess and control a rat to enter small holes or elude enemies. There are a few other excellent abilities (such as slowing or stopping time) that allow you to experiment with how to take out the baddies.
Being a trained bodyguard and assassin, Corvo is skilled in weaponry of different kinds. Sword combat is a highlight, and is some of the most intuitive, challenging swordplay of any first-person game. Blocking, stunning, and counter-striking foes with a stylish, deadly blade-thrust is satisfying. Corvo can also equip and use a gun or crossbow that shoots exploding arrows or sleep darts. He can set up deadly traps and lure his enemies into them for the kill or even rewire equipment to eliminate regime guards.
Dishonored's mechanics are mostly smooth, but there are some hiccups. In some areas, I heard guards gasping and saying, "Huh?!" as if I had been seen, but I hadn't. Sometimes, an enemy would be staring at me in the face and not react for a few seconds, then suddenly flip-out and alert every guard in the facility. When sneaking up behind enemies to choke them out or assassinate them, a button command will appear on screen once you are close enough, but the commands don't always show up or register as they should.
Perhaps the most annoying aspect is how the game saves your progress. Auto-saves, as in many games, occur frequently, usually after some significant event. Dishonored also encourages the player to save often, and when you load your last manually saved game, it should put you back in the same exact spot from where you saved. Almost every time I press "continue (campaign)" from the start menu, however, the file that loads is one where I am not even on the same mission. And when I try to manually load, a screen full of auto-saved files and a few manually saved files, jumbled together, appears [Note: this seems to be an issue with my Xbox 360, so this paragraph is void and the score is not affected by this issue].
Dishonored has an interesting art direction. Everything from Dunwall's architecture to its citizens' clothing seems to borrow from different time periods. Fashion in Dunwall could pass for 1920s Americana but its buildings as neo-Romantic gothic revival structures. The city comes off as one that is on the brink of utter demise yet still holding on to hope. It has a strong visual design, but the game's graphics are quite muddy. Character models suffer most noticeably from this. You may feel like you've stepped back into 2006's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion when you see the many wrinkles on character's faces and barely successful attempts of detailed facial expressions.
Dialog between both primary and secondary characters is mostly uninteresting, but there are a few nuggets of conversation and scenarios here and there. Musically, Dishonored does not deliver many memorable tunes; the soundtrack is pretty generic in how its tracks predictably appear only in certain situations. As a stealth game, though, Dishnored is more successful with its quiet tone.
Dishnored is classified as stealth-action, but it could be purely either. It all depends on how you play. It is a very short game (around five hours) if you rummage through the main campaign without searching for the Runes and Bone Charms. But those who squeeze Dishnored for everything its worth may spend a couple dozen hours in enjoyment.
It is possible to play through the entire game without killing a single person, and that challenge alone, in my opinion, warrants a second play-through. Where Dishonored disappoints in providing a captivating story and cast of characters as well as having some technical gaffes, it excels in allowing the player freedom in a linear environment and providing fantastic abilities and control.