Last week I bought a new just released game called “Dishonored”. I heard very interesting rumors about the game and it was not too expensive, so I ordered it on the day it was released. The game is distributed by Steam/Valve (so it is downloadable). As I was ill last week, I had not spend much attention to it, but as Marion is asleep (she was very tired and wanted to sleep a bit more after breakfast on bed) I can have a closer look at it…
The game is a so called “First person action game”, this means the what you see on the monitor are the views of the character that you are playing. Although a Internet connection is required (for the Steam engine), it is a standalone game that you play alone “against the computer”.
The game uses the new Unreal engine and that was also something I was interested in. And I liked what I saw.
Dishonored plays in and around Dunwall, the capital of Gristol and seat of the imperial government of the Isles. All is a setting that reminds of England at the beginning of the last century, but of a higher industrial level and with more technical means as England had at that time.
The plague is wiping out large parts of the population of The Isles. The rats are the enemy of everyone.
In the game you are Corvo Attano, the Lord Protector (body guard) of the Empress. When you return from a long journey you are witness of how the Empress is murdered and her daughter was kidnapped. But it all was an setup and you are accused of murdering the Empress. So you end up in jail waiting for your execution…
But by the means of some unknown friends you manage to escape from your cel. You have to find your way out of the prison. This means you have to find keys to certain doors and that you have to find weapons and food. And it is here that Corvo turns from the Lord Protector to an assassin. It turns out that Corvo is a trained killer… if needed…
It has to be said that taken someone out in a nonlethal way has its benefits, but well… shit happens ;-).
It was later I learned that gathering money is really important. It is needed to buy ammunition, upgrade to weapons and such. Even so important, that I started all over to get all the money I could get. Money laying around, looting from dead and unconscious bodies and by gather items of value.
Well, finally you will manage (after maybe some attempts) to escape from the prison into the sewer under city. In the sewer you will find a note from those unknown friends that are helping you escape. The note tells you that you will find in the sewers some useful equipment and that on the exit of the sewer to Wrenhaven River someone is waiting for you to bring you to these unknown friends.
In the sewers there is also a little intermezzo where two guards who are looking for you are attacked by rats. After the attack of the rats there is close to nothing left of the guards. I believe the makers of Dishonored placed this here to show how dangerous the rats can be… a warning…
One thing you learn very quickly in the sewers is that you have to explore every possible spot, because you may never know what useful item can be found there. These items are very important to succeed in your missions.
As promised, you find while exploring the sewer some equipment you will need very badly: a one handed crossbow and a dagger. The crossbow turned into one of my favorite weapons in this game. You can use it to fire normal darts, tranquilizer darts and darts with explosives.
Of course while searching your ways through you will be confronted with guards that are after you. In most cases this means you have to kill them and here the crossbow is very usefull, because when there is enough distance between between your enemies, it is very silent way to take them out. Of course at times this can fail and that will lead to a man to man combat, but as former Lord Protector you have the skills for that as well.
When you manage to exit the sewer, there is indeed someone waiting for you… Samuel, someone you will meet a lot in this game as he will bring you with his boat to all kind of places.
Basically the prison and the sewers are the areas where you learn how to use the game. How to move around. How you crawl, jump, climb and swim. You learn how to dismantle traps. And most important course, you learn how to use your weapons to take out your enemies… silently without any sound, but also in full attack doing as much damage you can.
Samuel will take you to the Hound Pitt Pub, a pub that has been closed after the district was marked off for the plague. Here you will discover who your unknown friends are that helped you escape from the prison…
Your “unknown” friends are loyalists, who know that you didn’t murder the Empress. They want to help you to clear your name. And their final goal is to get Emily, the kidnapped daughter of Empress, on the throne.
You will meet Lord Treavor Pendleton, Adminiral Havelock, Cecilia, Lydia, Wallace, Piero and some others. Talking to them will learn you a lot about their backgrounds and what all happened. Of course you will hear here what your missions will be.
Piero will be very important to get ammunition, weapons and upgrades to whatever you are using. But Piero needs money as well. So here the reason why it is so important to collect as much as possible money and items of value.
While you sleep at the pub, it seems that you enter a dream world. Here you meet the Outsider and this dream world is The Void. The Outsider is a supernatural being, said to have been “part devil, part angel, and entirely ambiguous.” The Outsider appears to people he finds interesting, and he often makes contact with them through the Void, though he doesn’t mind appearing in the physical world. The Outsider is well aware of the mortal world’s events, and seems to find them amusing; however, he does not appear to choose sides. He doesn’t seem to have any specific preference for those he visits and gifts with powers; people using his powers.
The Outsider tells you look in the world for his runes and shrines. They will give you extra powers.
One of the powers The Outsider teaches you is the skill to teleport over short distances. A very handy skill for an assassin (and very hard needed in this game).
As you wake up the next morning you find the mark of the Outsider as a tattoo on your hand. So it hasn’t been a dream at all…
In the morning you hear what your first mission will be… assassinate High Oversees Campell. He is the person that is directly responsible for the murder of the Empress. You should try to get hold of his journal as it may hold the location where Emily, the daughter of the Empress, is hold. If possible you should free and support an overseer called Martin. He is one of the loyalists, but he was caught.
Callista, one of persons working for the admiral, asks you if possible to save her uncle Geoff Curnow. He still serves the High Overseer, but he is really a good man and her only living family. Her uncle is not corruptable and she thinks the High Overseer will kill him for this.
So a lot to do… So Samuel will take you to the Distillery District where all the action will take place…
And here the real game starts. I really think I will enjoy this game a lot.
One feature of the game that I really like is that can go almost everywhere… walk over roofs, climb on walls, teleport to balconies. The makers of this game done a real great job with making as many as possible locations reachable. And of course exploring these normal unreachable location may lead to more information, money, valuable items, food and such more. And yes, some locations are blocked on purpose as they may give you a too advantage 🙂
As said, I think I will have a lot of fun in doing the missions in this game… but that is for another time. Marion has waked up and we are ready for the day 🙂