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dkirschner's Dishonored 2 (PC)

[May 17, 2020 10:26:52 AM]

Great game, totally immersive. I don't remember a whole lot about the first one. What I do remember most is using a controller and the Reach ability being annoying to aim. So this time around, mouse and keyboard! Reach works much better with a mouse to aim.

First, the game has a wonderfully dark tone where everything is morally gray. Every character, even the main characters (you can choose to play between two), have faults. I chose to play as Emily, the recently dethroned Empress (instead of her father, Corvo, who is the protagonist in the first game). Emily was a hands-off ruler who didn't take much interest in being Empress and didn't pay attention much to how power was shifting in her realm. Thus, the dethronement. I did enjoy the story quite a bit, though there was one part that didn't make any logical sense. At one point, you can choose to kill the Duke (who orchestrated the coup) or you can convince his body double to become the new Duke. Then you knock out the real Duke and stage a scene so he gets taken to the dungeons. Now, why would a Duke body double make a fit ruler of a country? How does Emily know he'll be benevolent? How does Emily know he hates the real Duke? The Duke has access to all sorts of magic and shady people. How would he not be able to get himself out of a pickle and expose a mere body double? Whatever, Dishonored, I'll ignore that implausible plot thread.

I love that you can always tackle objectives in multiple ways and that there are numerous paths through the environment. The game really does support varied play styles and doesn't seem to favor one over another. I tended, against my initial intentions, to attack everyone and kill a lot of people. I got a "high chaos" ending. Oops. This accidental tone was set during my very first enemy encounter. I choked out a guard, but then pushed the wrong button and threw him off a ledge, killing him.

An example of how surprising navigating the levels can be is when you have to find a way into the Clockwork Mansion (a now famous level that gets 100 level design chef's kisses). You have to figure out how to power a tram line to cross a chasm to reach it. Once I activated the tram and rode across, I noticed a...path...below. I followed it backwards, beneath the tram line, and discovered a hidden broken fence on the initial side of the chasm. Oh my gosh, if I'd seen that, I could have just Far Reached my way across! The downside to taking shortcuts is that you miss any runes (ability points) and bone charms (little stat boosts) hidden throughout the level.

An example where I did take the shortcut was when I had to get into Stinton's bunker. In this level, there are three main areas: Stinton's bunker (your main objective), and the hideouts of the Overseers (religious zealots) and Paolo's gang. You're told to take out the leader of either faction and present the corpse to the other faction to gain their favor. Then they will help you get into the bunker. You're also told that the bunker is guarded by an impossible lock, designed by the genius whose Clockwork Mansion you already infiltrated. If you walk to the bunker, you'll see some safe crackers trying to figure out the enigma. No one has ever figured it out blah blah blah. "Okay," I thought. "I like puzzles." So I spent an hour figuring out the solution and I got in the bunker without attacking a soul! I got a lot of achievements for that feat (but missed a lot of runes and bone charms). The puzzle is one of those where x number of people go to a party and there are y number of other variables that you have to match to the people. In this case, you have to figure out which of 5 heirlooms belongs to 5 women at a party. In doing so, you need to deduce what color clothes they are wearing, what they are drinking, the order they are sitting at a table, and where they are from. It was a doozy and I took up three pieces of scrap paper making charts to solve it.

Another thing I love about this game are the hilarious (and useful!) interactions between your powers and the enemies. BY FAR one of the top 5 powers ever in a video game is called Domino. Like the name suggests, you "tag" multiple enemies, and whatever happens to one happens to them all. It's an easy way to get rid of several enemies at once. So here are a couple of my favorites that happened. Two NPCs were arguing. I Dominoed them, expecting to have to fight one or both to get past. But then one pushed another off a ledge! The one that fell died, and then the other one died too. In a similar case, I learned how to make guards commit suicide. If you Domino some, then grab one in a choke hold, the other guards will still attack you, but they'll hit whoever you're holding too. If they kill them, they die too. So basically, a guard attacks you and dies because he kills the other guard he's attached to. Hilarious. Another way I figured out to use it to clear whole areas of enemies (it felt like running a train in an MMO) was to place some mines in a spot, then run around the area Dominoing enemies and getting them to follow me. When I lead them back to the mines, they all drop dead at once. There are so many other ways to use Domino, and that's just barely scratching the surface of the abilities at your disposal. I didn't even unlock most of them!

And finally, two little gripes that boggled my mind. First, the left mouse button is by default bound to the sword that you carry in your right hand. The right mouse button is bound to your left-hand weapon. !??!! That is so confusing! Why would you do that?! Second, characters vary in how they pronounce the name of the city where most of the game takes place: KarNOCa or KarNACa. It was driving me nuts, especially because I wanted to pronounce it KARnaca. Will there be a DIShonored 3? DisHONored. DishonORED? I hope so. This was a lot of fun.