Skip to content
Dishonored 2 is a game I was hugely excited to play, and yet I was not even sure why. I started playing the first one a little bit late and by the time I was starting to get hooked, I was finding PS4 and Xbox One games to play instead. Then they released Dishonoured on the PS4, but I never did release the game from its cellophane surroundings. So why was I so excited about D2… maybe it was because I had seen some videos and I really liked the looks of it. Maybe it was because I had just got the PS4 Pro and the HDR 4K tv. Maybe it was because I was getting bored of the games I was playing (Mafia III and FIFA 17 – still keeping me hooked). Either way, when the game turned up at my house I was buzzing to play it.
First impressions: After waiting for this game to finally load (this isn’t an issue with just this game, but with every title I’ve played recently), you could tell that it oozed class. The graphics were crisp and the sound was on point. After switich the game onto HDR mode, I was ready to play. Sitting around 2 metres away from my curved tv, with the lights off and my wife occupied downstairs…. let’s play.
Gameplay: At the very start of the game you are accustomed to the controls through a clever training mission. You are in control of Emily Kaldwin (the Empress, as well as the daughter of the previous protagonist – Corvo Attano). Emily seems to like to run, jump, duck and sneak, especially over rooftops. You’re introduced to all the techniques that you can use in the game which include jumping from rooftops to slice off your enemies head, shooting your foe with a sleeping dart out of a crossbow or just going all out and shooting them with a gun, then finishing them off with sword chops to the head. Although this intro only gives you the basics, you’ll be able to tell straight away whether this is going to be a game you will enjoy. I knew it would be for me.
Of course, like any good game you are not given all your powers straight away and throughout the proceedings you make some game-changing choices which follow you on your journey. However, before I talk more about those, I must give you a basis of the story. Simply put, the game starts off with a visitor to the Empress who decides to usurp the throne and then comes your first choice. Will you be Emily Kaldwin or Corvo Attano – of course, being such a masculine man I chose Corvo Attano, therefore within seconds my loving daughter and wonderful Empress was set in stone. And so the story began. I escaped using my ‘Sneaky McSneakerson’ skills and had to find a way to kill the witch who imprisoned my daughter and save the world… okay, maybe not quite save the world, but it is good to add a bit of drama to it all. Shortly after all of this, you are given another massive choice – you need to decide whether you’re going to wear the dark mark and be able to use magical skills or whether you are not. Once again, I like the sound of magic so I tattooed that dark mark all over myself!
The upgrade system is quite simple and I like that. You can buy and find schematics which will upgrade weapons and give you a number of different variations. There’s also runes and bonecharms to install which add abilities to your character. You can also buy a range of different weaponry to suit your style of play. Some games recently have used too-complex upgrade systems and that has frustrated me as a gamer who plays a number of different games. However, with Dishonored 2, I found that it was more than possible to play the game for a bit, try a different game then come back and still remember how to play it. That was a real selling point for me.
Lastly, it must be noted that there are different ways to play this game. It is so cleverly written and created that you can either play as a gun-slinging killing machine, or as an agent sneaking everywhere and sparing everyone’s lives. I always tried to be sneaky then got found out… so I killed everyone! I liked the challenge of being sly but just wasn’t very good at it. Overall, the gameplay doesn’t offer you too much, but it offers you the right amount. It provides you different ways to play and it offers you a host of weaponry and attributes to keep you going. Overall, I have to give the gameplay a 10. I honestly couldn’t pick a fault with it.
Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the game.
Maybe it was the case that I was using a curved 4K TV, or maybe it was because I was so desperate to play this game, but damn the graphics are pristine. Everything about this game looks amazing. The faces look spot on, and although they don’t look as realistic as a game like Final Fantasy XV, they do look incredible. The different cities you visit all look eerie and expansive, the coastal city of Koranca being a fantastic place and where you’ll spend most of your time. However, one big gripe – and in discussion with a friend – what are these white lines which keep appearing in the background? After being educated by Ben, I realised they’reartefacts caused by the upscaling to 4K and HDR. They appear because the game isn’t telling the TV enough and, therefore, they cover areas where the TV doesn’t know what to show. Hopefully, this is something that they can eliminate with an upgrade but they haven’t fixed it as of yet. Because of this and how distracting I found it at times, I am only going to award the graphics an 8.5. If these weren’t the case we would have been close to a ten, again.
It is worth mentioning at the start that this game heavily depends on the sound. You can hear if an enemy is close to you, such as if they are sleeping, walking, chatting or just being an idiot. This helps you determine the way you’re going to play the game and also emphasises just how good the audio in the game is. For example, I absolutely loved sneaking on top of a roof top, peering through a window pane and hearing that the owner of said area was asleep. Because I’m such a nice guy, I decided to sneak up to him and shoot him in the head with my crossbow. The voice acting in the game is strong and you can tell, just like most recent games, that they haven’t sjimped on the budget with the actors and actresses. Corvo Attano has this kind of masculine husky voice which you kind of like in a non-g ay way… it’s a cool voice.
(DVDfeverDom adds: “Just don’t tell the missus!” 😉 )
Something else I liked about the sounds is how they made you nervous at times; it would be oh so quiet and then some kind of bird would tweet loudly, scaring the socks off of you! Or even how freaky the rats are or, even better, the hives of some odd kind of wasps. As you can imagine from what I have been saying I really loved the sounds to this game. The songs that pop up every now and again weren’t really my thing but you could tell that they are well-produced and well-matched to the game. Being impressed heavily with the audio, I would give this area a 9. I love a game which uses sound so well that it can alter your mood.
It is no hidden fact that I enjoyed this game. If the previous paragraphs haven’t given you enough reasons to go and buy this game, I will give you a few more. Dishonored 2 will take you 15 hours to complete. However, after achieving with one character, you can go again with the other one. Yes ,the game won’t become completely different, but it is different and enough gives you a range of different choices. I also love how you can play the game differently. As I said, I decided to play the game pretty aggressively but on my second play-through, I’m going to be much more secretive. What I love is you can play the game in the different ways and the game still runs like a charm. That is some very clever writing. The different weaponry is superb, as is how you can upgrade most of the ammo – shoot someone with a crossbow and their head could fly off! Yeah, it’s not particularly realistic but I really couldn’t give a monkeys because it was cool. I would say there is only one thing that I wasn’t a fan of in this game and that was the artefacts. So yes, I enjoyed this game and I am pretty sure that you will too. I know a lot of good titles have recently been released, but don’t let this one pass you by. So get it, give it a go, and let me know what you think in the comments below.
Overall I am going to give the enjoyment of this game a 9. Reading this paragraph a lot of you probably thought that I was going to give it a 10. However, for it to be a ten I needed to have enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Final Fantasy VII so many years back.
Dishonored 2 is out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC, and click on the packshot for the full-size version.
Important info:
- Publisher: Bethesda
- Players: single-player
- HDTV options: up to 1080p
- Sound: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
|
GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
8.5 9 10 9 |
| OVERALL | 9 |
Directors: Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith
Producer: Shinji Hashimoto
Writers: Terri Brosius, Sachka Duval, Austin Grossman and Harvey Smith
Music: Daniel Licht
Cast:
Empress Emily Kaldwin I: Erica Luttrell
Corvo Attano: Stephen Russell
Captain Meagan Foster: Rosario Dawson
Duke Luca Abele: Vincent D’Onofrio
Mortimer Ramsey: Sam Rockwell
The Outsider: Robin Lord Taylor
Paolo: Pedro Pascal
Vice Overseer Liam Byrne: Jamie Hector
Jessamine Kaldwin: April Stewart
Anton Sokolov: Roger Jackson
Alexandria Hypatia/Grim Alex: Jessica Straus
Grand Inventor Kirin Jindosh: John Gegenhuber
Breanna Ashworth: Melendy Britt
Mindy Blanchard/Walker: Betsy Moore
Aramis Stilton: Richard Cansino
Delilah Copperspoon: Erin Cottrell
Daud: Michael Madsen (uncredited)
I have been a video game player since 1993 and a music fan since I can remember. I studied Film and Journalism at university and ended up becoming a Primary School teacher. Video games changed my life and sent me on the right track and have stayed with me ever since.
| 1 | 2 |