Making Dumb Mistakes in Dishonored 2

Players can choose between Corvo or Emily in Dishonored 2.

I spent most of my holiday break splitting time between two games--XCOM2:  War of the Chosen and Dishnored 2.  Dishonored 2 sat firmly on my wishlist for over a year.  Not because I didn't think it would be good, but because I kept reading negative reviews about the way the game performed.  I had no desire to spend money only to be frustrated by bugs or lag.  After having finished my first playthrough, I can report that the game runs well and I didn't encounter any bugs or crashing issues.  The real question that lingers is...was it as good as the original Dishonored?  Almost.

The story starts off with Emily Kaldwin, who's all grown up and is the current Empress, attending a regular day at court.  It's a special day because it's the anniversary of her mother's death and there are special activities planned to honor the memory of the last empress (if you want to know that entire story I would recommend checking out the original Dishonored).  Emily takes the throne and prepares to meet with foreign dignitaries and those who want to pay their respect to the memory of her mother.  Unfortunately, a group of conspirators use this occasion as an opportunity to quickly subdue Emily and take the throne.  One of these despicable characters is none other than Delilah Copperspoon (who you might not remember from the first game--she was a character in the Brigmore Witches DLC), a powerful witch who is claiming to be the illegitimate daughter of the last emperor.  It's at this point that players are given a choice--you can choose to play as Emily Kaldwin or you can choose to play as Corvo Attano (the royal protector and protagonist from the original game).  I decided to choose Emily since I wanted to opportunity to see how much her powers differed from what I remembered of Corvo's.

The rest of the story follows the character you chose (Emily for me) as he/she attempts to unravel the story of Delilah and to pick off her closest allies one by one.  I don't want to spoil it, so I'm not going to say much more about the story.  One thing that I will say about it is that I didn't think it was quite as compelling as the story in the first game.  But, if we're being real, is the story really the focal point in Dishonored?  I'm going to say...not really.  The stealth system and gameplay is where Dishonored really shines.

Besides choosing a character, you also have to decide how you're going to play.  Are you going to be the merciful non-assassin who stealthily incapacitates enemies but lets them live?  Or are you going to be a killing machine who destroys anything in your path?  Being stealthy requires some serious patience--there's tons of sneaking and lurking and waiting for just the right moment to strike.  It's not for everyone.  I decided I was going to be the merciful type and go for a playthrough where I wouldn't kill anyone (which is always much more difficult than it sounds).  I played through about half of the game and managed to avoid killing a single person.  Then, on one of the levels that turned out to be one of the longest, I somehow accidentally killed two people (I'm still not completely sure how this happened).  Like a dummy, I decided to power ahead rather than re-playing the level and avoiding the two deaths that I had somehow caused.  I missed getting the "clean hands" achievement by just two stinkin' deaths.  Now I'm faced with replaying my game from the point of the deaths.  Sigh.

Anyhooo...here's what I liked and disliked about Dishonored 2.

Pros:

--Stunningly beautiful settings.  Every level looks fantastic and you could feasibly spend many, many hours just taking in the scenery.  The downside to all this beauty is that you need a newer graphics card to be able to truly enjoy it.  I was slightly bummed that my 4 year old PC (which I know is verging on ancient in technological terms) defaulted to "very low" settings for almost everything.  I allowed myself a few moments of turning it up to "medium" and then decided that a smooth game with crummy, low textures would be preferable to a beautiful, jerky one.

--Exploration that yields benefits.  I am a completionist who will try to make an effort to explore as much as I can.  The nice thing about that specific playstyle is that you are rewarded by recovering coins, paintings (worth a lot of coin), blueprints, and extra runes and charms.  You can opt to rush to the objectives on each level or you can take the time to discover new and hidden places.

--Choice of protagonists.  It was refreshing to be able to choose between Emily or Corvo.  There's definitely replayability built into this decision.  They are both supposed to have differing powers the lend them their own unique playstyle.  Emily's "far reach" ability is very similar to the blink ability that Corvo had in the first game, but it offers slightly more versatility.  Not only can you navigate over the landscape quickly, but you can also use it to grab items (and even bodies) from far away.  Emily's other unique abilities include dark shadow, which allows her to turn into a weird, shadow monster that is stealthier; doppelganger, which allows her to summon a decoy version of herself; and domino, which links targets together allowing you to incapacitate or kill multiple enemies at a time (I loved this ability.  It makes those situations with more than one guard a billion times easier.)

--Choice of playstyle.  I enjoy the fact that you don't have to kill a single enemy if you don't want to.  This is completely true in Dishonored 2, unlike other games where you will inevitably have to face off against a boss who you MUST kill.  With every single boss-like character there was a non-lethal option (even for the final boss).  Finding the non-lethal option can require some work, but it's always there.

Another of the options that I felt was interesting took place at the beginning of the game after I had chosen my character.  Players can choose whether or not they accept the mark of the Outsider.  Accepting the mark means that you have access to magical powers.  To me this seemed like kind of a no-brainer kind of decision...why wouldn't you accept the powers?  They are what makes the game fun!  I guess if you're feeling particularly hardcore or like someone who wants to shun the help of a questionably motivated character, that you can opt out of receiving his special powers.

Something that I've always enjoyed about Dishonored is the fact that there is almost always multiple ways to solve a problem.  There's not one set way that you must navigate an area or to eliminate an enemy.  You always have options and can find one that suits your own playstyle preferences.

--New enemy type.  The clockwork soldiers are a new type of enemy that force you to rethink the way you play.  These obnoxious, mechanical devices have vision in the front and the back.  This means that the usual tactic of sneaking up on someone from behind does not work.  Instead you have to figure out a way to sneak in from the side and rewire them.  I mostly opted to avoid them if it was possible.  Taking them on headlong isn't advisable.

Cons:

--The story isn't bad, it just didn't feel as memorable as Dishonored.  There was more of an aspect of running for your life in the first game that made it feel more...desperate.  There were plenty of twists and turns in the first game while the second seems to hold steady through the entire game.

--Serkonos just isn't as interesting as Dunwall was in the first game.  Sure, it's rundown and poor, but without the weird, eerieness of the rat plague it doesn't have the same feeling.

--Puzzle levels.  I was not a big fan of either of the levels that were more puzzle-like (The Clockwork Mansion and the Crack in the Slab).  For me, the best part of Dishonored is the ability to stealthily take out your enemies and to fully utilize your abilities.  I didn't feel that I was able to do this on either of the levels.  Navigating the moving walls and contraptions in the Clockwork Mansion was novel at first, but was annoying by the end of the level.  Crack in the Slab offered up the unique ability to alter time and I will admit that I thought it was kind of cool how you could use the device to see the past.  The frustrating part of that level was the inability to use your powers and the fact that you had to rely on shifting between the past and the present.  I just didn't like it--I'm sure there are some people out there who loved it.

Overall, I would recommend Dishonored 2.  Even though I don't think the story was as memorable as the first game, the gameplay is still a ton of fun.  There's much satisfaction to be had in figuring out the perfect way to stealthily take out a group of enemies.  The fact that players are given even more flexibility in how they want to play makes it fun for both stealthers and slayers.