Note: I played all the Dishonored games back-to-back, so my thoughts on Death of the Outsider directly follow my review of Dishonored 2.
Well, here it is. A Dishonored game that trusts in the player. The chaos system is gone, you don’t have to restrict yourself to one playstyle anymore, and decisions can be made organically. Instead of being told to go kill someone, then getting pulled to the side for a nonlethal option, you’re simply presented with a situation and handle it as best you can. It’s a bit more in the vein of Deus Ex, where the choice-based gameplay is about the way you move through the world, rather than narrative branching points. As such, the Outsider never feels the need to pop in and explain the idea that choices have consequences, and Billie doesn’t pontificate to the audience either. The game just… goes. It breathes. It lets you do what you already know how to do and doesn’t treat you like an idiot.
The downside, of course, is how it was designed this way as a result of its smaller scope. Dishonored games are known for being short, and this expansion pack is shorter, so the possibilities are the most restricted they’ve ever been. Billie only gets three powers: a blink, a scouting tool, and a way to impersonate other characters, and there are no runes to upgrade them or unlock more. Unlike before, the tools here a directly stealth-oriented, so I get the sense that the idea was to make up for a smaller scope with a tighter focus. This is about as close to a pure stealth game as Dishonored has ever gotten, which might compound with the removal of the chaos system to disappoint players who value experimentation and replayability. The game also isn’t very good at explaining what makes its limited toolset interesting, since the first level is done without powers, and one of the most important features in the game is hidden behind an optional bone charm. This charm, which I feel the need to highlight/spoil because I find it so key to making the game play smoothly, is called Third Eye. Billie’s version of blink is the shortest in the series, and it’s meant to be mitigated with how she can blink to locations she tags in the scouting mode. It’s an interesting idea, but in practice, it can end up meaning that doing a single blink involves standing still, using Foresight, placing the marker, switching back to blink, blinking, then doing it again. It can feel painfully clunky until you find Third Eye, which allows for the placement of two markers at once. Not only does this shorten the amount of time spent placing markers, it more than doubles the amount of clever tricks you can use the ability for, chaining blinks and creating contingency plans in interesting ways. When I see people say the powers in this expansion are useless, I wonder if they just never found this feature and were stuck playing a much clunkier version of the game than I was.
When evaluating Death of the Outsider, these are the situations that keep coming up. I really loved the new spin on the blink ability, but some people might miss an essential piece and not enjoy themselves. I always played these games in full-stealth, so focusing on that was great, but others might miss having a kit of assault abilities. The patronizing nature of the chaos system and choices always bothered me, so I appreciate how they were removed, but seeing the changes associated with each chaos level was a boon for replayability. When summarized this way, it becomes apparent that what makes this expansion interesting to me is in the ways it deviates from, rather than iterating upon, the Dishonored formula. After two games and a sizable DLC, this sort of departure is everything I wanted, but an expansion pack relying on being tired of its own series is in a tenuous situation. At the very least, it might explain why Arkane has gone on to make games so aesthetically different from Dishonored; they may have felt like they had done a fine job exploring the idea and it was time to do something new. I really commend them for that, I’m glad I could replay the entire franchise in one go and enjoy it all the way through, instead of reaching Dishonored 5: Dude Where’s My Honor and wishing it ended a long time ago. As much as I’ve complained about the narratives in these games, at least Arkane has shown they know how to wrap up a franchise in style.
Well, here it is. A Dishonored game that trusts in the player. The chaos system is gone, you don’t have to restrict yourself to one playstyle anymore, and decisions can be made organically. Instead of being told to go kill someone, then getting pulled to the side for a nonlethal option, you’re simply presented with a situation and handle it as best you can. It’s a bit more in the vein of Deus Ex, where the choice-based gameplay is about the way you move through the world, rather than narrative branching points. As such, the Outsider never feels the need to pop in and explain the idea that choices have consequences, and Billie doesn’t pontificate to the audience either. The game just… goes. It breathes. It lets you do what you already know how to do and doesn’t treat you like an idiot.
The downside, of course, is how it was designed this way as a result of its smaller scope. Dishonored games are known for being short, and this expansion pack is shorter, so the possibilities are the most restricted they’ve ever been. Billie only gets three powers: a blink, a scouting tool, and a way to impersonate other characters, and there are no runes to upgrade them or unlock more. Unlike before, the tools here a directly stealth-oriented, so I get the sense that the idea was to make up for a smaller scope with a tighter focus. This is about as close to a pure stealth game as Dishonored has ever gotten, which might compound with the removal of the chaos system to disappoint players who value experimentation and replayability. The game also isn’t very good at explaining what makes its limited toolset interesting, since the first level is done without powers, and one of the most important features in the game is hidden behind an optional bone charm. This charm, which I feel the need to highlight/spoil because I find it so key to making the game play smoothly, is called Third Eye. Billie’s version of blink is the shortest in the series, and it’s meant to be mitigated with how she can blink to locations she tags in the scouting mode. It’s an interesting idea, but in practice, it can end up meaning that doing a single blink involves standing still, using Foresight, placing the marker, switching back to blink, blinking, then doing it again. It can feel painfully clunky until you find Third Eye, which allows for the placement of two markers at once. Not only does this shorten the amount of time spent placing markers, it more than doubles the amount of clever tricks you can use the ability for, chaining blinks and creating contingency plans in interesting ways. When I see people say the powers in this expansion are useless, I wonder if they just never found this feature and were stuck playing a much clunkier version of the game than I was.
When evaluating Death of the Outsider, these are the situations that keep coming up. I really loved the new spin on the blink ability, but some people might miss an essential piece and not enjoy themselves. I always played these games in full-stealth, so focusing on that was great, but others might miss having a kit of assault abilities. The patronizing nature of the chaos system and choices always bothered me, so I appreciate how they were removed, but seeing the changes associated with each chaos level was a boon for replayability. When summarized this way, it becomes apparent that what makes this expansion interesting to me is in the ways it deviates from, rather than iterating upon, the Dishonored formula. After two games and a sizable DLC, this sort of departure is everything I wanted, but an expansion pack relying on being tired of its own series is in a tenuous situation. At the very least, it might explain why Arkane has gone on to make games so aesthetically different from Dishonored; they may have felt like they had done a fine job exploring the idea and it was time to do something new. I really commend them for that, I’m glad I could replay the entire franchise in one go and enjoy it all the way through, instead of reaching Dishonored 5: Dude Where’s My Honor and wishing it ended a long time ago. As much as I’ve complained about the narratives in these games, at least Arkane has shown they know how to wrap up a franchise in style.
Reviewed on Aug 24, 2021