This review contains spoilers
Death of the Franchise
After playing and very much enjoying the first two Dishonored games, I decided to take on the third and final game in the series. I had read negative things about the game, so I went in hoping to be a contrarian and enjoy it. I found that the game had something of an identity crisis. I very much enjoyed the gameplay, but I felt that the short length and poor storyline held the game back in significant ways.
Billie Lurks
The mechanics of this game are basically the same as the first two Dishonored games. Billie has fewer powers than Corvo does, and her version of Blink (displace) is frustratingly nerfed. On the plus side, the game does add a few new weapons to your utility belt, such as a non-lethal grenade, an "Electric Burst," and the super-cool hook mines. These tools were very helpful in my completion of a mostly non-lethal run. Either I got significantly better, or this game is easier than Dishonored 2.
The level design of Death of the Outsider (henceforth DOTO) is the most-criticized part, but the criticisms are somewhat undeserved. I didn't feel that the levels were as "linear" as the internet people claimed they were; in fact, I felt that most of the levels were an improvement over Dishonored 2 in that they didn't tend to tease you with options you couldn't actually use effectively (e.g. Walls of Light that no one would actually chase you through). The final level, however, was frustrating in the way that it would stuff a bunch of enemies in a small space, making stealth abnormally difficult compared to the other levels in the game. Half of one level is just the previous level, but at night, and another level is a reskinned version of a level from Dishonored 2 that doesn't add any additional challenge or mechanics. Thus, I would say the level design is hit-and-miss.
The game's length is also a problem. It has only five levels (one of which is a tutorial and one of which is a partial rehash of a previous level). Although it has sidequests that you can perform during the missions, overall it is so short that I wouldn't recommend paying full price for it, or for that matter paying for it at all (I played it on Gamepass).
The Dreadful Wale of a Tale
As far as gameplay goes, I would give it a 4/5, docking a point for the short length of the game. In terms of the storyline, however, I would give it a 2/5 at best, and a 1/5 if I'm feeling irritable. The world of Dishonored is incredibly cool, and unlike anything I've seen in a AAA-quality game before. This backdrop makes the failure of the story all the more noticeable. The three problems with the story are that it has boring characters, it relies heavily on exposition, and it lacks development, both in terms of plot and characters.
Billie Lurk is part of the entertainment industry's storied tradition of Diverse Characters With Bland Personalities. In this case, Lurk checks almost all the boxes: she is a disabled black lesbian who grew up poor and had to resort to thievery to survive. In spite of this interesting background, she has almost nothing to say during the story; her motivations, emotions, and actions are all surface level. Daud, the mysterious assassin from the first game, is reduced to a sick old man who tells you to assassinate the Outsider because reasons, and then dies offscreen after two missions. The Outsider goes from being a mysterious eldritch presence to a whiney teenager who reveals so much about his sob story background that by the end of the game you're more than ready to put him out of his misery.
To make things worse, the game is full of empty exposition (the curse of the Dishonored franchise). Despite Billie having almost nothing to say, she talks constantly during the game, which completely destroys the "distant badass" aura that she had in Dishonored 2. On the meta-level, almost everything in the plot is communicated to you via exposition rather than through the game showing it to you (whether by in-game events or cutscenes). The entire plot of the game is Daud's plan to kill the Outsider--but we never see the Outsider do anything that would really make us want to kill him. If anything, he seems like a good guy, because in the first two games he helps Corvo beat the bad guys. He occasionally shows up in this game, but instead of actually doing anything bad, he just monologues to Billie and then disappears. Similarly, the Eyeless are supposed to be some kind of great threat to Karnaca, but we never see them do anything bad (other than keep Daud in prison). Billie rambles about how she hates rich people, but we never see rich people do anything bad to her in the game. The only truly despicable person I saw in the game was the lady who was feeding people to bloodflies--and she had nothing to do with the main story.
Finally, the game is so short that it doesn't have time to develop anything--the characters, the plot, or the world. The Eyeless are an interesting faction; we encounter them once and then don't really run into them for the rest of the game until we get to the end. We never get a sense for how they fit in to the city of Karnaca, unlike, for example, the Overseers in the first two games. There are no twists or new developments in the plot--we simply decide to kill the Outsider, collect the four MacGuffins, and then it's off to kill the boss. And the characters do not develop at all. We never learn anything surprising about Billie Lurk or have her face any kind of moral dilemma; despite the fact that she won't shut up, she never reveals anything about herself that we couldn't figure out. Daud dies before he can experience any kind of character arc. And although we do see a change in the Outsider in this third game (as opposed to the first two), his new backstory is so lame that I don't even consider it canon.
Overall, this game is solidly in the category of "Rent or buy on sale." The gameplay will satisfy Dishonored fans, but the short length and weak story keep me from being able to wholeheartedly recommend it.
After playing and very much enjoying the first two Dishonored games, I decided to take on the third and final game in the series. I had read negative things about the game, so I went in hoping to be a contrarian and enjoy it. I found that the game had something of an identity crisis. I very much enjoyed the gameplay, but I felt that the short length and poor storyline held the game back in significant ways.
Billie Lurks
The mechanics of this game are basically the same as the first two Dishonored games. Billie has fewer powers than Corvo does, and her version of Blink (displace) is frustratingly nerfed. On the plus side, the game does add a few new weapons to your utility belt, such as a non-lethal grenade, an "Electric Burst," and the super-cool hook mines. These tools were very helpful in my completion of a mostly non-lethal run. Either I got significantly better, or this game is easier than Dishonored 2.
The level design of Death of the Outsider (henceforth DOTO) is the most-criticized part, but the criticisms are somewhat undeserved. I didn't feel that the levels were as "linear" as the internet people claimed they were; in fact, I felt that most of the levels were an improvement over Dishonored 2 in that they didn't tend to tease you with options you couldn't actually use effectively (e.g. Walls of Light that no one would actually chase you through). The final level, however, was frustrating in the way that it would stuff a bunch of enemies in a small space, making stealth abnormally difficult compared to the other levels in the game. Half of one level is just the previous level, but at night, and another level is a reskinned version of a level from Dishonored 2 that doesn't add any additional challenge or mechanics. Thus, I would say the level design is hit-and-miss.
The game's length is also a problem. It has only five levels (one of which is a tutorial and one of which is a partial rehash of a previous level). Although it has sidequests that you can perform during the missions, overall it is so short that I wouldn't recommend paying full price for it, or for that matter paying for it at all (I played it on Gamepass).
The Dreadful Wale of a Tale
As far as gameplay goes, I would give it a 4/5, docking a point for the short length of the game. In terms of the storyline, however, I would give it a 2/5 at best, and a 1/5 if I'm feeling irritable. The world of Dishonored is incredibly cool, and unlike anything I've seen in a AAA-quality game before. This backdrop makes the failure of the story all the more noticeable. The three problems with the story are that it has boring characters, it relies heavily on exposition, and it lacks development, both in terms of plot and characters.
Billie Lurk is part of the entertainment industry's storied tradition of Diverse Characters With Bland Personalities. In this case, Lurk checks almost all the boxes: she is a disabled black lesbian who grew up poor and had to resort to thievery to survive. In spite of this interesting background, she has almost nothing to say during the story; her motivations, emotions, and actions are all surface level. Daud, the mysterious assassin from the first game, is reduced to a sick old man who tells you to assassinate the Outsider because reasons, and then dies offscreen after two missions. The Outsider goes from being a mysterious eldritch presence to a whiney teenager who reveals so much about his sob story background that by the end of the game you're more than ready to put him out of his misery.
To make things worse, the game is full of empty exposition (the curse of the Dishonored franchise). Despite Billie having almost nothing to say, she talks constantly during the game, which completely destroys the "distant badass" aura that she had in Dishonored 2. On the meta-level, almost everything in the plot is communicated to you via exposition rather than through the game showing it to you (whether by in-game events or cutscenes). The entire plot of the game is Daud's plan to kill the Outsider--but we never see the Outsider do anything that would really make us want to kill him. If anything, he seems like a good guy, because in the first two games he helps Corvo beat the bad guys. He occasionally shows up in this game, but instead of actually doing anything bad, he just monologues to Billie and then disappears. Similarly, the Eyeless are supposed to be some kind of great threat to Karnaca, but we never see them do anything bad (other than keep Daud in prison). Billie rambles about how she hates rich people, but we never see rich people do anything bad to her in the game. The only truly despicable person I saw in the game was the lady who was feeding people to bloodflies--and she had nothing to do with the main story.
Finally, the game is so short that it doesn't have time to develop anything--the characters, the plot, or the world. The Eyeless are an interesting faction; we encounter them once and then don't really run into them for the rest of the game until we get to the end. We never get a sense for how they fit in to the city of Karnaca, unlike, for example, the Overseers in the first two games. There are no twists or new developments in the plot--we simply decide to kill the Outsider, collect the four MacGuffins, and then it's off to kill the boss. And the characters do not develop at all. We never learn anything surprising about Billie Lurk or have her face any kind of moral dilemma; despite the fact that she won't shut up, she never reveals anything about herself that we couldn't figure out. Daud dies before he can experience any kind of character arc. And although we do see a change in the Outsider in this third game (as opposed to the first two), his new backstory is so lame that I don't even consider it canon.
Overall, this game is solidly in the category of "Rent or buy on sale." The gameplay will satisfy Dishonored fans, but the short length and weak story keep me from being able to wholeheartedly recommend it.
akira136
1 year ago