Dishonored

 PC
User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5383 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,457 out of 5383
  2. Mixed: 696 out of 5383
  3. Negative: 230 out of 5383
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  1. gimmedatsammich
    Oct 16, 2012
    4
    I have learned my lesson. Never again will I trust the word of a video game "journalist." It's quite obvious these guys are being paid for favorable reviews. My fault for ever believing them, I guess. Dishonored is a shallow, boring, tedious game. The stealth mechanic- so highly touted in previews and trailers- is utterly lacking in complexity and challenge. "Blink" behind a guy, choke himI have learned my lesson. Never again will I trust the word of a video game "journalist." It's quite obvious these guys are being paid for favorable reviews. My fault for ever believing them, I guess. Dishonored is a shallow, boring, tedious game. The stealth mechanic- so highly touted in previews and trailers- is utterly lacking in complexity and challenge. "Blink" behind a guy, choke him to sleep, stash his body in a dumpster, rinse, repeat. That's the whole game right there. It gets old very quickly, as do the sword fighting and gunslinging. Playing with all the toys in your arsenal is fun at first, but the charm quickly wears off and descends into boredom. The story is thin as matzo. The setting is cool, sure, but no effort is put into characterization, especially with Corvo- yet another dull, silent protagonist- and the game suffers for it. You don't care about the heroes, and you don't hate the villains. The big twist isn't shocking in the least, and the ending feels rushed and incomplete. The writing is passable, but nothing special. This dreck would barely earn a C in an entry level creative writing course. The graphics and art design are Dishonored's saving grace. Dunwall is gorgeously realized, and the game runs beautifully on the PC. The world Arkane has created is truly a work of art. If only they had harnessed its full potential. In the hands of a better developer, this game could have reached its full potential.… Expand
  2. DeeEss
    Dec 30, 2012
    4
    One review for this game mentioned something about it being like Deus Ex and Bioshock had a beautiful child. A beautiful one, perhaps, but not a bright one. It takes a little from several games and doesn't really do anything special with it. The Good:

    Powers are interesting and the horribly overpowered Blink can be quite a lot of fun. The world does look great, despite the    One review for this game mentioned something about it being like Deus Ex and Bioshock had a beautiful child. A beautiful one, perhaps, but not a bright one. It takes a little from several games and doesn't really do anything special with it. The Good:

    Powers are interesting and the horribly overpowered Blink can be quite a lot of fun. The world does look great, despite the character models. There's also the option of neutralizing your targets by methods other than murder, which is something I'd like to see more in games.

    The Bad:

    I can't really say it's boring, but the story certainly was. When the 'twist' came up, it was expected and I was a little disappointed that I had obviously finished that much of the game so quickly. It didn't help that we have yet another silent protagonist, which makes it tougher to care. Did he like the empress? Was he her lover/friend, or did he resent her for some reason? We'll never know, and the main motive being given is simple revenge which came off as, "STFU and play the game already". The interactions with Emily were nice, provided you chose to do them and chose the less deadly options.

    The morality system was a major source of contention for me. For starters, it affects Emily's actions and outlook, and it bothers me that it's not explained how she or anyone else found out about whether or not anyone died. Sure, it could have been overheard, but with the ruling power being like it is, that's the sort of propaganda they're likely to spit out, regardless of what happened. Secondly, Corvo is frequently referred to as an assassin, but killing is what you get punished for. I should add that if you decide to go the non-lethal route, you'll be very limited in your choice of weapons. There is a round of ammo that puts enemies to sleep but, with a maximum of 10 rounds, you'll run out very quickly. Art style for the characters is pretty terrible with the exception of Emily and the Empress. Maybe this was done to reflect how monstrous the new regime is and if that's the case, congratulations are in order.

    Finally, there's the stealth. Unless you're completely behind something or too far away, enemies will spot you. Staying in shadows is almost meaningless in this game. The lead level designer said, "In Thief the light is very very important. At the beginning we tried to be in the same mood: use the light, use the shadows. But we realised that when you're standing in front of an NPC like this [hand in front of face] it's not realistic - we must admit that. In the real world it's not like this."

    Yes, we realize that it's not realistic, and there's an explanation as to why Garrett can do that. It just seems odd that someone would, in effect, say, "I'm sorry, it's not realistic for our rat summoning, teleporting, time stopping, body possessing, wind controlling, wall seeing through protagonist to do that because it's not like that in the real world." The other half of the claim is that the art direction inhibited this. Okay, got me there when you get to a well lit area, but what about when it's dark? To sum up, it's not a terrible game, but doesn't really deserve to be compared with the titans that are frequently mentioned, . Certainly not worth paying $50 or $60 bucks for, just wait until there's a huge discount on Steam or rent it. I'd give it a 4.5, but I don't have that option.

    Let me rebut some comments here: "You rushed through the game!" I did not rush through the game intentionally. I read everything that could be read and listened to all the conversations and recordings (My favorite was when the guards were talking about how Corvo was probably hiding somewhere near them). "You can add a lot of game time just by doing it in stealth!" And? That's only a justification for a lack of content. How would you feel about a 2 hour FPS with 15 difficulty modes? That's 30 hours of gameplay!

    "I don't understand why people are saying there's nothing new." That means you missed out on one or several of Bioshock, Deus Ex, Thief, and many other games with stealth or morality options. If there is something new, someone, PLEASE, enlighten me.

    "It's a sandbox!" Not even close. You get taken area to area. Sure, you can explore a little, not like Elder Scrolls or Fallout though. You don't even have the option to go back to those areas unless you're required to by the plot. "People who don't like this game are too used to hand holding." Please. For starters, personal insults don't explain why you like it or why I'm wrong. Secondly, these are opinions which will vary wildly depending on the experience of the user. I played the games this one is being likened to back when they came out, so I see it as a copy of those. Thirdly, what do you call it when you have an item that tells you where items are, as well as UI markers telling you where to go?    … Expand
  3. raidet
    Oct 13, 2012
    4
    I have to agree with others that have said this game is nothing special. It has a nice, Bioshock-style retro theme, and that's all this game has. If it had a contemporary theme and everything else was the same, everyone would be calling this the tedious piece of unremarkable **** it is. It's just boring. Bioshock has already done all this, but in a much more engaging way.
  4. shadow_walker
    Oct 13, 2012
    4
    I was really looking forward to something fresh or new alternate to the fps and rpg genres. Despite all the good review, the game was not mind-blowing or freshly innovative as the hype claimed. The graphics and plot to the game are good but that seems to be the only thing that keeps this game afloat. Personally, I would rather save the cost and buy some good old game like Fallout 3 or waitI was really looking forward to something fresh or new alternate to the fps and rpg genres. Despite all the good review, the game was not mind-blowing or freshly innovative as the hype claimed. The graphics and plot to the game are good but that seems to be the only thing that keeps this game afloat. Personally, I would rather save the cost and buy some good old game like Fallout 3 or wait for the new release of Bioshock Infinite. After completing 3 missions the game was not thrilling enough to pull me back to play again-not better than something of Assassin's Creed stature.… Expand
  5. anubite
    Oct 10, 2012
    4
    Although not a horrific game, I think this is a step back for the "Deus Ex genre" - or whatever you want to call it. A hybrid of stealth and action - the action falls flat. You can run and gun in this game, but there's no omph to it. It's on par with the original Deus Ex in terms of pure gunplay. Or, maybe that's too generous - Deus Ex gives you a wide array of weapons over a decade ago.Although not a horrific game, I think this is a step back for the "Deus Ex genre" - or whatever you want to call it. A hybrid of stealth and action - the action falls flat. You can run and gun in this game, but there's no omph to it. It's on par with the original Deus Ex in terms of pure gunplay. Or, maybe that's too generous - Deus Ex gives you a wide array of weapons over a decade ago. In Dishonored, you have three kinds of bolts to hurl with your tiny dart-slinger, and a shabby pistol. Action just isn't there, with gameplay revolving around running straight at enemies, using up your small ammunition stockpile, and then chugging mana potions while you hurl rats and wind about. There's very little to engage you, as most of the levels are extremely linear if you choose to take the action route. ||| The stealth side of things is better than I was expecting, but most of the depth of stealth is lost thanks to Blink. Granted, you can choose not to use the spell, but the stealth is balanced around it. And choosing not to use it simply makes every level a chore. In Deus Ex, sneaking involves passing through guard patrols, crawling through vents, utilizing security systems, and hacking. In Dishonored, stealth is patiently waiting about for your enemies to turn their heads toward the sea for a moment and seldom more than that. Occasionally you encounter a security system you need to bypass, but the ways of approaching those security systems involve blink, at least until you can slow down time. ||| What I'm trying to imply is that the depth of choice in Dishonored falls a little flat. It's easy to see that they tried, but the most striking failure of Dishonored is its lame level design. For a game as short as it is (… Expand
  6. gun661
    Oct 10, 2012
    3
    Another game that makes me feel increasingly alienated from this industry. There's been put a lot of talent, work and energy into this game, including marketing that promotes Dishonored to be about solving things in a creative way. All this is kinda sad, since ultimately, Dishonored plays just like another blockbuster which you'll forget about before tomorrow. Because: 1.) Stealth-gameplayAnother game that makes me feel increasingly alienated from this industry. There's been put a lot of talent, work and energy into this game, including marketing that promotes Dishonored to be about solving things in a creative way. All this is kinda sad, since ultimately, Dishonored plays just like another blockbuster which you'll forget about before tomorrow. Because: 1.) Stealth-gameplay is you waiting for enemies to look away, nothing more, because light isn't regarded, for example, i.e. enemies see you just as well/badly in broad daylight as within total darkness. Also, you only have really few options to be stealthy besides the "Blink"-skill, especially if you want to do it non-lethally (options: sleeping darts and choking... that's it, 2 options, there isn't even a blackjack). 2.) Action: Trying out the various gadgets and skills to lethally engage enemies seems nice, but just as with stealth, there isn't much tactics involved - it's repeating the same process over and over again, the skills just make it look differently. 3.) Personally, the seemingly unnecessary, overdrawn brutality you are invited to perform or is performed visually and story-wise just turns me off.. I never had any problems with the gore of the Dooms and Quakes and what not, 'cause they were silly games. But games like this, somehow, for my taste, are just... no, thank you... Feels like today's games are trying hard to impress little boys who want to be "really bad-as*", if you allow me that snappy remark.… Expand
  7. Coeco
    Oct 14, 2012
    4
    Picked up this game without watching any trailers and the moment I got the controls, Skyrim and Thief: Deadly Shadows popped up in my head like a prostitute wearing a party hat out of a cake. While by no means lacking in quality, the graphics are great, (For PC) story is decent and the game offers new ways to explore the sneaking-around genre with various "magic" abilities. The lackingPicked up this game without watching any trailers and the moment I got the controls, Skyrim and Thief: Deadly Shadows popped up in my head like a prostitute wearing a party hat out of a cake. While by no means lacking in quality, the graphics are great, (For PC) story is decent and the game offers new ways to explore the sneaking-around genre with various "magic" abilities. The lacking parts however, are quite severe. The more people you kill, the worse ending you'll get and you cannot render enemies unconscious in combat by say, a club weapon or with the hilt of your sword but you must instead strangle them from behind (while undetected) or shoot expensive "Sleeping" bolts into their faces (In which you can only carry a maximum of 10 with upgrades). Challenge or not, you'll be extremely disappointed at the moments you simply must kill to progress in missions (Some allow a non-lethal approach but you'll still draw blood on some), leaving any kind of 100% perfect play-through impossible. I found myself just running through the entire game by repeatedly gulping down mana potions and stopping time because rendering enemies unconscious was an insane bother, like having to ride a unicycle up a mountain instead of taking the sky-lift. For sh!t and giggles, i went ahead and took Hardcore on my second play-through and wouldn't you know it, the game is still dirt-easy. Sadly a flaw that will forever appear in console-ports like this even if they do a good job with most of the stuff, the rest will be sticking out like a huge pimple.… Expand
  8. truthmonger
    Oct 14, 2012
    0
    It should have been called "Dishonest" - this game delivers NOTHING it promises

    Stealth gameplay? Sure, if you consider teleportation and basic "attack-from-behind or only at extreme distance" stealth. Light and shadow have NO impact whatsoever..enemies all have night vision, which YOU have to buy with a precious upgrade. There's also NO way to knock out enemies once they spot you    It should have been called "Dishonest" - this game delivers NOTHING it promises

    Stealth gameplay? Sure, if you consider teleportation and basic "attack-from-behind or only at extreme distance" stealth. Light and shadow have NO impact whatsoever..enemies all have night vision, which YOU have to buy with a precious upgrade. There's also NO way to knock out enemies once they spot you except for a crossbow with sleep darts. Mind you that killing people makes the game get uglier, more rats and zombies and an even MORE terrible ending. Its like the devs were just laughing as they made this game thinking of how mad the Thief and Deus Ex fans would get when they realized they'd been f*#ked. 90% of everything in this game is stolen from Bioshock, Half Life II and other games - they don't even try to hide it. Anyone who says this is an "open world" is LYING. An "open world" is what you get with TES or FO..this is nothing like that. Its just levels with invisible walls like 99% of the games you've played before. Duke Nukem 3D was more "open world" than this!! The game is a cakewalk if you just kill everything which seems to be what the designers wanted. You're so overpowered by the second mission that you can clear a level in under 10 minutes if you want to..everything is handed to you on a platter, there's no real "searching" for anything. You even have a stupid BEATING HEART you carry around that points you to everything of interest, maybe the biggest joke I've EVER seen in a game. I bet the designers thought that was really edgy, LOL! There's a million empty bottles with nothing in them - well except for a few that explode a little (not enough to hurt anything but YOU). Low-quality graphics, stupid and useless abilities..I could go on but why bother? Name any game of this kind made in the last 10 years - its better than Dishonest-errr, DisHONORED.    … Expand
  9. psycros
    Oct 14, 2012
    4
    Here's what right with this game:

    * It doesn't crash. * Most of the voice acting is OK, but not without issues (see below). * It runs pretty well with everything maxed on a system that was considered high-end two years ago. Here's what's wrong with this game: * Everything from plot to mechanical design to you-name-it is a derivative mish-mash of Half-Life II and Bioshock, with a    Here's what right with this game:

    * It doesn't crash.
    * Most of the voice acting is OK, but not without issues (see below).
    * It runs pretty well with everything maxed on a system that was considered high-end two years ago.

    Here's what's wrong with this game:

    * Everything from plot to mechanical design to you-name-it is a derivative mish-mash of Half-Life II and Bioshock, with a dash of FEAR, Assassin's Creed and even Oblivion tossed in for bad measure. Its painfully hacked together and non-cohesive, like the devs were fighting over which game world they most wanted to copy. Ironically, there are a few legitimately creative strokes tossed in, but their mostly lost in the noise. The backstory is almost painfully contorted to explain the bizarre mix. NOTE: I have only gotten through (I believe) about half of the game so maybe - just maybe - it makes a little more sense later on..but I doubt it.
    * The graphics are about four years out of date. The male faces are hideous, hopefully due to a limitation of the Unreal engine and not artistic intent. Tim Burton wouldn't make men this unattractive, or women this identical. Even the dogs are ugly.
    * Music, visual design, most of the characterization and plot elements make for a brooding, dark and depressing atmosphere. Seriously, does every game need to go down this road? I know its supposed to be a region gripped by plague, dark mysticism and a totalitarian conspiracy, but..sheesh, enough already! Not every setting needs to be an Orwellian zombie apocalypse. (Yes, Dishonored has zombies. Sigh.)
    * The voice acting is decent and better than most Bethesda titles, but the R-rated swearing seems out of place in this steampunk world. It definitely hurts immersion.
    * If you're going to sell a game as having multiple playstyles, then by the Nine you best deliver. Dishonored fails utterly in this regard. Killing is supposed to be optional, but good luck with that effort. First off, there is no way to disable an opponent in combat except by using sleep bolts in your crossbow. Once you've lost the element of surprise you can't choke out a person or dog (yes, I did this to a dog one time but it never gave me the option again). You play the royal bodyguard, one of the best fighters in the land, and you don't know how to knock a guy out? Hell, you've got a flintlock with a huge club-like butt - that's what it was designed for. You can carry ten sleep bolts and there are only a handful scattered through the missions I've played - and some are fairly hard to reach if you didn't put everything into movement powers. You can buy sleep bolts between missions and some missions have vendors who will sell them at an exorbitant fee, but if you rely on them for non-lethal takedowns you will run out eventually. BTW, you can upgrade your carrying capacity for normal bolts to 20. Normal bolts do damage and are an easy button for killing at range, superior to your useless pistol in nearly every situation. In fact, on the hardest difficulty the game presents no real challenge if you simply kill everything you see. But that's the real kicker with Dishonored: the game makes murder a cinch and then punishes you for killing. The city gets nastier and the game ending will get "darker" as your body count grows. I might add that anyone who dies during combat with you, be it from falling off a bridge or friendly fire from other NPCS, counts as one of your kills. I'm pretty certain even the dogs count as your kills.
    * You only see your progress stats when a mission ends (i.e. body count, runes found, etc).
    * There are some technical problems, at least on my system. The savegame routine is horribly botched and provides no way to identify saves other than which mission and level their from. Worse, it seems that old autosaves are never really deleted and pollute the list when you're trying to load a game. Trying to figure out which save is the one you need is a horrible sort of mini-game and hearkens back to the worst of Bethesda's sloppy programming (although Bethsoft may have nothing to do with the actual game design or coding). Sometimes character voices sound like their coming from the environment Corvo is in rather than the one they actually occupy. You'll be standing just outside the door to a tunnel and the NPC's voice will have no echo, as if he were right beside you. This makes for some confusing positional audio, making the bogus stealth gameplay even more of a joke.

    To sum it up, this is a game that promises beauty, originality and multiple playstyles and delivers none of those things. Its a pretty stable console port of a mediocre game with confused, misleading design. I'd skip it or at least wait for some serious patches before giving it a go. And another thing: its very obvious there's paid reviewing going on with Dishonored. Don't think we don't notice, Bethesda.    … Expand
  10. gameslayer
    Oct 14, 2012
    0
    Providing some balance to all the paid reviews :) If I was being totally honest, I'd give Dishonored a 3 (4 at most) for being unoriginal, lying about the stealth gameplay and other inexcusable design flaws. Sooo obvious it wasn't finished when they released it..tons of stuff they reference that ends up being placeholders. DO NOT BUY. If this gets GOTY from *anyone* it will only be dueProviding some balance to all the paid reviews :) If I was being totally honest, I'd give Dishonored a 3 (4 at most) for being unoriginal, lying about the stealth gameplay and other inexcusable design flaws. Sooo obvious it wasn't finished when they released it..tons of stuff they reference that ends up being placeholders. DO NOT BUY. If this gets GOTY from *anyone* it will only be due to bribery.… Expand
  11. stickfish
    Oct 11, 2012
    1
    This is a ok game, not more than that. The story it's not good, don't have tha "feeling" at all. The graphics are PS3 graphics, it can be ok for a PS3 game, but not for a PC game. The Stealth its not so stealth, the combats are stupids

    I don't get all the hype about this game, the producers are good peoples, the bethesda is great but this game sucks
    I really want to like this game, but...
  12. GIANT_CRAB
    Oct 11, 2012
    3
    Its overrated.

    Terrible graphics and extremely short game-play.

    Its very basic, just keep killing on and on.

    Not challenging and quite straight forward.

    Overall, its still a good game but its not worth the money.
  13. SpeakingWaters
    Jul 15, 2013
    3
    I played this game some time ago, and the gameplay has been reviewed plenty so I won't go into a whole lot of detail about that, but partly because I don't remember it very clearly.
    When I first heard about Dishonored, I was skeptical because it seemed like the typical over-hyped game that provides little-to-nothing new to anyone who's played a similar game. Then I saw some very    I played this game some time ago, and the gameplay has been reviewed plenty so I won't go into a whole lot of detail about that, but partly because I don't remember it very clearly.
    When I first heard about Dishonored, I was skeptical because it seemed like the typical over-hyped game that provides little-to-nothing new to anyone who's played a similar game. Then I saw some very interesting screenshots that that portrayed a beautifully drawn world that just exclaimed depth. But what grabbed me the most were the images appealing to one of my deepest fantasies: murdering fascist aristocrats in their homes. So I gave it a chance.

    All throughout playing it, I was amazed by the visual beauty of the game, but not much more. I was immediately confronted with boring dialogue and an lame story involving characters the game didn't allow me to care about. The gameplay was quite repetitive, only giving me options of what door I'd go through, etc. I got the feeling that the developers approached the game as though it were a chore and they simply had to meet some quota so it would appear that they actually tried. When I would go back and try some of the other pathways and options provided, I would only discover how rarely it offered anything new with my "decisions." Blink was fun to explore with, a certain positive point in the game, but I couldn't name many other new mechanics I enjoyed.

    Now I CANNOT stress enough, the downright worst part of this lazily formed game was the "chaos/order" system. The tagline for the game was "revenge solves everything" and with my scary skull mask and occult powers, I would strike fear into the hearts of the wicked authority and claim vengeance for all who suffered from their evils. But no, that's bad ending stuff that makes the little girl insane and Samuel, the only character I liked, hate me. Instead, I have to "non-lethally" knock out zombies and thugs and hide them in dark alleys because that obviously increases order in the city. Live an let live, right? What the hell. The only way to get the good ending (which may or may not be as sickeningly stupid and disappointing as the bad ending, I never saw it) is to play the game boring mode in which you play as a hippy assassin with an arsenal of murder and a terrifying image of symbolic rising death that isn't allowed to hurt anyone in a crazy violent world of plague and corruption.
    Talking about the ending is starting to make me feel nauseous, so I'll leave it there.

    The story was an all around pile of garbage, so predictable that I insisted to myself that "there is no way it could turn out like that, no matter how terrible this game may be!" only to soon find out that I had guessed nearly every part of the cliche, and often plotless story.
    I enjoyed the look and atmosphere of each setting tremendously, and they did indeed leave their mark on me, and I'm grateful for it. It is a bit embarrassing to see the way that they catered to some apparent fad called "steampunk" but even so, the background world (which you had to do some reading to discover) seemed quite inspired. I would have loved to see more of it, but unfortunately, the story was too lost in itself to show us any of it.
    There are plenty of things I could wish for that this game doesn't come close to providing -magic that felt like magic; missions that weren't so pointlessly long; a faceless, nameless, and mysterious masked silent protagonist; the so promised sense of choice; fun stealth mechanics; a story- but wishing doesn't redeem this game.
    What Dishonored truly needs is a redeeming sequel, complete with all the beauty and depth of the original world seeping into every aspect of the game, complete with all the things so insistently promised to us.

    They even had a ball scene in which mass murder was barely even an option! The nerve!    … Expand
  14. emulemuf
    Jul 3, 2014
    4
    I loved the universe and the gameplay.
    BUT
    Game: BE PISSED-OFF ABOUT LIFE ! Me: Why? Game: Because. Look. They killed the emperess Me: Who is she? Do I know her? Game: NO TIME TO EXPLAIN. REVENGE! Me: But seriously, who is she? And those guys here? Who the hell are they? Game: ARE YOU PISSED-OFF OR WHAT? Me: not... really ... I guess i should... It's looks like those guys are    I loved the universe and the gameplay.
    BUT

    Game: BE PISSED-OFF ABOUT LIFE !
    Me: Why?
    Game: Because. Look. They killed the emperess
    Me: Who is she? Do I know her?
    Game: NO TIME TO EXPLAIN. REVENGE!
    Me: But seriously, who is she? And those guys here? Who the hell are they?
    Game: ARE YOU PISSED-OFF OR WHAT?
    Me: not... really ... I guess i should... It's looks like those guys are the bad guys and I'm the good guy and...
    Game: CMON LETS GO REVENGE...
    Me: if you say so... I will try to do as you say, but I still can't feel any tension in me...
    Game: HERE YOU TAKE WEAPONS AND **** AND GO HAVE FUN
    Me: mhh ok... But really I don't know those guys... And you who are you?
    Game: damn this player is such a mess....    … Expand
  15. Xradus
    Dec 11, 2012
    2
    I don't know why there is such a hype for this game for being something fresh and new. I bought the game in hope to finally find a good first person assassination game after it got so many good reviews. But again it seems like the review sites got paid to give it a high score, I couldn't play the game for more than 3-4 hours. The combat is pretty boring and dull, you get some spells andI don't know why there is such a hype for this game for being something fresh and new. I bought the game in hope to finally find a good first person assassination game after it got so many good reviews. But again it seems like the review sites got paid to give it a high score, I couldn't play the game for more than 3-4 hours. The combat is pretty boring and dull, you get some spells and other features that just make the whole game easier than it already is, if you want a challenge don't use any spells and upgrades. The missions are boring, along the main story you get side quests that don't really give you any benefit. The game promises freedom and choices that have influence in the game, but the freedom they promise is pretty much if you want to run through all the guards to your goal or use the roofs or sewers, and the choices you make in the game end up to nothing. The atmosphere in the game has potential but the graphics ruin it, it would have been much better using realistic graphics than this comic stuff. The game is basically linear, getting easier with every spell and upgrade, and a dark atmosphere being ruined by comic graphics. If you played something like Deus Ex or Thief, don't buy it, you're gonna be disappointed.… Expand
  16. danoholic86
    Oct 14, 2012
    4
    This game touts itself as a game that lets you play your way..... It is not..... Everything is spoon-fed to you. You cannot beat this game even on the easiest difficulty without using your crappy unbalanced magic... The mask that you wear is just that...... a mask..... Oh wait... It's got a completely worthless zoom function? That makes it all better.... The gunplay sucks, the swordplayThis game touts itself as a game that lets you play your way..... It is not..... Everything is spoon-fed to you. You cannot beat this game even on the easiest difficulty without using your crappy unbalanced magic... The mask that you wear is just that...... a mask..... Oh wait... It's got a completely worthless zoom function? That makes it all better.... The gunplay sucks, the swordplay sucks, the story is ok. The world is pretty cool...
    This game just failed to impress..... When this game hits the bargain bin, pick it up. At $60 it's not worth it...    … Expand
  17. SuRathanil
    Oct 21, 2012
    3
    The game is lacking, its just a scripted play-through story basically. There is no real depth, the character doesn't feel like your own, and everything you do feels scripted. I played for a few hours, but couldn't get into it, I have tried to open the game twice since and can't play for longer than 15mins. I love some of the companies other games, but this was a let down. If I had toThe game is lacking, its just a scripted play-through story basically. There is no real depth, the character doesn't feel like your own, and everything you do feels scripted. I played for a few hours, but couldn't get into it, I have tried to open the game twice since and can't play for longer than 15mins. I love some of the companies other games, but this was a let down. If I had to describe dishonored in a phrase? Sub-par! Its just not what I was expecting. The game gives you the feeling like they were trying to copy Assassins Creeds success, but they failed. The new Assassins Creed kicks dishonors butt. If you really want to get this game, and you're unsure wait until its $25 on steam for sale! I am interested strong in this title, and because of the company and the hype I fell into the trap of another mainstream sub-par video game.

    Pros - A nice environment, nifty story, interesting gameplay mechanics, polished, crossbows and muskets are interesting feature.

    Cons - Limited gameplay overall, no sandbox feel, no kind of character development, narrow path gameplay, way to scripted, swordplay is arcade, and just not as fun as its counterparts.    … Expand
  18. Bulaba0
    Oct 14, 2012
    3
    The gameplay is excellent. Stealth and combat are exciting and unique. The story, however, is reaaaaaalllllyyy bad. The ending gets even worse. Most of the character dialogue is forced and there aren't really any dynamic characters in the game. The dramatic shift in the story is WONDERFUL, but that's the only time (for only like 10 minutes) that any of the characters become interesting. IThe gameplay is excellent. Stealth and combat are exciting and unique. The story, however, is reaaaaaalllllyyy bad. The ending gets even worse. Most of the character dialogue is forced and there aren't really any dynamic characters in the game. The dramatic shift in the story is WONDERFUL, but that's the only time (for only like 10 minutes) that any of the characters become interesting. I was really hoping you'd get that feel of a huge expansive city like Assasin's Creed, but you end up playing on only a handful of really small, limited maps, with some replays of previous areas. This really hurts when you hit the invisible walls at the top or sides of the map, or just look in the distance to find cardboard cutout buildings instead of real models. There's a horrible contrast between interior detail and exterior. Building interiors are AMAZING, detail is great, and each has a unique feel. Exteriors are bland, with repeating textures EVERYWHERE, low-poly distance models, and many reused item models and textures.

    Graphically, you have almost no options at your disposal, there's almost no customization in the game menus. You can force many options to modern standards through .ini modification, but to even have decent antialiasing you have to downsample or use Nvidia Inspector. Shadow detail is capped at a depressing level, but can be forced much higher without much of a performance hit.

    Many levels have really clear A, B, or C type choices for pathways, so where you would like to be creative and find new solutions, you kinda get kicked into the mold. This hurts especially in the end, with your typical Evil/Neutral/Good endings. The game is SHORT. 9 hours on my assasination/clearing playthrough. It feels like the areas could have been doubled, a much better introduction to the story (through some theatrical expose to the plague and its history) would have actually given you some attachment to the characters. Because of how compressed everything is, you never build up an attachment to any of the characters. They're all flat and boring, and you're thrown onto them like you've known them all your life.

    Overall a disappointment. Wait for it to go on sale.    … Expand
  19. hootis
    Oct 17, 2012
    0
    So reading some reviews while I have not finished the game yet; the intro story wise falls completely flat. Its kinda just like this is a city and if you want to care about it you have to read 30 text journals hidden everywhere. Oh and were the good guys because we said so. Anyway story failure aside, I cannot possibly justify the cost of this game. 60$ is fine for a full game single andSo reading some reviews while I have not finished the game yet; the intro story wise falls completely flat. Its kinda just like this is a city and if you want to care about it you have to read 30 text journals hidden everywhere. Oh and were the good guys because we said so. Anyway story failure aside, I cannot possibly justify the cost of this game. 60$ is fine for a full game single and multilayer with more than likely a custom game engine. This is sadly not the case when I hear people beating the single player in only 7 hours and a bad implementation of the unreal engine(by bad I mean the graphics are absolutely atrocious not to mention there aren't any settings to change anything other than bloody rat shadows I mean really you've got to be kidding me). I'l give this game a 3 and hope it improves but I can't even force myself to play through more of this without giving myself a headache from crappy visuals… Expand
  20. Technosaurus
    Jun 29, 2013
    3
    Any true PC aficionado will find this game mediocre at best. Not only is it a console port with aim assist AND auto aim set to 'On' prior to any options tweaking, but I found the aesthetics and dialogue to be very underwhelming. The game has interesting mechanics and extremely smooth and vivid animations, but the plot is almost nonexistent and the character you play as is a mute homicidalAny true PC aficionado will find this game mediocre at best. Not only is it a console port with aim assist AND auto aim set to 'On' prior to any options tweaking, but I found the aesthetics and dialogue to be very underwhelming. The game has interesting mechanics and extremely smooth and vivid animations, but the plot is almost nonexistent and the character you play as is a mute homicidal maniac bestowed with what I can only describe as god-like magic powers by an unexplained supernatural humanoid; excuse me, what?? Sad excuse for storytelling. How this game was allegedly loved by both players and critics alike is beyond me.… Expand
  21. Melopahn
    Oct 14, 2012
    2
    Just avoid this game. The hype was unjustified beyond reason. Started the game on the Very Hard difficulty (the hardest of 4 difficulties) within 11 hours of gameplay I was on the second to last mission (had to check due to problem that will occur further into the review). This gameplay flew by the whole time I was thinking this has to get harder Im trying for difficulty but no matter whatJust avoid this game. The hype was unjustified beyond reason. Started the game on the Very Hard difficulty (the hardest of 4 difficulties) within 11 hours of gameplay I was on the second to last mission (had to check due to problem that will occur further into the review). This gameplay flew by the whole time I was thinking this has to get harder Im trying for difficulty but no matter what my approach, stealth or combat I found that nothing was an issue. Walking into a square with 12 people took them all down with 1 skill didn't need a weapon or any of the other fancy things the game offered. The entire game came down to blink on them push attack cut their face off and repeat. Health and mana potions were beyond abundant. I always seemed to have all full potions full health full mana and an abudance of ammo and money. As I progressed getting ever more bored and distraught with the game, I reached a massively game breaking error. The 2nd to last level you do (a very specific thing) and are met with a cutscene this is followed by a loading screen, Every time the loading screen ended it would replay the same cutscene and go straight back into the loading screen after 14 hours of leaving it on to load and attempting to restart to try loading again I finally gave up. The games setting was nothing new and nothing else offered by the game made me even remotely interested in restarting in an attempt to get past that bug.

    The game is extremely dissatisfying and should be avoided. Gameplay 0 - The stealth mechanics are shotty, the AI is hilarious in its levels of bad, the originality is non-existent, Combat is laughable in its ease, Character development is non existent as well. Insanely short!
    Concept 1- The game offers nothing new just a mesh and swarm of everything that's been done before put into 1 game, the sad part is every game it is using as inspiration is longer and has much more depth to every aspect that was "stolen".
    Sound 0- Turned it off within 10 minutes, music was dull and never matched the pace of the game, sound quality during all game mechanics was the same... time always slows down, blink possess, opening menus, using any of your powers, blocking, swinging your sword... they all had the same sound effect of time slowing down.
    Play ability - 0 - Game glitched tot he point where beating it became a physical impossibility no game that does this will ever be awarded anything but an absolute 0 in this category. In addition to this massive bug there are little ones that I constantly noticed around the game. Things like getting shot by a guy holding nothing but a sword, or killing someone only to have their dead body kill you as well (death by cutscene into they somehow managed to shoot while you were ripping their face off).
    Replay -0- I dont think I would ever replay this game, I couldn't be bothered to replay it to see the ending of it and the only other 2 people I know agree that its so easy on the hardest difficulty that there is no reason to replay it.

    Overall .25 which will be rounded down because they lose 1 point for un playable game. If I could neg this game I would.    … Expand
  22. Kimomarudotcom
    Jan 1, 2014
    2
    Boring and tedious. Picked it up on a Steam Sale for $7.50 and I can't keep playing it. Switching powers is a pain, the auto-save checkpoint system is kind of a mess (expect to go back and get runes again and reassign them to powers when you die before the next checkpoint), and the game is just not that interesting. It's a burden to pick up and play, I didn't find it engaging at all.Boring and tedious. Picked it up on a Steam Sale for $7.50 and I can't keep playing it. Switching powers is a pain, the auto-save checkpoint system is kind of a mess (expect to go back and get runes again and reassign them to powers when you die before the next checkpoint), and the game is just not that interesting. It's a burden to pick up and play, I didn't find it engaging at all. The game looks and sounds good, but that's all. The only game on the market today with rogue-like elements that nails it from alpha to omega is Assassin's Creed 4.… Expand
  23. Mr_NoFace
    Sep 15, 2013
    3
    HEY! its Dishonored you know there's a reason for that name because it dishonors the thief series with this new Thief game coming out people have been stupid enough to say its a rip off of Dishonored well the fact is that the first Thief game came out in 1998 the second one was 2000 and the third was 2004 so as you see its much older then this garbage, also lets talk about how you have toHEY! its Dishonored you know there's a reason for that name because it dishonors the thief series with this new Thief game coming out people have been stupid enough to say its a rip off of Dishonored well the fact is that the first Thief game came out in 1998 the second one was 2000 and the third was 2004 so as you see its much older then this garbage, also lets talk about how you have to go to someone to take you to a location Thief doesn't do that you have to get there your self, the only thing i liked about this game was a bit of its story when your getting framed for the murder of the queen (but it doesn't help his case if he turns into a murderer afterwards tho) but still in this the hiding is rubbish, Thief did it right by letting you hiding in the shadows but come on Dishonored if your going to copy everything from Thief why not that!it's a really good mechanic you get in tensed because they could be standing in front of you and your just panicking that they don't see you, it just makes the game fun also people would sneak more then just run and kill everything, we need something to get us away from all the call of duty kids at the moment and this game will not do it... BUT MAYBE THIEF WILL!… Expand
  24. MaxGayLord
    Jun 23, 2013
    0
    I'm not saying Dishonored is a bad game, but it's a bad game. Don't even waste your time & money with this product, do something more productive and volunteer at a charity or something.
  25. Boazik
    Nov 25, 2012
    4
    I sadly thought this game was going to be unique and a major change in the industries but I was wrong. The trailers were misleading along with countless reviews. The game has many fine aspects and ideas but all are horribly used. At the beginning the game seems interesting and exciting, but shortly after it feels like you have done everything before and the missions get repetitive. It alsoI sadly thought this game was going to be unique and a major change in the industries but I was wrong. The trailers were misleading along with countless reviews. The game has many fine aspects and ideas but all are horribly used. At the beginning the game seems interesting and exciting, but shortly after it feels like you have done everything before and the missions get repetitive. It also feels as if a large part of the game was missing, content wise. Their were limited weapons and abilities. Also the stealth aspect was poorly done which lead to alot of problems and very many of the characters seemed uninteresting. The story was also quite short and very predictable after about the third mission. Also their was no real need for strategies, But when you used strategie it was time consuming and easily destroyed by countless bugs and a poorly made rating system called "The Chaos metre" which counted the times you were seen, the number killed or left unconscious was also poorly executed. Finally the graphics and the rendering system in place were absolute terrible, it's 2012, not 2008. Many times when rotating around I was met with quite a fair bit of lag on a machine meant to handle resource hogging games, but apparently the devs never got the memo on efficiently rendering and good graphics and little ol'e textures. In all honesty this game had some great ideas but failed to execute them properly and was followed by a dull story. I will give this game a 4 for the slight enjoyment I had. So all in all, rent the game… Expand
  26. bsmaff
    Oct 30, 2012
    4
    The different ways to complete the missions is quite good, and the world is pretty good but the massive downside is the AI is bad, and the stealth mechanics need alot of work, the problem is it just seems completly luck and not skill if someone sees you or not as sometimes you get seen walking up near them other times you can walk about 20 metres right in front of them and they don't seeThe different ways to complete the missions is quite good, and the world is pretty good but the massive downside is the AI is bad, and the stealth mechanics need alot of work, the problem is it just seems completly luck and not skill if someone sees you or not as sometimes you get seen walking up near them other times you can walk about 20 metres right in front of them and they don't see you.
    Also playing it on PC can't help to say the graphics are poor, low res console textures, character models that makes Skyrim look good. The PC has been well optimised control wise, but massively let down in regards to graphical improvments.    … Expand
  27. Frostiken
    Dec 22, 2012
    3
    Dishonored is one of the most overrated games of 2012. As is typical for Bethesda schlock, they delivered a game lacking in almost every single capacity and convinced the moronic masses to go with it.

    Almost everything about this game is putrid. Graphically the technically, the game is a failure. It's about as visually stunning as UT2k4, with flat textures, a very noticeable lack of    Dishonored is one of the most overrated games of 2012. As is typical for Bethesda schlock, they delivered a game lacking in almost every single capacity and convinced the moronic masses to go with it.

    Almost everything about this game is putrid. Graphically the technically, the game is a failure. It's about as visually stunning as UT2k4, with flat textures, a very noticeable lack of physics outside of ragdolls, and poor particle effects. There's absolutely nothing here exciting at all. This game would've looked dated four years ago, clay-looking faces and all. It in no way makes any attempt to stand out visually.

    The plot and presentation is a total joke, and I want to punch whatever creative writing dropout thought up this plot and introduce him to something called 'flow'. You're introduced to a world you know nothing about, you're told to care about someone and in the first seven seconds of the game you're framed for their murder, thrown in prison, and then rescued. There's even a torture seen in between in which the bad guy takes time to EXPLAIN TO YOU that he framed you, in case you were too stupid to figure it out yourself. There's a bunch of other cliche BS that happens later on in the game, but it suffices to say that the plot will entertain nobody with a triple-digit IQ.

    Then there's the gameplay. The gameplay tends to be pretty solid. When the stealth works, it works. You can sneak around and be a clever little a-hole in the vein of Thief. And the combat is great fun, about as solid-feeling as Dark Messiah. You have all kinds of tools and toys to use as well, combat stops to let you pick your next device, and when everything goes pear-shaped, it's a blast slicing-and-dicing enemies to bits (too bad Bethesda can't put a decent combat system in the Elder Scroll games...).

    The problem is that it's way too easy to sneak around. You even have an ability to lets you teleport right up to someone's bum, completely eliminating the need to actually sneak over there. Barring that, you can just teleport to some pipes 90% of the time. There's not a single situation where you actually have to use any of the gadgets, heck, there's an achievement for completing the game without even getting any upgrades, *THAT'S HOW OPTIONAL CONFRONTATION IS*. Rather than make stealth extremely hard, but rewarding, thus trying to force the player's hand towards the easier lethal options... you can easily just teleport your way through almost every single level to complete safety.

    The problem is that everything fun in this game isn't stealth. You have a crossbow, a pistol you can use to just blow people away, a rat swarm,a fus-ro-dah you can use to blow people apart, you have grenades, mantraps, and a great combat system, as well as all sorts of assassination moves.

    If you don't use combat, you complete the game by giving people hugs and shooting them with sleep darts. That's it. 85% of the game content has nothing to do with stealth.

    Let's make one thing clear - this is an assassination game, not Thief. The very first people you meet call you an assassin and talk about how people need to die to make the world better. You even get an artifact you can use on characters, and it tells you things like "If you don't kill this (random guard), he's going to go home and kill his family and then himself in a week".

    Now, who can explain to me why an assassin game, which has all kinds of cool moves and detail put into killing people, gives me a loading screen hint that says "If you kill lots of people you'll get punished, there will be more rats, people will hate you, and you will get the evil ending". That's right boys and girls - the developers *KNEW* that their crappy morality system was so bad and ill-fitting in a game about killing that they couldn't even let players figure out the morality thing on their own that they had to SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU. "PLEASE DON'T KILL EVERYONE GUYS, EVEN THOUGH IT'S THE MOST FUN". I'm assuming this tip went in because playtesters universally were having so much fun killing people nobody even knew there was a good ending, and they hated the evil path (because it's so terrible).

    So that right there is the worst part about the game. The game literally punishes you for not playing in the goody-two-shoes total pacifist **** method. Some guy plots to kill your girlfriend or whatever, then says "oh no please don't hurt me", but *I'M* the bad guy for remembering that this guy TORTURED my character and needs to pay?

    Why not just change the game so that whenever you kill someone it says "Go stand in the corner and think about what you've done while we slowly reload your save". Why is there even kill / don't kill morality choices in a game full of swords and plague and death anyway?

    So that's it. This game is a huge dumbed-down overhyped easy-to-market pile of garbage. Another turd from Bethesda.    … Expand
  28. Ninjabird
    Jan 8, 2014
    3
    Dishonored is one of those games that come out then you get hype and then you play it and it's just What the mother F*** where they thinking when they made this? The worst part about this entire game is the AI. It's completely broken. It's bad enough that this "stealth" game has the enemies telepathically tell EVERY other guard where you are. They will always shot there own guys fromDishonored is one of those games that come out then you get hype and then you play it and it's just What the mother F*** where they thinking when they made this? The worst part about this entire game is the AI. It's completely broken. It's bad enough that this "stealth" game has the enemies telepathically tell EVERY other guard where you are. They will always shot there own guys from behind and even throw grenades at there own guys. I'm not kidding, there so retarded. When you get to a place they can't get you from they just throw an infinitely amount of rocks at you. You play as a silent protagonist which sucks in its self. But it gets even more retarded when you let the queen die and instead of saying "hey, i didn't do it" you just go to jail. WTF. The games only hard if only for the AI being broken but besides that it's very easy. Stealth is so shallow that you'll hard yourself ever using it. The only good thing about this game is the rat manic. Rats will try to eat you and the music it plays is terrifying and i love those sections. (the only reason i gave this game a 3/10). Halfway through the game a little message on the loading screen told me that the more i kill the worse of an ending i would get. REALLY?! You couldn't have told me that before I've killed everyone? Even if the message came up in a earlier loading screen it wouldn't have mattered. That's not freedom of choice, not if I'm only not killing them cause i want a good ending. This whole game feels like a really bad bioshock. It's boring and bland with not so great graphics. i would never recommend this game.… Expand
  29. Gladio77
    Jan 1, 2013
    0
    I have NO idea where the great score from other users comes from.

    The graphics look awful is like a step back to 2007. The beginning of the game is so bad i was actually trying to rush it and read a book at the same time. Way better games ot there and this is not worth your money.
  30. OliverGrau
    Nov 29, 2012
    1
    Disappointment is the word of the day. Afer 12 hours in I discovered that I hadn't done anything else, but the same all 12 hours. I had been looking so much forward to that game and I really tried to enjoy it and I just didn't.It's boring beyond Words, I don't even know how I managed through those 12 hours. I was so furious in my disappointment that I just quit the game and deleted theDisappointment is the word of the day. Afer 12 hours in I discovered that I hadn't done anything else, but the same all 12 hours. I had been looking so much forward to that game and I really tried to enjoy it and I just didn't.It's boring beyond Words, I don't even know how I managed through those 12 hours. I was so furious in my disappointment that I just quit the game and deleted the game to never come back. I really feel stupid spending 25 EU on this "masterpiece". I don't even know why I'm giving it 1 point, I would only recommend the game to people who got dementia, because they won't notice that you're doing the same.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best PC Game of 2012
7
#7 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
2
#2 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Feb 6, 2013
    90
    We can draw comparisons with other titles all day, but everything is based on something. Dishonored remains a unique gem in a beautiful, yet chaotic world, with flawless gameplay. [December 2012]
  2. Absolute Games
    Nov 9, 2012
    75
    Dishonored rarely challenges the players, but it doesn't take them for fools, either, so that's an achievement compared to other games in the genre. Just don't expect strokes of genius like the Shalebridge Cradle level from Thief: Deadly Shadows.
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  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Nov 4, 2012
    100
    Dishonored injects new life into stealth actions and their sophisticated worlds. Awesome work in every detail. [Nov 2012]
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