Dishonored Needed Two Things to be Exceptional

Brad Webster of Capsule Computers wrote :

Dishonored, a supernatural assassin game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks had a lot of things going for it. Players step into the role of Corvo Attano, bodyguard to the Empress of Dunwall and vengeful assassin, armed with supernatural abilities and a bloody thirst for revenge.

[masterabbott]

Dishonored is an awesome game the points noted in the article will certainly make it even more epic than what it already is. good read.

[toxic-inferno]

Agreed entirely. It's a fantastic game (from what I've played of it so far, anyway!), but it still feels like the first entry in a series - there's a lot to add yet!

Extending the introduction would certainly aid the narrative of the game. Sure, it wouldn't be quite as exciting as the rest of the story (no special abilities, and not much more than a sword and a gun), but it would allow you to explore Dunwall a little more, and give you a better view of the world you are entering into.

[Campy da Camper]

This game had lots of potential. For me there needed to be a LOT MORE of the cool enemies. the walking boys and those invisible guys. They needed to be your main enemies from the get go. The whole first half of the game was too easy. The last few missions where there were the walkers and eleite guys were the best missions.

[toxic-inferno]

Also, there's a lot of Dishonored that reminds me of Bioshock - and not just the abilities. From character design to concept, the games are very similar, and yet extremely different. And one of Bioshock's strongest points was the fact that you got half way through the game, and there was one of the industries biggest story-twists. And it worked because you CARED about your rather-unknown, mute character.

[TopDudeMan]

Also needed a NG+

[koga88]

A longer intro sequence is not really necessary. The intro did what it had to do and got out of the way for the story to begin. As for the silent protagonist... that was an issue with me. It was like the developers first thought about making him talk, put in reactionary sequences and stuff and then forgot to dub the voice and had to ship it as it was.

Also I would have liked it if they gave you more non-lethal take down options, all you can do on a non-lethal run is choke people out or sleep dart them. Damn thing gets boring, especially when a two foot fall kills people who are passed out for some reason.

[Ryder49]

I guess they might have landed on their head.

[Bimkoblerutso]

Agree with both those things. Drop the silent protagonist schtick and don't punish players for taking the non-lethal route. The game becomes so much more diverse when you decide to take lives.

[360ICE]

I partly agree with longer intro sequences. More should have happened before the empress got killed. It was predictable and uninteresting, because she felt like a completely disposable character. If they had spent some time building her personality, maybe it wouldn't. But then again, I'm not sure what they would have had before that.

[Despair666]

A better ending & an unpredictable twist

[masterabbott]

better endings is what everyone wants. i agree with you on this one!

[ChocolateGiddyUp]

A longer OUTRO would have been nice.

I realize if you play as a psycho-killer you get a dramatic showdown in the end, but for the rest of us, you just choke out some dude, open a door and...that's it. The game just ends. Pretty weak.

Can you imagine a movie doing this? Tom Cruise walks into the villain's lair, karate chops him in the face, walks out and the credits roll.

[Hanso]

thx for spoiling i guess you just saved me 40 bucks

[ChocolateGiddyUp]

Ah shit, sorry.

It's actually a lot more involved than that - I'm just trying to be as vague as possible. It was anti-climactic for me, but I know some people dug it.

It's still a great game and I'd jump on it for that price.

[lashes2ashes]

Did you see kill bill vol.2 lol

[ChocolateGiddyUp]

If Dishonored had ended with a five point palm exploding heart technique, I would have been totally satisfied!

[futurefrog]

Great article really believe it would have changed everything with this game!

[alegolo]

I like silent protagonists, It's more immersive than a protagonist that talks too much.

[DOMination-]

Just started playing. Finding it good but very tough trying to be stealthy. I guess i will find it easier as i go ob and work out how the ai behaves.

Like i can be crouching in the corners perfectly still in the shadow that i feel is there on purpose for me to hide in and the enemy sees me anyway!

But i can be in "stealth mode" behind a wall that clearly isn't tall enough to hide behind and i can literally be looking at the guy as he walks right up to the other side of it and somehow he doesn't see me!

[Adexus]

Shadow stealth doesn't exist in the game, only object stealth does so don't try and hide in shadows because it won't work :P

[Summons75]

How about better ai so when they call it stealth they don't mean run around like a chicken with its head cut off killing everything in your path and still getting perfect stealth. Maybe it's own art design too, felt like I was playing a reject bioshock concept.

[coaidant]

hmm i don't know you get really picky at a good game, like what could of been improved etc it's still a good game and sure they could have made improvements but at the end of the game i'm having fun regardless

[Ryder49]

Getting picky is the only way great games become amazing.

[DragonKnight]

SShhh, don't say that. The DmC and Lightning Returns apologisers don't think you should criticize games.

[fjtorres]

Dishonored needs branching dialog trees and outcomes.
You can run around totally non-lethal and you get the same treatment as if you'd killed everybody in sight. (Except for the final mission and a couple of Emily's drawings/comments.)
Making some characters disappear or be shunned in disgrace gets you the same dialog treatment as if you'd killed them. Your choices impact the hostiles you encounter but not much else. The chaos system is a good idea but it needs more than a stage by stage cummulative summary; it needs to affect more than the ending. For that matter, I actually managed to stay just under the high chaos threshold until the final mission and then go on a rampage that ended the game on high chaos and got the exact same slideshow ending as the clean hands.
It's a great game and a lot of fun for those of us that enjoy exploration and discovery--I've found as many as 5 different gameplay paths I can combine to achieve stealth infiltration and all sorts of power combos to achieve clean kills (best so far: 99 kills and still low chaos). The gameplay is very satisfying and half the powers are fun and useful.
But...
They really need to bring in a lot of the branching logic of the Bioware and Elder Scrolls games to the next one in the series. If you're disappearing people all over instead of leaving corpses all around, the NPCs should take note of it.

Dishonored most closely reminds me of DEUS EX: INVISIBLE WAR (which I loved) but with less refinement; INVISIBLE WAR had better cutscenes, speaking protagonists with distinct personalities, and more variation in the endings.

There's room for improvement.

[Dark_Legend]

The first time i played it i tried a ghost run with no kills and stealth, it was really fun. This game offers a lot of different playstyles and that is what i love about it ( and the art design is awesome )

[DrugAddict-]

It needed to have better graphics. I played it on my 360 and it looked really really bad I didn't even bother with it

[sdozzo]

I like your name. Thumbs up!

[DrugAddict-]

I like you.

[Pandamobile]

"I played it on my 360"

There's your problem.

[sdozzo]

Gameplay was cool. Story was a little lame. I grew tired of some bloke visiting me in my dreams speaking in riddles.

[Psychotica]

Just wish the world was less restrictive and more open. I shouldn't need some guy in a boat to take me someplace.

[Sidewinder-]

Very much in agreement.

It really needed 'more' of a beginning.

[InTheLab]

Achievements aside, I need more tangible rewards for not killing anyone, setting off alarms, or even knocking out anyone but those the game requires for mission completion like Sokolov or Granny Rags.

Because I don't kill, I'm not wasting money on bullets or bolts or health potions....which means I'm a millionaire buy the end of the third mission. There's really nothing worth buying if you're going silent. There's very few upgrades that support the silent approach.

They should allow you to sell off items you don't need. I have like 6 bone charms that deal with weepers, but thanks to stealth, I don't ever deal with weepers...so I should be allowed to sell of what I don't need. But like my point earlier, it really doesn't make a difference because there's nothing worth buying.

3rd person mode for those that don't want to rely on Dark vision. Not needed but would be awesome to see Corvo instead of just his hands.

A proper melee system would be nice. It's either stab someone or choke them out, so if you're going non-lethal and you do happen to get caught, you're boned unless you sleep dart them.

God, I could go on but I don't want it to seem like I didn't enjoy the game, because that is not the case. Were it not for Farcry 3, Dishonored would be my GoTY.

I absolutely love this game and cannot wait for the sequel. Love the Steampunk era but I would really enjoy something closer to the future or way back to midevil times.

Edit: The game should totally rip off chainkilling from Farcry 3...well, all games should rip off chainkilling from farcry 3.