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[cormack12]

Downloaded this the other day as I'd heard good things and watched some vids by that StealthBR guy on youtube. Was pretty interested as deathloop actually has me intrigued and I just wanted to play through Arkane's earlier games to get a feel for them. Got to say for a game that's eight years old the art generally holds up OK. The lighting is a bit crazy and has that old specular plastic look when up close.

Anyway, Im about two missions from the end. I really love the hub/encounter design of the game. You get sent off into a nicely sized sandbox that doesn't feel ridiculously large. Complete your missons and side content then return to the hub to get the next missions/sandbox. Works really, really well. As I'm approaching the end I realise that you can't actually replay the game in the sense that you think you would be able to.

Fo those who haven't played, each level has runes and charms to build your character up. You use the runes to unlock/upgrade abilities like Teleport and Stop time. You use charms to add little bonuses like breathe underwater, rats don't attack you, faster chokeouts etc. In the hub world you spend money to craft new items (shoes that are less noisy) and upgrade weapons (carry more etc.)

There's not enough resources to upgrade each power - which I'm fine with tbh. But the thing that is the worst is that I can't go back and replay the early missions with upgraded Teleport etc. Apparently there is also no NG+ so I can't start a new game with all my upgraded powers either. Just seems really weird. It's not a long game by any means but you are very, very limited in the replay options. There are a few 'choices' to make like aggressive or sneaky but this was really disappointing.

Then I found out these youtubers use mods to max out abilities, and go back with full loadouts which is a bit deceiving and annoying. I'll probably play Dishonored 2 next but it basically means you can't miss anything in your savefile. Miss a collectible in missions 1? You have to repeat the whole game, but missions 2 won't append it/remember it. Seems really odd. Looks like they will be addressing it within Deathloop anyway with the roguelike abilities. But curious as to whether Dishonored II also solves these issues.......

 

[mansoor1980]

i have a problem with this game , if you get the better powers in the skill tree and use them , you get the bad ending , weird

 

[Soodanim]

i have a problem with this game , if you get the better powers in the skill tree and use them , you get the bad ending , weird

It’s the MGS approach. Lots of toys to play with, but the higher challenge is being a ghost and ghosts don’t need toys

 

[GymWolf]

i have a problem with this game , if you get the better powers in the skill tree and use them , you get the bad ending , weird

Hardly a problem, the change in the finale are pretty marginal and the story itself is not really that engaging, if you wanna do the killer, having 5 seconds of different cutscene in the finale is no biggie.

The heavier change is having more rats in the levels.

 

[AV]

i have a problem with this game , if you get the better powers in the skill tree and use them , you get the bad ending , weird

It's not about the powers, you get the chaos ending for killing a lot of people. You get the better ending mostly for doing good things in each quest like saving people or restoring areas, makes sense.

I suppose you can argue that some of the powers are directly related to killing, but it's not the powers themselves that cause the chaos ending.

 

[The Cockatrice]

The Dishonored series are highly replayable in a different sense than what you were used to. Theres 2 major ways the game can be replayed and some fun minor ones but the most important ones are: lethal and nonlethal. Besides the fact that you have to completely rethink your strategy and how you deal with enemies from going lethal to nonlethal theres also the option of never using your powers and playing nonlethal. Theres even an achievement for that. Level design will feel far more impactful when you take into consideration how lethal works vs non-lethal, and same with powers vs no powers. Places you could easily get up to now become unavailable forcing you to think and adapt to enemies patrol or even go different routes.

Also the ending and the environment in the first game changes depending on whether you go lethal or non-lethal. If you go lethal, most maps will be at night and theres going to be a lot more plagued humans as well as more rats and whatnot.

Dishonored series are and will remain one of the best stealth series ever made. And even years after replaying I still prefer to go the no power, non-lethal way in both games because it;s challenging as hell and it brings out the incredible level design that Arkane are known for. I'd even go as far as say Dishonored is the perfect Thief game if you play non-lethally.

 

[mansoor1980]

i dont know about you guys , but i liked killing every guard and turning them into ash , but when i got that dark ending it kinda pulled me out of the game , slick game though

 

[mansoor1980]

It's not about the powers, you get the chaos ending for killing a lot of people. You get the better ending mostly for doing good things in each quest like saving people or restoring areas, makes sense.

most of the powers encourage stealth based kills if i remember correctly

 

[SJRB]

I never like morality systems in games, because it usually means the game is biased towards one of the options.

In the case of Dishonored you get a boatload of cool abilities, but the game actively punishes you for using them by not only giving you the bad ending but making the game more difficult [or should I say tedious] by adding more rats.


Anyway, don't sleep on the sequel - Dishonored 2 is an incredible achievement in level design and atmosphere.

 

[AV]

most of the powers encourage stealth based kills if i remember correctly

Yeah I just amended the post, it's about 1/3 of the total abilities - still, in a stealth game, it's quite common that the non-lethal route leads to better rewards.

Plus you can still kill people in a low chaos run, you just can't wipe out the city

 

[RAIDEN1]

Yeah but is this game better than PREY? (Reboot included..)

 

[mansoor1980]

Yeah but is this game better than PREY? (Reboot included..)

prey reboot is better than dishonored

 

[cormack12]

The Dishonored series are highly replayable in a different sense than what you were used to. Theres 2 major ways the game can be replayed and some fun minor ones but the most important ones are: lethal and nonlethal. Besides the fact that you have to completely rethink your strategy and how you deal with enemies from going lethal to nonlethal theres also the option of never using your powers and playing nonlethal. Theres even an achievement for that. Level design will feel far more impactful when you take into consideration how lethal works vs non-lethal, and same with powers vs no powers. Places you could easily get up to now become unavailable forcing you to think and adapt to enemies patrol or even go different routes.

Also the ending and the environment in the first game changes depending on whether you go lethal or non-lethal. If you go lethal, most maps will be at night and theres going to be a lot more plagued humans as well as more rats and whatnot.

Dishonored series are and will remain one of the best stealth series ever made. And even years after replaying I still prefer to go the no power, non-lethal way in both games because it;s challenging as hell and it brings out the incredible level design that Arkane are known for. I'd even go as far as say Dishonored is the perfect Thief game if you play non-lethally.

Good post. I am playing non-lethal in the main, until I shit the bed and trigger an alarm. Mainly chokeout and sleep darts. I've had a couple of high chaos endings but finish most in the low chaos. It does remind me very much of thief - I can't imagine not using blink, especially if you're going for all runes and charms.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I can't imagine not using blink, especially if you're going for all runes and charms.

I dont remember if its possible in the first one but in the second you can get all runes and charms with the exception of one which honestly feels like they just forgot that you can play with no powers since in the second game you are actually given the choice of receiving or not the powers unlike the first. I guess as a first playthrough playing with powers is highly recommended because you'd need to know the map very well for a no power run and a lot of quick saving and quick loading if you are playing full stealth.

 

[GymWolf]

prey reboot is better than dishonored

Similar quality ut i still prefer dishonored saga for a multitude of reasons.

 

[GymWolf]

Yeah but is this game better than PREY? (Reboot included..)

Pretty close but i still prefer dishonored saga for a multitude of reasons.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Yeah but is this game better than PREY? (Reboot included..)

While both are immersive sims, PREY is combat focused, kinda like Bioshock, while Dishonored is stealth focused. Hard to compare them one with another. Level design, Dishonored 2 beats Prey but again, hard to compare because Prey has a more Metroidvania type of exploration going back in forth through a multitude of smaller levels while Dishonored series have more complex single levels but you don't revisit them(hub is excluded) and you just progress from one to another. I doubt we'll ever get a level as complex and incredible as the Clockwork mansion from Dishonored 2 tho. Narrative-wise, Prey is the obvious winner. Either way, both are masterpieces.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Stupid game but the rat powers were absolute fire.

 

[brian0057]

Arkanes Studios is doomed to forever be the dollar store version of Looking Glass.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Dishonored 2 or Prey? Difficult. I'd say the upgrade of Prey for now. But an upgraded Dishonored 2 might topple it. I like both games a lot and their level design runs circles around a lot of other games in the industry. I like Dishonored 1 slightly less but its still good. I am a bit through it on Series S.

 

[RedVIper]

Dishonored 2 is one of the best stealth games ever if played with no powers, ghosting every mission without relying on OP powers is great.