I started this game late last year, actually, but thanks to a massive backlog and having my play time devoured by time-sinks such as Monster Hunter World and later, Dark Souls Remastered (I play online a lot, make new characters, etc.), I've been neglecting my poor Dishonored. It didn't help that I needed to borrow my SO's PC to play it, as mine can't run modern games, so I just had fewer opportunities to continue playing it.
But enough excuses. I did finally resume playing it a few days ago and finally finished the last two missions I had left. After the constant positive buzz Prey has been getting (not saying it's undeserved) and how good Arkane's single player immersive sims are and all, I'm surprised I hardly ever hear anyone talking about DotO, so I'm making a thread for it. My first thread on Era, yay (?).
For those who don't know much about it, it's obviously similar to the first two Dishonored, but with two major differences:
- it removes the mana bar (instead, the mana bar replenishes gradually, so you can't abuse your powers, but you don't have to worry about micromanaging either), and
- it does away with the Chaos system entirely.
But, well, if you were one of those who liked the gameplay of Dishonored, but didn't like the Chaos system for whatever (misguided ;)) reason and gave up or passed on the games for that... do give Death of the Outsider a shot, because then you no longer have that excuse! :) There is even a mission where, if you want to do all the optional Contracts, you actually do need to kill every hostile/enemy in the level except one, soooo have at it and go full Rambo.
Other changes from the previous games include:
- The Contracts, mentioned above. Optional side-objectives you pick up from the Black Market at the beginning of each level, they're typically assassination or theft jobs, but they sometimes have unique twists and may sometimes require some creativity to pull off. Very fun addition.
- All Powers are unlocked at the start, and there's no "upgrades" through the runes. So you have fewer powers, but they're more focused and all accessible for the whole game. Since it's a shorter/spin-off kind of game, making it more streamlined makes sense.
- New Powers include Semblance, which is stealing someone's face and impersonating them. It can result in some pretty amusing interactions, especially when doing that on unique/named NPCs. Another one is Foresight, which freezes time and lets you scout ahead (with limited range). It can be mixed with her traversal ability, Displace, which is similar to Emily/Corvo's but places a teleport marker and lets you warp to it, so you can sometimes mix both for some puzzle solving or unlocking secrets.
- Original Game+ mode, which lets you replay the game with Emily and/or Corvo's powers! That's pretty neat, though I admit I haven't actually tried it...
The level design is still as strong as ever, and the game includes one of my all-time favourites, if not my very favourite, from the entire series: The Bank Job. Going into details as to what makes this level so fun would be entering spoilers territory, but man, it's a masterclass of level design, the kind Arkane is known for.
I really hope Arkane continues this series even if it hasn't been doing so well financially. Perhaps re-using the same gameplay mechanics but in a different setting or time period of that same world, or a brand- new setting? The ending(s) give some nice closure to the series, but it doesn't mean the Void went away forever, after all... :) I really hope Arkane continues making these kinds of games, whatever path they choose.
tl;dr It's really, really fucking good you guys. Play it. Also, Billie Lurk is one of the greatest protags ever, for real.
Last edited:
