Dishonored: “An Action-Adventure Stealth Game”

Many games these days are fast-paced and action packed, like a Michael Bay movie on steroids. Sometimes it’s good to change up the pace with a different kind of game, one that rewards strategy and patience instead of spraying down hallways with bullets. One of the best examples of this I can think of, and a fairly recent title, is Dishonored.

You play as Corvo Attano, a royal bodyguard who’s been framed of murdering his empress. With the help of some allies, you break out of prison and then receive supernatural powers to help you take down the people who framed you and restore order to the empire. Dishonored is an action-adventure stealth game best known for its open ending. While most games tend to pigeon-hole players into taking one path, only offering an alternative path every now and then, Dishonored creates levels as open worlds to explore and experiment with. There are multiple solutions to each problem and obstacle, and it’s entirely up to the player how they go about solving them. The player’s supernatural powers, such as blink teleport and bending time, allows them to get creative in how they navigate obstacles and/or fight enemies.

There is no ‘right’ way to play Dishonored. You can either adopt a stealthy approach and avoid enemies, sometimes knocking them out for a non-lethal takedown, or you can face them head on and put them all down. It’s entirely up to the player, and unlike some stealth games, you don’t get an instant ‘game over’ just for being detected. Another notable feature in the game’s creative freedom is that key assassination targets don’t actually have to be killed. The player can find creative, non-lethal ways to eliminate them. It actually is possible to complete the entire game without killing anyone, doing so will net you a nice achievement.

Overall, Dishonored is a really fun game that has a lot of replay value thanks to the amount of freedom it gives to the player. You could play through the game one time, then play it again in a second playthough with different methods and powers and still be having fun.