Dishonored 2 is a action-adventure FPS game for PS4, XBONE, and PC, which was developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was sequel to original 2012 game's Dishonored.
I really liked the first Dishonored when I was playing on my PS3 in three years ago. I loved the stealth combat gameplay, campaign missions, weapons and ability's upgrades, great level exploration and decent storylines that made the game quite fantastic, so I decided to pick up the Dishonored 2 for PS4 from the gamestore and I've played it for two weeks on single player campaign including new game plus mode and I think the sequel is almost just good as the originals due to two playable characters with different playstyles, higher challenging stealth missions, introduces non-lethal combat gameplay and replay values that adds the edition to the game, but I find the story in this game was not strong as the first game due to lack the focus of narrative in the game's presentation, while the rest of the characters in the game are seems to be lot better than the ones in the originals first game. Despite the annoying crashes and drop-downs frame rate on PC version was been aided with patch update to remedied the problems after the game's release.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
This game takes place after the event of first game. Its starts off with fifteen years after Corvo Attano has restored Emily Kaldwin to the throne following the assassination of her mother Jessamine Kaldwin.
In city of Karnaca, Emily is now a empress of Dunwall, while Corvo becomes her new bodyguard as royal protector. During a ceremony in remembrance of Jessamine Kaldwin's assassination, they were been encountered by the groups of Crown Killer including the witch named Delilah Copperspoon, who claims to be Jessamine's older half-sister. At this point, the player chooses two of the playable character as Emily or Corvo. Depending on the player's choice, the other character will be turned to stone, while the player is able to escape to the Dunwall docks to meet with Meagan Foster to help them. Their task is to assassinate Delilah and rescue Emily or Corvo depending what character are you playing as and reclaim the throne back.
The story in the game was not that bad at all, but I find the narrative seems to be sounds bit rushed and undeveloped compared with the first game which they should have been done better by putting more efforts on storylines to add more depths on the main story. I was being surprised with Emily Kaldwin as playable characters and her appearences are really damn impressive, while Corvo Attano is still a badass protagonist with his awesome skynet-styled mask. I'm very glad that the rest of the characters in the game are lot better than the ones in the first game, such as Meagan Foster and Anton Sokolov are quite decent supportive characters, while the villains such as Delilah, Jindosh, Duke and Ashworth are definitely in the right direction.
I really liked the dark-medieval settings in the game's presentation and the great cinematic design with well drawn slides animation and in-game cutscenes.
Overall, it does have the average storylines, but impressive characters and great game's settings.
Gameplay
The game is similar with the original first game, but you get to select any of the two playable characters throughout the story campaign. During the open-world gameplay, you get to explore the area where you can able to find and collect runes and bonecharms, reading documents, unlock safe combination, purchase upgrades and items from black market, and disabling security systems. Both of the playable characters will have primary weapon such as sword, while they have their secondary weapon such as pistols, crossbows, grenades, retractable blade and stun mines. The sword is used for close-combat gameplay which you can able to use it to slash and stab the enemies, but you can also perform brutal melee attack by chopping their heads off or instant stabbing to jaws when the finishing move icon appears on the screen and you can also block with your sword for deflecting bullets and enemy's weapons attack. The pistols are pretty basic for secondary weapon which are good for mid-range shooting, while crossbows are used for far-distance range, but offers some of the useful bolts such as stun that puts them to sleep, incendiary that sets them on fire, howling that blinds them and of course stinging that made them go full crazy. Using the grenades, retractable blade and stun mines are also come in handy when you need it for certain campaign missions. Each characters has different kinds of supernatural powers, so for example Corvo stills retains the same powers from the first game such as blink that allows him teleports to chosen locations, devouring swarm that allows him to summon rats which are used for clearing the dead bodies off or eat the enemies alive, possession that allows him to enter into dead or alive humans, bend time that can be used to slow down time and windblast that allows him to push off the enemies with blasting wind. Emily has newer power which is different from Corvo such as far reach which allows her to pull objects or enemies toward her and dash forward, mesmerize allows her to distract enemies and moving them into a state of sedation, domino is used for connecting each enemies together so that they share the same outcome, shadow walk turns her into shadowy clouds and doppelganger allows her to create the clone version of herself in order to misdirect her opponents. In stealth combat where the player aims to get past through the level without being alerted by enemy's nearby, the player are able to take down the enemies by strangle them into unconsciousness and drag them into hidden place where enemies won't able to see what's happening and you can distract them by throwing objects. The alert icon will appear on top of the enemy's head which showing their reaction, so if the alert icon turns white which means you are not been seen, while red means they finally caught you in action which forcing players to fight them or run off the stage. You can also disabling those security hazards such as walls of light and barriers by using rewiring tools or removing tube from the power generators. You can upgrades your weapons from the black market store which improves the accuracy, reloading, and capacity of weapons and you can upgrade your abilities through pause menu which improves your healths, strengths, reflexes and movements.
I really liked the combat playstyle because I felt the sword is pretty responsive for melee attacks and blocking defence which works well on gameplay, but I do find the double bloodthirst is quite difficult to perform when the enemies is not been too close at the player, but it's still playable. I loved the crossbows with different kinds of bolts which is one of my favourite weapons in the game due to precise aiming and easier kills. I say the special powers in the game are quite well made for both characters with terrific moves such as swarming mice, windblast and dominos which is quite awesome. The mission is very challenging which offers great stealth playstyle and epic boss battles. I do find the load times is quite annoying which takes about 20 second to start off the levels. You can also use quick save on pause menu which I finding it quite convenient when I can able to continue the game where I came from instead of having to start the levels over again. Having new game plus mode which retains all the contents from the original new game modes adds the nice replay values of game.
Overall, it has great combat gameplay, excellent weapons choices, awesome special powers, challenging missions and convenient save system.
Graphics
Unlike the previous installment that used Unreal Engine 3, this game uses the Void Engine which is based on id tech 5. I really liked the rich looking environment of inside the building which gives a crispy look of level design. I also liked the lighting effects that comes from chandler, lamps, spotlight and sunlight from windows which makes the level environment feels vibrant due to great use of in-game contrast. The water animation on sea area is looking fantastic that gives a realism of realtime effects and the city building are looking well designed with full of great textures. The character's animation is looking amazing in the game and I really liked the use of blood and gore effects on brutal melee finish.
Overall, it has rich environment, vibrant lighting, great level design and brutal blood and gore effects.
Music and Sounds
The music in the game is really amazing because I liked the southern European style of orchestrated soundtrack which fits well in the game especially with medieval ambient soundtrack. The sound effects are sounds quite decent during in-game missions with impressive sound designs. The voice actors sounds aren't that bad for most of the characters, but it wasn't sounds amazing as the original cast from the first game which sounds better in comparison with this game. I really don't mind the voice of main protagonist such as Corvo which he's supposed to be silent video game characters, but it's still a nice effort.
Overall, it has amazing soundtrack, impressive sound designs, and acceptable voice cast.
Special Features
The game came with two types of collector's edition such as regular collector's editions for console versions came with a copy of Dishonored: Definitive Edition, a remastered version of the first game for the eighth generation of consoles with all downloadable content included, while the special collector's editions came with a 13.5 inch replica of Corvo Attano's signature mask, a zinc alloy replica of Emily Kaldwin's ring, a Delilah's propaganda poster, metal collector's edition case for the game disc and manual, and digital imperial assassin's pack, which included additional in-game content.
Overall, they bought two really cool collector's editions.
Advantages
Decent characters
Great game's settings
Cool combat gameplay
Challenging missions
Rich graphics
Brutal melee finishes
Amazing music
Disadvantages
Average storylines in comparsion with first game
load times
Performing double bloodthirst is quite harder
Final Verdict
Presentation 7/10 - average storylines, but impressive characters and great game's settings.
Gameplay 8/10 - great combat gameplay, excellent weapons choices, awesome special powers, challenging missions and convenient save system.
Graphics 8/10 - rich environment, vibrant lighting, great level design and brutal blood and gore effects.
Music and Sounds 8/10 - amazing soundtrack, impressive sound designs, and acceptable voice cast.
Special Features 9/10 - two really cool collector's editions.
Overall 8/10 - Dishonored 2 is another great sequel to the originals. I'm pleased with overall combat system and epic single player missions with replay values will able to satisfy the fans of the stealth game genres. The story is not the best part of the game, but I'm sure that they could able to improve the storytelling for future sequels. I'll say buy it for console versions as recommended, but if you're the PC owners just be sure to install the patches first before starting up the game. Overall, Dishonored 2 is a fun action-adventure FPS game for eight generation console era that does play plain awesome.
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