Amidst a landslide of sequels barreling towards gamers this holiday season, Dishonored is a beacon of creativity, standing solitary as one of the only new high-profile intellectual properties this year. The reviews are in, and Arkane Studio's experiment seems to have paid off. Latinos Post has compiled a roundup of reviews from respected review sites. Here's what they have to say.
"Each mission has a pretty similar setup, with players being dropped off outside of a new location by boat and asked to eliminate one or more targets. How you choose to do that is completely up to you. Stabbing them in the back is an old standby, but there are far more creative ways to take care of your enemies in Dishonored. Why not possess them and toss them off a balcony? Maybe think about turning on a nearby steamer and burning them alive? If you're patient, too, there is always an option that won't require killing them. It usually requires coming across a document in the world or overhearing a specific line of dialogue, but it comes with a worthwhile payoff."
"It's refreshing to see a new single-player game in a brand new world with no tacked-on multiplayer or social features. Dishonored is a well-designed game in the vein of Deus Ex and Thief and, while some of the stealth mechanics felt unsatisfyingly squishy and imprecise, the game is filled with interesting characters and situations.
I wish success wasn't so dependent on quick-saving, and I wish sneaking wasn't based on systems that can feel arbitrary, but Dishonored gets two things right for everything it gets wrong. Fans of the Deus Ex series are going to be very happy with Dishonored, and players will be sharing their stories and interesting moments on forums and Twitter for weeks after release. "
"It's a shame that Dishonored's story isn't greater than the sum of its decidedly memorable parts, but its gameplay absolutely is. Each mission is built as an elaborate network of choices for players to explore, and the same can be said for Corvo himself. Each player's selection of powers, perks and other upgrades will inform how they see and interact with this world, and no two play-throughs will be exactly the same. Dishonored is a game you'll talk with your friends about, and that you'll want to play multiple times. In this game there are always other paths to be taken and other challenges to conquer, and that's a refreshing thing indeed."
"Even though it allows you to wipe the recent slate clean, Dishonored still begs to be replayed from the beginning. Unlocking different powers, finishing missions in different ways, striving to be more or less murderous, and seeing a different endgame all offer appealing incentives to give it another go. It's a rare game that feels so compulsively replayable, but Dishonored is such a game. The compelling abilities, the bold artistic design, the colorful characters, and above all, the freedom of choice--these are the things that mark Dishonored as one of the truly remarkable games of this year.