Dishonored: why you shouldn’t buy Arkane’s sandbox

How daaaaaare you have an opinion!?

I am right, and you are wrong. Blah, blah, blah…

@1 It’s called an opinion piece for a reason. “you prat”.

This isn’t my game of the year, but I definitely can’t fault it. I adore the art direction, and a lot of the game design is genuinely unique, even in a formulaic setting. The wifeu is especially happy with this game, being an absolutely huge steampunk nerd.

Great game, not my GOTY either, but still an amazing game!

it Is from bethesda and gonna be buggy as hell… that’s why you shouldn’t buy this. DON’T PEOPLE EVER LEARN???

@4 Bethesda didn’t make it FFS!!!

Arkane did, and it’s not buggy. Know your facts before making silly comments.

@2:

Get back in your hole you slithering n00b!

And take your lack of reading comprehension with you!

@5, I love how you continue to communicate with your readers, it’s always interesting to have an editor’s point of view on their site’s articles, but you really can’t respond like that, especially when you’re wasting your breath on someone who has fanboy in their name.

He can respond how he likes.

It is a blog, after all.

Actually, I have to say that I really like the way that Dave doesn’t put himself in an ivory tower, like some other journos around here…

@8 Dude seriously, I’m thankful someone has said that. I’m just a guy you know? – a gamer like the rest of you I never see myself as above my station or anything like that.

I’m passionate about my hobby, it’s my life, so yeah, I do get fired up about things at times.

But that said, I did fly off a little there didn’t I?

Continue being awesome readers.

I am really enjoying this game and I hope it sells well,cause it’s the only way we’ll get a sequel.

Great article, the game looks amazing I have to admit, but I’m finding it very hard to break the habit of waiting til it’s £5 on Steam. This is one of the few games I’ve actually been tempted to pay near enough full price for a while though. It sounds fantastic and new fantastic ideas deserve to do well.

@11 they deserve all the money they get, vote with your wallet and help a sequel get made

I disagree- “Ticking off a list of activities to get an achievement and mindlessly following a series of cookie-cutter orders for 30 hours isn’t fun” This is what Dishonored eventually becomes :http://www.puresophistry.com/2012/10/08/dishonored-review-blink-and-then-reload-save-file/

@13 I disagree with that article. If people want to play it that way then that’s fine, but if you want a great experience then people won’t resort to that. There is so much experimentation to be had in stages, about how you approach those objectives, and it underlines Arkane’s superb level design.

@7 There’s no fault in Dave’s side in this case, since he’s responding to a bot/troll/idiot’s comment.

This game a) starts slow, and b) gets boring and monotonous fast. Also the sneaking is very poorly designed with the lack of shadows/light gem, you pretty much have to use dark visions through most of the game. So you’re either totally blind, or know everything including behind walls at the cost of a mouse click. Finally, textures are piss poor xbot quality even on pc, and AA implementation is terrible, I had to use nvidia inspector to force a decent one.
Overall 3/5

Brenna this article is fucking awesome!! Good job!

I have to disagree with #16 a little bit. I run a tri gpu rig and I’m usually a graphics to the max hardcore idiot and have found no tweaks that really do much of anything, even nvidia inspector. At first it bothered me a little but I gave up and it was worth it. They designed it to be multi-plat but their implementation was perfect imo. It looked great. They made the most out of a small resource using footprint.

I too give it a 3/5 though. As a game “milker” I just can’t see myself stretching this one out for very long. There isn’t that much I’m interested in doing over and over and over and over and over again.. I’ll probably replay it at least once or twice more.

Best thing I’ve played all year by a mile. 7 hours in and just finished the 1st mission and can’t wait to get back to it. Wonderful stuff…

Wow man,7 hours in and just completed the first mission.Slow and steady eh,cant wait to pick this game up.

@19: Are you looking for every coin?

Well I died and somehow all my saves, including auto saves disappeared. Can’t really be arsed to play through it again just yet.

@21 Nope just really taking my time and exploring everywhere, messing around with my powers, doing all the side quests and finding all the hearts and runes. I’ve got all objective markers switched off and playing on hard.

Blink is going to become the most copied mechanic by many many devs methinks. Tis genius…

Sorry but the article is has really annoyed me. Its been written by someone who loves this game and hates the fact other people don’t.

The game is a sub-par game by a long way.

You have a section saying “Its too different” since when was ripping off other games classed as “different”? They have just mishmashed together things from different games. HL2, BioShock, TF2, Timesplitters, etc. Since when has ripping other people off been classed as original?

You have a section saying “its too difficult” you answered this one perfectly, if anyone and I mean anyone who calls them selves a gamer thinks this game is hard needs to find another hobby. I played on the medium difficulty as I do with all my games as I like a challenge but I dont like too much of challenge as to get annoyed with a game. This game on other hand even on medium present NO challenge at all I completed the game is less than 6 hours and no I did not run through it, I “stealthed” a lot of missions and found a lot of the relics too. Some of the A.I was stone cold dumb, I stood right in front of one enemy soldier whilst he stood back staring at me, he turned around and I stealth killed him. This happened more than once.

You seriously need to consider other peoples opinions when writing trolling articles like this. Just because other people can see flaws in something you like does not automatically mean that they are wrong and your are right by any means.

Ive played this game once, completed it in less than 6 hours. I did enjoy some of it, the art style pissed me off as it seems all people see is something slightly different and go bat shit crazy thinking its the best thing since sliced bread. Well its not, the graphics even on PC were pretty shocking to say the least, the character models stood out like Gary Glitter in a ball pool and were a complete design rip off of Timesplitter and TF2 mixed together.

THIS IS NOT INNOVATION AT ALL, ITS SHEER PLAGIARISM!!!

But if you like this game then so be it, I can see its appeal to a lot of people. But for me, as you can probably tell, its pretty rubbish. But like I said just because I do not like it, does not mean I am right, its ONLY MY OPINION!

@24, the hell is “medium”? Normal? Normal is piss easy on the vast majority of games these days.

“You seriously need to consider other peoples opinions when writing trolling articles like this. Just because other people can see flaws in something you like does not automatically mean that they are wrong and your are right by any means.”

This.

“You seriously need to consider other peoples opinions when writing trolling articles like this.”

You seriously need to consider other peoples opinions when writing opinion articles.

lol wut?

An opinion is a person’s personal view that isn’t based on certainty.

Well, just think of the irony of an ‘opinion’ piece that states that everyone else’s opinion is invalid. That the author’s ‘opinion’ is not actually an opinion, but the absolute truth.

It’s not an ‘opinion’ piece anymore. It’s a ‘you’re wrong’ piece.

This article is basically telling people that they have no right to dislike the game.

What has come out this yeah that is game of the year?? certainly not mass effect 3. Nor max payne, not twisted metal, not sleeping dogs, resident evil6. It’s between borderlands 2, dishonured, ASScreed3,hitman,farcry3,xcom

I’m of the opinion, that Brenna’s opinion is his own opinion, which may not match my opinion, but everyone is allowed a opinion, even if the opinion, is that your opinion is the wrong opinion.

*edit*

Apologies Brenna, I was under the impression Dave wrote this :-/ Very nice article… If a little opinionated

@30 I didn’t write the article btw

But yes opinions are good.

Really?

You actually think this is seriously telling people that dislike the game that they are 100% wrong?

REALLY? FUCKING REALLY?

@30: Brenna is not a he, either.

@32:

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

“It’s too short: No it’s not, you prat”

Not just this one. Add the “You’re playing it wrong” article, and the podcast this morning, and you’ve got some sort of brainwash campaign going on.

Marmite!

I have to throw on my lot with liking this.

It ticks a lot of boxes for me.

- It’s got a very atypical aesthetic. And it’s actually a punk one, too. The most common of punks (steampunk), but still punk. Those have become so rare.
- It has non-lethal ways of dealing with encounters. Because having a game that isn’t about killing everything once in a while is nice.
- It’s peculiarly ambitious (and in some ways plain odd) for a triple-A title. But then I guess it being Arkane has a lot to do with that.
- It didn’t back down on being daring just to make a popular appeal.

It’s not my greatest game ever, or even of the year. There have been games even more ambitious and strange than this one, but as a triple-A effort, this isn’t bad. Not bad at all.

I still feel that there were elements of it where they restricted themselves or held back out of fear of backlash from the masses, but I’ll keep my peace on that. All in all, it’s a much better game than it probably should have been. Usually hyped triple-A titles like this? Not so much.

@36 Surely punk is the most common punk, simply by nature of being… well… the progenitor? And the whole goth thing is still being beaten to death, in and out of video game.

Still, I adore the game’s aesthetic as well. The art style is top notch all over. Steampunk is definitely something I’d like to see a lot more in video games myself. The whole thing lends itself very well to the medium.

@34

Tinfoil hat, much? They’re fans, just like anyone else. I’ve done the same, myself. I’m currently doing it with Of Orcs and Men because I’m Very Angry frankly about how people keep chugging chump elixirs and turning from games just because they’re not completely familiar experiences.

Oh no, the hero isn’t a pseudo-intellectual man who likes to stab dragons with his mansword. It’s actually a big orc who clubs humans instead, and says the word fuck! He says fuck! Oh be still my virgin ears.

When you come across opinions like those, they can indeed make one irritable, because there’s a distinct air of idiocy around them. It’s people not even wanting to try something different – instead they just want the same gutter-trash “entertainment” they’ve had shovelled into their gaping mind-mouths for the past decade.

VG24/7 are being fanboys about how you can play Dishonored differently. Instead of just rushing through the game and killing everything, you can approach it from other perspectives and enjoy a rare gaming experience. Dishonored is about choices, so it doesn’t restrict you.

But in a game where you can use subterfuge, intelligence, wits, charm, and non-fatal means to achieve your ends, it just seems… a waste to not even try that. Hence ‘you’re playing it wrong.’

They’re just being fans.

Last I checked, being a fan wasn’t a crime. Not even for site owners.

At least they’re not like some sites where they’ll lambast a game that isn’t popular, and brown nose, just to be controversial and generate clicks. I actually kind of respect them for that.

If they want to be fanboys and girls, let ‘em. It’s their prerogative.

@33… oh bollocks :-/

@37

That’s not entirely the way I meant it. It’s just shorthand for the various *punk genres out there, and they pretty much all spread out from steampunk and cyberpunk equally as the two progenitors. That’s why other punk genres tend to be thought of as punk derivatives, which is what I was getting at. I sometimes use *punk to get around misunderstandings, but I got lazy that time.

But there are now some good derivatives, from the slightly older ones like dieselpunk, atompunk, and clockpunk, to newer ones like biopunk, teslapunk, and nanopunk. Steampunk and cyberpunk are, of course, the mother and father of all of these subgenres. I like seeing steampunk used, but I often find myself wishing that we’d see more like BioShock.

But in mainstream media, it’s like the punks are cancer, currently… as such they’ve been all but ignored, with only the most common and oldest instances getting a look-in.

@38 But journalism is supposed to be objective!1!1!1!1

You’re not supposed to have opinion if you’re a journalist. Lawl.

@40 You can subculture subcultures until you’re blue in the face, but all these offshot names for different steampunk styles are honestly pretty tedious. They’re steampunk.

It’s like people can’t be happy unless their ideas are somehow, no matter how vaguely, differiated from something despite the fact that they all come from the same source.

I really don’t see how the punks are cancer, honestly. They’re all over the place.

i am starting to become sceptical as well now…i mean i remember running in the shop to get a vita after the vg247 hype train picked up some steam. i never really wanted one to begin with but then even very mediocore games like this rc motorstorm game semed to be the best thing in handheld gaming and the vita wipeout too. uncharted GA…the shit! then i bought and played all that and seriously, i don´t know where that excitement was coming from. ..i didn´t really regret that i bought it and checked that out myself, but, well the vita stayed with me for a month or two.
sorry back to topic:
imo it really seems that this game gets hyped too much. i haven´t played it yet (i definitley will do that soon) but i really cannot see it being as innovative as some say it is. i hope i am wrong, i hope this is not just about some self crowned internet hipsters thinking this is some sort of cool steampunk stuff going on and that they´re so cool to like ´different´ games, y´know, games that are as special as they are because they are all such unique and beautiful persons that know what´s art and what is not…this rich kid middle class upper class twen shit going on. that i fear.
oh yea, new ip´s. i love em. but goty. i bet. halo 4.

not aimed at you Wulf. you posted while i wrote this. i don´t know you. i am generally speaking. i fear it´s all just hipster hype. that´s all.

@38:

See… This is the issue that I have here.

Why is it that you (and apparently Brenna) get angry because someone doesn’t like what you’ve found?

Because you want it to be popular, right? You want other people to share in your experience, and get the same joy from the game that you did, right?

So why get angry when they don’t? Perhaps, what you see as stupidity based on their liking other things that are void of real quality is actually their genuine taste.

Now, for example (a completely fictitious example that isn’t based on anything real…), I’m a black guy. Let’s just say that I’m always being chased by black girls. They’re chasing me, but I have a blonde haired, blue eyed, white chick.

So they ask me why… Why would I go for this air head, with no brains, when I can have a culturally refined, intelligent, lovely girl of my own race?

Well maybe I just like blonde bimbos! Maybe I like airheads who giggle at kittens!

Why should they get angry because of my genuine taste?

They can’t force me to like something that I don’t like as much!

It’s the same situation here.

Why should you get angry if people like 30 hour long corridor shooters, or run of the mill adventure games?

Why should you care so much about someone else’s opinion, that you try to answer every negative point that they mention about a game as though it’s a factual inaccuracy?

You can be a fan, sure. Hey, I’m a CoD fan.

But I don’t get angry or try and start a campaign to rebuff every criticism that I hear about the games.

I learned a long time ago that it’s almost impossible to understand people’s opinions.

Or change them with ‘reasoning’.

@43 Nobody is “angry”.

^ Why don’t you just LEARN TO READ?

“I’m currently doing it with Of Orcs and Men because I’m Very Angry frankly about how people keep chugging chump elixirs and turning from games just because they’re not completely familiar experiences.“

Sorry, I still don’t get the hype. It looks like a cheap thief game with bioshock visuals and I dislike both I’d still try a demo if there’s one.

I had rented the game and played and beaten and not even with non lethal and getting most of the bone and RUne charms I feel the game is overhyped and not worth the raving reviews it has received. It has solid base for doing things but it comes up short much like the original Darksiders.

Maybe if there is a sequel they can go more indepth with the mechanics but I feel this game does nothing original that hasn’t been done in Deus Ex and other similar games.

wtf is wrong with you guys? “you do it wrong” “you shouldn’t buy it”
same traffic shit Destructoid is doing.

@48: oh yeah, destructoid…can you take someone seriously who gives mario kart 7 50/100?

vanquish: 50

The Last Story: 40

just the ones i can recall atm. it clearly is all about peronal taste here.

sometimes their reviews are spot on, but stuff like that kills that page for me totally.

it is just too much opinion, sure there always is opinion in reviews and that´s fine, but it shouldn´t be to a degree where the reviewer fails to see a great game despite he might not personally like it.
those bad reviews for great or good games is just like a kid screaming for attention. it is ok for kids but embarassing for an adult to do that.

this here isn´t on the same level though. i feel like those guys just really really love this game. at least that´s what i hope is happening here. the videogame business needs hype. hype can be great and gamers usually love it. i definitley do sometimes. nothing is so great at hyping stuff as the gaming industry – because: gamers wanna get hyped….vg247 prolly just thinks it is good to support a brandnew ip….and yea, it probably totally is!

@49
Agree. There should be something which distinguishes a professional review from just another opinion. Part of that should be that it is an evaluation of the game and not just a personal opinion.

This article is great and is clearly an opinion piece. It’s good to see stuff dedicated to celebrating the good stuff which excites in gaming.