Dishonored is a very cool game for a few reasons: 1) it has successfully coined the term "whalepunk" 2) the player makes the game as difficult as he/she wants depending on which objectives are pursued 3) the various styles of play create so many different experiences making the game very replayable.
Steampunk refers to a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century steam-powered machinery. There is often a wealth gap featured in steampunk fiction where the wealthy get to play with all of the fantastical steam-powered novelties and the poor battle typical old society problems (famine, disease, etc.). Dishonored has a very similar style to steampunk, except everything in the game is powered by whale oil instead of steam, hence the term "whalepunk." Additionally, whale oil is used to create electricity (arc pylons, walls of light). The game does a very good job of featuring the typical steampunk societal issues. The player experiences all sides of Dunwall's economic climate by having to sneak through the city's plague infested streets followed by crashing high society parties.
I experienced varying degrees of excitement and disappointment during the first few hours of Dishonored. My original strategy was to use my sword and hack through everything in my path, which made the game feel a little flat. I think I killed 15 guards on my first play through of level 1 and received a "high" chaos rating. Seeing the chaos rating and feeling a little disappointed at how one dimensional the game was so far, I started reading through forums to find out if things get better. It turns out that things do get better. Not only do you get different endings depending on your overall chaos rating, but the game adapts to your style of play as well. Killing more characters puts the city on high alert, which increases the amount of opponents you'll face. Using a sneakier approach actually reduces some of the city's plight, and leaves you with less enemies to circumnavigate.
The game is tough to go through if you choose not to kill characters, but there will be less NPCs to sneak past if you choose to play this way. If you want to hack and slash your way through the game, the system will add more enemy NPCs and hordes of rats, making it tougher to fight everyone off. I received great joy once I learned about the game's adaptive system and immediately replayed the first level as sneakily as possible. The game functions so well as a stealth RPG. I was reminded of the fun I used to have playing Metal Gear Solid and Tenchu Stealth Assassin. Then a new element was introduced, and my excitement fell once again.
Shortly into the game you are given special powers. These powers let the player see through walls, teleport, possess creatures, push back enemies, summon rats, and more. The player gradually unlocks and upgrades powers as they collect runes throughout the game. I was extremely disappointed when powers were first introduced. When you start the game without powers, it is refreshing and feels like an older game where strategy and perseverance are needed to overcome challenges. Just when the game was starting to feel original and challenging, here come the same old powers already overused in every other game to hold the hands of impatient players. The player is the one who ultimately decides whether or not to use powers, which again goes back to the player having control of how difficult they want to make the game. With that said, it is very difficult to resist using x-ray vision knowing that it will help you get past a particularly difficult point in a level that you have already failed five times.
I played the game all the way through as stealthily as possible. I killed one character the whole game (by accident), and was only seen by enemies less than a handful of times. Dishonored was extremely enjoyable for me playing this way. I plan to play through the game at least one more time using a more chaotic approach. I'll have to come back and edit this post once that happens. Props to Bethesda for making a cool adaptive world. I dock you a couple points for lack of originality with the addition of powers, but I understand that the company was trying to keep the market for Dishonored as wide as possible, Not everyone welcomes challenge in a game as much as me. Looking forward to playing again soon.
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