Collecting My Thought on Dishonored 2—A Tale of Diminishing Returns

The monarchy of the Isles is once again terrorised by a discontent usurper in the second (and hopefully final) entry of the Dishonored series. This second time around however does not leave you feeling anywhere near as indignant, or "dishonored" you might say, as the first. Having an estranged bastard aunt supported by a plausibly legitimate claim to the throne replace you as empress (granted through excessive violence) does not inspire the same fury and shame as having your lover killed in front of you, getting framed for it and then watching the perversion of her stolen empire play out while forced to lurk in the shadows of the city. Because of this, Dishonored 2 players are set up from the beginning to suffer from a lack of emotional investment and gravitas so crucial to this otherwise fun and challenging game.

Playing as either original protagonist Corvo Attano or his daughter Empress Emily Kaldwin, you must work your way through the southern city of Karnaca to take down key figures behind the coup headed by kooky aunt Delilah, either lethally or more creatively. The former choice is easy. Why would you even play as Corvo again? Not to mention you will quickly find that Corvo has been turned into a speaking role and that his new ability to speak makes him insufferable, so putting that to bed early in the game is crucial. Emily on the other hand lets you play with new powers, the funnest and funniest of which being Doppelgänger. More importantly she is actually one of the handful of characters with an at least bearable voice. Speaking of bearable voices, Rosario Dawson's performance as one-eyed one-armed lovesick seafarer Meagan Foster must be singled out as best of the bunch. Luckily, unlike the mixed-bag performances, the writing was consistently enjoyable, with most of the good coming from written lore. This just means that the while the world of Dishonored 2 may be compelling, the current events in that compelling world are not.

As hinted at earlier in this post (and by my unfavourable stance on sequels in general), I found this sequel unnecessary. Not only did it lead us through a similar song and dance with the coup, it didn't do it anywhere as well as its predecessor. But before I wrap this up, I would like to mention how refreshing it is to see female common enemies in positions on par with their male counterparts, like with the guards and gang members, that you can also incapacitate and dismember just as violently. On top of being a step towards equality in representation, having female common enemies adds a layer of personality so unfortunately underutilised in the video game medium. With this I am especially referring to the witches who love to role-play and chant in nonhuman trochaic tetrameter. I am honoured to have witnessed their mischief as I snuck around their bases of operation to assassinate their leaders. Everyone should take note.

#PlayTime 50 hours.

#FavouriteMechanic Timepiece! Who knew Snow White from Déjà Vu (2006) would make for such an effective game mechanic. Great twist on something already often seen in games.

#FavouriteLevel I would pick Stilton Manor due to the use of the Timepiece, but the séance scene was a patchy and somniferous bummer. So Clockwork Mansion it is then.

#FavouriteBoss Delilah Copperspoon. For both gameplay and music.