Second Verse, Same As the First Dishonored 2 Review

The eighth generation of consoles has been a strange one, so far, in possibly one of the worst ways possible. The seventh generation had a lot of issues with identity, all of which are still pouring into this generation, but it’s been made worse by the fact that so many releases this generation have lacked any real identity of their own, often rehashing ideas that worked so well for the past five years. It’s not that everything actually is the same, but that sentiment is definitely there. Dishonored was something new. Sure, it was similar to other seventh generation console games that it was an attempt at revitalizing an older game in the genre (in this case Thief, as compared to Bioshock’s System Shock 2 revival), but it had its own identity and language, and was something unlike anything else we were seeing at the time. With its freeform approach to gameplay, it was easily one of the best games that had come out in years. Now, Dishonored 2 has appeared, four years later, and it’s definitely something positive. Unfortunately, it really is very, very similar to the first, feeling almost entirely iterative, instead of a brand new game. An excellent new entry, and tons of fun to play, but it does very little to address the original’s flaws, nor does it do anything particularly new on its own.

Opening up fifteen years after the first game, Dishonored 2 sees the bad guy from the first game’s excellent DLC, Delilah Copperspoon, declare herself to be the lost sister of the first game’s murdered empress. She takes the throne and sends Emily (or Corvo, for those who just want to the game to EXACTLY like the first game) on a quest for justice or vengeance, depending on how many people the player decides to kill. Once again, the player uses magic to jump around a steampunk/aetherpunk fantasy world, mixing stealth and first person combat, finding novel ways to dispatch enemies and judging whether power and revenge are worth the corruption that inevitably come along with it.

Much like the first game, Dishonored 2 plays excellently. The controls, while not flawless (in fact, they’re probably a little busy, especially on the PC), are serviceable and do a good job of moving Emily or Corvo around. They definitely don’t get in the way, and serve to give the player tons of options in how they’re going to deal with any particular part of the game. Combat, stealth, infiltration and misdirection are all viable options at literally all times in this, meaning that no matter what playstyle the player chooses, it’s going to be catered too. More importantly, like the first game, the game’s dynamic approach to player action means that no one version is going to be more viable than the other. Some might complain that the extra guards “punish” players who focus on combat, for example, but in reality, what it does is it gives the player more opportunities to use those skills, rather than having to deal with some sort of default.

It also does improve over its predecessor in giving out those extra options. Nonlethal players, for instance, are going to find more options, especially for Emily, who has powers that will allow her better misdirection, or stealthily eliminate multiple people at a time without seriously harming them. Plus new changes to melee combat makes it so a nonlethal player can mix it up without save scumming, as a stunned opponent can be choked out in the middle of a fight, or just use as a human shield. All of that is very cool, but it is unfortunately the only things that are new.

Much of the game is very much a reshash of the first one, and if the player decides they’re going to continue on as Corvo, it feels more like a mission pack with Corvo now giving his commentary on the game (and the decisions the player is making). Sure, the levels look quite different, and have possibly even a better design than in the first, but the language is still the same. There’s nothing particularly new added to the game, and that’s distressing.

Sure, playing as Emily is a lot of fun, and she has tons of new abilities, many of which are a lot more interesting than Corvo’s. If anything, her spell suite is much better suited to the type of game that is being made than Corvo’s (which is just literally the spells he had in the last game, which makes sense given the lore of the game), and that’s wonderful, but that doesn’t mean that it makes anything particularly new. On one hand, this is understandable. The ethos of the last game was to give players tools to play the game how they want, and that’s exactly what they have done, and it’s even been expanded upon with new tools and spells that better serve that type of game. On the other, it also means that it’s more of the same, and the series does little to progress. Of course, it’s difficult to see where they can take the series without feeling like it’s just a mission pack, or feeling like a completely different game all together. Even an overhaul of the stealth system to more focus on lightning, shadows and sound sounds almost like it’s too much and too little at the same time. Maybe another game away from the Kaldwin’s might not be a bad idea, someone with a completely different set of spells.

They’ll still probably need something like Blink. Blink is basically what makes this game work. Even Emily’s version, Far Reach, is more or less the same. Blink is almost to this game as jumping is to Mario Brothers.

Still, despite it being “more of the same,” that’s not a bad thing. Dishonored was a wonderful game, with some flaws, and while those flaws are still there, it also means more Dishonored. It’s hard to say no to that.