Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall
Score: 90% Publisher: Bethesda Softworks Developer: Arkane Studios Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Stealth/Action
Graphics & Sound: Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall is DLC for Dishonored, the stealthy first person game where you play as Corvo. In this DLC, you do play in new environments, but the look and style of the game's backgrounds and characters are still the same. That is a good thing, as the painterly style had a lot going for it already. Sound remains similar as well, but now guards mutter something other than the two lines they had in the main game, so that’s an improvement. And now you finally get up close with some of those whales the entire game is built around. You have to infiltrate a whale processing factory, which puts you right in the face of one of the giant beasts. It also viscerally exposes just what is so sinister and unsettling about the whole whale culture of the city, and there are many more notes and books to help expand on that idea as well.
Gameplay: Remember those assassins you saw blink in from the rooftops in the beginning of Dishonored? In Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall, you get to play as one of those assassins. Namely, you play as Daud, the head of the guild of assassins and the one who murdered the Empress personally. Though he’s done plenty of wet work in the past, Daud has some misgivings about this job. That’s another thing that makes this DLC unique. Unlike Corvo, the main character of Dunwall actually has an opinion about things. Though his opinions aren’t wildly surprising, at least your main character has a personality now. With Corvo, you played a guy that you assume was upset with his name being sullied by a murder charge. You just never quite could confirm that because Corvo never spoke. The Knife of Dunwall introduces this character, and then you spend the rest of the time trying to figure out why this job is giving him such a hard time. Daud is another one of the "Outsider’s" pet projects, so he has all the same powers as Corvo, give or take some minor differences. For example, Daud can summon Assassins instead of rat swarms. The talent tree isn’t as large as Corvo’s, of course, since this is going to be a much shorter adventure. And while Daud’s weapons and items are a bit different, their functions are pretty similar to Corvo’s arsenal. There’s more supernatural stuff in addition to the Outsider this time as well. Daud’s bad feelings lead him to investigate what might be causing them. A name is all Daud has at first, but it turns out the name Delilah is a powerful supernatural force as well. So Daud follows the name through Dunwall. Add to that a mysterious and aloof woman named Lurk who is your second in command, and you’ve got plenty of story to enjoy.
Difficulty: Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall isn't any more difficult than the main game. Again, the stealthier you are, and the more you keep your Chaos score down, the more you'll see. You'll open up other possibilities in the story that you wouldn't see if you simply gunned your way through everything. The only times I really had trouble were probably my fault. If you don't check your updated objectives frequently, you can easily miss something or not know about a choice you can make until it's too late.
Game Mechanics: There are a few bugs in Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall, but nothing too game-breaking. I once triggered a group of guards to break away and look for me. I had no idea I was breaking them away from my partner, Lurk, however. When Lurk later thanked me, I had no idea what she’s thanking me for, and I figured it had to be for the task I had just completed (destroying a whale processing factory). The strange thing is, I didn’t know why my partner would care. Turns out I had unknowingly saved her from those guards by triggering them earlier. When I replayed the level, I discovered that I was "supposed" to take a different path over the rooftops and stumble upon my partner being cornered by those guards. When I distract or kill the guards, well, she has something to be thankful for. True, it’s not a game-breaker, but it also doesn’t help with the cohesiveness or the story. The main question is, of course, is it worth it? It’s a short adventure, but that’s to be expected with add-on DLC stories. So I do feel a little ashamed to say that I enjoyed Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall a bit more than I did the main game. Why? Perhaps personality really does go a long way. I actually wanted to find out what happened to Daud. I wanted to find out more about his partner, Lurk. I wanted to know more about Daud’s band of assassins. And I wanted to know more about the culture and world of Dunwall when I was done. Also, if you play your cards right, you can actually face off with Corvo at one point in this DLC, which is a pretty cool prospect. Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall is promising since we now know this kind of content will come our way. Maybe we’ll get more story-driven DLC, maybe we’ll get a sequel. Either way, it’s a great little package, and I highly recommend picking it up, even if you put Dishonored back on the shelf rather quickly.
-Fights with Fire, GameVortex Communications AKA Christin Deville
Related Links: Game Vortex's Review of Dishonored Dishonored Official Site
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