Early in my PAX Prime 2012 experience I stopped and played Dishonored. I was left with a lot of excitement but also some concerns.
The demo starts you somewhere outside a building that houses your target to assassinate. The game’s art style is the first thing that strikes you. It is very colorful but manages to be dark and the cel-shading style is also very detailed. It looks great but you probably already knew that from the videos.
I was told as I started the demo that I will have access to all the abilities in the game but that this level takes place at a somewhat early part of the game. It was then that I began to explore. I immediately gravitated towards the ability that lets you teleport towards a target to get up to higher ground. The teleport distance seemed short but there could be an upgrade system I’m unaware of. Still, it was more than enough for what I needed.
Through teleporting and poorly aimed crossbow shots, I made it into the building.
There was a point during the demo where I was spotted by several guards and decided to make a stand, using a doorway as a choke point. I wanted to see just how powerful I was with all the abilities unlocked. Turns out a well-placed rat swarm mixed with crossbow shots will work for long range and the gust attack with close up knife work means that they never really stood a chance. Even though I survived this battle, it was very exciting and fun to use the powers in such an active way. It felt like Bioshock without guns and that’s awesome.
After this gruesome battle, with bodies everywhere, I turned around to see a maid cowering in the corner. And to that maid, I apologize.
After my time with the demo I stayed around and watched other people play the game. This is where Dishonored really amazed me. Half the screens on display were showing players going through areas of the level that I never even saw. There were many many ways to get into that building and the thought of that was the best thing about Dishonored.
However…
I wanted to use the ability to possess enemies but I could never get it to work. Maybe I was too far away or didn’t hold the button down long enough but I tried it at least 5 times and could never quite figure out what I was doing wrong and the game gave poor feedback to me as to why it wasn’t happening. That’s the only power I had problems with though.
The controls were also a bit strange. You could use the dpad to assign 4 powers to but you could still only use one power at a time because you were forced to keep the knife as your right hand weapon. The Y button was, as far as I remember, only used for looking around corners, and I have no idea was X was for. Putting away/ taking out your weapons? Maybe.
What I’m trying to say is this: there were plenty of functions that could have been handled differently in order to give yourself more powers to use without having to switch them out. This is annoying in battles when the action stops while you pick a new power every couple of seconds.
Even with the complaints, the demo was still a lot of fun. There are a multitude of powers to use in a world that has many possible routes to the goal. At its best Dishonored felt like Bioshock but at its worst it felt unpolished and awkward. Luckily, the good outweighed the bad here. I just hope there is a public demo to check out before the game releases.
Dishonored comes out October 9th for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
