Dishonored 2 - honest review

A review of Dishonored 2. Contain spoilers!

Hello people. In this article I'll make an honest review of the game Dishonored 2, based on first impressions and compared to Dishonored as well.

The story picks up 10 years later from the first game, and on the prologue you're attending the memorial of Jessamine. Emily is the Empress and Corvo is her Royal Protector. The first thing that got me elated was that it's confirmed that Emily is Corvo's daughter. I had a strong suspicion on the first game but it was never confirmed there. In here Emily actually calls him Father. Emily and Corvo are talking about a Crown Killer. The Crown Killer is someone who is killing everyone Emily publically oposes, so people think it is Corvo killing them.

In the middle of the ceremony there's an interruption in the form of Delilah (you know the one you actually killed in Knife of Dunwall? Yes, she's back). According to her, she's a bastard daugher to Jessamine's father, what makes her the legitimate heiress of the throne. At this point a fight breaks and you have to choose if you want to play as Emily or Corvo. After you choose a character, the other one is petrified and you get knocked out. When you wake up you're locked in a room and has to escape. For that you have to get a ring that can access a safe room, and that's where the game begins.

I found the storyline similar to the previous one, with all this "I'm a fugitive and have to get the throne back" thing, and that's a little disappointed because it shows a lack of creativity from the developer's part. Other than that, one of the main notable changes of the game was that the main characters have voices and oppinions! They can interact with the world around them. This means you won't be an office boy or a hired assassin anymore.

The gameplay is pretty much similar, Corvo has the same abilities (but he must acquire them from scratch because Delilah made something to get the Outsider's Mark out of his hands), with the exception that they have some new evolutions (like stopping time when using blink). Emily on the other hand has some new cool abilities, like shadow walk or douplelganger.

Another thing I found interesting is the similarity in the maps. The Royal Palace, for instance, has the same structure as in Dishonored, with the exception of furnature (because it's obvious they will chance furniture and decor in ten years). Other point of interest is that you get to go outside of Dunwall and meet Karnaca, the city where Corvo grew up.

All in all it's a interesting game, but I had so many high expectatives that I got a bit disappointed with the lack of creativity in the story. But it's still a great game, specially if you're a fan of stealth games. In Dishonored 2 it's much harder to sneak around: the guards are a bit smarter (they even search beneath tables and behind furniture!) and there's less high places to go (you have to walk most of the percurse on eye level with the guards). I can't wait to play Death of the Outsider to see if it's still good.