The Dishonored series has always been of intrigue to me. It was the first series that I watched a full let’s play of on YouTube and a game world that fascinated me. I spent countless hours digging through the lore and dialogue, searching for answers and a deeper understanding of the events that occurred in the game. However, the concept of Dishonored is a bit hard to explain – especially considering its success and sequels, as well as the countless DLC’s.
In my mind, Dishonored is the result of locking Telltale, Assassins Creed, Hitman and Thief in a lift and refusing to let them out until they produced a profitable game idea. It is a perfect blend of assassination, stealth, chaos (looking at players like Mike Channell from OutsideXbox) and the consequences of player’s actions. It is these “consequences” that we will be focusing on in this article.
Every decision we make in our day to day lives has an impact on the world around us. For those familiar with mathematics, Life Is Strange or Until Dawn – the concept of Chaos Theory tends to be what springs to mind when a game warns us about our actions having consequences. It is a concept that tends to be beaten within an inch of its life in most forms of media, but some games do handle it quite delicately and Dishonored is one of these.
In Dishonored, you are provided with special powers from the Outsider, who observes your actions through the world and judges you. He provides you with the means to bring the world around you to its knees, to bathe the streets with blood – or to silently slip past unknowing citizens, working in the shadows to achieve your goal without a drop of blood spilt. Kingdoms will prosper or collapse based on your decisions – will you let the rats consume the city in your quest for vengeance?
Depending on your actions during a level, you are assigned a chaos level. This is given a value of either High or Low, with the previous level’s chaos factoring into the contents of the next level. For example, if you use your powers to murder many guards in several horrific ways (looking at you Devouring Swarm), then there will be more guards, more rats and more Weepers – making your next mission more difficult.
The ending you receive at the game’s climax is also decided by the total chaos you caused throughout the game. This chaos level is deemed by your choices throughout the game, for example, if you take the non-lethal route of dispatching your targets – such as wiping their memories or sending them to work in their own silver mines as slaves (I didn’t say the non-lethal options were better), then you will receive a lower chaos level than if you blew them up with a whale oil tank.
A big flaw in a lot of games that claim to be influenced by player choice is that it limits the player to two or three linear pathways that they can choose from. So, gamers tend to be stuck on one specific route for the entirety of the game, such as a “Good” or “Evil” run. Now, this would be ok, if all the enemies you came across were clearly evil. Then, you wouldn’t feel a great deal of guilt or remorse when you sliced your knife through their neck. However, some of the people you come across are just guards doing their jobs or plague survivors trying to make it through the day. Do they deserve to die?
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the plot of the Dishonored games, let me explain. In the first game, Corvo (you) is falsely imprisoned for the murder of the empress and the kidnapping of her daughter, Emily (who is eventually confirmed to be his daughter). You are sentenced to death but are broken out of prison by some people still loyal to you. You then proceed on a journey to find Emily and get your revenge against those who caused your downfall.
The second game sees Emily on the throne and deposed by a witch called Delilah, who turns either Emily or Corvo to stone (depending on who the player chooses to play as) and the remaining character goes on a journey to find those responsible for the coup and reclaim the throne. You as Corvo or Emily, have been Dishonored (roll credits) and seek to right the wrong against you. However, how you go about this is entirely up to you.
The chaos system in Dishonored is often considered a “punishment” to players, with many complaining about it restricting their gameplay options. However, this is not true. The Outsider acts like the Devil but instead of convincing Adam and Eve to eat an apple, he gives you the means to bend the world to your will – a tempting offer, especially considering how quickly situations can go awry. Yet as a player, you do not have to choose the evil path. In the second game, you don’t even have to accept the Outsider’s Mark and can play the entire game without any supernatural hijinks.
Throughout the game, you are offered opportunity after opportunity to take the easier, but the lethal route, yet there is always another path. Players who fall to the temptation, only have themselves to blame for the poor ending they get. As gamers, we have become accustomed to violence being the only route through a story, with games providing us with various weapons to mow down the countless enemies without batting an eye. Dishonored challenges this idea, actively rewarding or punishing you dependent on your actions.
That sweet little girl Emily you rescue from The Golden Cat? How she rules over her kingdom at the end of the first game, is strongly influenced by how you dispatch your enemies. If you use diplomacy and only kill when necessary, Emily will learn wisdom and insight. However, if you butcher all those who stand in your way – she will use whatever means necessary to get what she wants, becoming a ruthless dictator over innocent people. You are the catalyst that sparks the change in the game world, be that for good or evil. Dishonored gives you nowhere to hide from your actions and for that I adore it.
After all, your actions in the real world have long-reaching consequences. If you commit a crime, you are punished for it. When you inflict pain upon others, society will judge you accordingly. As much as we tend to go to games for escapism, I don’t think we should be entirely free of consequences – an idea that the Dishonored series tackles head-on. The choices we make affect the world around us as well as our loved ones and our own psyche. Throughout the games, you can morph Corvo and Emily from being a wronged individual just seeking to reclaim what is rightfully theirs, to a horrific creature who tore through hundreds of innocents for no real reason other than bloodlust.
Anyways, that’s the Dishonored series for you. It hands you a knife and lets you decide what you use it for. What did you do? What other games would you like me to talk about? Leave feedback in the comments section, hit that follow button and follow me on Twitter @OurMindGames for all the updates!
Thanks,
CaitlinRC
Thank you for writing this post. As a big fan of the Dishonored series, this article really hit home, and I was agreeing with everything you said.
*I found myself agreeing
I can never stand improper grammar, so I had to go back and correct that. Too bad there isn’t an edit feature.
I’m glad you liked it so much! Considering it was your suggestion, I’m pleased I met your standards 😀