Dishonored 2 Review

Welcome to Karnaca

Fifteen years after the events narrated in Dishonored, The Empress Emily kaldwin under the supervision of the Royal Protector Corvo Attano, is now firmly in command of the kingdom; everything seems to be going well but on the day of remembrance of the deceased Jessamine Kaldwin, an "otherworldly" usurper steals the throne of the Empire of the Isles. The coup was thought of since Duke of Serkonos, in league with the witch Delilah who makes her appearance introducing herself as the secret sister of the deceased Jessamine. This is how the Dishonored 2 prologue opens, in a stark way, taking us back to that dark and brutal universe we loved so much in the first chapter. The real novelty of this new production by Arkane Studios lies in the fact di can choose whether to play Emily Kaldwin (outlaw and on the run and much younger) or Corvo Attano (returned for the first time to Serkonos, his hometown and now inexorably marked by the passing of the years); the choice will be irreversible and will naturally have consequences although exclusively from the point of view of the dialogues and interactions with the characters we will meet during our adventure; the narrative strand will turn out to be almost identical regardless of the choice of the character with whom we will play and the achievement of a more raw and negative ending or a more "happy ending" and optimistic ending, will depend on how much chaos we have generated with our actions and the our decisions.

Furthermore, thanks to return of the Outsider, we will be able to count on a series of new powers (in case you decide to use Corvo the powers will be the same as in the first chapter but in an enhanced version), freely usable or completely deactivated according to your preferences. To collect Rune e Bone Amulets it will give us the possibility first of all to add and enhance our skills and at the same time to meet the Outsider who, thanks to his interventions, will be able to give us some more information and some more detailed facets on the game plot. Nothing particularly relevant is clear but, added to the collection of documents, newspapers, notes and anything else it could provide otherwise inaccessible details. Several times the game will remind us that we will be able to approach the various chapters at will, seeking a quieter approach without direct clashes, hiding in the shadows and moving at the right time, will reduce the component of chaos, while clashing directly with the enemies, with weapons drawn (so to speak as the shots at our disposal will be be practically limited) and making use of the various powers to massacre enemies in the bloodiest possible ways will lead to an increase in the component of chaos. If we add to all this the ability to play entire sessions without killing any enemies, to renounce, as previously said, even the powers of the Stranger with obvious repercussions on the difficulty (higher than the first chapter of the series) and considering the question of the double choice of the protagonist to use, it is easy to understand how the intent of Arkane Studios was to allow a higher replay value, as for obvious reasons, many players will be practically forced to play the story twice.

Dishonored 2 is still a stealth game in all respects, certainly the fact of wanting to offer that freedom of choice to the player is to be rewarded, but unfortunately all the limits related to the first chapter of the series are still there; in particular, we will always feel the lack of weapons of a certain weight, we certainly have sometimes devastating powers, but if we decide to deactivate them completely, with the armamentarium available we would hardly be able to escape or face more than two enemies at the same time. We will be able to choose between a couple of ranged weapons, made more varied thanks to the different types of ammunition (I personally found the ones to fire very useful, although very limited), some weapons to throw grenades and mines that do not always work properly and finally the inevitable saber. Precisely the use of the latter frankly left me rather perplexed; virtually nothing has changed since Dishonored since in a kind of Skyrim dieselpunk we will have to parry and hit at the right moment and these actions, as well as the overall view during the fight, seem to be rather woody.

Surely thanks also to a very good artificial intelligence (but at times fluctuating especially in relation to the patrol system which are too simple to understand and to "break"), which will stand out further if 3 or 4 enemies at a time or more will face us, especially if armed with guns and grenades, we will have to ponder our actions as best we can, as it will be practically impossible to survive, also thanks to the fact that almost all the enemies, once they have discovered us, will tend to run towards us, to climb over obstacles and to call reinforcements in order to take us out. One of the most relevant problems during the clashes (especially if we play as Emily) is given by the fact that very often we will be hit by a blow even if the enemy is far from us or not being able to parry the blow to the perfection; we hope that this glitch will be promptly resolved by Bethesda as the further you go through the story, the more complicated things get and it is not at all nice to find yourself almost completely helpless to the opponent's attacks.

It should also be noted that sometimes the casual component is the host; basically in situations in which the enemies will be practically difficult, other situations will alternate in which these will seem very little and this underlying unpredictability could often lead us to fail if for example we are trying to complete the level without being discovered or without wanting to do any victim . The reactivity of the enemies moreover it is based on two different states of alert indicated by an icon in the shape of a lightning bolt which, if filled for the first time, will put the enemy on alert leading him to control the surrounding area; with the second filling we will have been discovered and from that moment on it is better to pay attention, as the guard will start to chase us and sound the alarm and as mentioned, facing two enemies is possible, more than two is better to run away, although it will not always be possible due to the woodiness of the controls.

Considering instead the powers available, the news are present only if we use Emily; certainly those of Corvo have been enhanced but appear to be the same already seen in Dishonored; thanks to Dark Vision we will be able to identify the position of the enemies and their field of view, while Possession it will allow us to take control of small animals, to hide in corpses (using them as real points of interest), or to enter the mind of an enemy. The power Distortion it will help us and not a little, as we will be able to slow down time, stop it and decide the best move to make, while Translation it will be useful to project ourselves up, on the roofs of the city, or beyond a handful of guards. Hungry Pack summons a pack of rats that attack and devour the enemy, Ciclone can be used to wipe out enemies, break doors, or send arrows or light bullets back to the sender. As for Emily, she has various powers that allow her to dominate the will of others, among these we have: theHypnosis, which summons an entity of Oblivion capable of bewitching enemies, allowing it to easily eliminate them or pass by without being seen, Domino , which connects up to four opponents so that each action affects all linked targets, Mesmerize which allows her to temporarily stun the guards e Doppelganger allows you to create a clone to be detonated near a guard. Our advice is that to face the game using the powers and especially Emily, as if you choose Corvo, it will seem to play in a sort of déjà vu and to prefer a stealth approach rather than seeking a direct confrontation with the enemies, especially considering the scarcity of weapons available.

Hidden like a secret, silent as a sunset

From a technical point of view, Dishonored 2, as mentioned at the beginning of this review, keeps the showy system almost unchanged in its predecessor; Arkane Studios has increased the size of the maps and enriched everything with a series of passages, hiding places, alternative routes and greater exploration of the environments (especially the internal ones). Then being able to count on the graphic engine "Void Engine" (based on Id tech 5, the same used for Wolfenstein - The New Order), unlike the predecessor that used Unreal Engine 3, you will notice right away greater attention to detail and game textures, which are certainly not looking for photorealism, but being on a roof and admiring the view around Karnaca certainly has a certain effect. Good lighting system total, slight uncertainties regarding shadows, not always perfect. As far as facial expressions are concerned, the improvements over Dishonored are there and are evident, but we still stand at levels far from current standards. To report some bugs and glitches and small drops in frame rate especially in the most agitated actions.

In order to complete the game, it will take about 30 hours overall as long as a certain weight is given to the exploratory component, focusing on the research of the various collectibles present: runes, bone amulets, newspapers, records, documents, notes and not counting coins and objects of various kinds that we can freely search to buy objects by the merchants. Also we will happen to face quite often secondary missions, which will allow us to discover new secrets and obtain useful rewards.

We close by talking about the audio compartment which turns out to be well cared for and the soundtrack above average; the dubbing is entirely in Spanish and seems to work pretty well both in terms of the main characters (even if some voices don't seem right) and in the dialogues that we will happen to hear during the adventure.