The Button Presser

Developer- Arkane Studios
Publishers- Bethesda Softworks
Release Date- October 9th, 2012
Price- $59.99 MSRP
Review Platform- Xbox 360






Get revenge your way







Dishonored puts you into the shoes of Corvo, a respected guard of the Empress and her daughter, who later steps into the role of an assassin after a series of events occur in the beginning of the game. Without giving much away, Corvo is forced to hide his face from public by wearing a special mask which graces the cover of the game, and allows for you to hide your identity throughout the game. The story is full of many surprises and very interesting, but the reason Dishonored is a must-play title is the wonderful gameplay which gives you freedom like no other similar title or recent game in general has done in quite some time.


Arkane Studios has created a game that feels familiar, but is also unique and orignal. Based on what I see from it, Dishonored has elements from Half-Life, Bioshock, and Hitman, which factors into the gameplay, visuals, and overall atmosphere. What Dishonored does that makes it so special is the ways it gives you to complete the game.

You could play in a very straightforward way if you want – killing guards and anyone in your way with crossbows, pistols, and supernatural abilities, or simply sneak by and kill no one the entire time, which the game includes an achievement for. The freedom also comes into play with the mission structure as well, giving you many different ways to traverse from point A and end up at point B.

Weapons are very useful in the game should you choose to use them. Corvo will always have his sharp and deadly blade in his right hand, which leaves the left to wield powers and others weapons. Powers are unlocked by collecting special runes which are better located by equipping a special heart item and beats rapidly when near a collectable rune. Aside from this hear item, every player is given blink, a teleporting ability which allows for rapid transportation throughout the game. The way I played consisted of a mixture of stealth and action, and I used blink in conjunction with agility upgrades, which made me run faster and jump higher so I could blink to tougher locations and avoid detection.

I completed Dishonored twice, and tried to play in different ways to experiment with some of the powers. The plague is a main element of the story and rats are everywhere that carry it and are pretty viscous as well. In my first playthrough, I stuck with upgrading blink and trying to sneak by as much as possible, but after I completed the game I decided to go back in and use the ability to summon rats to my aid, which was very effective for causing chaos. Once used, a group of rats would appear and attack or consume dead bodies to cover up my murderous tracks. This ability can be upgrade twice and allows for an even larger group of rats to appear and stay for longer. This playthrough was pretty satisfying and allowed me to stay hidden as the rats took out city guards and targets.

There are about 9 main missions in the game which took about 15 hours to complete the first time, and about 5 for the second since I played on easy and knew my around better. There are also side-missions to complete and items to collect which add to the overall time count, and I think Dishonored is a game that should be played at least twice and played in a different manner from the first time you play.



The atmosphere is great, the design is well done, but the gameplay for Dishonored is the reason I really enjoyed playing. Great singleplayer only experiences still exists in gaming, and Dishonored has plenty of evidence to prove it.


"Dishonored is an immersive first-person action game that casts you as a supernatural assassin driven by revenge. With Dishonored’s flexible combat system, creatively eliminate your targets as you combine the supernatural abilities, weapons and unusual gadgets at your disposal. Pursue your enemies under the cover of darkness or ruthlessly attack them head on with weapons drawn. The outcome of each mission plays out based on the choices you make."