After finishing Dishonored 1’s DLC I immediately jumped into its sequel, and ended up feeling like I was on a rollercoaster in regards to how oppositional my perception of it was. I absolutely loved some aspects of this game and strongly disliked a couple of them. The intro isn’t at the level of D1, and not only does the narrative jump feel confusing if you come from playing the DLCs (it would've been great if the devs had taken a continuity approach between games like in Mass Effect or The Witcher, where player choices get taken into account), it almost seems lazy in the way it plays out. In fact, the story is not at the level of quality of the first one in writing, tone or relevance. But I do like how the first mission has you play without powers in order to acclimatise you to one of the game’s new offerings. A power-free playthrough is an interesting and challenging concept, one that feels more suitable from a narrative point of view - especially playing as Emily -, but that at the same time can seriously hinder the fun factor, so I’m glad Arkane added it as optional. Having a voiced Corvo felt a bit weird at first, but I quickly got used to it and thought the voice acting was quite fitting to the character. Though I get that hearing ‘Garrett’s voice’ in Corvo might sound weird for players familiar with the Thief franchise.
Weapon models look much sharper, but to be honest I personally prefer the aesthetics of the models in D1 since they look a bit too modern here. This is related to something I’ve noticed across the board: even though there’s a clear graphical fidelity jump in D2, I think the pronounced oil painting style of its predecessor served Dishonored's particular world a lot better. This, along with the fact that the overall tone is now less dark and, consequently, less atmospheric, made the experience significantly less memorable for me in visual terms (one of the exceptions being the beginning of the last mission which is quite eerie, especially without background music). And nowhere is this better personified than in the figure of the Outsider: where in the first game he comes across as this ominous, charismatic, mysterious, larger-than-life character, both visually and audibly, in D2 he seems almost like an emo-looking sidekick, an unimposing character with unimposing remarks, almost shoehorned in for the sake of justifying your powers. In the whole, this was something I continuously noticed throughout my first playthrough that kept putting me off. Dishonored did a much better job capturing a dark, gloomy vibe than its sequel, though of course, this was also in part due to the plague-ridden backdrop of the first game.
Having said that, when it comes to worldbuilding and storytelling, D2 does a phenomenal job, one even better than its predecessor, giving you highly detailed insight into the reality you exist in and the surroundings you absorb. The fact that you get to spend a lot of time on a different island was a great reason to build up lore in a meaningful, relatable way, and I absolutely loved getting acquainted with parts of the Dishonored world I didn’t even know existed.
Where the sequel truly excels, however, is in how it was able to improve on what was already an awesome mechanical experience. The gameplay options on offer are insane, and it's particularly noteworthy that D2 allows for a lot more non-lethal approaches in comparison - choking enemies when locked in combat, pistol/crossbow staggering, stinging bolts, stun mines, etc. The fantastic sense of traversal is further refined via a couple of new powers, and movement sees the addition of vaulting which feels like it always belonged in this franchise. Powers get really cool, useful upgrades that can completely change the way you play and almost ‘force’ you down the path of multiple playthroughs: getting to choose between 2 characters with quite a few different powers makes a NG+ playthrough almost compulsory, since you can then combine any power from either character in any way you see fit (playing as a high-chaos Corvo this way, for example, was tremendous fun). I would argue this actually is the only way to fully appreciate the game, because without knowing D2's levels, the temptation for ‘save-scumming’ is even higher than in D1 on a stealthy first playthrough. That the new powers can be combined with the different characters means D2 offers considerably more replayability than the original title. While melee combat still feels floaty, there is now a much bigger visceral vibe to it with the more gruesome, gory tone. When compared to the original, AI is more refined and unpredictable in their actions, in a way that I wish more games were able to replicate. This and more has been added in order to impressively improve on an already very solid gameplay experience, and even if you’re a story-first person like me, playing D2 is beyond worth it just for this alone.
The level design in this game is something I have some mixed feelings about but ultimately can’t resist praising. I can’t shake the notion that most levels in D2 feel a lot bigger and that missions feel a lot longer, sometimes exhaustingly so, and playing through them I really missed the more focused, compact feel the levels in D1 provided. In tandem with this, the difference in visual tone from the first game to this one means level atmosphere also changes, in my opinion not for the better (though people who value visual variety over dark vibes will likely prefer the direction the sequel went in). However… it is virtually impossible to fault D2’s level design when it is able to reach such unbelievably creative and technical heights. Not only are the hubs in which the missions take place quite fun to explore, the Clockwork Mansion and the Stilton Manor are truly genius conceptualisations and design marvels. I don’t want to write too much about this in order to avoid spoilers, but to this day I’m still amazed as to how they were able to pull them off with such level of polish all the way back in 2016 Honestly, I still don’t understand how the whole timepiece device was implemented seemingly without a hiccup, though I read player experience wasn't exactly frame rate smooth back then (if true, to me this is just another clear example of how it pays off to be a patient gamer). These two places aren’t the only ones where D2’s level design and mission structure shine, but the game is literally worth being played solely on the back of those.
To the issues I’ve already mentioned I’d also add my surprise with the fact that this was a slightly buggier experience when compared to the first game, something that wasn’t game breaking in any way but was still a tad frustrating here and there. This gets piled up on top of the drawbacks that the game shares with the first Dishonored and that I mentioned on that post - underwhelming shadow/light mechanics, sound propagation problems and the feeling that the game starts to drag on a bit. That said though, much like its predecessor, Dishonored 2 offers a ton of things to get excited about, and on the whole it is (to me) one of those very rare cases when a sequel is able to match the OG in overall quality. The fact that I jumped onto a 2nd playthrough immediately after my first, something I rarely ever do, is a testament to the appeal of this game. Great on a first run, even better on a second. 8.5/10
Standout missions: The Clockwork Mansion and a Crack in the Slab (Stilton manor) of course, but I also found The Good Doctor and the tone in The Royal Conservatory to be quite memorable.
