I Replayed Dishonored

One of the most memorable and unique games I've ever played

July 24th, 2026

I remember picking up Dishonored on a whim in high school and being genuinely surprised by how good it was. Replaying it today was a delight, and it still plays and looks just as good as it did 14 years ago.

The gameplay is tight and varied, with plenty of tools, powers, and options at your disposal. It's an immersive sim at heart, so it's heavy on systems and almost sandbox-like in how it lets you approach each objective, but mixing stealth and action works just as well as going full ghost. The main criticism I've seen over the years is that the game "punishes" you for using all of its lethal toys by giving you a high-chaos ending. Morality systems were all the rage when this came out, so I understand the complaint, but it never really bothered me.

The level design and world-building are both close to perfect. Every level has multiple ways through it - some obvious, some less so, and some genuinely obscure - and they're all packed with little secrets and rewards. Dunwall itself is still one of the most memorable settings in any game I've played. Everything has this dirty, steampunk, early-industrial look to it that often reminds me of the Sherlock Holmes (2009) movie. I read that one of the designers behind City 17 in Half-Life 2 worked on Dunwall, and it really shows. Every text and audio log, side story, and bit of ambient dialogue (the kind of things that can feel like afterthoughts in other games) feels intentional here and meaningfully contributes to building the world. Visually, it never tries to look too realistic either, landing somewhere between what I can only describe as sad, angry, and painted. It's a strange look, but one that has aged incredibly well because of how striking the art style is.

What really puts the world over the top for me, though, is how much it doesn't tell you. The Void, the Outsider, the powers - who gets them, why, or how any of it actually works. So much of it feels familiar but tweaked just enough to give the whole thing this consistent strangeness. Even little details reinforce it, like when you enter a new area and the name gets drawn across the screen with this haunting little cello sting that quietly keeps you on edge.

The story gets the job done, though it doesn't hit as hard as it probably could have. Corvo never speaks, and there aren't really any cutscenes - mostly just characters talking while you stand there and listen (or not). It gives the story an emotional flatness that the rest of the game just doesn't have. Still, the characters and factions more than make up for it. The world is dark, cynical, and full of memorable personalities all at each other's throats. Samuel the boatman always stuck with me despite playing a fairly small role - he mostly just comments on the state of things between missions, but his reactions to how you handle everything tell you all you need to know about him. By the end of the game, I found myself trying not to disappoint him.

The DLC is excellent too. It expands on the main game's antagonist, Daud, in a genuinely eerie way, and the missions are even more involved than most of what you get in the main game. Arkane clearly had some real pull when it came to casting too, because Michael Madsen's voice work really stands out. I was always surprised by the kind of talent they managed to pack into these games back then, because he's not the only A-list actor in a supporting role here.

I don't have much to add about the rest of the series other than that it gets better in pretty much every way - music, story, world-building, level design, and gameplay. The sequel in particular has some of the most creative levels I've ever seen in a game. The Clockwork Mansion and A Crack in the Slab, for example, are the kind of levels that make you stop for a second and appreciate that someone actually thought of this and managed to bring it to life.

This started off as a review of the first game but the whole series really is a masterpiece. If you have any love for stealth games, there's really no excuse not to play them.