Friday, October 5, 2012

"Dishonored" Doesn't Bother With Spelling

Reviews of Dishonored are embargoed for a bit so this isn't a review by any stretch. This post is more along the lines of "impressions."

First, for some reason I can't stop reading the title as "Dish ono Red!" No real reason for that, it just happens. Maybe it's because I've been staring at the title looking for the missing "U." Localization of video games is big business but apparently Bethesda Softworks and Arkane couldn't be bothered to slip in a "U" for Canadian and British gamers. Or possibly the "U" escaped at some point and wound up at Nintendo.

The Rat Plague is pretty cool. At first, I thought maybe this was like The Plague in the traditional sense but this is actually a rat plague in the Biblical sense. I'm looking forward to how that part of the game pans out -- a squeaky third faction.

I can't figure out if Arkane was going for Steampunk or Whale Oil Punk or Medieval redux or American Civil War or what with the design of the characters and setting, but I'm certainly enjoying the look of the game. For some reason these clashing styles are blended together to make something interesting to watch and look at.

And the game hasn't wasted any time powering up the protagonist, Corvo. Instead of making the player upgrade in a very specific, staged progression it seems like all the abilities are ripe for the taking if Corvo has collected enough runes. Granted, I'm playing on Easy because I knew right from the start I wanted to walk the side of combat rather than dodging stealthily so it's possible I'm collecting runes at a much faster pace than if I was playing a different difficulty setting.

At any rate, I think I should have a review ready when the embargo lifts or very soon after.

Oh, and happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians out there!

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