A Call to Dunwall

When Dishonored was released in 2012, I paid almost no attention to Arkane Studios tale of betrayal and revenge in the plague ridden, steampunk city of Dunwall. Ive never been a huge fan of FPS (First Person Shooter) type games, and when I saw Dishonored is a stealth game (a first person sneaker?) I was even more doubtful. I love stealth games but until recently, they have been games like Tenchu, Hitman and Mefal Gear Solid, titles played in 'third person' (ie players can see the character the are controlling).
I really had no interest in Dishonored until a few months ago when I tried (and loved) a demo of another FPS stealth game, Thief on Playstation 4. (And being honest, I only tried Thief because of the lack of good titles that was on current gen at the time but I'm glad that desperation turned into a revelation).
When I saw Dishonored on a PS3 sale at the ridiculously low price of a touch over £6, I decided that a trip to Dunwall was in order. It was instant love. So much so that I barely leave the city during my gaming time simply because, apart from the beautiful oil painting type style of graphics, the replay factor (for me anyway) is enormous. Oh, and the games characters (voiced by some Hollywood names like Susan Sarandon) are all fantastic.
The story is simple: Corvo, the Lord Protector to the Empress, is framed for her murder but on the eve of his planned execution, escapes with help from loyalist conspirators and goes all out for sweet sweet revenge (wearing one of THE greatest looking masks of all time). But its not all about killing. In fact you can complete the game with 'Clean Hands' (zero kills) but this doesn't mean the baddies get a free pass for their wicked deeds. In fact, often sparing the life of your intended target/s, might grant them life but to be honest, its a fate worse than death.
And Arkane Studios have devised some very cool (and lethal) powers for Corvo and the murderous Daud to use. Both wear the mark of the Outsider, a kind of half angel, half devil spirit, and by the Void, these powers are so fricken cool! Blink (teleporting), Possession, Bend Time, hell you can even summon a plague of rats to dispatch your hapless victim.
Dishonored might be set in a very grim Dunwall, where plague is rife and corpses litter the streets, but its still so much darned FUN. Corvo is like a Victorian, steampunk version Batman who bounces around Dunwall dealing justice to the corrupt and wicked. Of which there are many. Indeed Dunwall doesn't suffer the good and as the legendary assassin Daud points out, "its a city that eats innocence".
Talking of Daud, you can play Daud's story (as Daud obviously) in the two DLC (Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches) to learn the full story of Dishonored, and they are both excellent added content (usually DLCs can be lazy extras).
Another refreshing thing about the game is there are no true boss battles. Corvo and Daud can both dish out fatal, one hit moves on targets owing to their supernatural powers and personally I find it a breath of fresh air (well as fresh as can be in a world inhabited by rats and plague victims, or 'Weepers' as they are known).

If you are like me and have initially been put off by FPS stealth games, then fret not. Dishonored is a great game where everything slots perfectly into place. And as its three years old, you can pick it up for peanuts.
Of course there have been rumours of a sequel but part of me hopes this never happens because if it turns out to be rubbish, it could take some polish off the original game. Sometimes less is more, there have been too many successful games/movies that have piled sequel upon sequel because it sells but its usually at the cost of the franchise. We can all name a series that have out stayed their welcome and gotten worse with every instalment. I'd hate this to happen with Dishonored. But we shall see.
All I do know is the first trip to Dunwall is a trip you soon won't forget in a hurry.