Dishonored 2 Collectors Edition Review

I was lucky enough to get my hands on the collectors edition of Dishonored 2 eventually as it was a week late due to many issues, the main one being a popular distribution company lost it or kept it for themselves. It does feature an incredible nearly 1:1 scale replica of Corvo Attano’s assassin mask which he wears in this game and the last. You get ring that’s worn by both Corvo and Emily throughout the game, a double-sided poster and the remastered edition of the first game. It also comes with a steel tin and a well presented box which was bigger than I thought it would be.

Dishonored 2 is set fifteen years after the first game and a lot has changed, Emily the girl who was the main focal point for Corvo in the first game has now all grown up, is in her twenties and sits on the Throne. The game starts on a fateful day which is quickly thrown into chaos, as events unfold, a sinister adversary makes herself known changing the course of the game. Now you have to decide everything, not only who to play with as Emily and Corvo are now both playable characters but what path to take is entirely up to you.

My first play-through was with Emily and I chose stealth, sticking to the shadows and using the supernatural powers bestowed on the character such as becoming a shadow that crawls along the floor and takes the form of a rat to disappear into drain pipes. To make my life harder I decided to go through the whole game without killing anyone which proved frustratingly difficult but eventually very rewarding. The second play through was with Corvo and going with no powers it takes on a more hack and slash feel as you cut down and butcher your way through the game.

In the first game you fought your way through Dunwall as Corvo which was a heavily industrial place as you went in search for Emily who was only a child. Dunwall still features in the game but it’s mainly set in the coastal city of Karnaca, the capital Serkonos. The first time you set foot in Karnaca is a few missions in, you arrive on a busy working port as people go about their day. Fishing, harvesting whale oil which carries order from the first game as the main source of power. It’s plugged into generators, walls of light, watch towers and alarm systems. You can remove it to aid you or being volatile a well-aimed shot can cause chaos.

Some sequels like Dishonored 2 are done really well, it still feels like the first game but improves on nearly everything. It’s a gritty grimey underworld full of gangs, deceit, magic and death. The plague that was rife in the first game is replaced by an infestation of blood flies. The world however hangs on a knife-edge that you are wielding, go through the game on a rampant killing spree and high chaos will set in, things get and look worse. Plague and infestation rise and the moods of the guards and civilians turn sour but slip past, gently taking down your foe with sleep darts and stun mines with the occasional throttling them unconscious and the place become brighter and happier as you loosen the grip on tyranny.

I loved the game, I still do especially as I’m on my third play through. If you pick a character and play style then switch on your second run it feels like a different game. Even though I was playing on a standard PS4 and not a pro, the graphics where good, the load times felt sluggish but would I justify a pro to shave a few seconds off? probably not but seeing that game in a upscaled 4K format might be cool. The collectors edition offers me the chance to play a remastered version of the first game which I’ll be playing very soon as I played it a long time ago and after the second one will be great to catch up on the events that happened before.

Dishonored 2 offers so much and builds on the already fantastic world and storyline of the first trip to Dunwall, it’s a first person shooter and stealth game blended with some unique features that really work. I love everything about it, the feel and immersion into the world, the storyline and characters.

Rating 9

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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