Dishonored: Definitive Edition (PlayStation 4) Review

When the original Dishonored released it was heralded for its intricate level design, which was engineered to facilitate nonlinear exploration. Dishonored, however, is driven by a linear plot, but gives staggering options to complete each objective and various outcomes. It became a champion in giving players agency in how they play the game and shape the story. Whether it is by possession of rats or by teleportation, Dishonored has plenty of creative means of infiltration that always feels rewarding or just plain cool.

Even the story, while kind of predictable, is surprisingly layered and pretty deep, filled with ironies and subtle set-ups and satisfying pay-off. It is a story of corruption and how even a path of non-violence can lead to fates worse than death. Even the two-part DLC, which covers the story arc of one of the vanilla game's villains, gives even more world building and depth to the characters, as well as an ante up on the challenge and even more successful implementation of the karma system.

Dishonored is generally a high quality game, and the shift to PS4 would lead many to believe that Bethseda would make this "definitive" edition worthwhile. This is not the case, sadly, since there are no upgrades whatsoever in Dishonored: Definitive Edition. The visuals were already kind of a mixed bag due to the art style permitting some low poly models with painterly and stylised designs, which were mostly successful, with the exception of the comically large character hands that make their fingers look almost sausage-like. The textures are horribly represented in low resolution, which betrays the living painting look with so much pixellation, making much of the game look like the Unreal Engine is still loading the textures. If there ever was a case against the Unreal Engine, it would be Bethesda's handling of Dishonored: Definitive Edition.

This was by no means a taxing game even on PS3, and seeing it only run 30 frames per second on PS4 is insulting and downright dishonest when the publisher has the audacity to claim this as "definitive" when other publishers are doing it right, like with Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, or even with the repugnant DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition, which was at least properly represented and took advantage of the extra horse power of the new platform. Even the load times are agonisingly long and are identical to the last gen version. The fact this is called a "definitive" edition proves to be a sneaky and dirty marketing ploy to trick costumers. There is no reason to buy this version when the last gen "Game of the Year" version is dirt cheap in bargain bins now, which runs and plays exactly the same.

Bethesda may have poorly represented Dishonored with this incredibly low effort and lacking port, but it does come with all the DLC just as the "Game of the Year" edition did. The DLC included is the Void Walker's Arsenal - a whole lot of power-ups and extra money that, admittedly, break the game's balance - and Dunwall City Trials, which are non-story-related challenge maps.

The real main event is the two-part story of Daud, which entails Knife of Dunwall and The Brigemore Witches. When played in tandem, they will have multiple endings just like the main campaign of the vanilla game. The Daud arc is far more interesting and challenging compared to Corvo's story, being that he is a flat character who never speaks. Daud's journey is of an assassin wrought with regret. His abilities and powers are tweaked slightly and he does not have as many as Corvo, but on the other hand, he commands a league of killers and can pay for some favours before the missions.

Anyone who is able to look past the disappointments of Dishonored: Definitive Edition will still find a package with some good content and strong replayability. It is still frustrating that there is no New Game Plus option, since it would be really interesting to replay the earliest areas with all the powers of the outsider.

Fans of the original game shouldn't really bother with Dishonored: Definitive Edition. It might be fine for those who never played it before, but even then they may be put off by the splotchy and low resolution visuals and choppy frame rate. The original title was a solid stealth game that was a better "Thief" game than the actual Thief reboot in 2014 thanks to Arkane Studios' attention to detail and focus on multi-layered level design. Bethesda, sadly, has botched the hard work Viktor Antonov and his art team put into realising the painterly look of Dishonored: Definitive Edition, which was so instrumental to how memorable the game was. At $39.00, this is not recommended since it can be acquired much cheaper on pretty much any other major platform not called "Nintendo."