Developer: Arkane Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Release Date: September 15, 2017
ESRB: Matue / PEGI 18
MSRP: $29,99
Available Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Genre: Action-Adventure, Stealth
Dishonored: Death of the Outsiders is the shortest yet my favorite game of the series.
It’s a standalone expansion for Dishonored 2. You are playing as Billie Lurk, the woman who let you stay on her ship during Dishonored 2 (back then we knew her under the pseudonym Meagan Foster).
Death of the Outsider takes place after the Events of Dishonored 2, but the story is easy enough to understand even if you haven’t played previous games. It’s a good game for newcomers to the series due to simplified gameplay mechanics and more powerful stealth skills.
The amount of magic abilities has been toned down a notch. You are now limited to 3 abilities which can be modified via collectable bonecharms. The skills are: Displace – which lets you teleport to locations a few meters away and even allows you to ram into enemies to make them explode into tiny pieces. Semblance – allows you to take the shape and face of any person in the game and walk past guards unnoticed (this skill makes the game much easier to stealth than previous installments of the series). Foresight – which lets you mark any enemies and see their predicted movements and vision cones through walls, plus you can set displace markers behind fences and windows to teleport through them later. The need to consume blue mana potions has been removed as your mana now refills automatically (and the blue potions are gone from the game entirely). This simplifies the game a whole lot and makes it easy to learn for new players. I also found this system more enjoyable, albeit overpowered, as you can use the magic abilities as often as you want now.
The game design is very similar to the previous two games. A dark atmosphere engulfs the world. You often run into rats and other pests, such as bloodflies, and sewers are still a common place you’ll visit.
The game consists of 5 missions total. For half the price of Dishonored 2 ($29,99) that’s very fair. In comparison, Dishonored 2 featured 9 missions. The game lives up to the same AAA quality of Dishonored 1 & 2, it’s just a bit shorter. My first playthrough lasted around 3 hours but it can easily be speedrun in 40 minutes or less if you know the way and rush past everyone. If you do all of the 13 side contracts, 8 collectable paintings and go for full stealth you can spend well over 6 hours in one run.
During one mission we revisit the royal conservatory map from Dishonored 2. The layout has been slightly changed. The other missions take place on new maps. However, mission 2 & 3 play on one and the same map. What this means is that essentially you’re just getting 3 new maps, the others are reused content.
There is as much room for exploration as always. Whether you want to stealth it or slash your way through the groups of guards is up to you. I played both ways and unlike previous games actually enjoyed the aggressive combat-oriented approach more. The animations are really gory (as they have always been) with limbs getting chopped off and all the blood painting the streets red. Stealthing this game is just too easy with the Semblance skill (but then again it’s up to you whether to use it or not). If you want a more challenging stealth run I highly recommend doing it in Original Game+.
Original Game+ (or OG+) is a new mode that lets you play the 5 missions of Death of the Outsider with the basic powers you had in Dishonored 2. It adds a nice touch of replay value to try different tactics, especially for stealth on higher difficulties. Even on the easiest difficulty the 5th mission isn’t easy to stealth in OG+.
Here is some good news for us trophy- & achievement hunters: the game can be platinumed in under 10 hours (5-7h if you follow a guide), the trophies are easy but creative, and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable game. There are only 8 collectibles to find and even mission select to mop up miscellaneous trophies. If you are a trophy hunter I very highly recommend this game, especially considering the low price. As noted earlier, even if you haven’t played previous titles this one is good to make first contact with the Dishonored franchise.
| Gameplay *Overall Enjoyment Factor, Fascination with Game World, Level Design, Variety, Playability, User-Friendliness (Ease of Use / Readability / Controls / in-game Tutorials / Menus) |
| 10/10 Gory swordplay and new stealth powers. Abilities finally recharge automatically. |
| Story/Multiplayer *Quality of the Singleplayer Story, Cutscenes and/or Multiplayer Modes (whichever is available). If a game has no Story or no Multiplayer it won’t be rated (thus no negative effect on score). |
| 8/10 Story: 8/10 Multiplayer: Not Available |
| Technical Aspects *Graphics, Texture Quality, Character Details, Lighting, Weather Effects, Animations, Loading Times, Number of Loading Screens, does it run smoothly |
| 8/10 What you’d expect from Dishonored. |
| Value *Amount of Content, Production Quality, Replay Value, is there enough content to justify a purchase |
| 9/10 AAA production quality and fair length for $29,99 (5-7h to platinum with guide). Great replay value, Original Game+, but too many reused maps (missions 2/3/4). |
| Trophies/Achievements *Rates how much fun the Platinum / 1000 Gamerscore is to achieve: Are trophies fun to do? Do trophies restrict freedom of gameplay? Missable trophies? Multiple playthroughs required? Luck-based trophies? Pointless farming/grinding? Glitched Trophies? Are stats/trophies tracked correctly? |
| 10/10 A very enjoyable list that bets on all the game’s strengths. A lot of fun to explore and figure out the trophies, a nice extra challenge. |
| Extraordinary Score Increase or Deduction *Reserved for extraordinarily good or bad features that the other categories don’t cover (such as game-breaking bugs). This score is directly added/subtracted from the final score. |
| Nothing |
VERDICT:
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is the shortest Dishonored but also my favorite one. The game has a nicer “flow” than its predecessors due to unlimited use of abilities. Packed with 5 main mission, 13 side quests, and 8 collectibles you get an AAA quality game well worth the $29,99 asking price — highly recommended for trophy hunters who want an enjoyable, quick and easy platinum trophy.
FINAL SCORE:
9/10
Played on PS4 Pro (version 1.01), a free review copy was provided. Earned the platinum trophy, did all main missions, side contracts, painting collectibles, Original Game+.
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