Dishonored: Death of the Outsider review
Not a Daud in my mind
The title alone is enough to sell Dishonored: Death of The Outsider to fans of Arkane’s Dishonored series. The Outsider has spent the last two and a half games manipulating events and taunting players with his omniscience, and this is an opportunity to take revenge. The Outsider is the logical end-point in a series that has always been about methodically working one’s way through a hierarchy of power, so in theory it’s the perfect capstone to an incredible series. In practice, however, it starts to stumble over its own ambition.
Players take control of Billie Lurk, a former assassin who comes back for one last job underneath her old mentor, Daud. She also appeared as Meagan Foster in Dishonored 2, where she took the role of least-surprising plot twist of all time. Billie isn’t gifted with the Outsider’s mark, but she does nonetheless have a few new powers to play with.
Billie’s ‘Displace’ and ‘Foresight’ are this game’s rendition of Blink and Dark Vision respectively, and don’t add anything particularly new to the series; Semblance (in which you pull an Arya Stark and steal somebody’s face), on the other hand, is an excellent and tense addition to the mechanics. Semblance is certainly the highlight of Billie’s powers, and definitely one of the more interesting powers the series has offered.
It’s disappointing that players can’t get any new powers or upgrade the ones they have; the only modifications to the move-set come from bonecharms, which are minor differences at best and totally meaningless at worst. There’s a further reliance on equipment than in any of the other entries, but even with the new toys the game offers, there’s an added pressure to think through a situation before rushing in, because the game doesn’t offer players an easy escape like its predecessors. It adds an excellent new level of difficulty, but at the cost of some freedom.
Thankfully, the contract system is there to add some more creativity to the levels. Finding the black market in a level opens up contracts, which are extra tasks to complete in a level. These side quests vary from simple to exceedingly difficult, but they’re all designed to send Billie elsewhere in the level, somewhere that players might not have found otherwise. The contracts add a hefty bit of length and replayability to the campaign, and they’re definitely a welcome addition to the franchise.
In other ways, though, the game is classic Dishonored. The level design is incredible as always, but the map is easy to navigate and it’s difficult — but not impossible — to get lost in. The storyline is a little predictable, particularly if players are familiar with the expanded universe, but it’s still captivating enough to keep you involved for the length of the game. Once again, the small world-building elements are far more interesting than the main plot, and returning to Karnaca is something that’s hard to get tired of.
Following the trend of the series, Death of the Outsider is exceedingly short, with only five levels. Of these five, the game hits its peak at the third level, which takes the form of a multi-stage, elaborate bank heist. It’s not quite the spectacular set-piece that Dishonored 2’s Clockwork Mansion was, but it’s a refreshing change of pace for the series, and definitely Death of the Outsider’s high point. The bank heist mission is the one point in the game that felt like Arkane had really captured the originality of the first game, and it alone is well worth the price of admission.
At this point, it seems likely that this will be the final entry in the Dishonored series, which is the real disappointment. Many were expecting a last hurrah for the series, with the best elements of the previous two and a half titles combining to create a final huge endpoint, and the game doesn’t quite live up to it.
Our Verdict:
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is the weakest of the Dishonored titles, but it’s still a solid game with some welcome changes to the franchise. Arkane’s trademark world-building and atmosphere is still there, and although they’re limited, the mechanics are still well-crafted and fun to experiment with. It’s definitely worth a look, especially for fans of the previous entries in the series.
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