Dishonored

Overview

Dishonored is a 2012 action-adventure game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is set in Dunwall, a fictional industrial city hit by a plague. You play Corvo Attano, bodyguard to the Empress of the Isles, who is framed for her murder and forced to become an assassin. The Loyalists, a resistance group, and the Outsider, a being who gives Corvo magical powers, help him.

It is played in first person and lets you tackle missions through stealth, combat or a mix of both. Exploring a level opens new paths to your target, and it is possible to finish every mission without killing anyone. A chaos system tracks violence and changes the world and the story, without judging you for it. Powers and gadgets can be combined for new effects.

Between missions you return to a hub, the Hound Pits pub, to get briefings and spend loot on upgrades. There are four difficulty levels, and you can save at any time except in combat.

The game spent two and a half years in production. Before Dunwall, which is modelled on late nineteenth-century London and Edinburgh, it was set in medieval Japan and seventeenth-century London. When testers found unexpected ways to combine powers, the designers reworked levels to allow them instead of blocking them. Daniel Licht composed the score. Raphaël Colantonio and Harvey Smith were the creative directors.

It was released on PlayStation 3, Windows and Xbox 360 on 9 October 2012 in North America and France, 11 October in Australia and 12 October in the rest of Europe. It went to manufacturing on 28 September 2012. A Game of the Year Edition with all the released DLC followed in October 2013, and a Definitive Edition for PS4 and Xbox One in August 2015.

Voice work includes Susan Sarandon, Brad Dourif, Carrie Fisher, Michael Madsen, John Slattery, Lena Headey and Chloë Grace Moretz.

Reviews were positive and focused on the individual missions, the freedom in completing them and the art direction. Metacritic gives 89 for PS3, 88 for Xbox 360 and 91 for PC. It won Best Action-Adventure Game at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards and the 2013 BAFTA for Best Game. In North America it was the fourth best-selling game of October 2012 with 460,200 physical units.

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Action-adventure, Stealth

Developer

Arkane Studios

Publisher

Bethesda Softworks

Series

Dishonored

Engine

Unreal Engine 3

Composers

Daniel Licht

Designers

Viktor Antonov

Writers

Harvey Smith, Austin Grossman, Terri Brosius

Directors

Raphaël Colantonio, Harvey Smith

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Subscription history

Achievements

Achievements80 (1,640G)

Total

80

Gamerscore

1640

• Thief You pickpocketed items worth a total of 200 coins 20G 34.32% of players
• Versatile You killed characters with each weapon and offensive gadget 20G 6.71% of players
• Ghost You completed all missions after the prologue, alerting or killing no one but key targets 30G 6.81% of players
• Shadow You completed all missions after the prologue without alerting anyone 30G 7.38% of players
• Mostly Flesh and Steel You finished the game without purchasing any supernatural powers or enhancements, besides Blink 50G 7.39% of players
• Wall of Sparks You killed an enemy with the Wall of Light 10G 42.5% of players
• Rogue You assassinated 10 unaware enemies 10G 63.22% of players
• Specter After escaping prison, you completed a mission, not alerting anyone and killing less than 5 people 20G 18.92% of players
• Faceless After escaping Coldridge Prison, you completed a mission without alerting anyone 20G 24.36% of players
• Manipulator You made others kill 5 of their own allies 10G 29.99% of players
• Razor Rain You killed 5 characters with Drop Assassination 10G 19.03% of players
• Surgical You played from the first mission through Kaldwin's Bridge killing fewer than 10 characters 30G 12.65% of players
• Clean Hands You completed the game without killing anyone 100G 7.99% of players
• Harm's Way You caused 5 unintentional suicides 10G 5.85% of players
• Inhabitant You stayed in possession of others for most of a 3 minute period 10G 8.36% of players
• Hornets' Nest You killed 4 enemies in less than 1 second using the crossbow 20G 7.69% of players
• Speed of Darkness You traveled 30 meters in less than 1 second 10G 21.65% of players
• Tempest You killed 6 enemies in less than 1 second 20G 8.43% of players
• Merchant of Disorder You acquired 15 equipment upgrades 20G 23.98% of players
• Art Dealer You collected all the Sokolov paintings 50G 6.97% of players
• Occultist You collected 10 bone charms 20G 40.5% of players
• The Escapist After Coldridge Prison, you eluded 5 pursuers at once without killing them or leaving the map 10G 39.06% of players
• Cleaner You fought 5 enemies at once and none of them survived 10G 58.16% of players
• Dishonored You escaped Coldridge Prison 5G 99.48% of players
• Excommunication You eliminated High Overseer Campbell 5G 74.02% of players
• Child Care You located Lady Emily Kaldwin, heir to the throne 10G 58.3% of players
• Capturing Genius and Madness You abducted Anton Sokolov, Royal Physician 10G 49.33% of players
• Regicide You assassinated the Lord Regent, Hiram Burrows 10G 30.48% of players
• Political Suicide You brought about the Lord Regent's fall from grace by broadcasting his crimes 10G 31.55% of players
• This Is Mine You recovered your belongings 10G 40.22% of players
• Resolution You completed the game 100G 37.93% of players
• Dunwall in Chaos You completed the game in high chaos 50G 28.76% of players
• Just Dark Enough You completed the game in low chaos 50G 17.7% of players
• Vanished You escaped prison and navigated the sewers undetected 10G 17.26% of players
• Gentleman Caller You completed all the Granny Rags side missions 10G 12.45% of players
• Street Conspiracy You completed all the Slackjaw side missions 10G 17.41% of players
• The Art of the Steal You got the Art Dealer's safe combination for Slackjaw, but robbed the safe first 10G 16.06% of players
• An Unfortunate Accident You killed Morgan Pendleton with steam 10G 17.74% of players
• Well Mannered You completed the Boyle Estate mission without spoiling the party 10G 26.42% of players
• King of the World You reached the top of Kaldwin's Bridge 10G 18.27% of players
• Bodyguard You protected Callista's uncle, Captain Geoff Curnow 10G 54.53% of players
• Mercy is the Mark You spared Daud's life 10G 27.32% of players
• Lights Out You deactivated at least 5 security systems on Kingsparrow Island 10G 10.2% of players
• Long Live the Empress You saved Empress Emily Kaldwin 10G 37.04% of players
• Poetic Justice You neutralized all key targets using indirect means 30G 13.13% of players
• Food Chain You assassinated an assassin 10G 41.01% of players
• Alive Without Breath You took possession of a fish 10G 28% of players
• Creepy Crawly You used a rat tunnel 10G 36.81% of players
• Back Home You grabbed a live grenade and threw it back, killing an attacker 10G 6.67% of players
• Big Boy You killed a tallboy using only your sword 20G 20.41% of players
• Mrs Pilsen's Remorse You found Emily's doll hidden in each of the 10 challenges 30G 1.76% of players
• Void Star You completed all Normal and Expert challenges with a 3-Stars rating 50G 1.02% of players
• By My Hand Alone You made it to Wave 13 in Back Alley Brawl killing all combatants personally 15G 1.02% of players
• Assassin Vs. Machine You completed Train Runner before the train arrives at the station 15G 1.77% of players
• Rare Collector You found all of the collectable figurines in Burglar on Expert 15G 1.39% of players
• Long Way Down You performed a drop assassination of at least 150 meters in the Kill Cascade challenge 15G 1.99% of players
• Headhunter You completed Assassin's Run with 100% accuracy using only head shots 15G 1.16% of players
• Daredevil In Bonfires, you performed all the special combination jumps in 1 round 15G 1.03% of players
• Natural Talent You finished Mystery Foe without using any active supernatural powers 15G 2.21% of players
• Time Management You finished Chain Kill or Bend Time Massacre without failing any wave, including bonuses 15G 1.19% of players
• Just Business You got the information you needed from the Rothwild Slaughterhouse 15G 5.52% of players
• Missing Pieces You obtained Delilah Copperspoon's identity from Thalia Timsh 15G 4.93% of players
• Well Connected You purchased all of the Favors in The Knife of Dunwall 10G 3.79% of players
• No Regrets You completed The Knife of Dunwall in High Chaos 35G 3.98% of players
• Redemptive Path You completed The Knife of Dunwall in Low Chaos 35G 3.25% of players
• Whisper Ways You completed The Knife of Dunwall without alerting anyone 40G 2.51% of players
• Cleaner Hands You completed The Knife of Dunwall without killing anyone 40G 2.57% of players
• Rats and Ashes You caused a death using an arc mine and a rat 10G 2.55% of players
• Message from the Empress You performed a drop assassination from atop the Empress statue in The Knife of Dunwall 10G 2.47% of players
• Stone Cold Heart You spoke with the statue of Delilah in Timsh's estate 10G 4.51% of players
• Parting Shot You delivered (or attempted) the killing blow on Corvo 10G 4.12% of players
• Breakout You broke Lizzy Stride out of Coldridge Prison 10G 4.06% of players
• Gangs of Dunwall You restored the Undine to working condition 10G 3.8% of players
• Deal Maker You purchased at least 8 favors in The Brigmore Witches 10G 2.78% of players
• All Come To Ruin You completed The Brigmore Witches in High Chaos 30G 2.79% of players
• Changed Ways You completed The Brigmore Witches in Low Chaos 30G 2.7% of players
• Silence is Golden You completed The Brigmore Witches without alerting anyone 40G 1.96% of players
• Cleanest Hands You completed The Brigmore Witches without killing anyone 40G 2.15% of players
• Enough Coin to Disappear You survived The Brigmore Witches in low chaos with 10,000 coins 30G 1.54% of players
• Wall of Flesh You used an enemy lifted with Pull as a shield 10G 2.05% of players

DLC

Three paid packs followed launch, and each has its own ten achievements. The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches follow the assassin Daud. The Game of the Year Edition includes all of them. The Xbox 360 Store closed on July 29, 2024, so new purchases are no longer possible there.

Items

Name	Date	Adds	Obtainable today
Dunwall City Trials	2012-12-11	Ten challenge maps: waves of enemies, time trials and drop assassinations. 10 achievements, 200 gamerscore.	no
The Knife of Dunwall	2013-04-16	A story campaign in which you play Daud, with his own powers and gadgets. 10 achievements, 220 gamerscore.	no
The Brigmore Witches	2013-08-13	The second Daud campaign, about stopping a ritual that threatens Emily Kaldwin. 10 achievements, 220 gamerscore.	no

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Single-player only, with no online features.

Online

Plays offlineYes

Dishonored has no online mode, so nothing depends on servers.

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale	Reviews
Metacritic	Xbox 360	88	100	56
Metacritic	PS3	89	100	35
Metacritic	PC	91	100	29

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	9.2	10
GameSpot	9	10
Eurogamer	8	10
Game Informer	8.75	10
Giant Bomb	4	5
Computer and Video Games	9.5	10
The Escapist	5	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Creative director	Raphaël Colantonio
Creative director	Harvey Smith
Visual design director	Viktor Antonov
Art director	Sébastien Mitton
Composer	Daniel Licht
Writer	Harvey Smith
Writer	Austin Grossman
Writer	Terri Brosius

Cast

Character	Actor
Empress Jessamine Kaldwin	April Stewart
Admiral Farley Havelock	John Slattery
Piero Joplin	Brad Dourif
Callista Curnow	Lena Headey
Emily Kaldwin	Chloë Grace Moretz
Granny Rags	Susan Sarandon
Daud	Michael Madsen
Slackjaw	Al Rodrigo
The Outsider	Billy Lush
Lord Regent Hiram Burrows	Kristoffer Tabori
Anton Sokolov	Roger Jackson

Notes for collectors

• The list has 80 achievements worth 1,640 gamerscore. The base game has 50 worth 1,000, and each of the three packs adds ten.
• The game can be finished without killing anyone, and the Clean Hands achievement, worth 100 gamerscore, is for doing it.
• Pre-order extras included a 72-card Dishonored tarot deck, a USB whale-oil lamp and a smartphone decal, as well as in-game power packs.
• The Game of the Year Edition has its own disc IDs in Europe and Japan.
• Corvo never speaks, a choice the designers made so players could project themselves onto him.
• Mrs Pilsen's Remorse needs you to find Emily's doll in each of the ten Dunwall City Trials challenges, and fewer than 2 percent of players have it.
• A free iOS spin-off, Dishonored: Rat Assassin, came out on 30 August 2012.

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 12 hours