BrightFlame Dishonored 2 Review

Perhaps Dishonored 2 is the best immersive sim ever made. It's a perfect evolution of the first game's ideas, allowing every good concept (and the first game was literally full of them) to receive an even better implementation. Story-wise, the game more or less follows the original formula - a coup, the protagonist going into hiding, attempts to restore their good name and return the rightful ruler to the throne. But the execution is notably better - characters are much more morally complex, events have deeper social context, and outcomes change significantly based on player actions. The atmosphere has changed too. Instead of gray, rainy Dunwall, three-quarters of the game takes place in sunny, dusty Karnaca - a port city on Serkonos island reminiscent of pre-revolutionary Havana. Instead of a plague epidemic and rat hordes, there are bloodflies and their blood-red nests everywhere. Instead of the calculating, rational dictatorship of the Lord Regent, we now have the senselessly cruel tyranny of the Duke of Karnaca, who revels in his own impunity and ostentatious luxury. But the main changes are in gameplay. Structurally it remains the same - in first-person action format, you're free to cut your way to the objective with sword and pistol, or try to reach it stealthily without bloodshed, while an impartial chaos system tracks how your actions affect the world. However, the mechanics supporting this structure have become much more diverse, convenient, and interesting. The choice is no longer between "fun violent playthrough" and "exhaustingly difficult stealth with constant reloading" - non-lethal and stealthy approaches now have many more tools, from new types of non-lethal crossbow bolts to mystical abilities that help complete missions bloodlessly. Moreover, nearly every level now has its own unique feature that makes it more interesting - from having to figure out which of two targets is real, to the possibility of completing a level in minutes of game time by solving a complex logical puzzle. The audiovisual elements remain consistently excellent. The visual style has become more detailed and slightly more realistic while preserving its beautiful stylization - experience shows that games with this design approach age much better than photorealistic ones. The music and sound design also inherit from the first game, down to repeating certain soundtrack motifs and sound effects - but they've improved too, though less noticeably. The technical side is also strong - I encountered almost no bugs, and the game ran excellently on an RTX 2060 (though reportedly there are optimization issues with newer graphics cards). I gave the first Dishonored 10/10 and stand by that score. But however good the original was, the sequel is better in every way. It's one of those rare games that breaks through the ten-point scale and deserves 12 points. Dishonored 2 will clearly be in my personal top 5 games - and I'll definitely replay it with the other main character (yes, there are now two with different ability sets). So, only because the scale is still ten points - 10/10