Line #59 YMMV/Dishonored


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** Some fans joke that [[spoiler: Corvo kills Daud in the High Chaos Brigmore Witches ending because Daud did Corvo's job (Protecting the Empress, in this case Emily) better than Corvo himself]].
3	** The Outsider. Malevolent Satan figure who likes screwing with the mere mortals and is behind so many of their problems? Capricious Trickster figure who is very old and very bored and always looking for a new twist? Or disappointed Prometheus who wants to give power and strength to humans, desperate for that one special person who won't succumb to the temptations of power? He has a habit of granting power to people in the right place to make big changes while acting terribly unconcerned with the substance or morality of those changes, but he also shows an oddly high level of concern with Emily's fate over the course of the campaign and DLC. [[spoiler:That Emily is suggested to be somewhat favoured by him and goes on to become one of the two main protagonists of the sequel could mean that he's just AffablyEvil and concerned with setting up his next pawn in the perfect place to wreak havoc.]]
4	** It's unclear whether Wallace [[spoiler:telling Cecelia that she's not getting a bonus in the Low Chaos version is him looking down on her, or he guessed the servants were going to be killed and was protecting her. On the one hand, he does act like a snotty asshole to her throughout the game, but on the other Low Chaos is marked by most characters being generally better people.]]
5	** There is some debate whether [[spoiler:Havelock attacking Corvo when he picks up the key to Emily's room is a bug, or him not attacking if you grab the key fast enough is the bug. If the latter, then he is genuinely surrendering. If the former, then he is pulling an ISurrenderSuckers attempt.]]
6	* AluminumChristmasTrees:
7	** A fantasy world where the entire economy runs on whale oil? It's not so farfetched: Up until the early years of the industrial revolution, whale oil was a highly valued commodity for its applications in lighting and lubrication. In some places, perhaps most notably Nantucket, whaling for oil was what drove the local economy. In the end, the whale oil industry declined both due to dwindling whale populations and the invention and development of mineral oils, meaning whale oil was essentially the predecessor to the fossil fuels which ran the global economy for the next two hundred-ish years.
8	** Jellied Eels are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellied_eels an actual dish]] from England.
9	* AnticlimaxBoss: Justified as you are an assassin who relies on quick and efficient kills. If you are doing it right all Bosses should be anticlimactic.
10	** In the low chaos version of Light at the End, [[spoiler: Havelock]] will just stand there saying he refuses to fight you. Although he [[ISurrenderSuckers will attack]] when you pick up the key to Emily's room (but only after he's offered it to you - if you grab it quickly enough, he'll go through his speech and not attack. Attacking is probably a bug), he can very easily be taken out non-lethally with a sleep dart or stop time plus choke.
11	** Attacking is not necessarily a bug, especially if offering you the key and you taking it is the ''intended'' sequence of events. Rather, offering you the key and attacking you when you let down your guard fits his DirtyCoward behaviour, considering he [[spoiler:at that point has poisoned his teammates and tried to poison you, and has a history of dishonorable discharge from the Navy]].
12	** [[spoiler: Delilah in the Low Chaos final battle of the Brigmore Witches DLC can be taken out easily by anyone with Void Gaze and Blink]]. However, if you take her on directly, she will be an utter pain and a challenge one on one for Daud.
13	** [[spoiler: Daud]] can actually be this in the Low Chaos form. He only has one guard, and through use of Stop Time, the tranq darts, and Blink, you can zap his one guard and choke him into unconsciousness without him even knowing you were in the room.
14	** In ''The Brigmore Witches'', [[spoiler:Corvo himself. He has Outsider powers, of course, but no NPC can begin to do justice to what ''you'' would have pulled off in the game proper]].
15	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
16	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNbvupLf24I "The Drunken Whaler"]].
17	** The music that plays while fighting the final boss in a Low Chaos run is also pretty entertaining.
18	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0NFGgl7Cqs "Honor for All"]], the end credits music.
19	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Delilah- less holistically and more her role as main antagonist in this game. Either it's an interesting way to complete her arc and contrast her more explicitly with Emily or it's a retread of a story that was already told perfectly well the first time.
20	* BestBossEver:
21	** Players have been known to forgo their otherwise perfect ghost runs of the Flooded District level for the sole purpose of being able to fight [[spoiler:[[MirrorBoss Daud]]]], partially because he [[ItsPersonal killed the Empress, kidnapped Emily]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking stole your stuff]], but mostly because his boss fight is ''awesome''.
22	** On a similar note the [[spoiler: Dream]] battle with [[spoiler: Corvo Attano]] from ''The Brigmore Witches'' is awesome.
23	* BestLevelEver: ''Dishonored'' is a great game overall, but most will say that "Lady Boyle's Last Party" (where you blend into an elegant party), "Return to the Tower" (where you infiltrate the Lord Regent's fortress so you can finally kill/neutralize the bastard) and "The Flooded District" (where [[spoiler:you face-off against Daud and his army of assassins]]) are the game's highlights. Each has their own draws:
24	** Lady Boyle's Last Party is absolutely ''staggering'' in the amount of ways it can be completed- a number of ways to get into the party itself, like through the front, from the guardhouse, from the sewers, etc., to the insane amount of variation when you find the women (each Boyle's identity is randomized, and as such you have to acknowledge and adapt to which Boyle is your target) and that's not even counting all the ways they can be slain. And then there is the [[RefugeInAudacity sheer audacity]] of the [[ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself potential party-mingling antics]], from walking through the front door and signing your name in the guest book to telling the Lady Boyle that someone is there to assassinate her.
25	** Return to the Tower is moody, dark, dreary and highly interesing, with tight corridors and dim lighting providing a thick atmosphere- it's also [[DifficultySpike where the game picks up in difficulty]], adding in several elements of earlier chapters (like Watch Towers and Tallboys) into a large and interesting enviroment to really toy around with your powers. Plus the sheer number ways to handle the Regent (including [[spoiler: ambushing him in his room, blowing/throwing him off the balcony, vaporizing him, or exposing his crimes]] and [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim shanking him while his back is turned]] provides a satisfying end to the mission.
26	** Flooded District is very interesting in that it forces you to really use your arsenal- [[spoiler:by removing all of your gear, including your sword.]] Plus, it pits you against a large group of [[spoiler:people with powers similar to you]], and [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Weepers]], culminating in a satisfying and conclusive duel with [[spoiler:the Knife of Dunwall himself- Daud.]]
27	** Also of note is the High Chaos version of "The Light At the End", which is interesting since the Low Chaos version is generally considered to be a DisappointingLastLevel. It is very moody, taking place at night in a thundering rain storm. And as you get to progress through the level [[spoiler:dealing with the traitorous loyalists who are fighting each other one by one as you make your way towards where Emily is. And it all culminates in a stand off against Havelock, who is holding Emily hostage and threatening to kill himself and her by throwing them both off a ledge, giving you a variety of ways to solve the dilemma based on the powers you have chosen. Overall, it's a rather satisfying climactic level. The only shame is that it is exclusive to the High Chaos path which has a rather cynical ending where Emily grows up to be a rather cruel empress (or die if you screw up the confrontation with Havelock).]]
28	* BreatherLevel:
29	** Mission eight, [[spoiler: The Loyalists]]. After escaping [[spoiler: Daud, and the Flooded District]], and right before the final mission [[spoiler: to deal with Havelock and his fellow conspirators Lord Pendleton and High Overseer Martin]], this mission just has you [[spoiler: sneaking back into the Hound Pits Pub to find out where they've taken Emily.]] It's not an especially taxing mission, given that you can very easily incapacitate or kill all of the guards on the map in one go if you [[spoiler: activate Piero and Sokolov's new Arc Pylon.]]
30	** Lady Boyle's Last Party, arguably. Especially with level 1 possession, getting into the party is very easy, and you don't even have to hide in most of the mission area--nowhere else in the game can you walk right up to the guards and casually chat with them. And the best part is, you're not even in disguise--[[ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself everyone just assumes that your assassin-wear is a costume.]] Bonus points for walking in and out through the front door, with an invitation, having neutralized the target without anyone even noticing, and signing your real name into the Guest Ledger before leaving (which completely freaks out the Lord Regent when he reads the investigation report).
31	* BrokenBase: The fandom is bitterly divided over who the better protagonist is between Corvo Attano (More powers, has the cooler sword and mask, is the "Face" of the game), or Daud (Low Chaos Daud has a character arc and Creator/MichaelMadsen turns in a great performance- also some feel the DLC missions to be of higher quality than the main missions).
32	%%Do not add The Lord Regent back as a Complete Monster, as the cleanup thread ruled he did not count.
33	* CatharsisFactor: The whole game is very good at this if you're playing high chaos. Anyone annoy you? Blow their brains out! Subtlety? The fuck is ''that''? Managing powers? '''PPPFFFTTTT'''. Conservation is for nerds.
34	** This doesn't even begin to describe the insane rube-goldberg machines of death and terror you can create in game. Cut off a person's head, stop time near another guard, and toss said head next to him. Watch and laugh as he reacts to being hit- then recoils in terror at the sight of the head. Why not possess a man and make him walk into a pile of vicious man-eating rats? The possibilities are absolutely insane.
35	** Especially present in the Low Chaos final mission, Light At The End. At this point in the game, it's effectively shunted you into one of two endings, and depending on the level name, that's the ending you'll get no matter how many high or low chaos actions you do. On low chaos and playing as a conservative, stealthy ghost, ''finally'' being able to cut loose and blow apart any poor sod that walks into your line of sight is incredibly satisfying. For extra satisfaction, walk the whole time. You '''will''' feel like a badass.
36	** The Low-Chaos final level has Catharsis Factor even if you use stealth. Get a bone charm that allows you to strangle faster. When you reach the point that you have to climb to the tower with the Rail-Platform across the Main Boss Area, you can blink and strangle as you go up and do it really fast. By the time you reach the top, you can hear a guard discover the first body, only to look down and see many other guards asleep left in his path. You may not feel like a badass but you '''will''' feel like a God, swift, sure and invisible.
37	* DemonicSpiders:
38	** The River Krusts. They launch rapid-fire acid at you that will make sure you have to start chugging down Elixirs, they come in groups, and in order to damage them with anything except an explosive, you need to wait for them to start attacking you or possess them. Also, they tend to be placed in the most annoying locations possible.
39	** [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Weepers]] straddle the line between this and GoddamnedBats, given their propensity to come in packs. But their unnerving implacability, speed, and toxic grab attack make them way more intimidating than a bunch of terminally ill people have any right to be.
40	** The Whalers, who make frequent use of their Blink ability while patrolling and move around often, making it more difficult to count how many of them there are, to keep an eye on their patrols, and to sneak up on them to stab them in the jugular or choke them unconscious. They also use Blink constantly in a fight. On top of that, they make stealth runs considerably more difficult by having the annoying habit of popping up ''right beside you'' while you're creeping around on rooftops. On top of ''that'', when they call for reinforcements, said reinforcements appear instantaneously. And ''[[RuleOfThree on top of]]'' '''''[[RuleOfThree that]]''''', they're [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking not too shabby with a blade]]. But in particular, their Blink has considerably more range than even yours does at level 2, and they're not even directly marked by The Outsider.
41	** The Butchers from ''The Knife of Dunwall''. Their butcher's saws do massive damage, deflect most frontal attacks, and can fire smaller saws so you can't just move out of reach. The only way to take them down without losing a lot of health is stealth.
42	** For players willing to kill, Tallboys aren't much of a threat. For players trying for a PacifistRun, however, Tallboys are a major nuisance. There's no way to take them out of commission without killing them, and their stilts makes a stealthy player's greatest advantage - [[NoPeripheralVision staying high]] - less effective.
43	* DisappointingLastLevel:
44	** The Low Chaos version of "The Light at the End." While not totally easy, it is hardly a challenge when compared to the other levels. [[spoiler:Moreover, the fact that Pendleton and Martin are already dead brings an overall lack of closure. The confrontation with Havelock is much less exciting as well; instead of a tense stand off as he threatens to kill Emily and himself by jumping off a ledge forcing you to use your skills and abilities to save her before he does, he simply gives you a key to where she is being kept only to attempt to kill you when you grab it, forcing you to kill him in a standard fight.]] [[BestLevelEver The High Chaos version of "The Light at the End", on the other hand...]]
45	** The last leg of the game is kicked off by [[spoiler:your betrayal]]. What follows are some very dull, linear sections in which you're missing most of your equipment, and the level design doesn't let magic be useful. Case in point: you recover your stuff from a building that has no alternate entrances, even for a rat or a fish, though you can manage to get in with some creative use of blinking.
46	** "The Surge", the final mission of ''The Knife of Dunwall''. While the previous two missions had wide open environments with interesting quirks and multiple ways to deal with enemies and obstacles, "The Surge" [[spoiler:is the Whaler Base area from the original game's "The Flooded District", except with Overseers instead of assassins. There is very little in this mission that distinguishes it from the original game. The mission feels like it only exists to provide a place to split the two Daud [=DLCs=].]]
47	* EnsembleDarkHorse:
48	** Callista and Slackjaw are both very popular with fans despite their limited roles. It might have something to do with Callista being voiced by [[Series/GameOfThrones Cersei]] [[Creator/LenaHeadey Lannister]] herself and Slackjaw being an {{Expy}} of Bill [[Creator/DanielDayLewis 'The Butcher']] [[Film/GangsOfNewYork Cutting]].
49	** Wiles Roland is popular due to going out of his way to make sure that Daud's target is punished, but not his servants. Adding his CoolMask and the fact that he even gives a fair warning to Daud about the Flooded District, he's quite well-liked for a one mission only (from a DLC, at that) quest giver.
50	** Billie Lurk from ''The Knife of Dunwall'' has also recieved a fandom for her snarky exposition of events and places in the story and her role as a foil to Daud.
51	** Lizzy Stride and Thomas from ''The Brigmore Witches'' (also mentioned in the previous DLC), the former for her fun/creepy/badass personality and unique appearance, and the latter for being a helpful, interesting replacement for Billie despite having less characterization than her.
52	* EvenBetterSequel: Not a straight example, but many argue that the Daud 2-Part [=DLC=] is better than the main game, mostly because Daud is more interesting than the SilentProtagonist Corvo, the 6 levels (two thirds the size of the 9 levels of the main game) have more interesting variety and the karma meter is more successfully implemented. [[http://kotaku.com/dishonored-co-director-its-ok-for-games-to-be-mean-to-1726981392 Harvey Smith]] himself offered the same opinion in a podcast with Kotaku.
53	* FanficFuel: The Heart gives only a few sentences about peoples's lives, but what it says happens to be quite intriguing.
54	* FriendlyFandoms: With ''VideoGame/{{BioShock}}'', due to both of them being seventh generation ImmersiveSim games. It helps that the games are [[CreatorDrivenSuccessor Creator Driven Successors]] to (''VideoGame/SystemShock'' and ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'') were both done by Creator/LookingGlassStudios, with both franchises' creators having worked at Looking Glass Studios on those games.
55	** Also with the ''TabletopGame/BladesInTheDark'' fandom, as might be expected given how much that game was influenced by ''Dishonored'' in its setting and aesthetics.
56	* GameBreaker: Almost all of your spells are this in one way or another.
57	** Blink in particular basically makes avoiding guards almost not an issue once you upgrade it. Although there are definitely moments where it's obvious the level designed anticipated your Blink strategy and moved to stop it.
58	** Bend Time II, which [[TimeStandsStill stops time]] for ten seconds. No matter which way you're playing, it's a very useful power to have. The game seems aware of this, as getting Bend Time II requires eight runes, more than any other power in the game.
59	** Possession II is this, especially in the Flooded District level. Taking out every single one of the [[spoiler:Whalers on the rooftops leading into Daud's hideout]] takes patience, but it's essentially cakewalk. Possess someone, walk the body out of their buddies' lines of sight, choke unconscious, repeat.
60	** Two of the Bone Charms, "Water of Life"[[note]]When equipped, health is restored by drinking from fountains[[/note]] and "Spirit Water"[[note]]When equipped, mana is restored by drinking from fountains[[/note]], can easily turn into this if the player is familiar with the locations of drinking fountains. At that point, Bend/Stop Time and Possession I/II -- two of the most useful and expensive powers in the game -- can usually be used without regard for mana consumption, as it can just be replenished for free. The only time you'll really need to consume elixirs or remedies will be in battle, and if you're doing a StealthRun, chances are you'll rarely (if ever) end up in combat.
61	* GatewaySeries: ''Dishonored'' and its DLC and sequel served as ones for ImmersiveSim, which is considered a niche genre. The game did this thanks to its excellent presentation, exemplary level design, ReplayValue, and good writing.
62	* GoodBadBugs:
63	** There is a known bug where, occasionally, getting the Shadow Kill upgrade will ''remove the ability to gain chaos.'' Yup, the game's entire point and purpose removed with one bug. Enjoy your lack of responsibility, you cheating asshole.
64	** Loading a save can make the nearest whale oil tanks explode with no reason.
65	** Buying the Blade Cross upgrade will sometimes, make the sword covered in blood, even if you didn't kill anyone in the mission or in the game. It can be stressful for players who try a "clean hands" game.
66	* HarsherInHindsight:
67	** One of Piero's audiographs has him pondering what he should say at Sokolov's funeral. Come the second game, Piero is dead of old age while Sokolov is still alive.
68	** The Lord Regent's Confession has him complaining that his plan to beat the plague would have worked if everyone had just followed orders, but people kept breaking quarantine to search for their loved ones. Cue the COVID-19 pandemic, where attempts to quarantine the sick often failed because people would continually break quarantine for all manner of reasons, including trying to visit loved ones.
69	* HilariousInHindsight:
70	** Pretty much [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee's]] main rant about the game was he was annoyed about Corvo being a SilentProtagonist. So The Knife of Dunwall gives Daud a speaking role. Indeed, Harvey Smith later confirmed that the developers had grown tired of the trope and wanted to change gears and voice Corvo, but that it was too late in development to bring it in. Come the sequel, and Corvo's now SuddenlyVoiced.
71	*** Which got a whole lot more hilarious when Corvo's voice actor for the sequel is [[VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject none other than]] Creator/StephenRussell.
72	** Part of the game's worldbuilding mentions something known as "The Fugue Feast," in which all rule of law is abandoned for an extended period of time and all crime is legal. Not even a year later, ''Film/ThePurge'' came out.
73	*** Although The Fugue Feast was based on a popular cultural phenomenon of 'inverted time' when the social roles and customs were reversed or in other way changed. The most common example is the Venetian Carnival and Ancient Roman Bacchanalia. The 'time outside time' concept is also present in various cultures.
74	* HoYay: The Outsider makes it very clear that he considers Corvo -- especially a non-lethal Corvo -- the most interesting person he's seen for a long time.
75	-->'''The Outsider:''' You ''fascinate'' me.\
76	'''The Outsider:''' He's not special like you are.
77	** Even joked about by the developers themselves in an in-universe fanfic named "[[ThisIsGonnaSuck Heart of the Abyss]]" which can be found in ''VideoGame/DishonoredDeathOfTheOutsider'', where it's taken to an outright homoerotic degree.
78	* ItsShortSoItSucks: One of the major criticisms is that the base game is rather short- most critics had it beat between six and ten hours, depending on which Chaos path they took and how much time they spent looking at the world. The GameOfTheYearEdition had numerous people saying that Daud's campaign and the City Trials added enough content to make it worth it. Likewise other fans argue that the game's considerable replay value (the number of alternative choices and the range of pathways to move through the levels) more than make up for the short runtime.
79	* JerkassWoobie: Some fans argue that [[LadyDrunk Esma]] Boyle, of all people, is one. It can't be easy having [[RichBitch Waverly]] or [[SerialKiller Lydia]] as a sister, it's implied that she "[[DrowningMySorrows drinks to forget herself]]" and her daughter probably died in childbirth and left her unable to have any more children.
80	** Also, she's never seen doing or saying anything particularly bad, and we only have the fact she's [[spoiler: funding the Lord Regent's army if she's your target]] to justify the ''Jerkass'' part.
81	* LesYay: Tons with the Brigmore Witches, who when talking to each other borders on flirting and often refer to each other as "lover".
82	* MagnificentBastard:
83	** Delilah Copperspoon, master of the Brigmore Witches is a brilliant, determined witch and the illegitimate sister of former Empress Jessamine Kaldwin. Once cast into the streets, Delilah clawed her way to the top, even earning the attention and Mark of the godlike Outsider himself. Seeking the throne, Delilah builds the Brigmore coven and proceeds to enact a scheme where she will replace Jessamine's daughter Emily's soul with her own, sending her strongest witches against the assassin Daud just to insure they won't be around to betray her when she replaces her niece. When this fails, Delilah is cast into the void but by sheer force of will she returns and assists her old allies to restore her to the material plane before launching a coup against her niece, effectively usurping the Kaldwin throne. Not satisfied, Delilah plots to even usurp the Outsider himself, a scheme the Outsider fears Delilah is completely capable of enacting. Ruthlessly dedicated to her own advancement and hell bent on forcing her vision upon the world, Delilah demonstrates just how high a once penniless urchin can rise with sheer force of will and hatred within her.
84	** Daud himself, the Knife of Dunwall is a genius assassin who even attracted the notice of The Outsider. Forming The Whalers, Daud performed daring assassinations for the benefit of the corrupt, before accepting and completing a job on Empress Jessamine. Feeling true remorse when he saw what his deeds had done, Daud later dismantles the Brigmore Witch cult and tricks Delilah into being trapped in the void. Returning years later, Daud even puts together a plan to destroy the Outsider himself, using his one true friend Billie Lurk to carry it out.
85	* MemeticMutation: Some of the guards' lines have become popular with the fans, among them are:
86	** "Should we gather for whiskey and cigars tonight?"
87	** "Blow off, choffer!"
88	** "Think you'll get your own squad after what happened last night?"
89	** "How old did you say your sister was?"
90	** "I don't need shit from you."
91	* {{Narm}}/NarmCharm: In high chaos, Emily becomes so [[EnfantTerrible exaggeratedly evil]] that one can easily take it as BlackHumor.
92	-->'''Emily:''' "[[StupidEvil When I'm Empress, I want them to build two giant ships and crash them into each other. And all the men will drown. I'm allowed to do that, right?]]"
93	* PlayerPunch:
94	** If your Chaos rating is high enough, [[spoiler:Samuel will call you out for your actions and will grab his flare gun to warn the guards during the final level. [[SadisticChoice You're ultimately forced to]] either fight against every last guard who patrol the station or kill the man who saved your life and respected your work the most out of all the Loyalists. And while you ''can'' TakeAThirdOption and knock him out before he fires, sometimes the game considers him "killed" anyway and there's still a chance he can [[SuperDrowningSkills fall into the water]] afterwards.]]
95	** Even the "Medium Chaos" version of the final level has it, with [[spoiler:Samuel accusing you of going out of your way to be as violent as possible, and saying that he never wants to see you again. Considering how friendly and loyal he's been up to that point, those words sure sting.]]
96	** [[spoiler:The betrayal of the Loyalist Conspiracy is a sucker punch to the gut if there ever was one in this game. You knew that ''someone'' was going to betray you. Chances are you didn't expect it to be ''everyone''. The Outsider's words when you grab the rune from the last Shrine ''really'' hit hard]].
97	--->'''The Outsider:''' Strange how there's always a little more innocence left to lose.
98	** In ''Dunwall City Trials'', Kill Cascade sure is fun, isn't it? [[spoiler:Up until the end, where you drop-assassinate Empress Jessamine right in front of Emily, which begs the terrible question, [[FridgeHorror what the hell are the Dunwall City Trials?]]]].
99	** The last mission of The Knife of Dunwall where [[spoiler: Billie, the person that has had your back throughout the game, turns out to be TheMole to the BigBad.]] Softened considerably in a Low Chaos run, as [[spoiler:Billie comes right out and admits her betrayal with obvious guilt, refuses to actually go through with said betrayal, defies the uber-powerful Delilah to her face, and then calmly puts her life in Daud's hands, fully expecting Daud to kill her ''because she deserves it.'' If you spare her, she thanks you and spreads your legend in the new life she lives abroad. The whole sequence has the distinct feel of a sincere apology.]]
100	** All of the differences in the events of the game in a High Chaos run (as opposed to Low Chaos) can feel this way. From refugee shelters now appearing as a room full of weepers to Samuel flat-out telling Corvo that he's probably worse than the people he's going to kill.
101	* QuestionableCasting: Hardbitten military men are not what most people would expect from [[Creator/JohnSlattery Roger Sterling]].
102	* ScrappyMechanic:
103	** There's no way to replay the missions with all of your bought powers; there's no NewGamePlus, and the mission replay limits you to the powers you had when you first played it. Arguably, replaying the game to do things differently is kind of the point, but not having the option to add CatharsisFactor to a mission you struggled in is kind of disappointing.
104	** The [=PS4=] release has Heart and power audio playing through the [=DualShock4=]'s speaker. Turn off the speaker, and unlike other games, that audio just won't play.
105	** Unlike the sequels, there is no Stats page in a pause menu, so you have to rely entirely on in-game cues to judge your performance. This feedback is usually fine, but it only takes one small unnoticed slip up that such a screen would note in-level for a perfect run of a level to get ruined if you’re not lucky with your saves.
106	* SelfImposedChallenge: In addition to the PacifistRun and StealthRun, both of which have associated achievements, there are a whole host of potential options -- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ22nBdeugY this video]] demonstrates three:
107	** "[[TouchedByVorlons What A Weird Dream.]] [[WeirdnessCensor Oh Well, I Guess It Was Nothing.]]": [[BadassNormal The No-Magic Run]]. Unfortunately, this playthrough falls apart during the return to Dunwall tower, where you need Blink or the Agility passive to make it all the way up the water lock. This challenge is at least given a nod by the developers who made an achievement for completing the game without purchasing any magic upgrades (the first level of Blink is automatically unlocked.) This challenge is formalized in the [[VideoGame/Dishonored2 sequel]], in which players are given the option to refuse the Outsider's mark and go without any powers whatsoever, and the game is designed to make such a run possible.
108	** ThePerfectCrime[=/=][[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident Oh, Dear, What a Terrible Accident]]: Pull off every mission without being seen by ''anyone'' and leave no trace that you've been there. This also includes no killing or knocking out anyone except in ways that could reasonably be seen as accidental, such as being devoured by rats.
109	** [[LeeroyJenkins Corvo Attano, the Loudest Man in Dunwall]]: Duel everyone you see with only swords, and always announce your presence in some flashy way, such as blowing up whale oil containers or firing your pistol into the air. No magic allowed except for Bend Time (to dispose of grenades and bullets more easily to keep the fight fair) or Blink (to separate guards from the pack or troll them).
110	* SpiritualLicensee:
111	** ''Dishonored'' is widely regarded as a better ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' game than [[VideoGame/Thief2014 the 2014 one]]. Indeed in ''VideoGame/Dishonored2'' Corvo is SuddenlyVoiced by Stephen Russell, Garrett himself. It's also seen as a better Victorian-era UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution game than ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate''.
112	** The Draper's Ward mission in the DLC with multiple warring street-gangs in period clothing comes close to being a ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'' videogame, until ''Assassin's Creed: Syndicate'' made that into a dominant mechanic.
113	** The setting of Dunwall with its factions of Assassins, Thieves, malevolent witches, religious organizations and a fantasy Industrial Revolution setting is a pretty good rendition of Ankh-Morpork from Creator/TerryPratchett's Franchise/{{Discworld}} series.
114	* {{Squick}}:
115	** If you listen to the Mad Survivor outside his shrine in the Kaldwin's Bridge level, at one point he will exclaim how the shrine has "taken his water, taken his blood, and taken his ''seed''". Still wanna pick up that rune, Corvo?
116	** The non-lethal route for eliminating the targeted Lady Boyle [[spoiler: has you deliver her to a StalkerWithACrush who promises to keep her for the rest of her life, during which she’ll surely grow to appreciate him. Unlike other non-lethal eliminations of targets, it’s not poetic, it’s just gross. The stalker even has a poorly-made rat mask.]] Lessened by ''Literature/DishonoredTheCorrodedMan,'' which reveals [[spoiler:she kills him and escapes.]]
117	** In the Golden Cat you can overhear a conversation between a guard and a prostitute. When she asks how she can satisfy him, he tells her how he's never been the same since the fighting pits, saying "there was this hound." [[BestialityIsDepraved Yeah...]] And her reply? ''"You're not the only one this happens to."''
118	* ThatOneBoss: Confronting ''Knife of Dunwall'''s final target, [[spoiler:[[TheMole Billie Lurk]]]] on High Chaos results in a BossBattle with no options for stealth, against an [[MadeOfIron abnormally durable]] MirrorBoss. The BestBossEver examples above actually share many of these traits, but since she's automatically alerted like a regular foe, [[spoiler:unlike Daud who can be taken stealthily, or Corvo who causes no alerts since it's AllJustADream,]] any [[StealthRun Ghost run]] is instantly [[UnwinnableByDesign voided]].
119	* ThatOneLevel:
120	** The Flooded District. It starts off with a tedious segment where Corvo has to retrieve his arsenal and doesn't get much better from there. Unlike most missions, it's extremely straightforward and has few side objectives to speak of. It ''does'' have the awesome confrontation with Daud, but after that, you've got long stretches of linear sewers and featureless suburbs with hordes of [[DemonicSpiders weepers]] to deal with. It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't come right on the heels of Dunwall Tower, the game's seeming climax and itself a BestLevelEver candidate.
121	** Good luck trying to get all the tricky jumps in one playthrough on Bonfires. Good luck trying to three star it on Expert.
122	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: On High Chaos runs, Emily shows signs of becoming evil, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero thanks to Corvo's influence]]. However, there's no ending where Emily becomes an evil tyrant. In fact, the High Chaos ending where [[spoiler: Emily survives]] says the Emily [[spoiler: is remembered fondly by history as someone making the best of a bad situation thus implying she becomes a [[TheGoodKing good ruler]]]] thus turning all the moments of TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior into Main/{{Fauxshadow}}ing.
123	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Corvo's Balisong Sword is a thing of beauty to watch.
124	** Hold F to sheath your sword. Left click to draw it again. Clear your schedule, because you're not getting anything else done today.
125	* TheWoobie:
126	** Cecelia comes off as this, getting chewed out for her work by both Lydia and Wallace. [[spoiler:[[FromBadToWorse Then]] she thinks she's the only survivor of the Hound Pits Pub being massacred. If chaos is high, it's implied that she's caught the plague, too.]] The way she flat out expects to be the first one to go in case of trouble with a [[ConditionedToAcceptHorror tired acceptance]] is pretty sad, but the fact that she tells you about her safehouse filled with loot and gives you a key for it right afterwards (because she admits, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments with some surprise]], that [[ThePowerOfTrust she can actually trust you]]) cements it. In addition to that, in high chaos, she muses that she escaped the fate of others simply because she's always been beneath notice to everyone - nobody ever acknowledged her presence as a human being.
127	** Corvo has it pretty bad. In the span of less than a day, his Empress (and lover) is brutally murdered by a bunch of assassins in front of him and [[spoiler:their]] young daughter, then accused of the deed, promptly being split up from Emily and brutally tortured by the people who plotted the whole thing, in a damp, dismal prison for six months. Even when he eventually gets out, he pretty much can't show his face in the city, since everyone and their mother knows the name and face of the man who killed the Empress, and can only find refuge with a small cadre of conspirators hiding out in a closed pub, plotting their own overthrow to restore the Kaldwin line to the throne. [[spoiler: And that’s not even getting into what happens during the game, after the Lord Regent gets killed or neutralized by Corvo.]]

Context YMMV / Dishonored