Dunwall Diaries

The Royal Physician is a funny one after Dishonored’s very strong start of expansive, winding levels. I remembered it very clearly from my first time through, both because of its impressive setpiece mid-section and the level of challenge. Abducting Sokolov, though nominally Corvo’s mission, is in truth less of a hurdle than the heavily fortified Kaldwin’s Bridge. The bridge looks amazing, for one thing, cutting a striking profile in the centre of the level and really feeling quite gigantic. Although there are the usual chunks of town either side, the player is basically funneled onto the bridge and will most likely have to reckon with it one way or another. This is the point in the game where the density of guards begins to add to the challenge, and the tight stairwells and cramped control rooms of the bridge’s fortifications will obviate the pattern of Blinking from place to place to avoid fights and reset encounters that many would-be stealthy players will have settle...

After neutralising the High Overseer, Corvo's next targets are his co-conspirator Treavor Pendleton's two older brothers, Custis and Morgan. By eliminating these two Pendletons, the one remaining will be entitled to their votes in parliament to use for the Loyalists' purposes. It provides an insight into Dunwall gentry and how even voting influence is retained in powerful families like land or wealth. This is also the mission in which Corvo will rescue Emily, who is being kept in the same location. The elder Pendleton brothers can be found in their frequent haunt, The Golden Cat, which is a ritzy brothel not far from the Abbey headquarters. In Dunwall, the buildings containing the tools of law enforcement and those designed for the excesses of the wealthy are nestled closely together. You actually start with a small quest where you have to investigate the Weepers in the sewers under the Hound Pits pub. These are Dishonored’s version of zombies, people who hav...

Corvo's first assignment for the conspirators involves him finding a way into the daunting Abbey stronghold and eliminating High Overseer Campbell. The Overseers are part of the Abbey of the Everyman, a religious institution with Imperial backing that nominally wards against the eldritch influence of the Outsider and the incursion of the Void into the corporeal realm. In practice the Overseers are arbiters of morality and use cruel and extreme measures to propagate their philosophy. With Burrows in charge the Overseers are very much off the leash and are exerting violent force against Dunwall's population. Campbell orchestrated Jessamine's assassination along with Burrows and will now pay for it at Corvo's hands. As the first mission proper of the game and with tutorials out of the way, this is a very strong thesis statement. The Distillery District is decently sized, with optional sub-worlds you can stumble upon or be sent to as part of a side-quest, with an emp...

This is the first of 29 missions in the Dishonored series that will be analysed and reviewed on this blog. Royal Protector Corvo Attano returns to Dunwall, capital city of the country of Gristol and seat of government for the Empire of the Isles, from a diplomatic trip to Tyvia, Pandyssia and Serkonos seeking assistance for the rat plague that has torn through the city. Unfortunately he brings dire tidings, as the other nations have resisted Gristol's appeal. He has returned early, but not early enough to forestall the murder of Empress Jessamine Kaldwin. As she greets Corvo Jessamine is attacked by assassins who seem to appear out of thin air, and although he fights them off their leader materialises behind the Empress and brutally kills her before abducting her daughter Emily. You play through this entire section and see it all from the game's first-person perspective, walking through areas of Dunwall Tower that will later be part of a climactic level of the game, p...