Every apartment, every location, every space can be attributed an immense attention to detail. A small room can tell a story which further enhances the narrative by reinforcing the theme of dread, plague and hopelesness. Players will visit locations that are full of decay and tragedy, which highly contrast with the colorful coastal city. Locations will present opportunity and encourage players to try different routes or explore in order to gain more knowledge about the game world. One can get absolutely lost in all the detail and spend hours absorbing all of it.

Players in Dishonored 2 have been blessed to be able to choose between Corvo and Emily. Both of them have unique abilities that still manage to be equal and reinforce the characters traits. They have unique animations and dialogue. Both Corvo and Emily can support lethal and non-lethal approach to the game. Players can even choose a 'no powers' mode at the start of their playthrough which provides different challanges. It is worth noting that the level design supports every playstyle or approach listed above.

Despite the non-lethal approach available in the game, players can choose to be absolute psychopaths. There are multiple animations for killing the enemy but some of them are particularly brutal. Combined with character's powers and other gadgets (e.g. springrazors make a wonderful comeback), players can express their violent nature in numerous ways. One can feel sorry for their adversaries as they are getting minced by Emily's or Corvo's blade.


I cannot stop hoping that I will relive the pleasure of playing this game in another form - be it Dishonored 3 or completely different IP. In the end, Dishonored 2 will always be one of the games that I will point out as one having one of the best level designs in videogames. Dishonored 2 will always look exceptional to me because of its visual story-telling, attention to detail and art direction. Dishonored 2 will always remain a game that I have enjoyed for encouraging player's creativity and choice.

I was excited to play a new game from this studio. Thinking that FromSoftware games finally learned from their mistakes, I was excited to join my friend and play this game together.

Boy, was I wrong.

The technical state of this game is pathetic. I don't know why but no matter the PC's horsepower, it is impossible to get stable 60 FPS. Frame drops and stutters will happen often and consistently while encountering certain visual effects. What is worse, the game does not allow you to go above 60 FPS. In the meantime, this game's texture resolution at times looks worse than PS4 exclusives. How is this acceptable for 2022?

Moving on to multiplayer- it just sucks. Connection errors, areas split in such a way that forces to disconnect and reconnect, and constant invasions by players (who progressed far further and are too strong) are common. Trying to do everything together in co-op is a waste of time, especially in the open world. Fortunately, more than half of this game is recycled, so nothing of value was lost.

Last but not least, the balancing or rather the lack of it. I cannot imagine not spending my experience on increasing my maximum HP. It feels like this is obligatory in order to avoid being oneshot by everything in the late game. A HP bar that goes across half of your screen may not be enough. How is that okay? In addition, the amount of experience points dropped by various bosses feels inconsistent and randomized. A boss that was unable to move? Here, take 150 thousand runes. A boss that was extremely aggresive and mobile? Have your 30 thousand runes, the game does not care that around 90 thousand is needed for an attribute point.

FromSoftware could finally have their magnum opus and do everything right. Unfortunately, they did not learn from their previous mistakes. I cannot recommend this game for anyone that cares about standards and videogame development. Other developers get crucified for doing the mistakes that FromSoft did with Elden Ring. It is high time that FromSoft joins them.

I struggle to comprehend how this game can be called a 10/10 when you have so many better titles available.