Dishonored 2 (2016) by Arkane Studios

Dishonored 2 is actually very similar to its predecessor, though a bit more polished with systems and mechanics that are further developed than in the previous title. If you liked the first game then you should definitely play its sequel, as it features more of the same fantastic gameplay, level design, and art style.

Dishonored 2 is a dream to play due to how deftly it weaves between being an all-out action game and a tense, satisfying stealth experience. Like the first game, each style of play is ably rewarded, whether you want to be a violent psychopath, or a complete ghost sneaking through each level and leaving no trace. The flexibility the game provides its players is one of the best things it does and why it's so worthwhile to play, and with the new game plus mode added post-release it's even more satisfying, as you can pick either of the two protagonists and choose to play in a different style from a past playthrough. I do also greatly enjoy that Corvo is voiced this time around by the timeless Stephen Russel. The silent protagonist of the first game was always awkward in my opinion and regularly pulled me out of the experience.

The other thing Dishonored 2 does extraordinarily well is level design. Most stealth games require very well-designed levels to function properly, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that Dishonored 2 has perhaps the most impressive level design I have ever seen in a game. I don't want to spoil it, but suffice it to say that I've never played anything as mind-bendingly engrossing as the Clockwork Mansion or A Crack In The Slab. It's simply phenomenal; fun to play, and the spaces feel real and functional, as if they could actually exist rather than being specifically designed for a video game. The genius of these designers is undeniable and they're setting a standard for which the rest of the industry can only strive to approach. Brilliant work, the best stealth levels I've played since 2005's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.

This game just feels good to play. The art style is gorgeous, the way you flow from one room to the next stealthily eliminating enemies, dominating all-out fights, or ghosting through via the use of gadgets and powers is almost always satisfying. If you screw up, you're still able to fight in a satisfying way, making save-scumming unnecessary. I prefer to play almost completely stealthily and I find myself losing hours whenever I boot this game up. The portrait work is fantastic, the soundtrack is eerily accurate to the tone of the game.

If there is a criticism I have, it's that the story feels very underdeveloped and seems as if it could have used some more polish. I was intrigued by the premise but too much of it felt contrived, and the ending is so abrupt and unsatisfying. I was fully enthralled by this game from pretty much minute one and never really felt any frustration or distaste until the very end of the game, which I found profoundly unsatisfying. One positive to note is the voice cast, which, like Dishonored, is filled with big name actors who do a superb job. Rosario Dawson is a particular standout, as is Vincent D'Onofrio.

Upon release the game ran incredibly poorly on my machine and many others due to Arkane's installation of the new Void engine in lieu of Dishonored's Unreal engine. It ran so poorly in fact that I had to put it down for several months while waiting for a patch. Thankfully Arkane have done right by their fans and not only added significant stability, but also added several features on top of this. I mentioned New Game Plus before but I want to mention it once more because it's a truly great addition to the game. The game runs very well now and is far more stable than upon release, so don't fret if you're worried about potential performance issues.

Dishonored 2 overcomes a threadbare story with amazing level design and satisfying gameplay and should be played by anyone with an interest in stealth games or bombastic combat. Excellent game continuing the tradition of the Thief franchise and I truly hope Arkane continues to make Dishonored games for as long as they wish.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Playtime: 79 hours

Prey (2017) by Arkane Studios

There are a lot of things Prey does really well that made me want to like it. I love its cousins, Dishonored and its sequel, and I was hoping for a similar experience when I picked up Prey. Prey features a lot of the same things that Dishonored does well and even though they're different games I couldn't help but to compare the two while playing through Prey.

Prey features the same stunning level design and environmental art that Dishonored does so well. Places function as well as video game levels as they do immersive areas. Each locale feels like a real place with functional design, looks beautiful, and works extraordinarily well as a level. It's an impressive feat pulled off by the developers. The graphics are fine, with some great lighting effects. And the story is just intriguing enough to keep you moving forward, though devolves into fetch quests and "go here to fix this door" a bit too often.

My biggest problem with the game is that playing it just doesn't feel good. This is because there seemed to be very few efficient solutions to a lot of the problems it presents. In Dishonored you're given an ample amount of tools with which to overcome the different challenges the enemies provide, whether you wish to play stealthily or loud, lethally or nonlethally. However I couldn't shake the sense that with each enemy encounter in Prey I was doing something wrong. Bullet-sponge phantoms took multiple magazines to bring down, poltergeists left me missing them and wasting most of my ammo just to bring them down. I put the game down for a long time just 6-7 hours in because of this and picked it up again recently and put about 20 more hours before putting it down again for the same reason. There were times I'd try to sneak past encounters as well, treating the game more like horror, but even that fails to work at times as certain enemies seem to auto-detect you no matter how many skill points you have in stealth. I'd google strategies to kill certain enemies only to find that-- Surprise! There are none. Want to sneak by it instead? Well, the phantom patrols and now you're missing out on exploring and taking in good environmental storytelling and looting half the level, which is your driving force for exploring these spaces to begin with since the story missions are uninspired at best.

The game gives you an unlimited amount of tools to accomplish the problems it presents in clumsy, unsatisfying ways.

There's a reason many people complain about this game's difficulty. I played most of the game Normal, but even on "Story" mode enemies too often feel like bullet sponges. Something about playing it just feels off, whether you're tackling it as a shooter or a stealth game. Clearing a room just doesn't feel satisfying. Even after dealing with enemies and solving a problem presented by a monster in a room, I couldn't shake the fact that I had done it in the sloppiest, most inefficient way possible. This had me replaying rooms, trying different tactics; sometimes for half an hour at a time, but it always felt similarly unsatisfying. For a while this kept me pushing forward in search of unlocking new skills, until I had unlocked enough Typhon abilities to summon the Nightmare, another bullet-spongey enemy which I googled to learn would continue to appear every 20-30 minutes for the rest of the game. It was at this point that I lost my drive to play the game completely and finally put it down for good.

Dishonored felt fresh and challenging and even when I mucked up an encounter I could clearly see where I'd made my mistake, and would focus on doing better next time. And it was extremely satisfying to sneak past a room full of enemies, or take them out, or use the environment to my advantage. I never felt this playing Prey. Not one single time. I felt like a bumbling idiot, relying on my upgraded shotgun and combat focus to deal with nearly every challenge. While the levels can feel like a fun sandbox I ended up feeling that none of the tools they gave me to play with were very effective at dealing with any of the problems provided, so I resorted to smashing through it with the proverbial hammer (or in this case, shotgun) instead.

There are some other things that bothered me about the game as well. The sound mix is absolutely terrible, which I remember from day one but still hasn't been patched to adequacy yet. You can be hugging a wall in a room and hear electricity from a broken wall in the room adjacent and above you, or hear a fire that you passed 20 minutes ago still raging two floors below. Certain instances of dialogue are far too loud or sound like the mic was too close to the actors' mouths when they were recording their lines. Gunshots don't sound loud enough for what they are, and space doesn't sound quiet enough.

In addition to this, Mick Gordon, who was perfectly at home doing the Doom soundtrack, just doesn't feel like his music fits Prey. There are some nice tracks here and there but subtlety is definitely not his strong suit, and that's what I feel this game required. Though this is very much a matter of taste, and I am in the minority: Most folks liked the score.

I also had an issue with the annoying, lazy, scripted jump scares that permeate this game and was surprised that other outlets did not mention them. I'm not talking about happening across a mimic, which is an organic part of the game. I'm talking about scripted sequences such as the "Touch Me" calibration screen scene in Psychotronics, which was so infuriatingly lazy and offensive that it actually led to me to halt playing the game for the night. Or the theater screen screeching to life in Crew Quarters with no warning. There are numerous instances of this crap, and the awful sound mix only serves to deafen headphones users, which is where my key gripe comes in. It's not just startling, but literally painful due to the ineptitude of the sound mixers. If you crept up behind me while I'm at work and blew a damned air horn into my ear I'd probably jump a mile, too. Is that good horror? No. It's a lazy prank. It's annoying and infuriating, and it had me hating the moronic developers who'd think up such a rote, lazy tactic that's been ruining Hollywood horror films for decades now.

For the record, there are instances of real horror and tension in this game that are actually quite enjoyable. A great example is the morgue scene in which you're creeping along into the morgue only to see a suspended body slip off the rack and slump quietly to the floor. You're sure there's a mimic in there somewhere, so you cautiously creep into the room, searching for it, on edge the entire time and filled with suspense... Only to find nothing but some supplies and notes inside. This is great horror, and the fact that it's often mixed in with lazy jump scares only serves to show how frequently the game fails. It seems to me that the developers strove to add a horror element to the game, but were unskilled in specifically how to do it and perhaps unfamiliar with effective horror, relying instead on recent experiences they've had in theaters.

In a word I'd describe the game as uneven. At its best it's hitting the same heights as other great Arkane games, but at it's worst it comes off as incredibly lazy and uninspired, which is a shocking imbalance for a game that does so many original, inspired things. I had some great times with the game but couldn't shake the fact that it just did not feel good to play most of the time. If you're looking for a horror game then I suppose you might like this, but it doesn't feel great to play as a shooter or a stealth game, so I'm not confident in recommending it.

I do hope Arkane takes another crack at it with a sequel, because there are some really great ideas at the core of Prey that I'd like to see polished up a bit in another effort.

⭐⭐

Playtime: 32 hours