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This has been posted as part of Blaugust 2026 but like Corvo, nobody but the outsider even knew I had passed through.

Dishonored is a 2012 first person persective, immersive-sim stealth action game. You sneak about, working towards your objective(s), looting and stealing as you go, hoping to not be seen. You also have (the option of using) some mystical powers, paranormal gifts granted by the mysterious entity known as the Outsider, giving you the ability to teleport short distances, slow time, posses rats, and more. These can be combined or chained together, taking advantage of the environment, to create some really interesting gameplay and making you feel like a skilled supernatural assassin or a veteran sneak-thief. The game grants you agency, allowing you to approach most problems from a few angles, so replaying the game can lead to new experiences as you try out additional styles or notice an open window you didn't clock your first time through.

The world of Dishonored is one in turmoil - a deadly plague is infesting the city of Dunwall, and rats are literally eating people alive. Greed and death are intertwined, rich and poor are neighbours, and the rats are under it all, no longer content with the scraps. In this chaotic society, you must find a killer, but get swept up in the politics of the nation as you climb through windows, sewers, and mansions to fulfil your destiny.

I've just completed the final story DLC of Dishnored, The Brigmore Witches, following my completion of the 2nd DLC (and first story DLC) The Knife of Dunwall. I completed the main campaign for the first time this year, too, and I had a lot of fun with it. I am a huge fan of stealth games, and I'll try to ghost each one I play. I'll go so far as to find ways to bypass 'you are supposed to kill that guy' or 'you must get seen by that camera' via cheesing, glitching, or pure inhuman repetition. I spent dozens of hours on Splinter Cell 1 doing a no-save, ghost, no knockout and no tool use speed run. The Chinese Embassy level in particular was challenging, trying to find a way to get past the guy you have to knock out in the garage without actually knocking him out, being seen or alerting any guards (there is a method I found and it requires you to be so fast - I think I only managed to get away with it a couple times. I wonder if I still have the video of that?) that I'm pretty sure I could draw a map of the level by hand two decades later. Thankfully, Dishonored is designed in a way such that it can be ghosted, so I didn't need to go to quite the same extreme length.

I ghosted all story DLC (haven't played much of DLC1 as yet, which is just challenges for you to complete, testing your skills with the tools the game provides) and tried to collect as much of the coins as I could without guides. I didn't get it all, but I would say I got at least 95% on all but one level, and 100% on a few.

One thing that stood out to me about Dishonored was just how darn good the game looked. As I wrote about yesterday, I can't play modern games. All I can do is gawk at screenshots and videos of games released in the last 5 or so years, though I am really good at staying away from new games online as I exert a great effort in avoiding spoilers. As a consequence don't really see much in the way of video game media. As a result, I don't really have much in-person experience with what the current state of things is. The best looking game I have played is probably The Last of Us 2 on PS4 - this (great) game is the bar to which I judge graphics in games, for it has amazing graphics. The best graphical quality! But... I don't think it's the best looking game.

So much of how a game looks is based on the feel of it, the stylistic decisions, the consistent (and sometimes unique) visual approach to the world. For example, World of Warcraft has a very well defined style - colourful textures, playful shapes, overly thick objects. The quality isn't amazing (it's an MMO, and an old one to boot, what do you expect) and the game isn't going to compete with the latest and greatest, but even so there's something beautiful about it.

The same can be said for Dishonored. Relative to today - and yes this is an unfair comparison - the textures are fairly low quality, the poly count is low, the technology is of its time (obviously) BUT despite all that, I still think the game looks and feels incredible. I only thought about getting screenshots towards the end of the game, but I've added some to this post for you to check out. The screenshots on this page are scaled down, click/tap 'em to get higher res versions.

Maybe I'm ignorant of just how far things have come. Certainly, I am. But to me, this game still looks amazing. The lighting, the ambiance, the very soul of the visual design speaks to me. It elevates a good, old game all this time later. The streets feel dirty, the alleyways and dark corners could be host to any nefarious spectre, the way the bright, warm, orange sun illuminates the worn and crumbling walls coated in the smog of an ongoing industrial revolution, a stark contrast of life and warmth vs disease and death, painted at every turn. Skulking through damp dark alleyways filled with rubbish, rats and decay, pressing alongside abandoned hovels, and not-so-abandoned dens, in the orbit of a large abode, the rear of which has an open window you can slip into and be immediately thrown into a different world - a world of rich colours and warm lamps and food, extravagance and art on show upon every surface. A stark contrast from one moment to the next. You can't help but be disgusted by the greed, watching as the rich party and play and waste whilst the poor are literally at the gate, starving, waiting to die in squalor.

All conveyed through what you see.

I remember playing it at the time and thinking wow, this looks amazing and when I booted Dishonored 1 earlier this year, I again thought wow, this still looks amazing!

Nailing a particular aesthetic goes a long way to making a game age way more slowly. I hear that wine ages well. Dishonored is wine. Just look at it - better yet, play it, if you can.