T w e n t y S i d e d

The Omar! I couldn’t remember the name of the blue-suit guys from Invisible War during the show, but that’s only because their name was dumb. It’s the Omar.

I’ve apparently forgotten 99% of my Dishonored playthrough (and watching the subsequent Spoiler Warning one) but I guess I remember the prison level really well.

I hadn’t noticed the similarities, but Chris is right: The world of Dishonored maps really well to Thief in a lot of ways. Daud’s assassins are a secretive group of stealthy manipulators like the Keepers. The Overseers seem to be majoring in fanatical religious authoritarian governance and minoring in steamworks technology, just like Thief’s Hammerites. Delilah has kind of this Pagan thing going on with her nature magic. Our lead character skulks around in the shadows knocking guys out. (Or shanking them, if he’s rubbish.)

Then again, this might be a byproduct of the setting. Once you create a world that’s just entering the industrial revolution, it’s pretty hard to NOT depict a tug of war between technology and nature, religion and freedom, rich and poor. These were all hallmarks of the Victorian Era and were a natural part of a society going through rapid change due to technology. A quasi-Victorian setting without pervasive class warfare might feel kind of toothless and inauthentic.

Sure, you CAN make up a world where this isn’t the case. But you’d need to spend a little more time and exposition on worldbuilding. If you’re just using the setting for aesthetic reasons, then there’s no reason mess with expectations. Throw in a few hints of religious fanatics, poverty, and civil unrest, and the user can extrapolate the rest of the world from the standard set of tropes.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Even if you’ve been skipping this series, you might want to watch the first ten minutes or so to see the friendly fire incident. It’s one of those wonderful, idiotic moments we couldn’t possibly plan for.

I’m actually surprised at just how much of this game I’ve forgotten. I haven’t really thought about Dishonored since I played it in 2012, and apparently it didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I remember liking it at the time, but I’ve forgotten most of the characters, the missions, most of the locations, and a lot of the powers.

In any case, that was pretty fun. Next week we’ll be covering the final DLC, Brigmore Witches.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.