Review: Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall DLC review: Mostly brilliant

By Andy Kelly for CVG UK

The whales are the stars of The Knife of Dunwall, Dishonored's first story-led DLC. As Corvo we'd catch glimpses of them in the distance, strung up on huge ships; here, playing as master assassin Daud, we finally see the great beasts up close - and it's not a pretty sight.

The first mission sees Daud infiltrating the cavernous Rothwild Slaughterhouse. A live whale is hoisted from the ceiling of a vast chamber, guts spilling from its belly into a drain below - the same drain we used to sneak into the grim abattoir undetected.

As we slip through the shadows past blood-spattered butchers clutching menacing electric saws, the whale groans in agony. Daud is there to find and interrogate the owner, Bundry Rothwild, and as you might expect from Dishonored, how you do it is up to you.

Daud, played by gravel-voiced Hollywood veteran Michael Madsen, isn't that different from Corvo. Any play style that suited you in the main game will work here, although he does have a few new tricks, as well as enhanced versions of old powers.

The new Blink turns you briefly invisible, meaning you can phase past guards in their line of sight without them seeing you. Void Gaze is the same as Dark Vision, only now it highlights the locations of runes and bone charms, replacing the heart.

New to this DLC is the ability to summon assassins. They'll engage guards in combat, allowing you to slink past unnoticed while they're distracted. It's a useful power, but you won't be able to use it if you want to get through a mission without killing anyone.

Chokedust, a grenade that stuns enemies, is the best new gadget. A mission sees you rescuing assassins who are tied up and surrounded by guards. Rather than kill/sedate them, you can toss in some chokedust, free your buddy, then blink away before they recover.

Arc Mines vapourise enemies when they trigger them, like portable Walls of Light, and instead of a crossbow, Daud fires bolts from a device hidden away in his sleeve. There are a lot of new toys to play with in the sandbox, but nothing radically game-changing.

Experimentation is what defines Dishonored, and the DLC is no different. Figuring out interesting ways to combine these new powers and gadgets is where much of the fun lies, like sticking an Arc Mine to a rat's back and watching it zap an oblivious guard.

There are three missions here. The first two are great - as good as anything in the main game, in fact - but the last one is disappointing. They took us roughly two hours each, so there's a decent amount of game here for your £8, even if the quality isn't totally consistent.

Comments

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tanukilou on 19 Apr '13 said:

Think i'll give this a stab. Ho ho.
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gmcb007 on 19 Apr '13 said:

I've bought the DLC and if you really enjoyed Dishonored then this is a worthy purchase. Most importantly though is that this is proper DLC. I agree with the reviewer though when he says the last mission is a shamelessly reused map, it sorta dampens the fun.
The only other problem I have is with the second mission set in the legal district.It simply doesnt look any different than the areas present in the original game mostly due to the fact that Bethesda reused the same furniture, buildings and enviroments.
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IbanezLewis on 19 Apr '13 said:

It simply doesnt look any different than the areas present in the original game mostly due to the fact that Bethesda reused the same furniture, buildings and enviroments.
Hate to be that guy, but it's Arkane who made the game, Bethesda published it. But yeah, they did use the same furniture and stuff, but I don't think that detracted from the experience for me, apart from the dreary Flooded District.
Also CVG, in the first part of the review when you talk about the updated powers, the new Blink doesn't make you invisible, it freezes time if you're standing still.
I really enjoyed the first two levels, but I do agree that the third was recycled and made to seem very hard just by the sheer amount of enemies that are walking around. It makes it more of a chore than a challenge, but I'm glad to have managed both achievements for completing it without killing or alerting. That last level was literally save every 2 minutes.
Overall I think it was a good bit of DLC. I got a good 8 hours out of it, playing through it twice in low and high chaos. Worth a buy, definitely if you enjoyed the game originally and want to explore more of Dunwall and its culture.
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AndyCVG on 19 Apr '13 said:

Also CVG, in the first part of the review when you talk about the updated powers, the new Blink doesn't make you invisible, it freezes time if you're standing still.
Yeah, what I mean is, it makes you appear invisible to the guards.
The reused assets in the legal district didn't bother me too much, but you can tell most of the work went into the slaughterhouse. I wonder if it was originally intended for the main game, but wasn't finished in time and was held back for DLC?
I'm impressed you made it through the final mission without killing/alerting anyone. Even with constant saving/reloading, I really struggled.
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gmcb007 on 19 Apr '13 said:

.Hate to be that guy, but it's Arkane who made the game, Bethesda published it. But yeah, they did use the same furniture and stuff, but I don't think that detracted from the experience for me, apart from the dreary Flooded District.
Oh yes, I don't know why I keep thinking they are the developers as well as the publishers.
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Mini-Nev on 20 Apr '13 said:

I couldn't stand the flooded district in Dishonored, shame you return. Really puts me off!