4.5/5 ★ – eatpotatochip's review of Dishonored 2.

The sequel is more of a refinement and expansion than a reinvention, and that’s perfectly fine - the level design is massively improved, the difficulty is tuned well enough that I found Hard difficulty to be challenging but fair, and there are many additional options to nonlethally subdue guards in combat, which is a huge help. Something new here is that while the earlier game gave you a fixed protagonist, the royal bodyguard Corvo Attano (who’s kind of a stereotypical silent fair-skinned dude protagonist), you have the option of choosing between him and his daughter, the empress Emily Kaldwin. I had some criticisms of the first game and how it framed the conflict, which took place in a city devastated by the plague. It showed the commonfolk suffering from poverty and being especially vulnerable to the plague, and the rich decadent nobles taking advantage of the situation and siphoning up even more money for their parties and brothels - but the game’s provided solution to the situation was to restore the rightful heir to the throne and continue the autocratic system that lead to the class divide in the first place. With all that in mind, I wanted to see how it would handle having the new empress herself as a protagonist, especially a voiced one, so I chose her. I figured that having her see and grapple with the inequality between the ruling class and the common folk would be interesting. And… it was there, but also kind of basically not? The Dishonored series still thinks that the “right” kind of political system is an autocracy, except that the ruler should mingle with the commonfolk and spend time on the streets to see where they’re coming from, which is extremely idealistic and incredibly naive, as all the depictions of the lower classes in this game series can confirm - they’re always poor and downtrodden, their homes are always in a state of near-destruction, and they’re always suffering from some sort of deadly plague or infestation, and they lament on the streets about their misfortune while the ruling classes drink themselves into a frenzy in their cushy mansions, and the “good” ruling class members either don’t know or turn a blind eye to all this inequality. This sort of half-hearted social commentary also extends to the antagonist of the story, who is framed as having a valid hatred of the royal family based on their treatment of her and the trauma she inherited in her own deeply tragic life - but because that would be too relatable, she also ends up being a bloodthirsty psychopathic witch who wants to use her powers to reshape reality. So in the “good” ending, where Emily asserts that the “right” kind of ruler shouldn’t be chosen by blood, but be chosen by their ability to rule the disenfranchised, her words end up feeling even more hollow - she’s still fighting to reclaim her inheritance over her kingdom. Ah well. Still, it’s a fantastic game that feels great to play, and I’d still recommend it.