Tag: Death Before Dishonor Page 1 of 2

This is an epilogue to Death Before Dishonor, a series in which I attempt to play through Dishonored with a self-imposed, semi-permadeath rule designed to make me improvise my way out of trouble, rather than re-loading an earlier save. For some background, you may want to read the introduction and then the eight parts of the series proper, before continuing. Also be advised that, unlike most posts on this blog, this series will contain spoilers. For spoiler-free thoughts on Dishonored, read my original posts about the game. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

When I started Death Before Dishonor, I was convinced that I’d end up with the high chaos ending, when my character Corvo’s stealthy approach inevitably failed and he was forced to fight and kill his adversaries. I was wrong. It turns out, Corvo had several ways to incapacitate his enemies nonlethally or simply to escape and regroup, and I managed to complete his adventure with a low body count and a happy ending. And the highly improvisational approach was a ton of fun. But, I was left curious as to how the story would have ended if I had been more murderous. So I decided to play through the game again, as something of an alternate timeline. What if Corvo’s unjust imprisonment and torture at the start of the game broke something within him, and he sought bloody revenge on the entire city of Dunwall? What if he fully embraced the dark powers of the Outsider and descended into chaos and madness?

At first, I thought I’d play a stealthy assassin, killing everyone from the shadows. But then I tried that for a bit, and realized that it’s not that different from sneaking around and knocking out guards with chokeholds and sleep darts. No, I wanted to explore how different Dishonored could be, which meant I really needed to shake things up. So I decided to ignore stealth entirely. My new persona, Evil Corvo, would flamboyantly walk right into hostile territory and fight everyone in his way. If you’d like to know how that turned out, read on for massive spoilers.

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Death Before Dishonor, my diary series in which I played through Dishonored with a self-imposed rule that I would not reload a saved game when something went wrong, thus forcing me to improvise my way out of trouble, is now finished. Well, mostly. I’m planning an epilogue, but that will take some time to appear, so I decided to collect the rest of the series here for those who want to read through it. I’ll add the epilogue in here when it’s done [EDIT: the epilogue is done, and it’s been added here!]. I’m happy with how the series turned out, but be warned that, unlike most posts on this blog, these are full of massive spoilers. If you are OK with that, then read on at the links below.

Introduction
Part 1: Separation of Church and State
Part 2: Smash the Patriarchy
Part 3: Public Works
Part 4: Eat the Rich
Part 5: Thus Always To Tyrants
Part 6: After Me, the Flood
Part 7: You Can’t Go Home Again
Part 8: The Void Gazes Also Into You
Epilogue: Dishonorable Discharge

Enjoy! If you haven’t played Dishonored, it’s great, and I highly recommend picking it up. It’s now sold as a Definitive Edition including all the DLC, from a variety of digital storefronts.

This is Death Before Dishonor, a series in which I attempt to play through Dishonored with a self-imposed, semi-permadeath rule designed to make me improvise my way out of trouble, rather than re-loading an earlier save. For some background, read the introduction to the series first, and definitely read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7 so you know what’s going on. Also be advised that, unlike most posts on this blog, this series will contain spoilers. For spoiler-free thoughts on Dishonored, read my original posts about the game. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

My second adventure as Corvo Attano, protagonist of Dishonored, is coming to a close. Despite forcing myself not to reload saved games when things go wrong (most of the time, anyway), I’ve managed to get all this way while keeping my overall chaos rating low, and it looks like I’m on track for the low chaos finish. Can I pull it off? Read on for massive spoilers.

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This is Death Before Dishonor, a series in which I attempt to play through Dishonored with a self-imposed, semi-permadeath rule designed to make me improvise my way out of trouble, rather than re-loading an earlier save. For some background, read the introduction to the series first, and definitely read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6 so you know what’s going on. Also be advised that, unlike most posts on this blog, this series will contain spoilers. For spoiler-free thoughts on Dishonored, read my original posts about the game. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

My attempt to overthrow the government of Dunwall in Dishonored has suffered its first major setback, in the form of SPOILERS. Yet, despite the fact that I got a bit murderous in response — and that I’m not allowing myself to reload saved games when things go wrong — I have somehow managed to keep my overall chaos rating low. To see if I can make that last, you may read on for massive spoilers.

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This is Death Before Dishonor, a series in which I attempt to play through Dishonored with a self-imposed, semi-permadeath rule designed to make me improvise my way out of trouble, rather than re-loading an earlier save. For some background, read the introduction to the series first, and definitely read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 so you know what’s going on. Also be advised that, unlike most posts on this blog, this series will contain spoilers. For spoiler-free thoughts on Dishonored, read my original posts about the game. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

With five missions completed, my Dishonored playthrough is still going much better than I expected. Even when my stealth fails, I’ve been able to get myself out of sticky situations without wanton violence, and my overall chaos rating is still low. In fact, I’ve just struck a decisive blow, and our scrappy revolution is on the verge of success. I guess anything is possible if you believe in yourself and follow your dreams.

Er, about that. Read on for massive spoilers.

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This is Death Before Dishonor, a series in which I attempt to play through Dishonored with a self-imposed, semi-permadeath rule designed to make me improvise my way out of trouble, rather than re-loading an earlier save. For some background, read the introduction to the series first, and definitely read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 so you know what’s going on. Also be advised that, unlike most posts on this blog, this series will contain spoilers. For spoiler-free thoughts on Dishonored, read my original posts about the game. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

My attempt to play through Dishonored without reloading saved games, so I’m forced to improvise when things go wrong, has gone surprisingly well so far. I completed the last two missions without dying, and with only a few dead bodies in my wake, with my overall chaos rating still low. In fact, it’s fair to say that protagonist Corvo Attano’s entire rebellion has been astonishingly successful, destabilizing the tyrannical Lord Regent’s government in (I think?) just a few days. Well, there’s no reason to slow down now. It’s time to strike a decisive blow. Read on for massive spoilers.

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This is Death Before Dishonor, a series in which I attempt to play through Dishonored with a self-imposed, semi-permadeath rule designed to make me improvise my way out of trouble, rather than re-loading an earlier save. For some background, read the introduction to the series first, and definitely read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 so you know what’s going on. Also be advised that, unlike most posts on this blog, this series will contain spoilers. For spoiler-free thoughts on Dishonored, read my original posts about the game. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

As I continue my second playthrough of Dishonored, I remain amazed that I’ve managed to keep the body count so low. I’m not allowing myself to reload a save when I make a mistake, so I have to improvise my way out of trouble. Yet, even when botching things again and again on my last mission, I still got out of it with just a few dead bodies, and my overall chaos rating is still low. Can I keep it up? Read on to find out (along with massive spoilers).

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This is Death Before Dishonor, a series in which I attempt to play through Dishonored with a self-imposed, semi-permadeath rule designed to make me improvise my way out of trouble, rather than re-loading an earlier save. For some background, read the introduction to the series first, and definitely read Part 1 and Part 2 so you know what’s going on. Also be advised that, unlike most posts on this blog, this series will contain spoilers. For spoiler-free thoughts on Dishonored, read my original posts about the game. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

I’ve completed two missions as Corvo Attano, protagonist of Dishonored. I’m trying to avoid re-loading saved games so I’ll be forced to improvise when things go wrong, but I broke this rule twice in the first mission. The second mission I managed to complete without cheating, although I did die and restart a couple of times. My eventual success was much less stealthy than I’d intended, but I avoided killing any members of the City Watch through the liberal use of sleep darts. Embarking on my third mission, I was able to complete it without dying once! Does that mean that everything went perfectly, thanks to my flawless performance? No. No, it most certainly does not.

Read on for massive spoilers.

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This is Death Before Dishonor, a series in which I attempt to play through Dishonored with a self-imposed, semi-permadeath rule designed to make me improvise my way out of trouble, rather than re-loading an earlier save. For some background, read the introduction to the series first, and definitely read Part 1 so you know what’s going on. Also be advised that, unlike most posts on this blog, this series will contain spoilers. For spoiler-free thoughts on Dishonored, read my original posts about the game. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

My second adventure as Corvo Attano, protagonist of Dishonored, continues. Last time, things did not really go to plan. I’d expected to have to fight my way out when my sneaking failed, leading to a decidedly more violent run through the game, but in reality I either got out of trouble by firing a quick sleep dart, or I was surrounded and quickly killed. In the end, I broke my own “no save reloads” rule twice, but managed to get through the first mission having only killed a single person. We’ll see if I can keep that up.

One more warning: the rest of this post is full of spoilers, so continue reading at your own risk.

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This is Death Before Dishonor, a series in which I attempt to play through Dishonored with a self-imposed, semi-permadeath rule designed to make me improvise my way out of trouble, rather than re-loading an earlier save. For some background, read the introduction to the series first. Also be advised that, unlike most posts on this blog, this series will contain spoilers. For spoiler-free thoughts on Dishonored, read my original posts about the game. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

And so, my second adventure as Corvo Attano begins, and this time I’m forcing myself out of my old perfectionist habits by forbidding myself to re-load saved games when things go wrong. As I work to take down the corrupt government of the city of Dunwall, which has completely mishandled the deadly plague ravaging its citizens, I will try not to kill anyone unless I have to. But I suspect I will have to before long. When I’m spotted by guards I’ll need to deal with them, because if they take me down, I’ll start over all the way back at the beginning of the mission. Let’s see how this goes.

I wrote this up in the introductory text, but I’ll repeat it here just so we’re clear: this series will have spoilers, so read on at your own risk. If you are looking for spoiler-free thoughts on Dishonored, I refer you to my original posts about it, written back in 2013, about a year after its release.

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