Photo courtesy of Bethesda Softworks
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is developer Arkane Studios’ not-quite-DLC follow-up to
Dishonored 2, and in many ways, a sequel to
Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall DLC. While not a full-length entry in the
Dishonored series,
Death of the Outsider continues the acclaimed
Dishonored series’ story and stealth-based gameplay. Play as Billie Lurk, former assassin, as she fulfills her former boss’s final assignment: to kill the god-like Outsider.
Photo courtesy of Bethesda Softworks
The
Dishonored series has always had unique and rich lore in an alternate reality that's something like steampunk powered by whale oil.
Death of the Outsider adds to this rich lore, while dramatically tying up some loose storylines.
Billie Lurk’s former boss and assassin, who set into motion the events of the first
Dishonored, wants to kill the black-eyed god who imbued him and his assassins with supernatural abilities. Unlike the two main series titles,
Death of the Outsider follows Billie Lurk as she gathers the tools, information and abilities required to kill the Outsider, a mysterious immortal being that likes to grant supernatural powers, seemingly for his own amusement. Despite knowing her intentions, the Outsider gives Billie fun new supernatural abilities to use against her enemies.
Photo courtesy of Bethesda Softworks
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider still allows players to choose multiple ways to accomplish a goal. Listen to conversations to get secrets, find hidden entrances to bypass heavily guarded areas, etc. Despite being a nuisance and a foe in previous games, Billie has a trinket that allows her to listen to the thoughts of rats, giving her a new source of information and insight to the happenings of the world around her.
In addition to main story objectives to complete, there are also contracts that can be found at black markets in most levels. These are extra side objectives that reward money or items for successful completion, sometimes adding an extra layer of difficulty or other challenge in the process.
Photo courtesy of Bethesda Softworks
Death of the Outsider is meant to be played with stealth in mind. Billie Lurk is a badass assassin, but like Corvo and Emily Kaldwin before her, she can easily be overwhelmed and killed in a frontal assault. There are the normal loud and silent ways to dispatch foes, as well as an array of lethal and non-lethal ways of completing objectives and eliminating foes.
Instead of a crossbow, Billie has an arm-mounted bolt shooter that serves the same purpose.
Death of the Outsider introduces a new trap device called a hook mine that can string your foes up and incapacitate them or kill them, gamer's choice. Unfortunately, there aren’t many new toys to play with, and even the supernatural abilities are limited.
Photo courtesy of Bethesda Softworks
Dishonored has historically given players a choice regarding which supernatural abilities to use and strengthen, but
Death of the Outsider does away with that, instead giving Billie only three abilities. “Displace” allows Billie to conjure a doppelganger and switch places with it and “foresight” stops time and allows Billie to remotely reconnoiter an area. My personal favorite of the three abilities is "semblance," the ability to steal the faces of others and take their identities. There's a lot of fun in stealing a guard’s face and strolling right past security.
Mana potions are also no longer a consideration, as Billie’s mana refills automatically. This gave me freedom to use my abilities with abandon while in other
Dishonored titles I found myself saving mana for crucial moments.
Photo courtesy of Bethesda Softworks
I enjoyed my time with Billie Lurk, and I think that
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is a worthy addition to the series. While there is little new to be found in the gameplay, if you liked
Dishonored 2, this is more of the same.
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is out now on Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
