Art or Something

I beat Death of the Outsider.

The game was alright. Telefragging alone makes Displace better than Blink, but it also has greater utility letting you move through bars and around objects. The Semblance power could have been pushed further, but it was a standalone DLC situation, so I can live with it. It's a nice bite-sized Dishonored.

Giving Billie powers does feel like an obvious miss. The story is the perfect setup to have a powerless Billie dealing with the black market, completing bounties, and navigating the occult all the way up to the Outsider himself. But I get it, this is Dishonored. You have to have magic powers, it's the series selling point.

Then there's the bizarre premise. The stories in these games have always sucked, but this one is extra dumb. Killing god is such a leap from stabbing politicians, and the story has to contrive a way to make it even possible. And the Outsider seems to be pretty alright with the idea, adding an extra layer that could be interesting. But this is Dishonored, so there's nothing compelling to any of this. The story is a collection of interesting ideas done in the lamest most unsatisfying way, which is what makes it stick out for me. Unlike the other games, there was some real wasted potential here.

The story doesn't really matter and I was rarely thinking about it during gameplay, but it's just so damn weird. It's weird to have the player kill the source of all the cool things in Dishonored, and the only reason the games even happen. If this is their way of ending the series, then fine. I'm all for things ending, I'd just like it to be done better.

But you do stab the funny NPCs with your sword and chuck bottles at their heads, and that's all Dishonored needs to be. It's got cool levels and cool powers. Good game.

Star Mom Jam

Inspired by this scrapped Mario Odyssey concept.