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Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials Review for PC

Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials Review for PC

Dunwall, Bite-Sized

Arkane Studios’ epic, atmospheric stealther Dishonored was one of my games of the year, so naturally I was curious about the game’s first piece of DLC, Dunwall City Trials. Priced at only five dollars, the Trials practically invite Dishonored fans to give them a go. Very different from the main game, the DLC presents ten miniature challenges based around various aspects of the supernatural assassin Corvo Attano’s diverse bag of tricks.

Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials Screenshot

There’s a little something for every kind of player in Dunwall City Trials. The stealth challenges include Mystery Foe, in which you must collect clues to find and assassinate a target; and Burglar, in which you must infiltrate a mansion to steal six treasures and as much miscellaneous loot as you can without being seen more than twice. Though the level layouts of these trials are always the same, clue and treasure locations are randomized for every playthrough, as is the identity of your Mystery Foe. Both these Trials are challenging and fun.

Combat challenges include Back Alley Brawl, a series of increasingly difficult enemy waves; Assassin’s Run, a series of rooms in which the player must shoot all hostiles while avoiding all innocents; and Oil Drop, which is basically a pistol shooting gallery game with potentially lethal explosions added to the mix. Back Alley Brawl is the best of the three, allowing for the most freeform and interesting gameplay.

Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials Screenshot

Two puzzle challenges introduce interesting twists to the gameplay. Bend Time puts assassination targets in buildings behind glass windows. The player must watch their configuration, then break the glass in order to start a frozen time period during which a given number of targets must be killed before time flows again. This mode is quite fun, but would work better if time stopped while choosing offhand powers and weapons. Kill Chain tasks the player with killing all the enemies on a level with only four seconds between each kill. There is time to plan out the kills before the chain begins, and oddly enough, in Kill Chain time does stop when choosing offhand powers. Both of these modes are interesting and successful deviations from the way the main Dishonored game works.

Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials Screenshot

The three speed challenges feel antithetical to the deliberate way Dishonored is played and were the weakest part of this set of challenges. Bonfire presents a series of speed blinking and jumping challenges, in which the player must rush from one randomly-placed red fire to another before time runs out. Train Runner is a simple timed footrace across broken terrain made frustrating by the game’s imperfect mobility system, which was not built for speed. Kill Cascade challenges the player with a series of drop assassinations and is probably the most fun of the speed challenges, but it has limited replayability.

Dunwall City Trials will particularly appeal to players who felt the main Dishonored campaign was too easy. There’s no way to save progress in the Trials, so save skimming is right out. There’s also no way to scavenge and stockpile potions, and you’ll be working with a limited skillset in each challenge, so there are fewer opportunities to game the system and become an unstoppable god of death. There are even unlockable expert modes for many of the Trials. High scores for each trial are recorded in online leaderboards, for players who enjoy competing against the rest of the world.

Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials Screenshot

For such bite-sized pieces of gameplay, some of the Dunwall City Trials do a good job preserving the game’s freedom of choice element. Mystery Foe, Burglar, Back Alley Brawl, Bend Time, and Kill Chain in particular encourage the use of many different strategies in order to successfully complete them. The more arcadey parts of the Trials, like Oil Drop and the speed challenges, are less appealing in their rigid structure, as there are far better arcade challenges out there. Dishonored’s developers should definitely stick with the game’s strengths instead of attempting to wrap the game’s systems around challenges to which they aren’t suited.

The Dunwall City Trials are a bit like the Disneyland version of Dishonored. They’ve cut out some of the most compelling parts of the game, such as exploring the expansive levels and learning the secrets of Dunwall’s citizens. There are no interesting moral choices to make and no lore-filled books to read, but there are some fun challenges that remain true to the spirit of the game. While not all the Dunwall Trials are of equal quality, at the price at which they’re offered the better Trials provide an entertaining afternoon or two of guilt-free assassination fun.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.3 Graphics
The same gorgeous graphics from the original, but without the same impressively-designed open world levels. 3.4 Control
Several of the Trials rely on speed elements that simply don’t mesh well with the game’s movement and skill selection systems. 3.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The sound effects are fine, but there’s less personality in the things the player can overhear. 3.3 Play Value
Some Trials have good replay value, but others have very little. The bargain price helps make up for that. 3.4 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Experience Dishonored’s flexible combat system, stealth gameplay, and distinct settings in a whole new way as you make your way through timed and scored challenges in Dunwall City Trials. Put your assassination skills to the test as you combine your supernatural powers and gadgets to eliminate your enemies and collect clues to identify and dispatch your target. Try your hand in non-lethal challenges as you shoot down whale oil tanks raining from the sky or infiltrate a mansion to collect the loot unseen by your foes.
  • Your high scores and rank for each trial will be recorded and displayed in a global online leaderboard. Every point and every second counts when going up against the best of the best.
  • In addition to a brand new set of achievements and trophies, an image gallery filled with original concept art and other surprises can be unlocked as you complete each trial and meet each of its various objectives.

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