When it comes to DLC, attaining the perfect balance between value for money, gameplay coherence and narrative consistency is an imperfect science. The additional content should feel like a genuine addition to the overall experience, rather than a missing part of an incomplete whole. It should never appear exploitative or cynical; tacked-on or throwaway.
In this respect, Arkane Studios’ first stab at Dishonored DLC with Dunwall City Trials was a mixed bag. It was Dishonored dismantled: the individual parts that make up its highly-regarded whole portioned and packaged as a series of challenges; some throwaway, others fiendishly replayable. While specific parts fell a little flat, the overall package proved itself worth the modest entry price; though in retrospect it could have made a generous unlockable addendum to the main game.
A few months later and Arkane is readying the launch of the Knife of Dunwall, the first of a two-part package of story DLC that immediately reveals itself as more in keeping with Dishonored proper. Unlike City Trials’ abstract challenge rooms, Knife of Dunwall takes the form of a narrative-driven series of canonical missions with an overarching storyline.
Sensibly, Arkane has decided against artificially elongating the tale of Corvo Attano, which would have necessitated shoe-horning extra story chapters into Dishonored’s concise campaign. Instead, Knife of Dunwall offers the chance to step into the shoes of the man that helped turn Corvo’s world upside down: Daud, the assassin who killed Empress Jessamine Kaldwin at the outset of the game.
Knife of Dunwall’s timeline runs parallel with that of the main game and starts by returning you to that fateful day when Corvo arrived back in Dunwall. As before, you serve as a passive spectator as Daud kills the Empress, albeit from a first-person perspective this time around. As Daud (voiced again by Michael Madsen) goes on to speak of his growing unease at what he has done and comes to hunger for redemption, it’s hard not to feel that Arkane has missed a trick.
It would have been so much more affecting to thrust control into the hands of the player right from the off. To have you complete Jessamine’s assassination and so quickly become the antithesis of everything you were as Corvo; it would have plunged you decisively into the role of Daud and immediately established a different narrative tone. Daud’s distaste for his act of regicide would have manifested itself in your own discomfort, just as you would take ownership of his quest for redemption. Instead, you watch passively as Jessamine’s death is once again trivialised in a cut-scene.
When you do eventually take control of Daud, it’s to meet with the familiar figure of The Outsider. The mysterious being seemingly lends Daud a sympathetic ear before providing him with the first clue to set him on his road to redemption. Despite being presented as a noble quest, The Outsider hints that your actions will dictate your end, and so it does seem possible to turn yet further toward the dark-side.
Knife of Dunwall’s first of three missions takes place at the dockside slaughterhouse, where it’s immediately apparent that playing as Daud offers an experience that is at once familiar and yet subtly different to that of Corvo. So, while Daud does not possess Corvo’s stealth-orientated Dark Vision to allow him to see enemies through walls, he has both Chokedust grenades and sleep darts to incapacitate them from a distance. A new type of mine allows for the lethal disposal and instant vaporisation of enemy remains, while the ability to sense runes and bone charms replaces Corvo’s mechanically-enhanced Heart.
Based on a playthrough of the opening hour of Knife of Dunwall, the most fundamental difference between Daud and Corvo’s powers reveals itself during combat. Daud is capable of summoning one of his assassin brethren to help out during a scrap, which is useful for quickly suppressing resistance before the alarm is raised or for evening the odds if things start to get out of hand. Certainly, Daud appears to have the tools to support subterfuge or all-out carnage, and it’s encouraging that Arkane has invested the time and effort to facilitate the main game’s freedom of approach here.
At $9.99/£7.99/€9.99/AU$14.45 (800 Microsoft Points), Knife of Dunwall represents a significant investment, especially as it is the first half of a two-part whole. However, Arkane is giving Daud his due attention, and Knife of Dunwall’s three full-length missions could offer several hours of gameplay depending on your personal approach.
Arkane is on track to deliver a significant wedge of DLC that could meaningfully enhance the Dishonored experience by offering a pleasing amount of narrative content. The concluding part of Daud’s story, The Brigmore Witches, will arrive in the coming months, at which point will we be able to accurately assess how rich a story has been woven by this two-part DLC, but the signs are encouraging.
That said, it’s hard not to want more from Arkane: to be made to feel responsible for Daud’s actions or have incidental narrative details affected by an existing Dishonored save-game file. Were it another developer, it could be considered churlish to burden them with such high expectations for DLC. However, in creating Dishonored, the weight of expectation is a cross that Arkane Studios must now bear; we’ll find out next month if they’re up to it.
Stace Harman is a freelance contributor to IGN and is convinced that zombies will one day inherent the Earth. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.
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