Dishonored's Balance Between Magic and Politics
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Photo Credits: https://glitchwave.com
Dishonored is a first-person stealth game created by Arkane studios that combines sneaking, gadgets, a little bit of magic, and a ton of politics.
In 2012, Dishonored shook the gaming world to its core by presenting gameplay with intricate level design and unique stealth/combat mechanics.
However, Dishonored’s gameplay isn’t its only aspect that’s worth talking about. The plot and the world-building are so artfully done that I can’t praise it enough.
I will be talking about a few events that take place at the very beginning of the game. If you want a completely fresh experience of the game, you can buy and play it Here.
The player travels across the city of Dunwall through the eyes of Corvo Attono, the head bodyguard for Dunwall’s empress, who is framed for the assassination of the empress. The true assassins who were responsible possess strange supernatural abilities that overwhelmed Corvo.
Dunwall
The main location of the game. It’s a Victorian style city littered with harbors, slums, rats, and criminals.
Photo Credits: https://dishonored.fandom.com
The people who hired the assassins have a vast amount of political power which they used to both place the hit on the empress and also keep their involvement hidden.
Corvo is thrown in jail, but as his execution day grows near, he is freed from prison by unknown allies. These allies know the truth about the assassination and wish to use Corvo to help them punish those who were responsible.
Photo Credits: https://dishonored.fandom.com
As you can see, the main storyline has very little to do with any form of magic (aside from the assassins.) Personally, I think this was a really good direction to take the game’s story in.
Almost every story that has magic in it makes it crucial to the plot, and honestly, I have no problem with that. Many of my favourite video games, movies, and anime do this very well.
Despite this, I find that Dishonored’s approach is not only unique, but utterly outstanding. Magic exists in this world, but it is a mysterious force that is underappreciated by most of the people of Dunwall.
There is so little information on the subject that many people either ignore it and focus on the problems at hand, or, in some cases, simply deny its existence altogether.
The way magic is presented in the story is through a character known as the Outsider. The Outsider exists in a place called “the Void,” an area outside of time and space. He can pull people into the void and bestow his mark onto them, granting them many bizarre abilities like teleportation and possession.
The Outsider pulls Corvo into the void near the start of the game and gives him his mark. Throughout the rest of the game, the Outsider occasionally pops in here and there and gives the player information about Dunwall and its people, as well as explains more about his mark.
The Outsider
He is neither friend or foe to Corvo. He simply wants to see something interesting happen.
Photo Credits: http://www.game-art-hq.com
To sum it all up, the Outsider and his goals are completely separate from Corvo and his ally’s goals. Magic and the Void come into play occasionally in the main story, but never to the point where it takes the spotlight. From a world building standpoint, this is excellent because it creates a layer of mystery for the player similar to the layer of mystery present for the characters.
Most of the people in Dunwall have little knowledge about the void, and neither do you! This layer of immersion couldn’t be achieved if the game developers took a different approach.
Even though later installments of Dishonored moved away from the politics and leaned more towards the magical aspects of the world, I still cling to the belief that the first game had the best story, and I wish more video games attempted mixing politics and magic.
Hunter Rogers-Millson
My name is Hunter Rogers-Millson. I am a Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. My interests include video games, anime, and classic rock and roll. I aim to one day write and publish my own comic book.
