Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Dishonored Starts Adding Bits On In December

By John Walker on October 25th, 2012 at 4:00 pm.

Click upon me.

Remember Dishonored? No, you’re thinking of BioShock. Dishonored was the one with the Blinking. Yes! Gosh, those were the days. But soon we can relive them again, as Bethesda have announced a series of add-ons (not expansions, and not DLC – “add-ons”) that will be coming out in coming months. First up in December (December?! That’s hundreds of years away!) is Dunwall City Trials, and it’ll cost you €5, or £4, or whatever it is Americans use for bartering these days.

Dunwall City Trials, they say, will feature ten “challenge maps”, which will “test and track your combat, stealth and mobility skills.” I have none of those skills! Oh wait, they probably mean Corvo’s.

So these will apparently be… oh, to hell with it, I’ll quote the sodding press release rather than try to interpret this half-explained stuff. It’s what we journalists do anyway, I’m often told:

“Ten distinct trials await challengers – including an arena battle against waves of enemy AI, a gravity-defying run of drop assassinations, and a race against the clock. Dunwall City Trials also features a whole new set of achievements and trophies as well as a global online leaderboard that will establish the greatest assassins for each challenge.”

So, it sounds like a very silly take on the game’s skills, of which I heartily approve. Dishonored obstacle courses.

The next two add-ons aren’t due until the Space Year 2013, and these will actually be campaigns proper. The first will be about a chap called Daud, the leader of a group of those spectral assassins known as The Whalers. That’ll be in all new locations, with new weapons, powers and gadgets. There’s no price yet, but that sounds like it might be dearer. The third pack remains a mystery. OooooOOOOoooooo.

Oh, and you can see that new pic at the top full size if you click on it. (Not actually full size – it was 8000 pixels wide when it arrived, and we’ve bandwidth costs like you wouldn’t believe.)

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87 Comments »

  1. 25/10/2012 at 16:07 Pryde says:

    And here goes most unimaginative milking as always…

    • 25/10/2012 at 16:12 sharks.don't.sleep says:

      Dishonored is one of the few games where I eagerly await DLC.

      And then this.
      Hopefully the real DLC will be good..

    • 25/10/2012 at 16:25 Christian says:

      I’ll agree with what sharks said above..I very rarely hope for DLC. This game is one of those cases (well, I’m lokking forward to the missions..the obstacle-stuff sounds nice but rather tiring and boring. But after all, if it’s only 5€..).

      If you want truly boring Just-For-Cash-DLC, go take a look at Sleeping Dogs. Now that’s what I call unimaginative, boring DownloadableCashcow.

    • 25/10/2012 at 23:16 QualityJeverage says:

      Sounds like pretty tasty milk, really.

      Can we move past the idea that DLC is never worthwhile? Just because it’s woefully overdone doesn’t mean it’s never of any value at all.

  2. 25/10/2012 at 16:10 Simon Hawthorne says:

    Dishonored? Never heard of it.

  3. 25/10/2012 at 16:14 Lokik says:

    Not so excited about the obstacle course, but playing as Daud could be interesting. Hopefully you actually have to kill your targets, letting the targets live (no matter what happens to them) is so unprofessional for a real assassin! And the mysterious third pack? We get to play as Granny Rags? :o

  4. 25/10/2012 at 16:19 brulleks says:

    “…including an arena battle against waves of enemy AI…”

    No.

    “…a gravity-defying run of drop assassinations…”

    No. No. No.

    “…and a race against the clock…”

    Aargh. Get back to the drawing board and put some damn potential for stealth play into it. While it’s fair to gripe about the moral choice forcing people to play stealthily, as Yahtzee did, removing this element but then forcing people to play as quickly as possible is not an acceptable alternative.

    • 25/10/2012 at 16:21 superemmjay says:

      Could be fun though. In a totally non-moral-choicy, but satisfyingly bonkers power fantasy-y kind of way.

      • 25/10/2012 at 16:23 brulleks says:

        I don’t think I’ll enjoy it in the least. I hate being forced to speed-run games, and I hate having to take on ‘waves of AI’. This doesn’t sound like the game of Dishonored that I played at all.

        The other two sound more promising though.

        • 25/10/2012 at 16:39 pupsikaso says:

          If you’d just TRY the combat out you’d see that it can actually be pretty fun using all the powers given to you. Besides, as a “stealth” game Dishonored was terrible anyway.

          • 25/10/2012 at 16:59 Phantoon says:

            I found it played the same way, stealth wise, as Deus Ex.

          • 25/10/2012 at 19:35 tetracycloide says:

            Terrible compared to what I wonder.

            Deus Ex had a very very different AI in it and didn’t include fundamental mechanics like choking taking time or making some amount of noise.

        • 25/10/2012 at 17:41 Inarborat says:

          I’m not seeing a gun pointed at your head that is forcing you to purchase and play this DLC. Simple solution, don’t buy it and move on.

          • 25/10/2012 at 17:47 brulleks says:

            Did I say there was? I’m just expressing an opinion. Notice I wrote ‘I don’t like’ not ‘this will be shit.’

    • 25/10/2012 at 19:30 tetracycloide says:

      There’s stealth potential in all of those I just don’t expect it to be realized in the slightest.

  5. 25/10/2012 at 16:21 frymaster says:

    Clearly Walker is hinting that the 3rd pack will feature the Quaggans from Guild Wars 2.

  6. 25/10/2012 at 16:22 Cam says:

    I’ve figured out DLC. Seeing as most of it takes less then 2% of the developmental effort of the base game(with some exceptions), their purpose must be to raise funds for the developer’s next title. Either that, or the developers spend it all on booze and strippers; who wouldn’t?

    • 25/10/2012 at 16:36 MrLebanon says:

      in some rare cases (Paradox’s Grand Strategy Games for example), DLC funds the endless free updates and game improvements

  7. 25/10/2012 at 16:28 phelix says:

    I can’t help hating the bent logic involved in price creation. I understand that a larger profit margin is always welcome, but still, €5 = $5, just how.

    • 25/10/2012 at 17:34 DyingTickles says:

      Economics is a lot more complicated than that. It isn’t just a straight conversion from one silly symbol to another and making a requisite number change to match the symbol.

  8. 25/10/2012 at 16:28 frightlever says:

    I bet Alec is going to have a blast spending hours carefully stalking the hordes of angry foes in the arena battles. Doing anything else would be playing it wrong.

  9. 25/10/2012 at 16:35 pupsikaso says:

    Here in America we use dead men’s hair for bartering these days, apparently. A clump of hair is equivalent to about £6000.

  10. 25/10/2012 at 16:37 Shooop says:

    Oh for…

    NO Bethesda. No.

    This is not how you do DLC. See Borderlands 1 and 2 by Gearbox for the proper example if you need one.

    • 25/10/2012 at 17:44 Inarborat says:

      Because a loot game with multiple different playable characters and a stealth/action game with one player character means you should do DLC the same. SMFH.

      Also, Gearbox’s Season Pass can fuck right off.

    • 26/10/2012 at 01:32 eclipse mattaru says:

      Funnily enough, Bethesda themselves did Point Lookout and Broken Steel for Fallout 3, two of the best examples of how DLC should be done.

  11. 25/10/2012 at 16:54 Bobtree says:

    This isn’t quite it, but Dishonored left me wanting more.

  12. 25/10/2012 at 16:54 Phinor says:

    One of the few games where I might actually be interested in DLC, I mean, add-ons. Usually I’d point and mock content like the first one is described but because the core gameplay is so much above your typical game, something like challenge modes might actually be fun. Definitely want to see how this one turns out.

  13. 25/10/2012 at 16:59 SkittleDiddler says:

    So we get to look forward to even more Dishonored coverage here at RPS? Joy. Let’s see if we can beat the average of four spots a week this time around.

    $8 for a chance to get on some leaderboard. Enjoy, suckers.

  14. 25/10/2012 at 17:01 Trithne says:

    Obstacle courses, meeeeeeh.

    But a DLC about Daud I can get behind.

  15. 25/10/2012 at 17:02 GallonOfAlan says:

    Why all the hate? It’s not DLC proper, it’s very cheap, it’s not mandatory to buy it, dry your eyes.

    • 25/10/2012 at 17:07 Sheng-ji says:

      Apart from the “It’s very cheap” I agree completely! And even then, It’s not cheap, but it’s not extortionate if you think you’ll enjoy it!

    • 25/10/2012 at 17:08 Shooop says:

      EDIT: I need an editor. Sorry for the confusion guys, let’s try this again.

      I think Dishonored is brilliant exactly as it is in the core game. The only thing I’d want out of DLC for it would be more of it – and challenge rooms/horde modes are the opposite of what really makes this game.

      Could we just have Bethesda forget about this pack and stay focused entirely on expanding the core game? I’d really prefer that.

      • 25/10/2012 at 17:22 Unaco says:

        So, if people claim they’re looking forward to this, and that they enjoyed Dishonored… they’re liars? Like, Mr Walker here? Or did they not really enjoy Dishonored? They were just fooled, or something?

        I’m having trouble seeing how you can talk for everyone who enjoyed Dishonored.

        • 25/10/2012 at 17:26 Shooop says:

          Take a deep breath, a short walk, and calm down first. Then we’ll talk OK?

          • 25/10/2012 at 17:39 Unaco says:

            Why? Do you need time to make up some bullshit explanation? How do you justify talking for the true fans of Dishonored? What constitutes ‘really’ enjoying the game? Can you answer this, or will you just try and deflect again?

            I’m calm btw… I don’t really have any stake in this. Haven’t played Dishonored yet (Payday tomorrow! Or Monday! Soon, anyway), haven’t read much about it, trying to keep away from spoilers etc. Nothing in my comment was angry, or flustered, was it?

          • 25/10/2012 at 17:45 Shooop says:

            You appear extremely irritated and confrontational. Even more so now. I have no idea what I’ve even said that’s set you off.

            The bit about liking the game? I say that because there are some people who didn’t like the game because it didn’t feature relentless action. Did I offend you somewhere in that comment? Why the sudden hostility?

          • 25/10/2012 at 17:56 Unaco says:

            I’m going to try one more time… but you seem incapable of justifying your statements, or answering my questions. Please, prove me wrong…

            “Those of us who really enjoyed Dishonored would prefer Bethesda spent their time on something actually worthwhile.”

            You said this. You claim to be speaking for everyone who ‘really’ enjoyed Dishonored as not wanting this DLC. How do you know? The people who claim to want this DLC, and who claim they ‘really’ liked Dishonored, are they lying on one or both counts?

            For an example, John says he ‘heartily approves’ of this idea. He also said he really liked the game in the RPS verdict. Is he lying? Did he not ‘really’ like the game, if he likes the idea of this DLC? You’ve made a sweeping statement about the ‘true fans’ of Dishonored and these DLC ideas (that the ‘true fans’ don’t want this)… I’m calling you on that statement. It’s bullshit. I am confrontational, yes… because I think you’re making a bullshit statement, and I don’t think such statements should be allowed to go unchallenged.

            Again, I’m not offended or irritated (apart from by your evasion, and your inability to answer the questions I’ve asked), and I’m quite calm. I’m just trying to figure out why ‘really’ liking Dishonored, and approving of either of these DLC ideas are mutually exclusive. Can you help me understand that?

          • 25/10/2012 at 17:59 Shooop says:

            That would be my poor choice of words then.

            I mean to say I loved the game because of its open design and only want more of it just like it. A “challenge mode” to me is the anti-thesis of this game and I don’t understand why the idea even got out of a board room.

            I’ll edit my OP. Sorry about the confusion.

          • 25/10/2012 at 18:00 thebigJ_A says:

            You can’t use the No True Scotsman fallacy and not expect people to jump all over you, shoooooop.

            Don’t do it in future. On top of being a logical fallacy (and therefore false) it’s presumptuous and makes you come across as a dick.

          • 25/10/2012 at 18:04 Tyrone Slothrop. says:

            @ Shooop.

            I back up Unatco on this one, you just thoughtlessly spoke for everyone and clearly implied that no one who ‘really’ enjoyed Dishonored would be excited or interested in this DLC. Please search for the ‘no true Scotsman’ fallacy as you’ve just employed it and then rudely accused another person of being disproportionately furious for simply questioning your fallacious comment.

            PS: I know you’re name isn’t really Unatco, Unatco but I just prefer saying Unatco, in a way I hope is broadly affectionate.

          • 25/10/2012 at 18:09 Shooop says:

            This was indeed completely my failing guys, very poor choice of words. Edited and hopefully fixed.

        • 25/10/2012 at 17:29 Trithne says:

          I just figure it’s there because liking Dishonoured is apparently an Internet faux pas, because it’s not XCOM.

          None of this DLC is bad, but some of it is aimed a different audience. Also challenge maps are hardly unusual, and considering the mobility you -can- achieve in Dishonoured, not entirely unexpected.

        • 25/10/2012 at 17:31 darkChozo says:

          It’s a known fact that only true Scotsmen could possibly enjoy a game like Dishonored.

          • 25/10/2012 at 19:42 SkittleDiddler says:

            What about those of Scottish descent? I only partially enjoyed Dishonored, but that might be explained by the fact that I’m 1/4 Scottish.

          • 25/10/2012 at 21:47 darkChozo says:

            It depends, if you’re a quarter true Scottish, you’ll enjoy a quarter of the game. If you are merely a quarter Scottish, or god forbid, a true quarter-Scotsman, then there’s no hope for you.

        • 25/10/2012 at 17:37 Brun says:

          No, this is Shooop. If people are claiming they enjoyed Dishonored, they aren’t liars, they’re just inferior.

          • 25/10/2012 at 17:47 Shooop says:

            What the hell are you even talking about here?

            I love Dishonored. I’m saying the only thing it needs is more of the same thing the core game offers because it works so well.

            And where did XCom come into any of this? Is there some kind of secret code you people came up with?

        • 25/10/2012 at 17:50 Sheng-ji says:

          Unaco – I’m rather jealous you get to experience Dishonored from fresh. I played through once so far, really took my time and made it last for 51 hours or pure unadulterated fun! I wish you the same amazing experience!

          Apologies I can’t reply in the correct bit of the thread, I’ve blocked Shooop!

          • 25/10/2012 at 19:29 SkittleDiddler says:

            51 hours? Holy crap! Did you crouch-walk through the game?

          • 25/10/2012 at 21:07 Sheng-ji says:

            I really didn’t!!

            I know I am slower at games than most people, hour by hour of actual game time, I won’t get as far;
            I know I am worse at games than most people – level by level, I will die more often;
            I know I play stealth games more carefully than most people – it’s rare for me to knock out a guard until every angle has been scouted and I am as sure as I can be at that point that it will be safe to swoop

            I think the gameworld just caught my imagination! I loved watching for example the whaling ship sail past when you meet the boatman for the first time – If I read a book which mentions something in the level, I’d try to check out the corresponding bit etc etc! It really is a world you can lose yourself in!

          • 26/10/2012 at 01:42 1Life0Continues says:

            I’m pretty much the same Sheng-Ji. I like to take my time in stealth games and in many cases explore every nook and cranny. Often, levels will take me a long time to complete, especially if I’m attempting a full ghost run with all collectibles and all sidequests/optional objectives completes.

            I’m also pretty bad at games, at least according to people who don’t know anything about how I play or who I am in general. The good thing about games like Dishonored is that you can play the way you want, and other people can go jump. :D

  16. 25/10/2012 at 17:06 Skusey says:

    Aw. I’d hoped that they’d left out challenge rooms because they’d tested them out and they didn’t quite work, but I guess I forgot that it’s 2012. At least they weren’t a bloody preorder bonus.

  17. 25/10/2012 at 17:43 MichaelPalin says:

    What!? No zombie DLC? Oh wait!, you said December.

    What!? No XMas DLC?

  18. 25/10/2012 at 17:57 Armante says:

    And this is part of the reason I wait to buy games nowadays. That and I have too many bargain games bought via Steam sales to complete still.

    So when I ever get round to it, I’ll have the Dishonoured GotY with all DLC thanks very much..

    Also, I wish I had the time and money to play it now :/

    • 25/10/2012 at 19:10 SuperNashwanPower says:

      I’m waiting for a sale too. I started out really excited for it, but if I am honest, the blanket ads just gave me a “full up” feeling. The craving went. I stopped watching them after a while, but I felt like I knew everything about the game before it came out, got sick of hearing about posessing rats, posessing soldiers and walking them in front of their own bullet, possessing a fish and finding a way into a building, using blink to jump twice as far as usual, and my excitement waned.

      Then after the rave reviews, its been “its too short”, “its too easy” and other niggles that further put me off. I’m just in no rush to spend £30 on it, but would definitely like to play it in the future. So steam xmas sale it is.

  19. 25/10/2012 at 18:04 tomeoftom says:

    Bit miffed it’s not something more creative. I badly want more exploration, and another story in Dunwall!

  20. 25/10/2012 at 18:36 Sugoi says:

    What I really want for Dishonored is support for custom missions and campaigns. I think the game systems have a lot of potential for standalone thief-style modding, and would really like to see that come to pass. It’s a rare game that leaves me with no strong complaints other than a desire for more, and given the ease of working in UE3, that seems like the sort of thing which could actually be addressed.

    In the mean time, back to the Dark Mod. Delicious, delicious Dark Mod.

  21. 25/10/2012 at 19:25 Shralla says:

    Fuck DLC, and fuck everybody who likes it.

  22. 25/10/2012 at 19:31 phylum sinter says:

    Well okay, i’ll let this one slide. But i’m really, really wanting real expansions to the story like everyone else.

    If this one proves to be fun to a few reviewers i might end up getting it on sale, but stripping away the objectives to ‘training’ missions essentially isn’t incredibly compelling on its’ own to me. I’m actually holding back finishing the last mission because i don’t want this one to end!

    It’s too late for anyone to reasonably expect any game might just have a few meaningful expansions (i.e. HL2) that are just as good as the main game, isn’t it?

  23. 25/10/2012 at 19:42 Sic says:

    I just want all the material they’ve made for the game (including the ridiculous pre-order nonsense) in one package.

    I guess I might check it out again in 2014 or something.

  24. 25/10/2012 at 19:50 ffordesoon says:

    Honestly, this sounds fucking lovely. If they made a challenge mode for unlocked levels, in the game itself too, it’d be perfect. Dishonored’s gameplay and level structure very much lends itself to a no-story, mechanics-testing mode with a leaderboard.

    • 25/10/2012 at 22:08 LennyLeonardo says:

      Exactly. I’m glad there’s someone else who thinks this.
      Kind of reminds me of the Arkham games’ challenge rooms and/or the abstract time trial maps for Mirror’s Edge, both of which were fucking lovely.

      • 26/10/2012 at 01:24 eclipse mattaru says:

        Yeah, except your examples were included in the games from day one. For free. This is being charged on top of an already absurd 60 dollar price tag. Am I the only one who sees this?

        • 26/10/2012 at 06:25 LennyLeonardo says:

          You’re right, of course. However, I’m not arguing that this won’t be paid DLC, I’m arguing that it might be good. Whether it’s worth paying the extra cash will surely depend on how good it is? I’d rather judge DLC on its own merits than condemn it outright.

          I mean, as you say, we had to pay money (gasp) for the game proper. Does that make it a bad game, or a worse one than if it were free?

  25. 25/10/2012 at 21:16 benab says:

    I’m glad to hear this as I feel there is much yet-to-be-tapped potential in the setting. The first part of DH introduces a bunch of background material that I thought we would have explained later on but it never was.

  26. 26/10/2012 at 00:25 Xzi says:

    This has officially become the most frustrating thing about gaming for me. I get about 1/10th through a game and then I hear an announcement for an upcoming DLC release. Before I’ve even had the chance to fully form my opinion of the game. It makes me want to burn down an orphanage.

    I never thought I’d be one of those folks constantly spouting, “remember the good ol’ days when,” but here we go. Remember the good ol’ days when not EVERY game needed content added onto it for several years after release? When only RPGs and the occasional RTS received expansions, and even then, only needed ONE because it was so chocked full of content? Now you can spend upwards of $300 on one game and still not get the complete experience.

    If they need to raise the base price of video games to keep pace with rising production costs, I wish they’d just tell us that and do it rather than nickle and diming us, all the while believing that we’re ignorant to the scheme.

  27. 26/10/2012 at 01:19 eclipse mattaru says:

    Seriously, Arkane? This is hands down the stupidest way to jump the DLC bandwagon ever. Yeah, the story-based DLC sounds interesting, but -unless we’re talking January or February- by 2013 Dishonored might very well not even be on my PC anymore. And this obstacle course/racing nonsense is downright insulting. At least BioShock 2 and Mass Effect 3 had the decency to give the crappy DLC bits for free, and only charged for the good ones.

  28. 26/10/2012 at 05:55 JCD says:

    Excellent. If they’re already working on DLC, it must mean they’ve fixed all the bugs.

    • 27/10/2012 at 02:47 ResonanceCascade says:

      Dishonored is literally the least buggy major PC release I’ve played in years. Even Portal 2 gave me more grief.

  29. 26/10/2012 at 14:45 Ham Solo says:

    I would have preferred additional missions, or even an sdk/map/mission tool.

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