DLC Talk: Dunwall City Trials

The Dishonored experience gets expanded

Posted 4 months ago By Vince - Vincent Deshaies

Dishonored was without a doubt one of the best games of 2012, so it’s only natural that many people will want to prolong the experience through DLC. For these people, Bethesda released a bite-sized mission pack that puts you through a series of 10 trials to prove your skills. Priced at only (400 MS Points), it may be the kind of thing you’ll buy on impulse, but is it worth it? The short answer is yes, here’s why.

 

While the story and atmosphere of Dishonored are fantastic, the stealth oriented first-person gameplay is what sets it apart from the other games you’ve played this year. When I approached the Dunwall City Trials DLC pack, I expected more of the same, but I was only partially right in that assumption. Sure, some of the trials will have you rely on your sneaking abilities to get through a pack of enemies without being seen, but most of them actually turned out to be quite different from what you find in the main game. A lot of time-based trials have you use your different powers to get through a specific area as fast as you can, while others rely solely on your ability to take on enemies. Most of the time it will still be possible to choose your own approach in each level, but it’s interesting to see the developer move away from what made their game so special. Most missions rely on a high-score formula to retain their replayability rather than the variety of approaches you can take to accomplish each challenge, which could be disappointing for some. The good news, though, is that the fun factor is still very much present and the gameplay shines just as bright as it ever did. On top of that, the level design is still as inspired as it gets. To counter the otherwise diminished focus on the replayability, the developers have even hidden a collectable doll in each level, encouraging players to find each of them.

 

Dunwall City Trials may not offer a huge amount of content and the replayability factor is certainly not as important as it was in the full game, but at the DLC is priced low enough to warrant your time and money. Now I don’t know about you, but I feel ready for yet another playthrough!

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