Review

Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches

Wrapping up the plot of a complicated story isn’t the easiest thing to do. Even great writers struggle with creating proper endings to their narratives, especially if it encompasses a series of connected stories. A poor finale can ruin an entire body of work. With the conclusion of the Dishonored saga close at hand, Arkane Studios was facing such a dilemma.

The Brigmore Witches picks up right where the Knife of Dunwal left off. Daud is still seeking the elusive Delilah, only this time it isn’t for answers. He’s out for vengeance. Her treachery has cost Daud a lot and he isn’t the forgiving type…normally. You see, there are still threads of redemption being woven into the plot. And though there are only three levels this time around, the choices Daud makes are more important than ever!

This is why I’m glad the story was handled with better care than the last add-on. For one, the events that transpire over the course of the DLC’s three levels felt like they had a real impact on the story. As opposed to before when it felt like only one choice truly impacted the ending outcome. Taking the extra steps to rid oneself of an obstacle using humane tactics actually affected the characters this time around. Of course, depending on the level of chaos that was created from Knife of Dunwall, the public opinion of Daud won’t change because you all of a sudden stop murdering folk. If you played with a low chaos level, certain characters will notice the change in Daud compared to how he was before his assassination of Princess Kaldwin though. Basically, what I’m saying is that regardless of what you decided to do, Brigmore Witches acknowledges the changes in Daud’s character better than The Knife of Dunwall did.

There was no “all-knowing” moment this time either; a character’s revelations were actually divulged from their experiences during the story. What I really enjoyed though was the way the plot unfolded; all the major events were  straight forward but did not lack depth or intrigue. As the gamer progresses through the story, they will slowly discover the intricate connections to the main story line without having to make random conjectures or decipher vague happenings.” Yes, it was a little cliché and there was less room for interpretation, but it fixed the issues from before; The Brigmore Witches actually makes Knife of Dunwall’s bad storytelling better by being good in and of itself!

One thing I liked about Dishonored, as a whole, was the inclusion of the game world’s lore. The last DLC pack focused on the Whaling business while this one has to do with the gangs and witches of Dunwall. Finding notes scattered around each level will reveal how these gangs came to be and the makeup of their day to day operations. A torn diary entry may depict a ritual for summoning a witch on a dare and the terrible repercussions for those that didn’t believe it was possible. These bits of information help to  immerse the gamer in the world of Dishonored; I found myself sympathizing with some of the most ruthless gang members and at the same time, growing weary of newly made witches despite their claim of innocence.

Speaking of fear, the witches definitely have a presence that evokes that response. They are fairly difficult to dispatch, they use magic, often travel in groups, and are downright creepy!  Once your cover is blown, they’ll give out an “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” screech alerting nearby enemies before converging on your position. Sometimes they’ll summon demonic dog creatures that can revive themselves if their skulls aren’t completely destroyed when killed. The older witches are even worse – dreadful creatures, twisted by years of dark magic use. Basically they are all to be avoided if possible.

Beyond the emphasis on tougher enemies, most of the gameplay is what you’d expect from Dishonored. It revolves around sneaking into dangerous areas, gathering clues, eavesdropping on talkative guards, dispatching foes in interesting ways – you know, the mechanics that made Dishonored great in the first place. Adding to these mechanics are new abilities and corrupted bone charms. While the abilities like a telekinesis (used to lift items and enemies into the air) are useful, the corrupted bone charms aren’t worth your time. These “charms” were questionably created by some would-be cultists who didn’t fully understand what they were doing. These makeshift relics help and hinder you when used; you may gain a longer mana bar but in return, lose the ability to regenerate mana over time. The benefits are never worth the negative effects, especially when there are normal bone charms scattered around each level.

The Brigmore Witches is a good expansion to the normal story. It answers questions and reveals more about Daud then what most gamers expected to see. The only issue I had was with a glitch that would cause a save to be corrupted. What happens is, you’ll save the game and continue playing like normal (the game won’t notify you that the save was corrupted). The game will autosave at key events and checkpoints like normal, but they too were corrupted. So when you try to load your game later, if you pick your save file or any of the autosaves after that original file was created, the game will crash. The only reason I didn’t have to restart the whole game was the fact that I had multiple save files (RPG gaming 101). And though a patch was released, I’m still dealing with this issue. It doesn’t make the game unplayable (the glitch is a rare occurrence), but it still hurt my overall enjoyment. That said, gamers shouldn’t miss out on this extra content. Being a fan myself, seeing the story come full circle was well worth any frustration I might’ve endured.