Dishonored

Moderate overall intensity
Highest flag: Violence — graphic & gore
AdventureFantasyRPG
🏆 BAFTA Games Awards 2013 — Best Game

What's in it

Violence graphic & gore
High

First-person assassin combat with sword, crossbow, pistol and gadgets against human guards; blood sprays and drop/melee kills can decapitate or cut enemies, so bloody killing is a core option.

Substances depicted
Moderate

Alcohol is served and consumed, characters drink and get drunk, and lore references addictive elixirs and drug dens.

Dark themes intense
Moderate

The story centers on assassination, a citywide plague, orphaned and endangered children, betrayal, and streets littered with corpses.

Crime & lawlessness player commits crime
Moderate

The player is an assassin who commits murder, burglary, and trespass across missions.

Torture depicted
Moderate

Corvo is imprisoned and branded, and interrogation and grim punishments (including a target having his tongue removed) are part of the story.

Prostitution / sex work depicted
Moderate

The Golden Cat is a functioning brothel shown in a mission, with courtesans and paid sexual services depicted.

Mutilation / body horror depicted
Moderate

Enemies can be decapitated in combat, and corpses can be dismembered or consumed by rat swarms.

Sexual content innuendo
Moderate

A high-end bathhouse setting involves paid courtesans, with suggestive dialogue and innuendo about the services on offer.

Language moderate
Moderate

Occasional profanity in NPC dialogue and audio logs.

Nudity revealing/suggestive attire
Low

Courtesans and bathhouse patrons appear in revealing attire in the Golden Cat pleasure house.

Horror & psychological spooky
Low

Plague-infected 'weepers' shamble through the streets and swarms of rats devour bodies, creating a grim, unsettling atmosphere.

Occult & ritual occult imagery/references
Low

A supernatural being called the Outsider grants a branded mark and magic; shrines, runes, and bone charms are treated as heretical in the world.

Animal combat combat mechanic
Low

Rats and fish can be killed or possessed as a stealth/combat mechanic.

Who can reach your kid

What it is

Dishonored is a first-person stealth-action game in which you play Corvo, a royal bodyguard framed for the Empress's murder who becomes a supernatural assassin seeking revenge in the plague-ridden industrial city of Dunwall. Each mission can be tackled by sneaking past enemies non-lethally or by fighting through them with a blade, crossbow, pistol and magical powers, so the amount of on-screen violence depends heavily on how the player chooses to play. Content includes bloody combat and stealth kills (including possible decapitation), a plague-ravaged city full of corpses and rat swarms, a brothel/bathhouse setting with courtesans, alcohol and brewed tonics, and grim outcomes such as arranging cruel fates for targets. The game is entirely single-player with no online interaction, chat, or purchases.

How it's framed

The game explicitly frames violence as a choice with consequences: killing more people raises a 'chaos' level that darkens the world and its ending, while a fully non-lethal, sparing approach is possible and often rewarded narratively. Its supernatural powers come from a morally ambiguous entity, and even the non-lethal solutions are presented as ethically complicated rather than clean, encouraging the player to weigh the cost of revenge.

Details

Developer
Arkane Studios
Publisher
Bethesda Softworks
Released
Oct 8, 2012
Metacritic 91critic score (third-party) · out of 100

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