Committing Rat Sins in Dishonored (Story Explained)

[@4T3hM4kr0n]

I always save slackjaw, and as such he has one of the best quotes in the game after you save him: "wanna know somethin funny? When we were kids we all thought granny rags was a mean old witch. We grew up, and figured she was just a sad old lady. We were right the FIRST time, now isn't that funny?"

[@thomasjoychild4962]

The first game had a real thing of "If you want the nice ending, do not do any of these very cool things with these awesome murder tools that we've lovingly animated gory deaths from. None of that!", yeah. One of my favorite things about the sequel was the introduction of more non-lethal options for incapacitating guards, and specifically COOLER non-lethal options (you can even knock them out in a fight if your timing's good). Also more nuance about how much chaos is caused by which non-target deaths. Smash all the automatons you like, for instance, without any chaos increase.

[@JoshSweetvale]

My favourite TvTropes theory for this game is the observation that Dunwall and its world are a _lot_ tougher to live in than Earth. It's a Deathworld. Watery Tuchanka. It's a lot harder for humans to achieve civilization and peace, so the human psyche has grown to be more aggressive and brutal as compared to Earth.

[@ontariporatam666]

“what do I look like, some kind of heartless monster?!” 😭😂

[@MrGanjie]

To the part about a developer making the world seem so misogynistic, I'd say it'd make sense(if such a phrase can be used) in a world of rats and grime so closely tied to the actual era the fiction was drawn from. It's one of those things that's evidently supposed to make you feel disgust and discomfort; making it more difficult to *not* stab. Just playing devil's advocate. Great video btw! Deserves more views for sure

[@hunk-909]

thats pretty much the setting, yes

[@MazzaAzi]

My turn on the devil's advocate. Change is not instant nor is it always done universally. Just because there is a woman on the throne doesn't mean that any level of misogyny will or even can get cured with it; As you said, history has examples of this happening. So when a story has a female in a position of power but misogyny is still very commonplace, that's not a contradiction or bad writing, thats logical world building. Just as a real world example: Queen Victoria was extremely well loved by the -british- English people *But* misogyny was rife in the empire and no one would publicly allow something like a female CEO or women's suffrage despite their ruler being both female and populer. I still like the video BTW.

[@BottomBunkArt]

I think it's a little unfair to refer to the killing of the Empress as "fridging" as the result would be the same had she been a man. The murder of Corvo's lover is not the inciting incident, but the regicide, false imprisonment, insurrection, and kidnapping are. The hints near the end of the game that Corvo was the secret consort of the Empress, and Emily's father just add an extra layer to the narrative.

[@jasonolyver6430]

I love the way the heart describes Grany Rags as the most desirable while she keeps saying garbage in the background

[@voxgrey7508]

I'm in love with your "What's The Plot?" series! Not only is your commentary absolutely wonderful, but I really like that you know when to let a bit of gameplay or a cutscene play out and speak for itself before/after adding your two cents. It really conveys the vibe of the game. Great vid!

[@khanlusa]

Thank you! :D

[@ontariporatam666]

*player is casually made to carry around heart of murdered empress* UM OKAY THEN

[@captainstroon1555]

High chaos resulting in trying to keep the chaos low harder feels weirdly upside down to me. Sure, it makes achieving a "pacifist" ending harder, but I'd have implemented it as a balance between order and chaos. In a high order playthorugh, the empire would go full autocratic dystopia, with additional watchtowers and locked doors making sneaking around and non-violent takedowns harder while in a high chaos run, riots, rampant plague and the guards going full Mad Max would make fighting your way through all that violence harder. The difficulty curve would adjust to your playstyle.

[@Mechpilot0790]

That... Would be a sick mod

[@famedmicrobe7693]

Queen Elizabeth I is a great example of a beloved female ruler who rose to prominence while never marrying. Even despite the highly misogynistic outlook of the time. Also not a lot of people actually liked the Empress, which is probably how Hiram Burrows was able to take power with little to no resistance.

[@therotryzit]

The Dishonored games are truly a treat what's not to love about it? Great atmospheric setting, fantastic story intruiging gameplay. I especially like the murder shrubs just because they are so out-of-place from everything in the game, though they are probably an extension of the oceanic theme the world. Wished there were more things like the murder shrubs, like killer crabs or something.

[@vulkanus7117]

To be honest I adore Dishonored's Chaos system, simply because of the fact that in every single play-through, the game promises to value life just as much as you, the player, do. If you go around slashing, killing and murdering, then the game will do the same, NPCs will act ruthless and evil in events, the world will grow darker and the ending will have you starting an age of oppression. In the Low Chaos meanwhile people will value each other and each others lives. The ending will see the plague cured (as long as you save Sokolov and Pierro) and usher in an age of prosperity. One of the best examples of this is in the Campbell level, in the barracks after you leave Campbell behind, there will be three Overseers talking with each other, one of which has the plague. If you've valued life thus far, then this one Overseer will ask his friends and comrades to end his pain before he infects them as well, but they beg for him to wait another week, they'll give him their rations, they'll find a way to save him. Eventually he convinces them that this is what he wants and they kill him mercifully and quick. In high Chaos that same man is begging these two to spare his life, that the sickness isn't that bad, he just needs a week or two to cure, everything will be fine. Only for him to be stabbed in the back ruthlessly by those he trusted. And with all that, the game still makes the distinction, between non-lethal and morally correct. Yes, you won't be a murderer if you leave Lady Boyle alive with her stalker, but is that any better? The Pendeltons won't be killed by your hand, but they will suffer for the rest of their lives. Campbell will be ostracised from society and left to endure the horrific change into a weeper, only to die to the plague. All of that is why I love this game so dearly, and I think it shows how much thought the devs and writers really put into that game. I for one always play this game as non-lethal as possible, excluding some of the major targets, because those poor guards don't deserve to die just because they were in my way, they have loved ones too, they have people that will miss them just as much as Corvo misses Jessamine. And that's why I can't play the game in any different way. Phenomenal video though. ((also if anyone wants to watch a bit more about Dishonored and the moral implications of the game, then I can very much recommend the video made by Thane Bishop about a year ago.))

[@RoseDragoness]

The sequel and sequel dlc also amazing, you should pick it em up too! I enjoyed your take about your playthrough. I actually didn't realizes who is in the heart and who is Emily's dad until I found a secret room in the castle/fortress.

[@hunk-909]

my personal experience with dishonored was rather simple, i liked "Drunken Whaler" and i played their 2017 game Prey (which i also liked alot) so when i heard of Dishonored i immediately got all the games and went through all of them, but sticking to D1: the game paints a rather dark fantasy setting mixing the salem trials, the black plague and the victorian era all together into a canvas painting of a brutal and dishonorable (haha) world where the rich thrive, the poor die, and those in the middle get caught in the crossfire of everything happening around them be it the purges, the plague or gangsters but what reeled me in BESIDES the setting and everything else was the whole 'Void' aesthetic the game had going, these supernatural abilities giving to you by a man who you saw in your dreams which pretty much make you a super-soldier (StealthGamerBR kinda proves that point via gameplay and that one Dishonored 2: DOTO moment where Daud kills everyone in the room), the way Arkane portrayed the void in dishonored 1 is probably my most favorite iteration of it in all of media, its using fractured islands that represent the future, the past and the present, showing you what you've been through, what you'll go through and what has already happened the Outsider in 1 seemingly controls what happens there, and being chosen by him is both a blessing and a curse. Daud blames the Outsider for these abilities and what he's done in the past with them, but if you think about it, he just marks important people and lets them go do whatever they want which makes me question his intentions, why does the Outsider do that? overall, i believe Dishonored is Arkanes Mona Lisa because the world it has created is nothing i had seen before, there are only close comparisons but even then Dishonored is one-of-a-kind game PS: on my newest replay i simply upgraded some abilities (Dark Vision, Bend Time, Blink, Agility to be specific) and ran past most enemies via the usage of Bend Time and Blink, making non-lethal + ghost possible, sometimes i simply knocked out people by choking them out and hiding their bodies in a room no guard patrols, to me Dishonored really lets you play how you want since my first ever playthrough was more about knocking everyone out on the level and using all my darts on those people just so i could pass safely all in all, its a good game and it got me into the immersive sim genre of games (Deus Ex, Bioshock, E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy, S.T.A.L.K.E.R)

[@kingramon437]

24:00 you went with the Middle Way path. it's probably the rarest ending chaos level, It was the first one I got so all the videos saying the game sucked for just having a good and bad ending always confused me. I see this ending as canon, as there is mention of Corvo killing "massacaring the boyle party and Hound Pits Club" but it's also clear the dark high chaos ending isn't canonical nor are some of his more iredeemable actions, so logically he got this ending in canon. But at the end of the day idk what the game creators were thinking regarding canonicity but this is my opionon on the matter.

[@adrianstrider4960]

I honestly find it weird that the misogynistic nature of the golden cat is complained about in this video. I think it actually fits the city wonderfully, considering its the kind of nasty, disgusting place that the overly privileged and arrogant male nobles would frequent, particularly when their ruler is a woman. PS: sorry, just my own perspective, sorry

[@ragemonster_0]

I think your channel is very underrated. I've been watching some of your content over the past couple of days, and it's really high quality. I hope you keep up the great work!

[@ryanstewart5727]

It's pretty heavily implied that the Heart belonged to Jessamine. Both from in-game dialog, such as when the Heart says "I never should have trusted him" about the spymaster, and out of game from them sharing the same voice actress.

[@zacharychampoux1130]

You can still get the "Clean hands" achivement if you kill only the main targets

[@masterzoroark6664]

Drunken Whaler goes extremaly hard, even without any video from the game you can feeeel the casting of rat legions onto someone

[@petrusjnaude7279]

The Lady Boyle non-lethal option has always creeped me the fuck out when you actually do it. In fact, all the so-called "non-lethal" options are actually really dark when you apply just a little thought. Except Burrows' for some reason. Also, if you read/listen to Havelock's diary entries, the game telegraphs the betrayal even more and makes it even more obvious if it wasn't already such a trope.

[@BlazeIsaquilla]

I love the sass you give to spymaster in the beginning, had me laughing

[@deathblite9806]

See, usually when i play dishonored, i play it as non lethal as possible. Mostly because i like the idea of playing the game more as a kidnapping sim

[@neotheresa]

I only take the low chaos route because I don’t want to disappoint Samuel…

[@ainsel98]

i love this game i always kill everyone full stealth it's perfect i love this series

[@echodude1000]

Who else finished this game without being spotted or killing anyone? I know I did.

[@irystocrattakodachithatmooms]

I always play as stealthily as possible as I like the challenge of it.

[@JoshMC2000]

Honestly Adore this game. Its probobly one of my favourite settings in gameing i wish we got more steam punk mixed with sourcery

[@jpDELTA2000]

Random question, the quest to handle the sisters, are they actually randomized? Every time I’ve played the quest it's been the sister in white.

[@SpoopySquid]

@@jpDELTA2000 mine was the sister in black. Maybe the RNG gods are messing with you

[@RemWinchester]

I loved the aesthetic of this game and I so badly wanted to enjoy it, but I could not get past the rats in the tutorial. I just remember there was a bit where you had to get through a whole room of rats... put the game down and never picked it back up. I was kind of a baby about danger in games at the time though, so I might just try it again after watching this!

[@Donovan-sy2sk]

You can get the clean hands achievement if you only kill targets.

[@dunwall_void]

immediate sub

[@vellikaari3008]

Honestly, I think the empress being "beloved" could be passed off as propaganda, at least in my own head cannon. If she's so beloved, why would someone want to assassinate her? Clearly someone wasn't satisfied with her rule, and judging by our initial peek into the city streets... She wasn't exactly managing her role very well.

[@trustcondoms]

...You may not have explored the game enough. You find out in the third act that the High Overseer was sabotaging her rule in the first place, introducing the rat plague to Dunwall, seeking to 'eradicate the lower classes'.

[@kuno3336]

Yeah, no, it wasn’t like a random civilian wanted her assassinated: it was a conspiracy by power-hungry, corrupt officials, led by the one who caused the plague in the first place because he's a classist psychopath

[@ontariporatam666]

That beginning!!! IM 😱 SCREAMING

[@Overlord367]

I remember when i encountered those i actually kinda jumped a bit mostly because it was just unexpected as zombies were not what i thought id find i thought it would be like supernatural stuff or like sea beings but that threw me off. 11:07

[@EnordAreven]

Designer exploded 😅

[@KamiRecca]

So, about misoginy... I realy, REALY dont see it. The game is building a 19th century feel world. Yea the World is misogynistic, because it tries to mirror Victorian England. But the Game is not. The reason it took me soo many playthroughs to get the Clean Hands achievement was that effin duel. Yea. Yea i didnt connect that when you shoot a man in a duel... he technicly dies... I am not a smart bunny all the time. Also, i have a hard time playing the game... with powers... Somehow it just ruins the fun for me. So yea, i guess im weird like that..

[@novagaming4970]

I need thi for Dishonored 2 and Death of the outsider

[@randomguy3708]

Was really confused about the SA content warning until you got to pacifist party... I have Clean Hands and was trying to forget about that Esp when of all the main targets she's done the least amount of terrible things

[@Unless-feature]

"If they wanted to make low chaos canon " For the first game, high chaos is the canonical route

[@mitchelllumpkins6409]

So on the topic of misogyny it's the point of this game everything is uncomfortable and the empress is supposed to be a symbol of change that is ripped away before she can do anything

[@antimarmite]

regarding the misogynistic world, I feel that the misogyny itself wasn't really the point, but rather just an extension of the systemic exploitation and cruelty of the society. Dunwall's entire society is relentlessly awful to those without wealth or power. Everyone outside the nobility, from the guards to the workers in the industrial sector is treated as an expendable resource to be used up and thrown away. It always felt to me that the brothel would just as quickly use men/boys in much the same way if its clientele's preferences were different. I also suspect that the brothel's "employees" being women is an aesthetic choice, as much of steampunk is meant to invoke Victorian England and this sort of establishment was commonplace in Victorian England. (This also explains the female Empress, she is meant to evoke the image/feel of Queen Victoria). Back to my point, Dunwall is a place where the poor, regardless of race or sex, are exploited and brutalized, the Empress was popular because she made reforms away from that system, but as soon as she died the aristocracy doubled down on oppressing the underclass.

[@Outband599]

Wait the point of this game isn’t to make the biggest body pile?

[@ethribin4188]

A brothel isnt missoginistoc. Its just very easily a very bad and slave like thing. And well... the setting is outdated and conservative compaired to today. But again, I wouldnt call that missoginistic...

[@khanlusa]

It's not necessarily that the *presence* of a brothel in the setting is by itself misogynistic, I just used it to make a point about the worldbuilding overall, but you are free to disagree.

[@RoseDragoness]

it is certainlly a harsh world for women, a misoginistic world, but through the game series I enjoyed how women also able to fight to power. Like, the two empress, a certain assassin, granny rags, and how the servant ladies on the hounds' pub have their own dignity and try to fight when the coalition decides to kill them all. The sequel allows you to pick a woman, and the last dlc that wrap up the story have female protagonist. I can say that they all don't feel like they are there cause marketing decide feminism is a 'trend' they gotta embrace.@@khanlusa

[@SentientMeatloaf1]

⁠@@RoseDragonessI think there was a little bit of that in the second game. Just a little. The first game came out only 2 years before GG went down, the second came out 2 years after, meaning that it was being made during the height of contentious discourse about the treatment of women in games. I recall there being a female guard officer at the beginning of D2 that felt distinctly out of place. The only real reason she existed was to show a woman in a position of power and trust, and then she immediately dies like a minute later. It just feels weird since it’s right at the beginning of the game and going from the last game with zero female guards to a trusted female captain who seems to be something of a secondary personal bodyguard to Emily is very jarring. Especially since all the rank and file Dunwall guards are still Male. I’m pretty sure it has been confirmed that representation was the reason for this characters existence, although I would have to hunt down that statement/quote. Other than that, the second game does have a larger emphasis on female characters both Ally and enemy, but it doesn’t feel forced. Even if the decision was politically motivated from a dev perspective, the characters are written well and the jump from Dunwall to Carnacca comes with a cultural shift so it’s easy to simply accept female guards and the like from that point on. None of it feels out of place, and that’s the way to go if you want to do representation right.

[@IskandarTheConqueror]

​@@SentientMeatloaf1 super late to this video, but that guard that you mentioned played a key role in the book that proceeds dh2. helped corvo and emily stop an attempted uprising. just thought I'd point that out, should have been mentioned in game or something, shouldn't have to get info from outside the medium.

[@SentientMeatloaf1]

@@IskandarTheConqueror yeah, I’ve never interacted with the outside materials. It’s a problem every show seems to have that tries to have a multimedia approach to storytelling, it’s not just a Dh2 thing. Regardless, because of that all I can really put forward is my personal experience with the game (which is the same as most I presume), which is that coming right off Dh1 with an all male guard roster, the character does stand out like a sore thumb, partially due to her gender but also the familiarity with the main cast she seems to show that is not explained in game. It makes the player feel out of the loop, which I think isn’t good when we are returning to a known setting like this. And it doesn’t do any favors for the drama of her death soon after. As it is, it feels like the game wants you to care greatly for her loss, but the uninitiated player is just asking themselves “why does the game want me to care so much about this random guard? I haven’t even had time to learn her name.” Even simply walking through a doorway flanked by a couple of low level guards, one male one female, would have eased the transition greatly imo, and made her presence feel way more natural.

[@TjM1978]

Low Chaos was a better playthrough

[@khanlusa]

ok

[@ontariporatam666]

“For the sake of a man’s character development.” (Don’t mind me I am totaling going to spam your comment section. To many quotable lines from your commentary!!!)

[@khanlusa]

Understandable, thank you 😂