History VideoGame / Dishonored

* KickTheSonOfABitch: You can do this of course, if you don't opt for PacifistRun.
** The pacifist solution to Lady Boyle eventually turns out better than for any other target, but at the moment, can be quite cruel.

Released in North America on October 9, 2012 on PC, UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and UsefulNotes/Playstation3. The UK and Australian release dates were October 12 and 11, respectively. In 2016, as a prelude to the game's sequel, ''Dishonored: Definitive Edition'' an updated port on UsefulNotes/Playstation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne was released.

* ApocalypseHow: Class 0 occurs on Dunwall due to the Rat Plague. [[spoiler:If Emily dies it devolves into a Class 2 scenario]].

* NonStandardGameOver: Attacking a Loyalist (or leaping into Callista's bathtub when she's in it) gives a message declaring that the Loyalist Conspiracy has dissolved.

** Daud is the man who killed the Empress. Because he was paid and it was a job. [[spoiler:However, while Daud is a ruthless and violent man, he has begun to fall apart with guilt over the death of the Empress and her daughter's kidnapping. His observation of Dunwall's collapse, knowing it was his own fault for helping the Regent take power, gnaws at him.]]

** Ironically, a PacifistRun will actually result in far more gruesome fates for many of the conspirators than just death. [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/criticalintel/10133-Corvo-Is-Not-An-Honorable-Man This article argues that is precisely the point.]] Using non-lethal methods to neutralise his opponents may be part of a vendetta against those who ruined him; that he sees death as too good and too easy for his enemies, wanting them to suffer and be dishonored just like Corvo himself was, not dying as martyrs.

** This aesop is further broken by how the [[KarmaMeter chaos score]] works. Basically, you get [[MultipleEndings different endings]] depending on how many people you killed. The thing is, you can kill innocent people and still have a low chaos score. You get high chaos by killing ''too many'' people. [[note]] The exact numbers aren't known but players have estimated you can kill about 20% of the enemies before getting a high chaos score, meaning you can 1 in 5 people you encounter and [[InformedKindness still be called a good person by the game]]. [[/note]]

** This aesop is further broken by how the chaos score works. Basically, you get [[MultipleEndings different endings]] depending on how many people you killed. The thing is, you can kill innocent people and still have a low chaos score. You get high chaos by killing ''too many'' people. [[note]] The exact numbers aren't known but players have estimated you can kill about 20% of the enemies before getting a high chaos score, meaning you can 1 in 5 people you encounter and [[InformedKindness still be called a good person by the game]]. [[/note]]

** This aesop is further broken by how the chaos score works. Basically, you get [[MultipleEndings different endings]] depending on how many people you killed. The thing is, you can kill innocent people and still have a low chaos score. [[note]] The exact numbers aren't known but players have estimated you can kill about 20% of the enemies before getting a high chaos score, meaning you can 1 in 5 people you encounter and [[InformedKindness still be called a good person by the game]]. [[/note]]

* DaylightHorror: Daud visits Brigmore Manor on a ridiculously bright day. The place is filled to the brim with witches and hellhounds.

** [[spoiler:Reading his diary earlier than that will net you one giant foreshadow: he ponders if he could just take power for himself.]]

* ShadyLadyOfTheNight: Emily Kaldwin, daughter of the murdered previous Emperess Jessamine and thus the presumptive Emperess, has been kidnapped by [[RegentForLife Hiram Burrows]] and held in The Golden Cat, a brothel managed by Madam Prudence.

* SwarmOfRats: There's a lot of ferocious rats in this game, which seem to be the source of the plague. A swarm of rats can also be summoned to devour your enemies. Rat swarms tend to move as if they have a hive mind, and they love to chew on dead bodies. Learning to use dead bodies to distract vicious rats is just one of the tricks you need to pass. It's notable that these rats are not native to Gristol, but are a larger, smarter and more ferocious variety from the [[DeathWorld Pandyssian Continent]].