There’s nothing quite as dull as a hero who’s as pure as the driven snow; conversely, the best villains have qualities that we can admire, or flashes of humanity we can identify with. That’s the main strength of The Brigmore Witches (the second half of the DLC-based story begun in The Knife of Dunwall): it’s centered around Daud, the mercenary assassin who murdered the Empress in the opening minutes of Dishonored’s story. It’s a neat concept that sheds light on his internal struggle and the events leading up to his inevitable — and possibly fatal — confrontation with Corvo Attano.
Now, exploring a villainous figure like Daud and giving him a little more substance is all well and good… if you actually manage to do that. In The Knife of Dunwall, Daud felt like a bit of a nothing character. We were told he was conflicted, but those missions lacked any clear purpose, with only enigmatic clues around the name Delilah driving the story. It was very much setting the scene, with no real payoff.
The Brigmore Witches is that payoff. We get a better sense that Daud’s motivation is actually noble on some level, and while it’s up to you whether the path to
Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches
God of War: AscensionHitman: AbsolutionMax Payne 3 his goal will be littered with corpses or entirely bloodless, there’s a clear direction here. You have a target — Delilah — and you know where she is. You just have to get there.
That task takes up two thirds of The Brigmore Witches, and from a story point of view it’s largely busywork. The short of it? Daud needs a smuggler with a boat to get to Brigmore Manor. Said smuggler is in jail. Daud breaks her out, only to find a rival gang has stolen a vital MacGuffin from the boat. He goes to get this back, which leads to fetching some stuff for them. You get the idea.
It’s an excuse for the action, which doesn’t push much beyond tried-and-true Dishonored game design. The jail setting, for instance, is a return to Coldridge Prison (where Corvo was imprisoned after the death of the Empress) and is quite a confined design, with only a handful of interconnected areas. Playing cat and mouse across the multiple levels of the cell blocks is good fun, but holds few surprises. About the biggest variable in this mission is the ability to impersonate an Overseer and stroll in the front door if you so choose.
The second mission, on the other hand, spans dockyards, factories, city streets and sewers, but is essentially a series of fetch quests, whether you deal with the rival gangs that occupy the neighbourhood through diplomacy or explosive violence. Even so, it’s dense with secrets and collectables, and Daud’s actions can have a profound effect on how it all plays out.
The mission structure may not push the envelope, but the moment-to-moment gameplay really shines. Daud is very much in the same mould as Corvo, but with a few tricks of his own. The ability to summon assassins (introduced in The Knife of Dunwall) is one, while this set of missions introduces a couple of new tools and abilities.
Shaping Daud’s abilities to suit your play style is absolutely one of the main draws here, and it was refreshing to be able to use completely different sets of powers and weapons in my stealth playthrough versus my «kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out» run. There’s a new power called Pull, which, as you might expect, is a form of telekinesis. You can use it to nab items from a distance, or — more interestingly — reel in guards then choke them out or kill them. Two new gadgets offer up cool non-lethal options, too: stun mines function much like arc mines — storing two or three charges with which they can zap enemies — but instead of vaporising your foes, enemies are merely knocked out. Baffle Dust, on the other hand, is an upgrade for Choke Dust, leaving targets disorientated for a period of time.
The Bone Charm system — perks that can be equipped to further augment your abilities — has been bulked out a little too. The Brigmore Witches introduces Corrupted Charms, which have both a positive and negative effect. To be honest, given how many normal Bone Charms there are — which have no downside — these weren’t all that compelling an addition. Even so, there’s plenty of depth in general and plenty of room for individual expression.
The quest culminates in a tense final mission at Brigmore Manor, where you’re exploring a dilapidated mansion and facing off against powerful witches and undead hounds. The conclusion, however, is a little uneven. Delilah’s story is appropriately sinister, giving us further insight into this corrupt and power-obsessed world, but I can’t help but be disappointed with how Daud’s confrontation with Corvo is handled. Instead of using your Dishonored save game — and the choice you made as Corvo — it instead judges Daud on his actions in the DLC, making it sort of an alternate reality.
Surely we should have to live with our original actions as Corvo? In such a dark world, it would have been entirely fitting for us to be at the whim of Corvo — not to be judged on our actions but on our version of Corvo’s entirely independent choice of moral code, or lack thereof, and response to knowing only his side of the story. Imagine playing through Daud’s story and not harming a soul, only to be summarily executed? Or how about being spared despite cutting a bloody swathe across Dunwall? For a character like Daud, who embarks on a redemptive path after years of amoral slaughter, surely his fate should be beyond his control?
THE VERDICT
The Brigmore Witches doesn’t break much new ground, but the stealth-or-slaughter gameplay is as compelling as ever, as is exploring each new playground. Daud also grows into his role, with a clearer sense of purpose and momentum that helps drive the story forward. While the final confrontation with Corvo is a little disappointing, Delilah’s story is excellent and adds another facet to Dishonored’s original tale.