Late last week, Dishonored 2 – the much-anticipated follow-up to Arkane’s 2012 stealth/action masterpiece – officially released onto both retail and digital store shelves. The hype was great, and the post-release buzz has been quite positive (outside of some technical issues on the PC side), but reviews have been slow to come out.
There’s a reason for that though, and you’re likely already aware of it. As you’ve probably heard or read, Bethesda recently changed its review policy to make it so that early copies and codes are now a thing of the past. Instead of getting games a week before they’re out, media outlets like ourselves now have to wait until launch, or just prior. As such, it’s difficult to post our opinions right at release, or to form a qualified opinion in the same timeframe we used to be able to work in. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is, and means that our reviews end up going live later than we’d prefer.
I’ve put a good amount of time into Dishonored 2 so far and am well on track towards getting a review up quite soon. The goal is to publish something by Thursday, if not earlier. I don’t want to rush things though and am taking my time, exploring the ins and outs of each environment and making sure that I complete the game fully before writing anything. That way, our review will be thorough, educated and complete, and will be something that we’ll be able to respect and stand by.
So far, so good, though, as Dishonored 2 has thus far been a very impressive return for one of gaming’s best ‘new’ IPs. I’m having a blast with it, and can’t wait to share my full thoughts in a few days.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, as always.