In the current easy run of Platinum trophies, Dishonored seems to fit in quite well. Despite having some challenges along the way, (mostly stemming from an incredibly convoluted trophy list), this is a game which can be completed at a pace dictated by the player, though you will have to be prepared to run-through the game at least a few times, possibly even more, in order to achieve the Platinum trophy.
You take control of Corvo, a protectorate for the Empress, who is framed for her murder and abduction of her daughter Emily. Whilst imprisoned and soon to be executed, you're broken out by a group of Loyalists who know you're innocent, and assist you on a mission to find Emily but also to seek revenge against those who framed you in the first instance.
You'll progress through levels, using varying game mechanics in order to complete the objectives within via different methods, which is heavily interwoven into the entire trophy list, and will require you to explore most options if you want to unlock this Platinum trophy.
This list contains everything. Trophies awarded for completing the game under certain conditions, killing assassination targets in specific ways, completing other actions within levels in certain ways, collectibles, missables. Alot is accounted for, and whilst it's true that the story is only about 8-10 hours in length, you'll most definitely have to complete it more than once, and depending how well you track the rest of the list, this could also extend into more than twice.
The "Resolution" trophy, awarded for completing the game, is where you'll start. The list contains a healthy portion of progression-based trophies, and these are awarded at regular intervals during the story, except in the instance where the trophy is awarded for performing a certain action when you reach a specific point in the story. This also technically makes them missable if you choose to take a different approach which goes against the fulfillment requirements of the trophy. For example, there is a trophy for simply assassinating the Lord Regent, Hiriam Burrows, but then also a trophy awarded for neutralising him by broadcasting his crimes instead. Both trophies require you to take different measures in order to advance the story, which cannot be achieved at the same time, and this crops up multiple times within this list. I counted 15 progression-based trophies, with a small collection of these which have to be achieved across multiple runs.
This also extends to the "Dunwall in Chaos" and "Just Dark Enough" trophies, which require you to complete the game in high chaos, and complete the game in low chaos respectively. Nothing of note, other than to evidence the point that you cannot fulfil the requirements of these trophies simultaneously, leading to another run of the game in order to grab the other one you missed first time round.
The "Clean Hands" trophy, awarded for completing the game without killing anyone, adds yet another endgame trophy which has conditional completion requirements attached to it, and whilst you can tandem alot of these trophies into 1 run of the game and unlock them all together at the conclusion of the story, you end up having to constantly assess where you are with this list and what you need to do to achieve what you have left. It's really distracting, and is probably the biggest element of challenge within the entire game.
Incidentally, I think this is also the hardest trophy in the whole list. You'll have to neutralise every assassination target, which requires more creativity than direct assassination, and you'll also have to move through every level either undetected or exclusively using the chokehold maneuver to neutralise enemies. You can also fail this trophy under very minor technicalities, including accidentally dumping unconscious bodies into water, causing them to drown, or leaving them on the floor to be eaten by a plague of rats. Pay attention to the statistics screen at the end of each level, and you'll see a counter for deaths. If this has a tally, you'll have to restart the mission, and these mysterious deaths occurred for me more than once, which is frustrating. The ability to be able to just restart a mission or reload a save is a good safety net to have for this trophy, but the cautious method is the slowest way to beat this game regardless.
The "Ghost" trophy, awarded for completing all missions after the prologue, without alerting or killing no one but key targets, is also another playthrough to consider. This is effectively the "Clean Hands" trophy, adding the point that you cannot alert any enemies, which means you'll have to be extra cautious when getting through each level. Naturally, you would combine these 2 trophies in one run, but you could very easily complete the game without killing anybody, but alerting an enemy accidently along the way. This would still allow you to achieve the Clean Hands trophy, but would in turn, negate this one. It's just another example that emphasises the explanation as to how things can easily get messy when it comes to picking apart a methodology for how to attack this list in the best way.
In reality, you don't have to beat the game 3/4 times, and a tandem approach is the best way to go about this list, but if you're not prepared with a solid plan of attack, you will be playing through this game a small handful of times. One redeeming feature of this list is that fact that, despite having 4 difficulty settings ranging from casual to hard, you're never required to beat the game on any specific difficulty levels, and when you play this game on casual, it is very easy to bypass large sections of certain missions and complete levels extremely quickly, which is a Godsend given how many times you may have to revisit certain parts of this game.
Finally, the "Art Dealer" trophy, awarded for collecting all the Sokolov Paintings, is a standard, but highly missable, collectible trophy, and is the sole reason why I had to play through this game one final time, taking my total number of playthroughs to 4.
There are only 11 Sokolov paintings, and they're dotted around in certain missions where you simply have to grab them from their designated locations. The complication here comes from the final painting, available in mission 7 of the game. It is directly tied into 2 other trophies on this list, which, just like the High/Low chaos trophies mentioned at the top of the review, are branched into a choice where you can only unlock one or the other depending on which character you side with. These 2 characters are called Granny Rags and Slackjaw, and you have to complete 2 side missions for them prior to mission 7, where you encounter them both in a situation where you have to side with one over the other, which ultimately leads to the death of the character you choose to oppose.
This occurs in a room where the final Sokolov painting is seen, and is only available if you complete the missions for both characters and trigger the final decision. Due to the fact you can you only earn 1 of the 2 available trophies for siding with 1 character, I ended up trying to unlock the Slackjaw trophy on it's own, in the same playthrough as trying to obtain the Sokolov paintings, which meant I ignored the Granny Rags questline, and did not reach the final decision, which in turn, meant I could not obtain the painting in the final room. I had to go back over the game one last time, complete ALL side missions for BOTH characters, and then reach the final room in mission 7 to grab the painting.
Admittedly, this could have been prevented by better planning on my own part, though it is also important to note that I followed a guide which pointed out you didn't need to satisfy the requirements of both characters in order to reach the final Sokolov painting, so I won't take full responsibility here. It does also serve as the cherry on top to evidence a trophy list that pulls the player in every direction, and is ultimately difficult to dissect without resorting to the fact you might as well play the game 3/4 times just to be extra sure you can earn every trophy without having to worry about missing something accidentally.
For certain parts of this list which, on the flipside, are made a bit more user-friendly, you can use chapter select to go back through the game again and obtain trophies which are specific to certain chapters, rather than play through the game again and having to watch out for those specific segments of the story. With everything else out to catch you out, this is a welcome repreive when polishing off the list.
I will maintain the notion that the game itself isn't really that challenging. The absence of difficulty sensitive trophies means you can play through the game at whichever leisurely pace you choose to, and this is definitely something to take advantage of if you start to hit the third or fourth playthrough and just want it to be over quickly like I did. Even in scenarios where you have to be more creative, the game does a lenient job of guiding the player through the game, using a lot of visual clues and a hinting system to make sure you're never really stuck.
Even when you think you've planned well, there is always something that seems to trip you up, and the need for multiple playthroughs caused me a few issues. You also have to constantly be aware that you don't breach conditions of trophies when trying to complete the game in numerously different ways which could cost you. This isn't a hard game, but the trophy requirements add a new dimension to the whole package, which splits it straight down the middle.
Notable Trophies -
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| Resolution - You completed the game Clean Hands - You completed the game without killing anyone Ghost - You completed all missions after the prologue, alerting or killing no one but key targets Art Dealer - You collected all the Sokolov paintings |
Clean Hands
You completed the game without killing anyone
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