Year: 2012
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Daniel Licht
Number of tracks: 13

★★★★★

Faceless

This is the music review. Here you can find the game review of
Dishonored.

I have already written a review about Dishonored, so here is a brief summary: The game can be described as the descendant of Thief and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Makes sense, as the latter was also developed by Arkane Studios. That means large levels with lots to explore, discover and of course steal, plus a few cool abilities and spells.

The why is as simple and old-fashioned as jokes about the German railroad company Deutsche Bahn. We are wrongly accused of murder and we have to convince the world otherwise and restore our honor - hence the name. The gameplay therefore consists of sneaking through the levels, carefully avoiding guards and trying to prove our innocence. That would be option 1. Option 2 is that we plow our way through the levels and enemies, take out guards with swords and magic and prove our innocence by killing innocent people en masse. And of course there are various nuances in between. So it's all a question of taste.

Now one could assume that this versatility of approaches not only leads to a certain diversity in terms of playing, but also musically. To that I can say: no. The soundtrack by American composer Daniel Licht, who died in 2017, is atmospherically very well done for one aspect of the game: the sneaking. Sometimes a little spooky, a little suspenseful here and there, but always restrained, the deliberate echoing of sounds matches the careful navigation through the oppressive steampunk world, in which phosphorescent whale oil serves as a motor for electric fences and mechwalkers, people infested with spores stagger around zombie-like and unwary walkers are devoured by swarms of rats within seconds.

On the other hand, there is a glaring lack of action tracks or noteworthy melodies or motifs. What we hear instead are reduced sound compositions à la Fallout and Torchlight or Diablo. It quickly becomes clear that the music here is only a means to an end, and the end was to complete the hair-raising feeling of sneaking through dark and deserted corridors. This is perfectly okay, but it also makes the score uninteresting for music lovers. Ironically, the Thief-remake from 2014, for example, has many more tracks worth listening to, as at least the cutscenes there were accompanied by some action.

The only bright spot, however, is the track The Drunken Whaler. It is based on the Irish seafaring song Drunken Sailor and shows with the same melody and breathy text passages such as 'Slice his throat with a rusty cleaver' that horror can also be achieved with more than just single notes. And the somewhat poppy song from the credits, Honor for All, is also quite okay.

So let's just say: Dishonored is a good sneaking game that creates an eerie and oppressive atmosphere, not least through the restrained use of music. Dishonored would be just as good an action game if it hadn't been designed primarily as a sneaking game thus omitting the audience exciting and thrilling music.  

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Dishonored	Daniel Licht	3
02	The Return	Daniel Licht	2
03	Empress Death	Daniel Licht	3
04	Ambients	Daniel Licht	3
05	Wrenhaven River	Daniel Licht	3
06	Streets Exploration	Daniel Licht	2
07	Aristocracy Exploration	Daniel Licht	1
08	The Drunken Whaler	Daniel Licht	4
09	Flooded Suspense	Daniel Licht	2
10	Regent Exploration	Daniel Licht	1
11	Regent Suspense	Daniel Licht	1
12	Honor for All (End Credits)	Jon Licht; Daniel Licht	4
13	The Drunken Whaler [Full Version]	Daniel Licht	4