I fucking love Arkane's games.
I think their art style in game can be a mixed bag. Dishonored 1 is hampered by really old school Unreal Engine-esque cartoonish looking characters. Dishonored 1 can look beautiful, but was limited by the technology and engine, and so the drab and dreary style made sense to fit the themes of the game. I think Dishonored 2 is an incredible looking game, at times just stunningly beautiful, and I also think they had more variety in Dishonored 2, the setting allowed them to explore a much more colorful palette, and show contrasting architecture throughout it... Like, contrasting the Mediterranean 19th century style from the modern Palatial estate, to the futuristic mansion, etc. Dishonored 2 is one of my favorite visual games, and I love the world, and absolutely love the "sense of place" you feel where through most levels you can figure out exactly where you are in the world usually by finding a high point or a vista, or looking back on where you've been. It's something they just did masterfully. This was something missing from most of Dishonored 1, except for the bridge (even the Lighthouse level, you were shrowded in fog/storm so you couldn't see the rest of the world really), and I'm glad they expanded on it throughout the game. For instance, the Hound Pits (...?) pub is in an alcove that is intentionally hidden narrative wise, but also really hard to figure out where you are in relation to the other areas in the game, visually. In Dishonored 2 they fixed this by making the world crescent shaped and you can basically see every region you're going to or coming from in a really clever way, even levels that are tightly confined (like most of the Dust District), there's a handful of overlooks or spots you can peer out and see precisely where you came from, and then also of course the large dust chutes are visible from almost every other region in the game.
Death Loop doesn't wow me from what I've seen so far of either the characters or the setting. Particularly the grunts, I get that they might be going for ... They've had that trend in the Dishonored games to have sort of like stylistically faceless grunts (the overseers guards, the assassins, the masquerade party) in various parts of the game, which has an unsettling nature to it, I've don't love it, and this seems to really be going in that direction with all of the grunts. Basically faceless or masked NPCs, and I think it'll make sense narrative wise -- assuming these assassins/murderers are basically in a hostile world trying to escape and so they commandeer these reset-able/ground-hog-day like grunts who are basically faceless NPCs / automatons -- but ... it's not something I really like from what I've seen so far.
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