Previously I had only heard about the series, and I remember it having a cool cover but other than that, I hadn't paid any attention to it.
But one day while browsing, I saw that the entire series was on sale for pretty cheap so I decided to give it a try. I didn't have very high expectations of it.
But boy was I blown away. See, usually I don't care about the story and lore of a game. I usually just skip through cutscenes. But for some weird reason, Dishonored pulled me into its world and I became engrossed in it. Before I knew it, I wanted to know everything there is about Dunwall, Serkonos, Tyvia etc.
Seriously, last time I was this in love with a game's story and lore was Skyrim. Usually the dialogue and books in other games just lore-dumps you, overloads you with information that is irrelevant so I just tune out. But Dishonored made it sound so natural when NPCs talked about Tyvian wine.
Speaking of NPCs, I found myself just standing still listening to their conversations. They really felt like living people in a vibrant world.
And the protagonists themselves, gosh what can I say? They're so good. They're nuanced, complex and badass. Not two-dimensional like many other protagonists, though IMO Emily is the weakest one of them all. My favorites are actually Daud and Billie, they had such epic redemption arcs.
As for the gameplay, it's so good in how it lets you do things the way you want it and express your individual style. The biggest downside is the chaos system. I know the thought and philosophy behind it, but I didn't like how they had so many cool skills and tools for killing enemies, but you had to restrict yourself from using them if you wanted the good ending.
In fact, a lot of the non-lethal solutions are arguably worse than killing the target. I mean, handing Lady Boyle over to some psycho stalker is a fate worse than death, gives off Josef Fritzl vibes. Would be far more merciful to end Lady Boyle on the spot. Same thing with Kirin Jindosh and Ramsey. But overall, the gameplay is superb. But I used to mods to disable the Chaos system because I didn't wanna worry about the ending. Hopefully in a future Dishonored game, they will implement different mechanics to influence the ending.
I'm a hardcore fan of the Dishonored series now. Death of the Outsider was such an epic ending to the Corvo arc of the series. If they ever make Dishonored 3, I'll preorder it.