I have the weirdest feelings towards Dishonored. They’ve changed pretty constantly since I’ve finished the game. The Low Chaos ending is an anticlimax that works thematically, but is probably the worst gameplay decision that could’ve possibly been made (other than having the Lord Regent hop in a mech suit to fight Corvo), and the story in general was pretty disappointing. However, the powers at Corvo’s disposal and the incredibly detailed world open for exploration made the game compelling in the absence of a great narrative.

(Note: This review is going to spoil a few things from Dishonored, but not The Knife of Dunwall. If you’ve completed Dishonored or don’t care about being spoiled, continue.)

Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall is a story-based expansion that does away with Corvo and gives the player control of Daud, the assassin that killed the Empress in the opening moments of the original game and was either spared or killed by you near the end of Dishonored. The story here takes place six months after Jessamine’s assassination, and follows Daud as he is given a single name by the mysterious Outsider: Delilah.

The mystery surrounding Delilah works very well as a motivator for the player, but for Daud it feels a little flimsy. I found it much more compelling than the driving force in the original game’s narrative, and as a result was more invested in Knife of Dunwall’s story, despite the fact that it also ends with something of an anticlimax.

See, The Knife of Dunwall is only the first half of Daud’s DLC escapades, with the next expansion, The Brigmore Witches, coming out later this year. As a result, this expansion sets up a lot of story elements that it doesn’t deliver on. The first level takes place at the Rothwild Slaughterhouse, which gives us a closer look at the whaling industry that was such a huge part of Dunwall. It introduces a worker strike which Daud can aid to pretty much no end, at least so far.

In regards to gameplay, Daud plays virtually identically to Corvo, but with a few totally new abilities and some alternations to existing ones. Due to the fact that Daud has an entire assassin clan at his disposal, one of his moves allows him to summon an assassin to dispatch enemies or act as a distraction. Due to Daud’s Arcane Bond, a few of his Outsider-granted abilities are available for their use.

The summoned assassins aren’t too helpful in nonlethal playthroughs, but Daud’s other major upgrade most certainly is. It takes the supremely useful and inventive Blink ability from the original game and applies Bend Time mechanics to it, meaning that as long as Daud stays perfectly still while he’s preparing Blink, time around him will stop. It can be used on the ground or in mid-air, and takes an ability that could practically break the original game and takes it to eleven.

Daud’s physical gadgets have been changed, too. He doesn’t have access to the spring razor, but he can use an arc mine and a stun mine, which are lethal and nonlethal options, respectively. The arc mine acts identically to the larger Arc Pylons that the City Watch use throughout Dunwall, and it’s quite satisfying to set one up, swipe your sword at a wall, and watch as enemies walk directly into your trap and are summarily fried.

Daud can also utilize Chokedust, which is essentially a smoke grenade, to obscure the vision of his enemies and even temporarily stun them. It’s incredibly useful in areas with very little opportunity to sneak above your enemies when you’re forced to maneuver on the ground, which happens fairly frequently.

In fact, the general enemy layout and level design is a bit more devilish in The Knife of Dunwall than in Dishonored. The only new enemy type, the Butchers, have high damage weapons from both long and short range, and things get unpleasant whenever they spot you. Guard patrol patterns tend to overlap more often, which means taking the predator route can get pretty challenging.

Other than those things, and the absence of some of Corvo’s more unique powers like Windblast, Possession, and Devouring Swarm, Daud plays largely the same as the Lord Protector. This makes The Knife of Dunwall easy to jump into, even if you haven’t touched the base game in months. The level design (excluding the final level, which is pulled straight from Dishonored with a few tweaks), however, proves fresh and unique enough that The Knife of Dunwall doesn’t just feel like a throw-away.

When I finished Dishonored, I was incredibly anxious for more. What more actually meant to me was never really clear; I don’t think I ever needed more content, rather a fitting conclusion to Corvo’s story. The Knife of Dunwall hasn’t given me that closure necessarily, but the content it provides actually has made me look more positively on Dishonored as a whole. I don’t know when my opinion on this game will finally solidify, but I will say that The Knife of Dunwall is a quality addition to a quality game.