Dishonored 2 Demo Grants Free Access to Three Missions

Dishonored 2

Dishonored 2 was pretty well regarded when it launched back in 2016.

On Metacrtic, the PS4 and Xbox One versions are both sitting at an 88, while the PC version landed an 86IGN gave it a 9.3 out of 10 and nominated it for their 2016 Game of the Year (it lost to Overwatch). PC Gamer gave it a 93% and nominated it for their 2016 Game of the Year as well (it won).

Dishonored 2 - Game of the Year

Unfortunately, it didn’t find the market it was hoping for and it ended up selling less than expected at launch. Perhaps the low sales figures were a reaction to game critics being grumpy that Bethesda refused to provide early review copies, or maybe the holiday season was a bad launch window for this particular type of game.

I would suspect that the latter was definitely a factor — a factor that would have been compounded by the fact that the first quarter of 2017 was packed so full with critically acclaimed video games. The spring window — which saw incredible games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nier: Automata, and Horizon Zero Dawn — didn’t give Dishonored 2 any foothold for a post-launch sales boon.

But Bethesda isn’t giving up on the game quite yet. The publisher has recently launched a free trial of Dishonored 2, which gives PC, PS4, and Xbox One owners access to the game’s first three missions. The idea, I suspect, is to remind the gaming audience that this was a great game they shouldn’t have overlooked.

Dishonored 2

Research has shown that game demos actually reduce the number of sales instead of increasing them, so Bethesda’s taking a gamble here. Perhaps this is the publisher’s way of trying to recapture some of the goodwill they lost with their refusal to provide early review copies. After all, who doesn’t like getting stuff for free?

If you happened to pass this one up, you should definitely download the free demo to find out what Dishonored 2 is all about. It was one of last year’s most tragically overlooked games.

And yes, Bethesda has released a new trailer for this demo. You can check that out below.

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