Dishonored 2 is a first-person action-adventure stealth game. This is actually the sequel to the original Dishonored and features a brand new protagonist as a second playable character. The game is being developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and will be available on the PS4, the Xbox One and the PC. The game doesn’t have an official release date but it is expected in the first or second quarter of 2016.
It isn’t known just how long Dishonored 2 has been in development, a salute to the ability of both Arkane Studios and Bethesda to keep information from leaking out about the game until the last minute. The gaming public finally got whispers about the impending arrival during a rehearsal for Bethesda’s official E3 2015 press conference. The information about a Dishonored sequel was leaked thanks to a live stream of the rehearsal and was first noticed by YouTuber Matty Schroeder. Schroeder noticed a conversation about a presentation by Harvey Smith, co-director of the first Dishonored, during the live stream, which was being broadcast on Twitch. The conversation was taking place with a heavily French-accented voice on the stream later confirmed to belong to Ralph Colantonio, president of Arkane Studios.
The next day, at the official press conference for Bethesda, the company did reveal Dishonored 2 was coming in 2016 with the use of a trailer purported to be using in-game graphics and visuals. The game is being developed in Lyon, France and will reportedly be running on Bethesda’s new internal “Void” engine (based on id tech 6), as opposed to the previously used Unreal Engine 3 in Dishonored. The co-directors have stated that both Emily Kaldwin and Corvo Attano will be voiced in the upcoming sequel.
Dishonored 2 picks up the story 15 years after the Dunwall Plague. While peace had been established in the kingdom for some time, the Empire begins to slide into a sort of chaos after Empress Emily Kaldwin is suddenly and mysteriously dethroned by a figure described only as an ‘otherworldly usurper’, and becomes an outlaw to society. Emily is determined to claim her kingdom back and she follows in the footsteps of her father, Corvo Attano, in becoming a skilled assassin. Armed with the Outsider’s Mark, She intends to reclaim her title and restore the power to what had been lost. Emily is one of the main characters from the first game and in that game, her kidnapping plays a crucial role in the narrative and influences the actions of Corvo.
While Emily is focused on as being the main protagonist for this game, Corvo is also shown in the reveal trailer as putting on the iconic mask that he wore during his adventures in the first game. This time, the game is set in a different city from Dunwall. At least part of the game will take place in the darker setting of Karnaca. This is more of a coastal city than Dunwall and the setting will have a number of stories that revolve around this city of tyranny and tumult. In the reveal trailer, Emily is shown taking down a character that appears to be an important person in this other city.
While players can choose to take on the role of either Emily or Corvo, this is not like other dual-playable character games where the user can switch between one or the other as the story unfolds. Once the player has chosen either Emily or Corvo, they will have to play the entire game as that character. After playing the prologue as Emily, you will have to make the choice and from then on, the storyline is not one that branches out and includes the other character nearly as much as upcoming games like Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. When the player does pick the character they want to play with, they will have a number of different abilities and strengths depending on whether they are Corvo or Emily.
There are a couple of different approaches in order to play through the game. Users can either go through with a kind of blunt strength killing machine approach or play through the game without killing anyone, rather using stealth as the main weapon. The developers have said there is a “third way” but they haven’t explained if it is just a combination of the two or something entirely different that will only be revealed closer to release.
When choosing the character to play with, Corvo Attano will retain his supernatural powers from the original game, though there is room for more upgrades as well as it being more ‘deepened and extended’. A more enhanced upgrading system will also be in place, such as an upgrade skill tree. Emily will be endowed with the ability to earn new powers such as ‘Far Reach’ which allows the player to travel further distances without physical movement. This power is similar to Corvo’s ‘Blink’ power from the original game. Emily will also have something called ‘Shadow Walk’ which allows her to become a shadowy cloud that can move swiftly and change tangibility at will. The developers have also confirmed that the game will be more difficult and challenging than its predecessor, as well as sport a wider variety of options and settings to enhance the difficulty for the player and the game itself, such as being seen by guards while peering behind a wall for a long period of time.
The environment is said to be more immersive as well. In one interview the developers talked about little things like the Blood Flies. These nest in dead bodies and will become a nuisance if left unattended for a period of time.
Emily and Corvo are the two playable and main characters in the game. NPCs will make up a large part of the cities the game takes place in and will serve as both allies and enemies. The Otherworldly Usurper and his henchmen will feature heavily in the game. Names of most of the NPCs won’t be known until closer to or at launch.
Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game