When Dishonored 2 releases on November 11, players will have to immediately decide if they’re going to play as the returning hero from Dishonored, Corvo Attano, or his now-grown-up-royal-lovechild Emily Kaldwin. It’s a permanent decision says Harvey Smith, Co-Creative Director at Arkane Studios and a driving force behind the original game, because Dishonored 2 won’t split the story into pieces across two heroes. It’s a path (or set of paths) for each.
“You play the same missions whether you play as Corvo or Emily. You pick a character at the start and you stick with them throughout. You invest in your powers and bone charms and upgrades. Your playstyle reflects that character and you go from beginning to end like that. It’s the same missions but they have their own perspectives on it” he told iDigitalTimes.
Smith said Dishonored 2 takes advantage of its “fucking amazing” voice actors ( Stephen Russell and Erica Luttrell ) to give players an added incentive to do multiple playthroughs. This time players will have a main character who is fully voice acted, whether they play Corvo or Emily. And the voice lines for them are based on what they see and do, not just the chaos level.
“If you cobble together the path from beginning to end, Corvo and Emily, you went this way and I went that way. You're playing high chaos I'm playing low chaos. You stopped to check some things out and I didn't bother to inspect them. You non-lethal that guy I killed,” Smith said. “No two players will ever see the same script, in that sense.”
The script and story both revolve around themes of mystery and discovery. Learning about the world leads to a richer experience for your character but what drives you to look for stuff isn’t points or loot. Its information, and Smith hopes this time players find a better balance between the known and unknown.
“We asked as many questions as we answered [in Dishonored ], and that was a strength. But it also drove people nuts,” he said. “So, for relief, we answer some of these questions this time. We start off the game with Emily and Corvo referring to each other as father/daughter. Everybody around them knows.”
He explained that Dishonored 2 will still leave plenty of things ambiguous. If there isn’t a good reason to say what exactly happened in the past then it won’t be there. There will sometimes be no answers or vague answers or very specific answers.
“We try to leave some things unknown,” he said. “For everything we answer we ask a new question, a new mystery. And some of them we answer if you dig deeper and some of them we leave up to you. That's powerful.”
Smith said small bits of lore, like the differences between “royal this or the grand that,” fuel the sense of discovery for players. So does the usual exploration of the skill trees as players begin to learn the value of abilities and how certain skills compliment each other. The balance to this constant discovery is layers of mystery in the stories around you.
“There’s mystery everywhere. You can dive deeper and understand it or you don't have to and it teases you,” he said.
When they decide the story goes deep, it goes really deep. Smith mentioned a moment from Dishonored that was likely overlooked or forgotten by many players. At a certain point, players can come across a note from a woman who meets The Outsider in her dreams. She gets accused of heresy and lives her life on the run. Players can also find a note from a young man, the woman’s son, who is spending his life looking for shrines to The Outsider.
“Ninety-nine percent of players would never connect the two notes, but we have certain players who are deeply immersed in our fantasy world. And that feels great,” he said. “You really want to make something that’s like lightning in a bottle and reach that player.”
Dishonored 2 is scheduled for release on Xbox One, PS4 and PC on November 11, 2016.
