Dishonored 2 Devs Discuss New Power Combinations
By Kyle Sledge 28 May 2016
The developers at Arkane Studios discuss some of the power combinations in players’ skill sets for use in the forthcoming action-adventure title Dishonored 2.
In the precursor to Dishonored 2, players were given a plethora of extraordinary supernatural abilities to wield and chain together in combat, but it seems as if the forthcoming title in the stealth-action franchise is taking the concept to a whole new level. According to an article covering Dishonored 2 in the June 3 issue of Official Xbox Magazine, the game’s director, Harvey Smith, stated that testers have gone on to surprise Arkane Studios by creating unforeseen power combinations of the dual protagonists Emily Kaldwin and Corvo Attano in ways the developer had never even imagined.
Giving an example of what is new in terms of combat features, Smith used a couple of Emily’s powers to describe how a player linked two powers together to make a single assassination of multiple targets look effortless. In order to do so, the character’s ability of Domino, which lets gamers link enemies together to polish them all off with just one kill, was paired with Doppleganger, which allows players to create a copy of themselves as a distraction or as bait. In combining the two, Emily linked several enemies to the doppleganger and then killed it to take out everyone in one fell swoop.
As far as the Dishonored 2 director was concerned, not only was he surprised, but he also seemed excited at the possibility of more unanticipated gameplay details cropping up during testing. Regarding the instance of Emily nonchalantly taking out her own doppleganger to eliminate all of the bad guys, Smith said:
“She just assassinates it. And all three of the other guys drop. We had no idea this was possible, we never planned this. It’s just one of those systemic game mechanic interactions that clever, creative players figure out as they start to experiment.”
Interestingly enough, the tester’s combination of Domino and Doppleganger wasn’t the only time that the company was taken aback by the discovery of a fresh way for players to assassinate enemies in the game. As a matter of fact, Arkane Studios will embrace such finds, for as Dishonored 2‘s lead designer Dinga Bakaba explained, whenever it occurs, “We absolutely love it.” To illustrate his point, Bakaba detailed an innovative way one developer approached the game, saying:
“Someone at Arkane came to me a while back with a question: ‘Should spring razormines be triggered by your doppelganger?’ Usually I don’t answer those questions except to say, ‘Why do you ask?’ And he said, ‘I summoned my doppelganger and I tried to place a mine nearby because I wanted to do a trap, but I actually put the mine on the doppelganger.’ So when the enemy arrives they run after her and–bam! When they catch up, they explode in gibs.”
Taking all of this into consideration, it seems as if Arkane Studios is experimenting as much as possible in order to give gamers a unique stealth-action experience with Dishonored 2 upon its release date this fall. Plus, since the title won’t be available until several months from now, it’s safe to say that developers will build on all of the details revealed thus far to offer up some meaty surprises at this year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo, which supports the reasoning behind Dishonored 2 being one of the most anticipated games at E3 2016.
Dishonored 2 is set to release on November 11, 2016 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: Official Xbox Magazine (via GamesRadar)
