Dishonored 2 Gameplay, Story Details
By Kyle Sledge 05 November 2015
One of E3 2015’s best video game trailers came from Dishonored 2, Bethesda’s and Arkane Studios’ forthcoming sequel to the popular stealth-action title released a few years ago in October of 2012. With Dishonored 2‘s combination of supernatural elements, Victorian-inspired weaponry and aesthetics, and fast, furtive movement, the gamers who failed to catch Corvo’s and Emily’s story of intrigue and deceit the first time around could be in for a big surprise once the title becomes available.
Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith, both co-directors of Dishonored 2, have previously discussed Emily and Corvo, and the power they wield, comparing the dual-protagonists’ strengths and weaknesses, but now Smith goes a bit more in-depth by pulling back the curtain a shade with an analysis of the game’s cinematic trailer. As a matter of fact, the co-director picks apart the footage from beginning to end, revealing some new story and gameplay details.
Regarding all of the magical abilities Emily Kaldwin pulls off in the video, Smith assures fans that “everything Emily does in this trailer, you can do in the game.” Plus, it’s been promised that the entire environment explored in the footage will be an actual setting for a mission in Dishonored 2 called “The Clockwork Mansion”.
The co-director continues to elaborate on story particulars, as he also explains that the man sitting behind the desk in the announcement trailer is Kirin Jindosh, the grand inventor for Serkonos – that is, the southernmost island of the Empire of the Isles in the game – who is an underling for the duke. Not to mention, Smith makes note of the portrait of Anton Sokolov behind Jindosh’s desk. Sokolov was once the Head of the Academy of Natural Philosophy and Royal Physician to the Empress and later the Lord Regent after the Empress’ assassination, and as Smith elaborates, “Jindosh was actually one of Sokolov’s students”.
The robot-like enemies portrayed in the video are expounded upon meticulously, as Smith calls them “clockwork soldiers”. Concerning their origins, attributes, and role in Dishonored 2, the co-director elucidates:
“Jindosh Technologies, they made this clockwork soldier and it’s powered by imported whale oil. . . . They’re sold to aristocrats and high-value friends of the duke to protect their holdings. In the trailer, you see a version with ceramic parts. The game has a later model of that . . . a [wooden] bird-like head . . . It’s taller, and the wooden pieces can be broken off leaving this, like, pure metal, H.G. Wells-looking, creepy robot. . . .They have a face in the back, and a face in the front, so the face in the back gives them a backward-facing view-cone, which makes stealth harder.”
Save for Harvey Smith’s run down of Dishonored 2‘s reveal trailer, a lot of specifics about the impending title are still scarce. With that in mind, fans who missed out on the first installment of the game series should do themselves a favor and get their hands on a copy of the impeccably-crafted Dishonored: Definitive Edition as soon as possible in order to get a better idea of what’s to come.
Dishonored 2 is being developed for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One platforms, and is set to release some time in 2016.
Source: IGN
