Arkane Dishonored 2 - Emily and Corvo's Serkonan Vacation

[Siel]

 

[Morgoth]

First two videos are No-commentary:

 

[Siel]

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.pcgamer.com/dishonored-2-hands-on-exquisite-stealth-in-a-reorganizing-clockwork-mansion/

Dishonored 2 hands-on: exquisite stealth in a shifting clockwork mansion
Three hours in a level that echoes, but in some ways surpasses, the original's design.

The mission I’ve chosen to accept is a familiar one: infiltrate a mansion, kill one guy, save another. During the opening minutes of my time with Dishonored 2, as my ornate skyrail travels from the Aventa district up towards a cliffside mansion, I feel like I’ve been asked to do this too many times before. I’ve entered many mansions belonging to eccentric yet powerful men, and lately, I have opted for the path of least resistance.

The mansion belongs to Kirin Jindosh, “Grand Inventor of the Duke and creator of the Clockwork soldier.” Being responsible for these things, presumably, makes him bad. He’s holding Anton Sokolov captive, a familiar face from the first Dishonored who I’ve been sent to retrieve. As I mount the steps to the mansion and enter through the front door, I’m expecting a fairly rote combination of creeping, Blink teleporting, and panic-killing.

As Chris observed earlier this year, Dishonored 2 is very much a sequel rather than a reinvention, but it iterates and grows the formula in positive ways. In addition to the previous game’s hero Corvo Attano, you’re able to play as Emily Kaldwin, a child heir in the first game but now, 15 years later, Empress of the Isles. You’ll choose between one or the other per playthrough, but I was able to play both during my hands-on session. Aside from the powers they wield the characters feel more or less the same, though differences in the way the plot unfolds can probably be banked on. Overall, aside from slightly prettier graphics (Aventa looks like some steampunk paradise on the Adriatic coast), this sequel feels very much like the first game, whether you choose Emily or Corvo.

Two in one
Feeling weary of yet another mansion infiltration mission, I longed for a twist. When the twist arrived it did so with grandeur: flick a switch inside Jindosh’s mansion and a baffling array of cogs and panels transform the house into whole new arrangements. A Clockwork soldier roams the lobby, but I’m too distracted by the tactical possibilities emerging: not only are there two room configurations, but there is the in-between of rooms. Jindosh taunts me from the other side of a locked door, yabbering on about how ill-equipped I am to negotiate his fancy mansion. I just want to congratulate him on his pad.

I play as Emily first, and then Corvo. There are differences in their arsenal, though only three supernatural powers were unlocked for my session. Corvo had Windblast and Bend Time, familiar from the first game. Emily had Shadow Walk, which transforms her into a weird, undetectable smoke beast, and Domino, which links two human enemies together, meaning they’ll die (or be tranquilised) simultaneously. Corvo’s most useful power, Blink, is replicated by Emily with Far Reach, though her version functions more like a spectral grappling hook and is thus a bit more fun to use.

First I wanted to find Sokolov, so I used a variety of tactics familiar to anyone who played the first game: I crept around corners, Blinked between rafters and, though I had hoped not to, landed many explosive shotgun shells into the clockwork soldiers. (This, I’m told by a Bethesda rep, won’t be so easy in the final build. The version I played had its difficulty tweaked for a consumer show.)

The layout and mechanisms of the mansion can be used stealthily, and while its many layers and maintenance shafts were utterly confusing on my first playthrough, logic emerged on my third run. Arranged into three major floors, all of which connect to a large performance space in the centre, it’s an immaculate example of interconnected level design—and there is not a single air duct in sight. As one of the mansion’s butlers can be overheard saying, there are parts of this house that he will never know are there. After my third playthrough of this mission, there were at least two additional areas I wanted to pursue but didn’t—and I barely explored the third floor. This mansion doesn’t just sprawl outwards, up and down: it sprawls inside itself.

A more immersive sim
I note the absence of air ducts because, while a “clockwork mansion” is a fantastical, deliberately unreal environment, I didn’t encounter any design which could be described as overtly “unrealistic.” In other words, nothing appeared to exist just so that I, an assassin wanting to kill the owner of the premises, might have an easier or more enjoyable time of it. Stealth bugbears remain: simply moving between floors via elevator is enough to calm the nerves of alerted guards, even just seconds after they’ve copped heat from Emily’s pistol. I was impressed by the AI’s hearing, though: shuffling too quickly through an empty corridor will alert enemies in adjacent rooms.

Close attention to the environment reaps rewards, as always. Jindosh thought he had me stumped with an insta-kill electric barrier, until I took note of where its power lines lead. To deactivate the barrier, I needed to set a room transformation off, duck between the shifting panels into the innards of the mansion, and dispose of the power box.

Later in the performance space, I'm able to bypass a guard strewn elevator path by tucking the grand piano away, then slipping through the moving cracks into the decorative water feature below.

I eventually find Sokolov imprisoned in an assessment chamber, which is a grid of shapeshifting boxes manipulated by pressure plates. It’s a pretty straightforward puzzle, save the angry clockwork soldier roaming around inside. As Emily, I carved its stupid arms off with my sword, but later as Corvo, managed to evade it. Having reached the chamber via the most obvious routes, implementing Shadow Walk and wanton violence, I saw fit to stealth my way back out via the clockwork maintenance halls. Thankfully Blink and Far Reach both work when holding an unconscious Sokolov, but the halls are not safe, and I am not patient.

In keeping with the first game's rules, it’s possible to opt out of killing Jindosh. Despite my best efforts to solve a puzzle in his headquarters, I killed the mongrel three times instead. His large circular room was populated with clockwork soldiers, and I can only assume it’s possible to get Jindosh stuck in the firing line of these sentinels. For mine, I just shot him and fled. It worked wonders.

I really enjoyed the original Dishonored, but had found myself ambivalent towards its sequel: early signs pointed to more of the same, which in many ways, this is. But after three hours with a single mission—completable within ten minutes, if you’re quick—I’m newly in awe of Arkane as a studio capable of taking the immersive sim forward. The level design is some of the best I’ve encountered in a stealth-oriented game, with so many structural variables to tinker with, so many obscure passages and crawl spaces to follow, and barely an air duct in sight. I look forward to killing Jindosh another couple of times, before eventually, I guess, not killing him—somehow.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Such a perfect cosplay.

 

[Latelistener]

Such a perfect cosplay.

Someone is stealing food from Emily.

 

[Morgoth]

 

[Morgoth]

And do make it complete here's also the longer Emily version:

 

[Makabb]

Don't forget.... Arkane belongs to Bethesda now

 

[Rahdulan]

Don't forget.... Arkane belongs to Bethesda now

They could be under a crueler master's yoke. I'd argue Bethesda has been a better publisher than developer for a while now.

 

[Makabb]

Don't forget.... Arkane belongs to Bethesda now

They could be under a crueler master's yoke. I'd argue Bethesda has been a better publisher than developer for a while now.

and bethesda belongs to Zenimax


Zenimax sounds like ultra jews, something like Shekelmax

 

[Infinitron]

Don't forget.... Arkane belongs to Bethesda now

They bought them in 2010. Dishonored 1 was a Bethesda game. Go find something else to do Makabb

 

[toro]

Except sightseeing it looks boring as fuck.

It seems Bethesda has a hard on for Bioshock cause both Dishonored 2 and Prey are more like Bioshock than anything else.

They cannot copy Thief for once.

 

[Morgoth]

They don't wanna copy Thief?

 

[toro]

They don't wanna copy Thief?

It's pretty obvious by now. They want Dishonored to acquire the same cult status as Thief but they refuse to implement a shadow/light based stealth system. [link]

In Dishonored you can't destroy the majority of light sources. Some candelabra can be destroyed but the world will, generally, be lit.

"It was killing the visual to have very contrasting areas," added Christophe Carrier, "so we compromised. But I think it's kind of working now."

Yep. It's working alright.

 

[tormund]

Eh, Dishonored's environments kinda condition you into not paying any attention to lighting and not expecting shadows to play any role, given the aforementioned lack of contrast and relative brightens of all locales. Even if you are most dedicated Thief player who can't shake up the feeling of familiarity at first, you'll forget about it soon enough.

 

[Durandal]

Dishonored is pretty much to Thief what IGAvanias were to Classicvanias.
Taffers won't find much to taff, as most of the 'fun' a taffer could have in Dishonored is by (ab)using your abilities in the most creative way possible and imposing your own rules like challenge runs and so on.

 

[LESS T_T]

Official video:

One highly complex location, two objectives. How will you make your way through the Clockwork Mansion when Dishonored 2 launches on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on November 11?

In this developer playthrough, you’ll be able to see Emily Kaldwin’s lethal skills on full display as she artfully slices her way through everything in her path, before putting an end to Delilah’s Grand Inventor, Kirin Jindosh.

 

[Latelistener]

Spoiler

 

[Morgoth]

Low Chaos, the way it's meant to be played(tm).

 

[LESS T_T]

One highly complex location, two objectives. How will you make your way through the Clockwork Mansion when Dishonored 2 launches on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on November 11?

Playing as Emily Kaldwin in this developer playthrough, take a Shadow Walk on the quieter side with a stealthy, Low Chaos journey through the marvel of mad science that is the Clockwork Mansion. Watch as Emily uses her new tools and supernatural abilities to deftly evade the monstrous Clockwork Soldiers (or in one case, completely rewire it to make it complacent) and non-lethally take out the guards as she works to free Anton Sokolov and secure his passage out of the building, and thereby Delilah’s clutches.

 

[Excidium II]

That power of linking people looks even more stupid than blink.

 

[sexbad?]

The good idea would be to give it unexpected consequences, like giving enemies the same mental state. If one knows where you are, then they all do, for instance, or it gives them shared strength and special coordination when alerted. I haven't watched any more of the videos posted here lately, so I don't know how far the power goes, but I doubt it would be that cool.

 

[LESS T_T]

That would be too cool to be in a Bethesda game.

 

[Morgoth]

Ohh fuck @04:37 the guard took an arrow to the knee.