Sneaky Bastards

EDITOR

ISSUE ONE: DISHONORED

Daniel Hindes [email protected] ART DIRECTOR

Richie Hull [email protected] ILLUSTRATORS

AJ Hateley www.gametee.co.uk Dona Vajgand www.dona-v.com CONTRIBUTORS

AJ Hateley, Luke Thompson, Jill Scharr, Justin Keverne, Nels Anderson, The Drunken Whaler CONTACT US

[email protected] www.sneakybastards.net Twitter @sneaky_bastards

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elcome to Issue One of Sneaky Bastards: The Stealth Gaming Magazine. It’s been a strange, winding journey to get here. In fact, it’s been completely backwards. When we launched the Sneaky Bastards website in 2011, we had no idea that a print edition would be something we’d be working toward. It’s usually the magazines that turn into websites. What the hell is wrong with us? We haven’t quite figured that out. But we know that we adore print media. There is a weight and significance to its existence; something no number of posts online can replicate. When a game like Arkane Studios’ Dishonored is released, we feel it deserves that full weight and

significance, which only an interpretation through print media can provide. So, our debut issue is a little bit of everything about this one game. Critique, analysis, exploration, commentary, postmortem. It is a compendium for things spawned by the release of Dishonored; a compilation of long-form analytical and artistic endeavours that need to exist in this medium. It is our response to the game that has, amongst other things, brought the legacy of Looking Glass Studios to the masses. We hope you enjoy it. Daniel Hindes Editor @dhindes

Facebook www.facebook.com/sneakybastards Steam Community www.steamcommunity.com/groups/sneakybastards

DISTRIBUTION

HP MagCloud www.magcloud.com WITH Harvey SPECIAL THANKS Raphael Colantonio, Smith, Seth Shain, Ricardo Bare, Julien Roby, Viktor Antonov, Sébastien Mitton and the rest of the team at Arkane Studios for their contributions to the magazine and to stealth gaming. Bec Waddy, Alistair Hatch, Nick Heller and everyone at Bethesda for supporting a ludicrously niche and independent outfit like ourselves. The talented artists whose work is featured throughout this publication. James Snook, for some of the stellar screenshots featured throughout this issue. www.flickr.com/photos/jim2point0 And our generous Kickstarter backers, without whom this would not be possible: Alex Dickie, Alex Dingley, Alex Walker, Andrew, Andy Durdin, Anthony Burch, Antonio Merker, Arkane Studios, Astra Navén, Bastien, Bredan, Chickenlordable, Chris, Chris Lewis, Christiaan Moleman, Christina Nguyen, Christoph Jätz, Christophe Carrier, Christopher Corneschi, Christopher Duncan, Connary Fagen, Daniel Wilks, David Hawes, David Pittman, deviousboomer, DivineGod, djcreedy, Dominik Johann, Dominus, Donyea Cooley-White, DoubleTake, Douglas Yee, Edmond Tran, Evan Lahti, f_zul, FailX, Fiona Hartmann, Firky, Frank Maisano, Frank van Gemeren, Harvey Smith, hawkeye, Ian Downing, J. Kyle Pittman, Jack Mariani, Jacob Sawyer, James Bywater, James Riggall, Jamie Galea, Jason Imms, Johann Jason Reimche, Jennifer Hoang, Carroll, Joe Martin, Leonhartsberger, JosephJessie Thompson, Jurie Horneman, Keeper_Riff, Kent O. Hudson, Klutar, Leigh Harris, Lim Hwee Key, Magos, Maria Francesca Roca, Mark O’Beirne, Mark Skews, Mark Stevens, Marko Koskinen, Matej Kac, Maxim Samoylenko, Michael Vane, Michael Zenke, Mike Brown, Naffsidno, Nathan Cocks, Nathan Curell, Nathaniel Radband, Nels Anderson, netsabes, Nick Hahneman, Nick Young, Patrick Redding, Peter Molina, Phil Hindes, Philipp Gurevich, Philip Staffetius, Randeep, Rob Caporetto, Romain Barrilliot, Romain Gaullier, Ryan Hunt, Ryan Mattson, Sam Crisp, Sean Duncan, Sean Welsh, Sebastian Hage, Seth Louis, Shaun Prescott, Snidesworth, Somnambulist, Soukeara Anthony Say, Stephen Farley, Stevan Hird, Steve Burnett, Steve Key, t3nman, Takayuki, Terrence Jarrad, Thirith, Thomas, Tim Lince, Tim Stellmach, Trevor Boyson, Tristan Jensen, vEKo, William Sweetman

CONTENTS 04. ORIGIN STORY

78. SYSTEM SHOCKERS

The first ideas and designs behind the inception of Dishonored

A sneaky conversation with Arkane Studios Systems Designer, Seth Shain

06. A TALE OF TWO CITIES

84. BLUE STREAKS

The historical and literary influences behind Dunwall

Inside the world of competitive Dishonored speedrunning

12. BUT, ALAS, SHE IS A WOMAN

88. THE GALLERY

Sex, Power and High Society in Dunwall

A curated collection of traditional and digital fan artworks

16. DECONSTRUCTING DUNWALL

A blow-by-blow design analysis of both Corvo’s and Daud’s campaigns 64. THE ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE

94. THE INSIDERS

Looking back at Dunwall withCo-creative Directors Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith

Arkane Studios Designer Ricardo Bare on creating Daud’s DLC 66. THE STEALTH REVIEW

Critiquing Dishonored’s supernatural stealth gameplay

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THE NINJA PITCH The srcinal designs and concepts that took Dishonored from feudal Japan to the steampunk city of Dunwall

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ishonored’s genesis began with what Co-creative Directors Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith called “The Ninja Pitch”. Set in feudal Japan, it adhered to the core tenets Arkane’s previous games explored. Specifically: immersive first-person action with a suite of magical powers. As the team continued exploring the idea, the setting shifted to Victorian London, and the ninja became a supernatural assassin. Viktor Antonov, the director of Dishonored’s visual design, continued to push the setting closer and closer to the present, so that a very traditional London became the fantasy setting of Dunwall,

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with steampunk technology bolting itself over historic architecture. Here, then, are some of the srcinal concept pieces from throughout Dishonored’s design, before it finally found its identity.

Viktor Antonov, director of Dishonored’s visual design, continued to push the setting closer and closer to the present

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A.J. Hateley & Luke Thompson 6

black sea heaves against the rock shores of a world where pestilence creeps through Dunwall. Above, on a carved iron bridge, two the streets and the alleyways of a city men hurl bag after bag over the rusting handrails, loudly singing a sea-shanty as seeped in political turmoil the bags crash into the waves. These men are the guards of this city. These bags, the bodies of young men and women ravaged by plague. Welcome to Dishonored, a world where pestilence creeps through the streets and the alleyways of a city port city of Dunwall; a white stone walled The 1665 visitation of plague would seeped in political turmoil. A place where capital city on an estuary mouth. Originally, prove the most deadly the city had ever only the rich and the powerful have any hope of surviving, where the lives and deaths of whales are somehow intimately woven with those of men, and where masquerade parties fill the night with song and colour, even as the city weeps. LONDON’S BURNING Dishonored takes place in the fictional

Dishonored was set to take place in the city of London during the plague outbreak of 1665, the year that preceded the Great Fire of London where more than half the city was destroyed by fire. Before the outbreak of bubonic plague in London, a strange, pale comet hung in the sky, and citizens were haunted by visions of unburied bodies and deadcarts in the night sky.

weathered; corpses littered the streets, plague victims were locked in their households, and from the drains and sewers of the city, vast swarms of rats came pouring, riddled with the fleas that carried the deadly contagion. Ships were anchored in the Thames with all hands dead aboard, and watermen died lying in the holds of their boats. Upon playing 7

in the case of historical London. In Dunwall, there is no nursing of the afflicted, no possibility of escape, and no removal of the dead from the sealed houses. In listing the measures taken to keep the plague victims locked inside, Dafoe writes; “Every house visited by plague be marked with a red cross of a foot long in the middle of the door, evident to be seen, and with the usual printed words, that is to say, ‘Lord, have mercy upon us.’” In Dunwall, each barricaded building is similarly marked. Those inside are doomed to the disease. For the player, the mark hints at the possibility of encountering one of the still living victims of the pestilence, the pitiful weepers. WATERY GRAVES

Dishonored, it is difficult to imagine that the scenes of disease and horror that the player witnesses could be anything more than fiction. But this is not the case. From the treatment of plague victims, to the callous attitudes of the guardsmen, Dunwall is an accurate, factually-informed representation of a city visited by plague. A Journal of the Plague Year, by Daniel Defoe, chronicles London in 1665 during the outbreak of the plague. The diary provides an account of the measures taken by the authorities to stop the spread of the disease. This began with the robust quarantining of victims stricken with illness. This method of the ‘shutting up’

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of houses had been first undertaken in 1603. Afflicted citizens were locked inside their own houses for a period of twenty eight days. City watchmen were stationed outside the victim’s houses at all hours, with orders to stop anyone who tried to get out, to attend to the requests of those that still lived, and to summon the tolling deadcarts if they were required. If no sign of sickness had been observed for four weeks, the household was lawfully reopened. In Dishonored, similar action is taken to isolate those suffering from plague, yet there is a brutality and finality to the large steel braces the player sees positioned against doors and windows that is absent

It is unclear what manner of plague afflicts Dunwall. In-game writings suggest that Pandyssian rats are the carriers of plague, bringing the disease from oversea. The plague is unlikely to be bubonic as there is no characteristic large-scale die off of rats, as observed in London, who are as equally vulnerable as humans to this type of plague and are unable to survive it. The weepers, however, present a clue. Their painful coughing points to a likely diagnosis of pneumonic plague, transmitted via infected sputum and inhalation, and requiring no flea or rat vector for the contagion to spread. Once contracted, it is always lethal. This is the type of plague associated with the children’s rhyme, Ring-a-ring-a-Roses, in

which children dance around in a circle before shouting the words; “a-tishoo, a-tishoo, we all fall down.” The bodies of those who died of the plague litter the streets and the alleyways of Dunwall. It is no coincidence that so many of these shrouded cadavers should appear in the city. Many of Dunwall’s dead are thrown into the sea, as in Naples in the outbreak of 1555 when twenty thousand corpses were disposed of in the same manner. During the London plague, over a fifth of the population succumbed to the disease; far too many to bury in the few graveyards that the city contained. As a result, the London authorities purchased every piece of spare area of land available within the city in order to dig out vast pits in which the bodies could be hurled in and contained. A resident of Whitechapel or Knightsbridge could look out of their windows and see the dead being thrown

into one of the many pits dug in their part of central London. Young or old, rich or poor, all were thrown into these trenches with little or no ceremony. This added to the horror of such a fate, as in 1665, London was very much a Christian city. The plague pits were all excavated on unconsecrated ground. No priest had blessed those thrown into the pits and the unsanctified land often reverted to its srcinal purpose shortly after the trench was filled. The authorities made it illegal to visit these places, partly due to the risk of infection, and partly due to the regularity with which those taken with the final stages of the disease would throw themselves in, alive. The watchmen of Dishonored are notable for their lack of compassion towards the victims of the plague. They can often be overheard talking about districts sealed off by the authorities, laughing at the poor individuals trapped within, and upon contact with anyone suffering from the disease, their first reaction is to draw their swords and ensure that the afflicted cannot live long enough to infect them. This representation of those who were positioned to

monitor and deal with people sick of the plague is drawn from historical accounts. Though many of those charged with maintenance of the pits were sympathetic toward the grieving, they were sometimes foul-mouthed and violent, taking pleasure in the fear they inspired in the Londoners that passed them. In some cases, the buriers were not fitly qualified for their role and would strip the bodies of recently deceased young women, bearing them to horrified onlookers. In one instance, a man was reported for holding up the corpse of a dead infant and shouting out the price for its meat, in a ghoulish imitation of a butcher. Visually, Dunwall also resembles plague London, with every corner and post being used to display papers and bills advertising cures for the afflicted. Dafoe recounts seeing posters in every part of London, promising “’Infallible preventive pills against the plague,’ ‘Never Failing Preservatives Against the Infection’ and ‘Sovereign cordials against the corruption of the air.’” Sadly for the citizens of the real city, these bills were quackery and nonsense. VIGOROUS CONSTITUTION

In Dishonored’s prologue, Corvo returns to Dunwall after fruitlessly seeking assistance from Gristol’s other cities. The Empress reveals the content of Corvo’s letter from these other districts; the capital is to be blockaded and isolated and there is no be no assistance. Historically, the walled

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of Dishonored and how the Outsider is depicted there. In addition to The Outsider, Camus was also famous for his great existentialist work, The Plague (1947). Set in the town of Oran, a port town on the coast of Algeria, the novel tells of the arrival of the Bubonic plague to the town, and how the people tried to fight against it. Like Dishonored, the plague comes with the rats. As Doctor Rieux, the novel’s narrator returns home before the plague, he enters his apartment block to find, “The stairway from the cellar to the attic strewn with dead rats, ten or a dozen of them.” Yet this is only the start of the trouble.

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cities of Britain would similarly defend themselves if plague had been detected in the port capital, and all travellers from London would require a certificate of health in order to travel. Often, those taking flight from the city would be unwelcome in inns and villages despite this, and death from infection that had gone undetected was common on the road. Rural villagers, knowing the disease well, would stay upwind of bodies and drag them into deep graves with long hooked poles. International aid was never sought, as it was suspected that foreign citizens and powers had carried or even deliberately caused the disease. It is interesting to note the disparity

occupants had fallen silent. They counted those dead of plague and of other diseases as best as they could ascertain and reported the numbers to the parish for tallying in the often inaccurate and falsified bills of mortality.

between citizens assigned to count the dead in historical London, and those with the same task in Dunwall. Those in Dunwall are recruited from among the officers of the City Watch, and afforded immunity from the rat plague by their ration of elixir. However, in London, these dead counters, known as examiners, would be responsible for observing sickness in a household and for overseeing the burying of bodies in the pits. The examiners, usually men appointed by the alderman of the parish, would serve for a period of two months. The role was not voluntary and any man refusing this dangerous task, Dafoe notes, would be “committed to prison until they shall conform accordingly.” In many cases, the examiner would not live to serve his full term. Inspecting the dying, the examiner would be at terrible risk of contracting the plague via infected fleas jumped from the cooling body in search of a new host. The same disease that killed the sufferer would in turn kill the flea, by blocking its digestive tract and effectively starving it to death. Desperately hungry, the parasite would bite new hosts in a frenzy. Equally at risk were the women known as searchers, tasked with being the first to enter quarantined houses in which the

Mersault as he moves from his mother’s funeral through to murdering a man and standing trial for his crime. While the plot is in no way comparable to Dishonored, Mersault and the Outsider are similar in how they view the world. Both stand at the sidelines, observing the actions of others in a detached, objective manner. Both see the underlying absurdity of humanity, treating serious events with an aloofness that is often callous. Camus has been quoted as saying that The Outsider’s protagonist was designed to be “the only Christ we deserve”, and this religious feeling carries over directly into the world

STRANGER DANGER

Beyond historical contexts, Dishonored is a game rich with literary allusion. The Outsider, a character that provides the player with magical abilities, existing in an almost dream-like plane of existence, is a reference to a novel of the same name by the writer and philosopher, Albert Camus. The novel, The Outsider, or, L’Etranger (1942), follows the character

Within rats come pouringdays, out ofthousands the town’of s sewers to lie upon the sun-baked streets retching and convulsing with the effects of the plague. Unlike the Dunwall authorities, those in charge of Oran attempt to remove the rats before infection can begin. Rat catchers haul bags of dead rats into trucks taking them to the town incinerator, and when the rat problem increases, poison gas is pumped into the sewer system to kill what rats remain beneath. One of the main measures taken in the novel, as in London in 1665 and in the city of Dunwall, is to close off the routes into and out of the cities. The first reaction of any populous when faced with an outbreak of plague is to flee. This presents numerous problems, the most important being spread of contagion, as happened in Britain when afflicted individuals escaped London and headed north, causing epidemics in places such as Eyam, where once the plague struck the people forced quarantine on themselves, leaving only 400 people left alive. One of the characters in the novel has the desire to flee foremost in his mind, going as far as bargaining with criminals to get him over the city walls. He describes the willingness of the guards to shoot anyone who approaches the gates, and how the guards are more secure from the disease than those trapped inside in the small, stuffy houses of Oran, where flea bites are rampant. The guards of Dunwall are assisted in keeping the citizenry within the capital

Art: Alfred Khamidullin http://hieronymus7z.blogspot.com

with resources such as the wall of light; the lethal forcefield that electrocutes to death would-be escapees. Unlike the citizens of Dishonored, the people of Oran band together to help and comfort those who have been stricken with the plague. Doctors remain at bedsides, despite the risk to their own health. Men and women bring food and water to those victims who are bedridden and in the last stages of the disease. There is a marked difference with how the plague is dealt with in Oran, and how it is dealt with in Dunwall. The one core difference between the two cities, and the reason for such a different approach to those stricken withbythe disease, iscorrupt that Dunwall is overseen a powerful, authority, while Oran is free of such an influence and endeavours to help both rich and poor in any way possible. POE-FACED

Finally, the influence of Edgar Allen Poe can be found in one chapter of the game which draws Corvo to a masquerade ball being held at the Boyle Mansion in a rich part of Dunwall. At this party, the men and women all wear masks, which allows Corvo to mingle unnoticed. Similarities can be found in one of Poe’s works, The Masque of the Red Death. This short story tells of a masquerade ball being held in a lavish residence for the rich and the powerful of a city decimated by plague. The ball is held in rooms all of a different colour, with each having a different theme to excite the guests. This colour aspect carries over to the dresses worn by the Boyle sisters, as well as the lighting of each separate room, but this is not the only similarity between Dishonored and Poe’s story. During the end of the story, it becomes apparent that there is a man at the ball who should not be there. He wears the mask of the plague, and is seeking the Prince, mingling with the guests and remaining unnoticed as he works his way to the host of the ball, with the sole intent of killing him. He is described as being, “... tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat.” Such a description fits Corvo perfectly. The implication within the story is that the assassin who kills the prince is the embodiment of the plague he wished to avoid; this implication is also present in Dishonored. Corvo is the plague, but instead of afflicting the poor and the weak, he brings ruin to those who consider themselves above the disease; the rich, the powerful, and the masters of the plague-ridden city of Dunwall.

Art: Alteya http://alteya.deviantart.com

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BuT, aLaS, ShE Is a WoMaN Art: Lenka Simeckova http://lenkasimeckova.blogspot.com

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Jill Scharr

SeX, pOwEr aNd hIgH SoCiEtY In dUnWaLl

ishonored’s prologue is our first introduction to Dunwall, and the city is trying its hardest to make a good first impression. It’ s not just the enormous ships; the tall white walls; the gardens and soldiers; the painter capturing the scene. It’s the gender politics, too: a woman rules the empire, with her daughter as h eir. Empress Jessamine Kaldwin is presented as a ruler entirely in her own right, without a husband or consort or other male relative from which she derives power. And, both Jessamine and her d aughte r Emily wear pants, that long-standing symbol of feminist equality. If there’s anything that suggests a female ruler is in any way odd or unusual, it’s only what we, the players, bring from our imperfect world into Dunwall’s pseudo-Victorian utopia. “Look,” the game is saying, “Dunwall is a wonderful society. You, roleplaying as the Lord Protector of this empire, are proud of your home.” That’s what Dunwall, and t he architects at Arkane, want you to think. But Dishonored is a game about betrayal, and Dishonored is quick to betray the utopian vision it worked so hard to establish in its opening moments. Jessamine’s murde r is only t he first in a string of outrages, ugly truths, and unsettling reveals that come to define Dunwall and the player’s experience within it. In fact, Dishonored’s frequent illustrations of inequality and sexism have led some critics to label the game itself as sexist. But Dishonored doesn’t intend to be sexist – rather, it uses sexism as a means of illustrating Dunwall’s decline, of influencing the player’s moral choices on their journey. The Mary-Sue’s Becky Chambers writes, “Dishonored is fully aware of how the women within it are treated. It knows how unfair that treatment is. It knows how unhappy these women are... So,

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yes, the way this game treated women made me uncomfortable – which, I think, is exactly what it intended to do.” Just a s Jessamine’s position was used in the prologue to illustrate Dunwall’s apparent fairness and egalitarianism, through the rest of the game the treatment of women in all levels of Dunwall society is used to illustrate just how far from the Empress’s ideal the city truly is. At the Hound Pits Pub, Corvo is introduced to the Loyalist movement, a group purportedly loyal to th e Empress’s memory and to her daughter, Emily. The three Loyalist leaders come from the three institutions that dominate Dunwall: the military, the aristocracy, and the Overseers, or the authoritative pseudo-theology. All three are maledominated spaces, if not in theory then certainly in practice. Only the Heart gives us some indication that access to certain professions are indeed regulated by gender: when pointed at Loyalist member Callista Curnow, the Heart tells us that she had wanted to go to sea to become a whaler, “but, alas, she is a

with her, ultimately proving to be her downfall one way or another. All assassination targets have specialised kill animations; for Lady Boyle, Corvo d raws her close as if to embrace her before thrusting his sword into her stomach and then laying her body on the ground. The non-lethal elimination method is provided by an aristocrat named Lord Brisby who, purporting to be a lover of Lady Boyle’s, offers to “keep her safe with me... forever. ” As with all the other assassination targets, the nonlethal elimination is, if not worse than death, at least comparable. Just as Jessamine’s position is a narrative tool in the construction of the idyllic scene in the game’s opening, the subsequent treatment of Lady Boyle, Callista Curnow, and the many other unnamed women throughout the rest of Dunwall is a primary means of illustrating the corruption and chaos that Corvo is meant to be fighting against. The game communicates Dunwall’s corruption and cruelty – and motivates Corvo to take action against it – by locating it at or against women. Further,

Dishonored is quick to betray the utopian vision it worked so hard to establish IN ITS OPENING MOMENTS

woman.” Another woman, a courtesan at The Golden Cat, can be overheard saying she was once a clerk for a lord of parliament, but she lost her job when the man died of plague. In the aristocracy, it’s a bit more complex. Unlike the military and the Overseers, there are examples of female aristocrats, but they exercise their power in a manner quite different to their male counterparts. Aside from the Empress, Lady Boyle is the only female aristocrat shown to wield any sort of political power. She’s also th e only female assassination target and the only target whose exact identity is flexible: in any given playthrough of Dishonored, the game randomly selects which of three Ladies Boyle was directly complicit in the plot against the Empress. But whether it’s bold Esma, talented Lydia, or paranoid Waverly, her role in th e conspiracy is the same: the financial backer, and mistress, of the Lord Regent, Hiram Burrows. It’s a passive, supportive role; not an active one. And Lady Boyle’s sexuality-as-power dominates the entirety of t he player’s interaction

the desire to defend or protect women from male-dominated cruelty is one of the driving impetuses for completing missions and sidequests. Consider the House of Pleasure mission, which does its best to goad the player into violence. In the mission, players intending to go low-chaos or non-lethal will have to visit the Galvani residence, and en route it’s nearly impossible to avoid witnessing two guards harassing a woman over a vial of elixir. If you stay in hiding, the woman will be murdered, but if you try to save her, you’ll probably have to kill at least one of the guards and you’re all but certain to be noticed and ruin your chance at a ghost playthrough. Later, if you sneak past Custis Pendleton’s room, you’ll hear him threatening t o enact a violent roleplay scenario on his accompanying courtesan. Now, the player won’t ever witness Custis carrying through on his threats – in purely mechanical terms, it’s simply a script that executes when Corvo gets within a distance deter mined to be “earshot” – but in terms of story, this is the first 13

Art: Matvey Sapegin http://sapeginm92.deviantart.com

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and only time Custis gets to speak for himself, the only time he gets to make any sort of case about his worth as a character or his role as an agent of the chaos threatening to envelop Dunwall. And it’s not very good. How do we know that? Through his treatment of women. That’s Dishonored’s moral choice system in a nutshell: the game creates situations where Corvo’s intentions should be clear, his actions natural and uncontested, and then suddenly, brutally, and in a moment pushes you to reconsider – often, by presenting you with a situation involving gender disparity. It’s as though Arkane designed th e game using sexualised violence as a narrative tool to prod Corvo into retaliating, into breaking away from the pacifism required by a low chaos appraoch. But they also designed female characters to serve as a sort of moral compass to Corvo. We feel protective of Emily because she is, as the Heart says, “a pawn in the hands of men.” We learn to hate the Pendleton twins as we stalk the halls of the brothel, where they have become infamous. We pity Daud because he regrets killing the Empress; but perhaps we kill him anyway because the Heart protests “Am I meant to forgive this man for what he did?” The gender roles that these characters act out serve as vessels for the narrative that propels the game’s high-level ch oices. And just as women often serve as the catalyst for decision-making, one in particular also serves as your decisions’ tangible results: Emily Kaldwin, the would-be Empress. The main narrativecentric consequence of the game’s moral choices is their effect on Emily – not just whether she lives or dies, but how she will govern Dunwall for years to come. These effects are depicted in the epilogue, as narrated by the Outsider, but the pictures that Emily draws throughout the game provide a clue as to how Corvo is affecting her. In a low chaos playthrough, Emily perceives Corvo as a father figure, as illustrated by a picture of his smiling, unmasked face that she draws for him. In mid chaos or high chaos, however, Corvo becomes more and more disembodied. Her drawing depicts him as a faceless, featureless figure standing amidst bodies and blood. Corvo is not only more human, but also more masculine, to

is revealed to have powers similar to Corvo’s, and is caught taking revenge on her tormentors in one of the game’s most complicated, and gruesome, scenes. In that moment, the narratives of Dunwall society, sexism and injustice that have been consciously or unconsciously influencing Corvo’ s choices fall apart. Up until this point, Dishonored’s emotional poignancy came from the series of grim inequalities and injustices th at the Empress’s death revealed to Corvo. Granny Rags is the first person (other than Corvo himself) to challenge these uncovered hierarchies, and the result is a grisly, violent scene. Along with Daud, Granny Rags provides a grim example of what happens to those whom the Outsider “favours. ” Unlike Daud, however, Granny Rags exercised her power outside of societal norms, and as punishment it’s she, the tormented old lady, and not the regretful killer-forhire, that appears the most monstrous. Then there’s Corvo. The main character and vessel for player control, Corvo is a silent protagonist who fights for and at the behest of women against the evil men who seek to control them. Although obviously male, the first-person perspective gives us few reminders of his gender except for the occasional grunt or a vaguely masculine hand raised into the screen. Corvo is also an outsider, in more ways than one: aside from the mystic powers granted him by the godlike figure known as the Outsider, Corvo is a native of Serkonos, an island country that became part of the Empire. He is also, as his detractors are quick to point out, the first non-native of Dunwall to serve as Imperial Lord Protector. As with the women of the Empire, S erkonans are nominally equal to Gristol-born citizens, though as soon as Corvo comes under suspicion of murdering the Empress, he is wont to overhear insults and otherwise racist speculation about himself and his background. It’ s enough to suggest that, despite Corvo’s elevated title and social prestige, his race, as well as his known closeness with the Empress, precluded him from involvement in the many conspiracies he discovers through the course of the game. The ambiguity of Corvo’s social position- his status as ‘outsider’ – is, to a large degree, what enables him to choose how he will behave, thus giving

Emily when conducting a low chaos, less violent playthrough. Dunwall is a society of rigid sexual inequality, even if the upper echelons can pretend otherwise. The only exception is Granny Rags, a former aristocrat who, at first encounter, appears to be yet another female victim. By the end of the game, however, she

narrativeNo impetus the decisions game’s moral choices. mattertowhat we make, however, it’s difficult to find a role for Corvo that doesn’t reinforce the dichotomy of male as aggressor and female as vict im. “Low Chaos” doesn’t necessarily mean “good.” That’s how insidious, how well-crafted, and how devastating Dunwall society really is.

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DECONSTRUCTING DUNWALL As Corvo kills his way through Dishonored’s high society whilst Daud explores its darker fringes, JUSTIN KEVERNE keeps to the shadows and OFFERS level design analysis for the entire journey DISHONORED 18. Prison Break The Empress’ Death and the Escape from Coldridge 20. What’s Your Poison? The Office of High Overseer Campbell 24. Dunwall’s Disorderly House The Pendleton Twins and the House of Pleasure

36. Tower Fall The Assassination of the Lord Regent, Hiram Burrows 40. The Hangover Daud, The Whalers, and the Flooded District 42. Home, Sweet Home Traitors Unmasked at The Hound Pits Pub 46. Friday Night Lights The Loyalists and the Dichotomy of Kingsparrow Island

28. Art is Never Finished

52. Legal Action Barrister Arnold Timsh and the Legal District 53. The Surge Overseer Hume and the Home Invasion

THE BRIGMORE WITCHES 54. The Great Escape Lizzy Stride and the Return to Coldridge Prison 56. Gangs of Dunwall

Anton Sokolov and the Heights of Kalwin’s Bridge

THE KNIFE OF DUNWALL

Edgar Wakefield, Nurse Trimble and a Turf War

32. Death of the Party A Masquerade Ball with the Three Ladies Boyle

50. Butcher Bay Bundry Rothwild and the Slaughterhouse Row

60. The Death of Art Delilah Copperspoon and the horrors of Brigmore Manor

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Prison Break “Tomorrow’s execution will be restricted to personnel assigned to the event and approved dignitaries only.” arely minutes after returning

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from a journey across the breadth of the Empire to seek help with the rat plague that has afflicted its capital, Dunwall, Corvo Attano is forced to watch as the Empress is killed before him and her young daughter spirited away. Now six months later, the morning before his execution, as preparations are made in the courtyard beyond his cell window, Corvo is awoken by a guard who has brought a meal “from a friend”. The key that accompanies it at least indicates that whoever this friend is, they are keen to see Corvo remain al ive. Outside the claustrophobia of the cell, the ceiling of Coldridge prison rises into darkness, the walls disappearing into the black. Perspective tilts them towards each other, though you’ll never see them meet. The walls of Coldridge are articulated throughout by vertical beams and long windows leading your eyes upward, accentuating the height. Outside, the sky is a clear pastel blue, but you will need to look up a long way to see it; from eye level, there are just the walls and the inky darkness looming above the lights. It’s heavy, oppressive. What for now is

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foreboding also serves to foreshadow the

a context closer to that in which you will

change of dynamic that will occur once you escape Coldridge. The higher you climb, the darker it gets, and for the assassin Corvo is soon to be become, with that height comes concealment. After the largely narrative-focused prologue detailing your return to Dunwall Tower, Coldridge Prison is ostensibly a tutorial in the mechanics of stealth and combat. The basics of the latter were presented as you attempted to defend the Empress; here, they will be presented in

employ them in subsequent levels. Without the powers later granted you by The Outsider, remaining undetected during your escape from Coldridge requires an understanding of the importance of line of sight and the limited role of shadows when it comes to NPC perceptions. The last two rooms offer the opportunity to use the environment to gain an advantage. Though you can’t stay on the pipework indefinitely, this is a tactic that will prove vital going forward. Coldridge is a vertical space explored horizontally. There are points at which Corvo can use the verticality to his advantage, but only rarely does he rise above the level of the lights into the inky blackness.

Compartmentalised and gated by locked doors, Corvo’s path through Coldridge forms a circle around the Prison Yard and out to the river. The penultimate location is actually visible from the cell block you were deta ined with in.

With the door in pieces, the way ahead is over the edge and into the water below. A sewer inlet on the far bank offers protection and a way out. Dunwall Sewers extends this lesson in stealth offered by Coldridge Prison with an admonishment to be mindful of your surroundings and to make use of all available space. If you let them finish their conversation, the two City Watchmen you overhear upon entering offer a warning about the traps you will encounter ahead, while their own fate serves to explicitly highlight the dangers presented by the roving swarms of plague rats. Together, the rats, locked safes and tripwire-triggered traps found throughout the sewers reinforce the benefits of observation and movement, while an encounter with patrolling guards in the level’s conclusion highlights the benefit of height when it comes to remaining undetected. The path through Dunwall Sewer is a straight line from one outlet to another, though variations in height, and the benefits of such, are clear and frequent. By sliding under tripwires and dropping down onto unaware City Watchmen, the sewers are a lesson in the power offered by Corvo’s superior movement abilities. Together, Coldridge Prison and Dunwall Sewers are lessons in four of the tenants at the heart of Dishonored: line of sight, occlusion, positioning and movement.

your escape from Coldridge requires an understanding of the importance of line of sight and the limited role of shadows

Throughout Dunwall Sewer lies visible det ritus of a ci ty in a state of decay, from the huddled dead bodies that fed to the sewers to escape the purges on the streets only to die here in the gloom, to the apathetic way in which two City Watchmen abandon their assigned duties and throw plague corpses into the sewers for the rats.

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What’s Your Poison? “Half the city’s dead with the plague, the other half’s fighting over what’s left.”

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igh Overseer Thaddeus Campbell has, in his possession, a black book which Admiral Havelock believes contains the current location of the missing Emily Kaldwin. Campbell needs to be located within his offices off Holger Square, and the black book recovered. The City Watch has erected Walls of Light along Clavering Boulevard,

building on Clavering Boulevard. Your objective is in his Laboratory on the top floor, unlocking the doors to which will require securing a key from the first floor, a space patrolled by members of the City Watch acting as household guards. Dr Galvani’s house immediately brings to mind a style of level familiar from Thief: The Dark Project; the home of a wealthy member of Dunwall society whose interior

the three Thief games and is used just as frequently throughout Dishonored. With the necessary contagious specimens of rat viscera obtained, your next target is the Distillery itself to contaminate the Bottle Street Gang’s elixir sill. The Distillery is one of the few locations outside the Sewers whe re you will have to worry about environmental traps, with the Bottle Street Gang being

partitioning it and limiting access to Holger Square. If you are to confront Campbell, your first objective is to get past them. Able to vapourise anything not correctly attuned - the City Watch are required to charge themselves on a particular device before their shift - the Walls of Light are a plague precaution. The effect they have on rats can be seen if you approach the first one directly; the swarm that scurries toward the archway disappears in a flash of ash and electricity. Fortunately for Corvo, the Walls of Light can be bypassed through a variety of means. Once disabled, the safety of the now inert Wall of Light is further illustrated by a second rat swarm that takes this opportunity to escape down Clavering Boulevard. Away from Clavering and the few civilians milling about on the streets, there is an old woman on a second floor balcony throwing trash out onto the street and muttering to herself; Granny Rags. If you agree to help her with her little problems, you’ll need to enter the two secondary locations accessible from within the Distillery District. The first of these is the home of Doctor Galvani, a three storey

is split between the public and private spaces (colloquially the “above stairs” and “below stairs”, respectively). The former are the areas used primarily by the occupants of the household. The latter, back rooms and passageways, the domain of the servants, can be used to move through the building unobserved, intersecting with the public spaces only when necessary. This separation of space was common in

particularly fond of tripwires. The streets surrounding Clavering are sunk into the ground; the buildings tower above them, limiting vision. Climbing upwards on ventilation ducts, pipework and broken balconies, the rooftops offer a way past the Walls of Light at each end of Clavering, along with a few surprises of their own. Beyond Holger Square, two Overseers

It’s darker in the second part of the mission, Holger Square and beyond; the buildings taller, the lights less frequent, and the rain that little bit heavier.

can be overheard discussing the Heretic’s Brand. More information, along with the brand itself, can be found in the Interrogation Room at the far end of the accessible wing of the building. If you can render Campbell unconscious and bring him back to this room, you can use the brand on him, forcing him to be cast out of his order and achieving the tasking of removing him from his position without killing him. Though his removal is assured, this is not the last you will see of Thaddeus Campbell and, despite being strictly nonlethal, this fate is far from pleasant. The Office of the High Overseer and the buildings around it are dominated by rigid forms; vertical lines and right angles, blunt and formal. The Offices themselves form a broad U-shape around a central courtyard, which is cluttered with boxes and various other objects, all of which are placed no more than a Blink’s distance apart; separate enough that they lack the overly familiar dispersal pattern of a cover-based shooter , but close enough to be functionally useful. A ledge halfway up the building wall grants access to windows along the length of one wing and the central span . The other wing is sealed off, under repair. The symbolism of a religion suffering internal strife is repeated throughout. Entry to the Office of the High Overseer can also be achieved via the kennels in the basement, which are accessible either from one of the low windows around the edge of the courtyard or a sewer tunnel on the road outside. The exit from the kennels into the interior of the building is opposite the (not particularly well-hidden) secret chambers of High Overseer Campbell. If you earlier entered the rear-most of the basement windows overlooking the courtyard, you will have glimpsed two Overseers within as they attempted to find the same black book that you are seeking. If you disrupt Campbell’s plan to poison City Watch Captain Curnow, the two of them will make their way down here where Campbell will do the job personally if you choose not to intervene. The long interior hallways are patrolled by Overseers, though their vision isn’t as good as yours. Instead of being a risk, the clear sight lines available are to your benefit, granting you the precious moments necessary to devise and act upon a plan before you are spotted. The safest way to move down these corridors is from above. The metal shaded lights that illuminate the corridor are positioned almost exactly a Blink’s distance apart, and, combined with 21

the transom windows above each doorway, they enable you to explore the second storey of the Office of the Higher Overseer without ever touching the floor. Campbell meets Curnow in the room directly above the main doors. Two glasses are on the table; Campbell has poisoned Curnow’s and you have the opportunity, while Campbell struggles to find the correct key, to swap the poison into his own glass, split it between the two, or destroy both. If you choose to swap the poison, Campbell’s last words are to demand that Curnow tell th e Lord Regent to destroy the black book, and then die of plague himself. If Campbell dies here, the Overseers will suspect Curnow, sparking a fight between the City Watch and the zealots. If Curnow is to survive and escape, as his niece Callista asked of you, then he will need some help. The tensions between the City Watch and the Overseers is a recurring theme. Two members of the Watch guarding Clavering previously spoke of their disdain for the zealots; a disdain tinted with fear. The events that have brought Curnow to Campbell’s office are bizarre. Last night,

the backyard is rife with little moments of overheard conversation and snatched insights

It’s dark when Samuel drops you off at the edge of the Distillery District; dark and raining. High above on the remains of John Clavering Boulevard two members of the City Watch cast bodies into the barges tethered below with little regard for whether they are still alive or not.

Largely inaccessible from street level, a number of the buildings on Bloodox Way can be entered through their upper foors; within, you are greeted with little tableaux of decay and misery.

there was an incident involving the City Watch, Overseers, a prostitute, a lot of ale and a prank with a runaway chicken. The result of which was that the alley turned into a “sea of blood and teeth”. If you find the note in Campbell’s secret chambers, it reveals he was being blackmailed by one of the prostitutes who visited him there and instead of contacting her Madam as he had been advised to do, he instead instigated an audacious plan to kill her. It’s a plan that appears to have gone horribly awry, resulting in his desire to kill Captain Curnow. With Campbell dealt with, Samuel can be found waiting for you at the dock beyond the backyard, having been told to go there by the now-freed Teague

Martin. You can either leave via the front of the building – which is useful if it has been necessary to render Captain Curnow unconscious, as the bin you will need to leave him in to ensure he survives is outside the entrance to the backyard – or make your way to the main hall and leave via the door in the back corner. The Office of the High Overseer, and particularly the backyard, is rife with little moments of overheard conversation and snatched insights into the lives of the Overseers. Their venality, corruption and simply humanity is revealed in the discoveries you make. From the Overseer who stole a Bone Charm and hid with it in a bricked off back room until he starved, to

his compatriot dying of plague and being killed by his own companion, his willingness to go to his death markedly different depending on the Chaos level. This duality is common to Dishonored, the face of the nobility as presented to the world undercut by the reality of events behind the scenes; the private space serving to reveal the true nature hidden by the public façade. High Overseer Campbell takes the lessons of the first mission and reinforces them, providing in-context examples of exactly how useful Blink and your other powers are when it comes to remaining undetected. The admonition is clear: observation is its own reward, and when in doubt... look up. 23

Dunwall’s House Disorderly “The main thing is to make sure that little girl, Emily, comes back all safe and sure.” aving decoded Campbell’s Black Book, the Loyalists now know the location of Emily Kaldwin. She is being held by Custis and Morgan Pendleton, twins and elder brothers of Treavor Pendleton. The twins have to be removed, and Emily returned safely to the Hound Pits. It’s time to pay a visit to The Golden Cat bathhouse. Things have changed, the return visit to the Distillery District is the first example of the ways in which the streets of Dunwall can respond to your actions. The removal of High Overseer Campbell has led to increased security along Clavering Boulevard. The first Wall of Light has been sealed shut and a Watchtower now stands ahead of it. As you make your way towards the street level, it can be seen firing on Weepers fleeing along the stretch of Clavering that juts out into the Wrenhaven River. The arc of its searchlight moves faster than it seems, increasing the risk of a direct approach down Clavering. The back alleys around Bottle Street should be familiar and, whether you follow Samuel’s advice to talk to Slackjaw or not, the Distillery itself is now a Neutral Zone. The spatial layout of the Distillery hasn’t changed since your last visit, though you will no longer be sneaking across pipes and roof beams to reach Slackjaw’s office below the stairs. Slackjaw has an offer for you; a secondary

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means into the Golden Cat, provided you help him. This will require locating one of his men within the office of Dr Galvani. In an inversion of the distribution seen during

rooftops, or judicious use of Dark Vision, will allow you to observe them waiting in the apartments overlooking the road. Blink provides a means of gaining a height

the previous visit, the first floor is now deserted, the City Watch more concerned with the laboratory upstairs and the dead body sprawled across the table. Recover the recording from beside the body, return it to the Distillery and Slackjaw will have another offer for you. If you have not been keeping an eye on your surroundings, turning down Bloodox Way will instigate an attack by a trio of masked assassins. An approach from the

advantage, enabling you to deal with them individually in the manner you choose. The carts parked on the tram lines running the length of Clavering have shifted from their prior position. Closer now to the second Wall of Light, they can be used to close the distance without revealing yourself. This easier approach to the Wall of Light and its power source is counterbalanced by the presence of a second Watchtower beyond, overlooking

the approach to the Golden Cat. If you have recovered the information for Slackjaw the key he provided will open the first floor door of the abandoned hotel opposite the guard

For all its gaudy excess, the Golden Cat is, on closer inspection, more

station, ascending to the top floor – avoiding the swarms of rats – will allow you to enter the area around the Golden Cat from the rooftops opposite. Otherwise, your only option is the street level entrance. The Golden Cat is a gorgeous façade. The blatant asymmetry, the curved ironwork, everything about it demands to be looked at. Standing on the edge of the water, it is a stark contrast to the buildings surrounding it. For all its gaudy excess, the Golden Cat is, on closer inspection, more reserved than it initially appears. Despite its curves, the ironwork along the balconies and overhangs retains a formal symmetry; the building wants to be noticed, but only within the confines of what is acceptable within Dunwall society. Compared to the Office of the High Overseer, the Golden Cat is immediately more inviting, yet no less intimidating in its own way. The curved balconies and varied height towers make it difficult to parse the layout; even inside, reading the space and the available ways to move through it can be initially daunting. From the opposite rooftops, your eyes are naturally drawn to the open window

reserved than it initially appears

In such a densely populated urban environment, The Golden Cat is profigate in its use of space. Set back from the road, space that elsewhere in the city is at a premium is taken up with an extravagant garden.

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above the second floor balcony, the visible red of the interior contrasting with the bluegrey metal of the window and the cream of the surrounding walls. The metal vent clutching the side of the building adjacent draws a straight line to it at eye level, presenting a clear entry point; though this is far from the only means of ingress. Upon reaching this first open window, it becomes clear that those adjacent to and on the floor above can be opened also. The windows along the top floor of the main building open onto a corridor that wouldn’t look out of place in any other building in Dunwall; dirty wooden floors and peeling plaster replace the rich red and gold wallpaper glimpsed though the open window on the floor below. There are three bedrooms off this attic corridor; young Emily Kaldwin can be found in one of these, having already formulated her own escape plan. Possessing either a rat in the garden or one of the hagfish in the river will open up a route into the basement level bathroom of The Golden Cat, where two of the Courtesans can be overheard discussing their dislike of the Pendletons. As is frequently the case with animal possession, the areas it grants access to are those that constitute the “below stairs” spaces of the level.

Climb over the roof to the far side and the façade of The Golden Cat falls away, with plain walls and a single unadorned balcony. This is the face The Golden Cat presents to the river.

dirty wooden floors and peeling plaster replace the rich red and gold wallpaper

The higher you ascend the central tower, the more open and organic the space within becomes.

In the private areas behind the russet façade, the rooms are small and barren,

water below, providing the moment of breathing room necessary to revaluate;

floors and two sets of metal lattices forming suspending ceilings. On the second floor, this

but the public areas are extravagant in their use of space with the main tower itself built around a hollow core devoid of interior walls. Traditionally, ascent is slower than descent, but not so in Dishonored. The ability to Blink instantaneously to a rooftop or street light dramatically opens up the available space. It’s as efficient for Corvo to Blink to a balcony as it is to walk in a straight line. The central tower of the Golden Cat is an example of the type of vertically layered space that would be dangerous in games where options for movement were more limited. With City Watch patrolling each floor and the doors to the balconies open, there are a wealth of intersecting sight lines for a building interior. Without the ability to rapidly move in the vertical dimension, this would present a significant challenge for anybody attempting to remain undetected. Not only are these myriad sight lines less risky than they might otherwise be, they actually serve to directly empower Corvo. Surrounded on three sides by water, the balconies and windows of the Golden Cat provide a rapid means of escape and repositioning. A Blink through a doorway or out a window will deposit you in the

an improvisation that serves to encourage intentional play. The location of the two Pendletons within is different each time you enter this level. Sometimes it’s possible to deal with both of them without even entering the building; the balconies and ledges adorning the tower’s exterior granting access to many of the tower rooms from the outside. The location of the Pendletons can be discerned through a variety of means. Record books found on the front desk and the Madam’s office will list their location, while a number of conversations can be overheard that provide the same information. If you are working for Slackjaw, the art dealer Bunting can be found within the Silver Room on the second floor, as this is the only one outfitted for his particular proclivities. Extracting the necessary information from him is trivial, though care should be taken when entering or exiting the Silver Room; its soundproofed nature means there is only one way in and the patrols of the City Watch on this floor can bring them close to the door. The central space of the Golden Cat is composed of four distinct planes, two

lattice takes the form of a complete torus around the centre chamber. On the floor above, the width of the space is extended the lattice work here forming separate quarter and half circle pieces suspended from the high roof, the spaces between dotted with plants that obscure sight lines. With either the Pendletons dealt with or Bunting’s safe code in your possession, it’s time to leave. Emily’s srcinal plan of escaping by the VIP exit is a rapid way of returning to the Distillery District. If you were able to “persuade” Bunting to part with the code to his safe, a return visit to Slackjaw will ensure that the Pendletons are dealt with. Or, you could clear out Bunting’s safe before ever handing over the code. Whatever you choose, Samuel will be waiting with Lady Emily once you have finished your business in the Distillery District. By the time you reach the Golden Cat, it’s likely you will have acquired and upgraded several of your powers and the opportunities for using such abilities as Possession or Bend Time are consequently more numerous. The House of Pleasure is the point at which you will begin to define your own approach using the powers available. 27

Art is Never Finished “Citizens and visitors to our city, by order of the Regent, the curfew is now active!”

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he loss of the Pendleton’s support in parliament will not be enough to weaken the Lord Regent, he still has the financial backing of his mistress. It’s rumoured that Sokolov, the inventor responsible for the technology appearing across Dunwall, once painted her and so should be able to confirm her identity. It’s time to locate and kidnap the Royal Physician. Disembarking as the sun sets, the parts

T

Southside Bridgeway. Ascent is necessary to progress after you pass the first City Watch patrol - though once you have located the Warehouse Key, you can return to street level. Paralleling the street above the water, a tramline joins this warehouse to the building opposite. A tank of whale oil will restore the power, opening the doors and electrifying the rail. Whichever way you choose to exit the warehouse, once outside you can drop into the water and swim to the

Waterlock for a Bone Charm and a way back up to street level. Kaldwin’s Bridge sees a collision of the old and the new, the wealthy and the destitute; the public and private aspects of Dunwall society compressed into the limited space offered by the bridge, intersecting and merging. Deserted warehouses and abandoned apartments flank expensively appointed buildings along Drawbridge Way, with some, like the home of Pratchett - of

of Kaldwin’s Bridge open to the west are bathed in sunlight. The distinction between the lighting on the different faces of the bridge is used at several points along your path to signpost alternate routes. A darkened alley leading off the brightly lit road on the Southside Bridgeway leads to a gantry hanging below the eastern side of the bridge. Further along Drawbridge Way, a shaft of light on the darkened buildings highlights a gap between two houses that provides a means of reaching the rooftops. Limited by the width and linearity of the bridge, the path to your objective requires making use of the full extent of the vertical and horizontal dimensions. Each section affords three principle routes forward; the straight path along the road is the most direct and least subtle. Climbing up to move forward is a common theme in Dishonored and the rooftops of Kaldwin’s Bridge are littered with explorable rooms and shortcuts. The third route is to move down, below the road, using the suspended gantries, stanchions, or even the river itself to create a path forward. The clearest example of these multiple routes can be seen in the first section, the

next stanchion, scaling it behind the guard station. The darkened alley halfway along the road leads to the gantry on the eastern face of the bridge from where you can climb a chain to locate a rune, or Blink down to the

Pratchett’s Jellied Eels - still occupied. Within Pratchett’s bedroom is a locked safe, a note revealing that the “truth is in the paintings”; numbers within each when arranged in the correct order provide the

At numerous points along Kaldwin’s Bridge, you will nd yoursel f pushed out to the sides or down to the water’s surface. Each occurrence reinforces your position relative to the water. Hanging out over the side, you can see the rest of the bridge curving to the left ahead of you.

Kaldwin’s Bridge collision of the old and the sees new, athe wealthy and the destitute

combination. This puzzle is possibly a reference to a similar one found on the Recreation Deck of the Von Braun in System Shock 2. Your journey alo ng Kaldwin’s Bridge is marked by a number of first encounters. The tesla coil-like Arc Pylons that guard the near and far sides of the drawbridge are controlled and powered in a similar manner to the alarms and Walls of Light. Though you’ll have met the Overseers already, one of those you find within Sokolov’s apartment is carrying a Music Box. When operated, they make it impossible to use any of your powers. Near the waterline on the far side of the drawbridge, a new addition to the fauna of Dunwall can be found, the aggressively territorial specimen of mollusc known as River Krusts. The drawbridge is raised when you approach, a control room in the nearest tower will allow you to alter its position. Alternatively, you can scale the tower’s framework to reach the raised platform or find a way across the support beams above. Attached to the shorter of the support towers, on the far side of the drawbridge, a quartet of spotlights illuminate the river below. These will need to be disabled if Samuel is to pick you up closer to Sokolov’s apartment. Thick cables can be traced from them to a caged room within the tower; there, they draw power from a pair of whale oil tanks. The blue-white oil has splattered

If you can get onto the roof of the collapsed building opposite Sokolov’s, it’s possible to Blink onto the catwalk surrounding his greenhouse.

Inside Sokolov’s, the open oor space has been given over to a workshop, a pain ting of Lady Boyle standing in the centre of the space, along with a number of half-assembl ed examples of Sokolov technology - including a miniature Wall of Light.

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the floor below, dripping down onto the lower levels and staining the metalwork. Similar stains can be found wherever whale oil is frequently used; knowing to look for these stains will prove helpful in subsequent levels. Sokolov has made his apartment within a warehouse on the north end of Kaldwin’s Bridge. Leaning out over the water east of the road its brick façade is more intact than its neighbours and has been augmented with external platforms and stairways of metal; platforms now patrolled by members of the City Watch. Sokolov himself can be found within his new greenhouse at the very top of the structure. Many of the surrounding buildings have collapsed some time ago, their floors and walls piles of rubble strewn across the street. Along the eastern side, closer to Sokolov’s, the buildings appear better maintained, though on closer inspection even these are little more than shells. The floors and ceiling having given away and they are just as uninhabitable. With few exceptions, any available space within the warehouse large enough to accommodate it has been turned toward one of Sokolov’s many talents, from art to scientific inquiry. The main living areas of

any available space within the warehouse has been turned toward one of Sokolov’s m any talents

The various catwalks and stairways within the abandoned warehouse at the north end of Midrow Substation have become a home both for those escaping the plague and the rats responsible for spreading it.

the apartment are built on metal supports and occupy the space between the first floor workshop and the rafters. The walls of these rooms don’t reach the sloped roof, leaving them open from above. If you want to interact with - or acquire - anything from within, you will be able to observe them from a concealed position in the rafters before choosing to make your move. Sokolov’s bedroom laboratory is a half level higher than the other living areas and accessible from inside only by a short enclosed corridor at the south end of the building. Reaching this corridor will require you to bypass a pair of Walls of Light partitioning off the end of the living space. Fortunately, neither of these barriers extend beyond the top of the walls. The lone guard protecting the whale oil tanks is easily dealt with, though stashing his body in a location where it will not be noticed could present problems. Two City Watchmen patrol the hallway beyond the connecting corridor, the glass walls of Sokolov’s bedroom allowing them to observe anybody within. Directly opposite the door, a red glow highlights the pipework

beneath the floor. Through this space, you can enter without using the bedroom door. A set of stairs at the north end of the bedroom lead outside and up to the greenhouse. Sokolov can be found within, recording notes on his latest experiment; the subject of which is locked in a cage in the corner. Sokolov will talk to you if you approach and, as he will not call for his guards, rendering him unconscious is a straightforward matter. Given his reaction to your appearance, combined with the extensive presence of both the City Watch and Overseers, it’s possible that Sokolov is at once both under protection and under guard. An elevator at the far end of the hallway outside his bedroom can be used to return to the front entrance, though it will require a whale oil tank to operate. One can be acquired from the security devices within the building, or the dispensers in Sokolov’s bedroom laboratory. Carrying Sokolov, you can still use any of your powers or items – with the exception of possession - but your sword will have to remain sheathed. With the Royal Physician rendered unconscious, it’s time to return to

Samuel. Now that the security lights have been disabled, he has brought his boat to dock next to one of the stanchions below Sokolov’s apartment. The route from the Southside Bridgeway to the apartment of Sokolov is a journey through the different aspects of Dunwall, a visual trip through its history and the impact of both the plague and the works of the Royal Physician upon its present, the latter writ large in the technology that dominates throughout. The linearity of Kaldwin’s Bridge belies the wealth of encounters and paths you can discover along its length. You will now have a variety of powers and it’s time to use them. The routes through each section, though fitting broadly into three general forms, are as varied as your powers. Do you use your upgraded Blink to scale the buildings and leap between rooftops, or do you Possess one of the City Watch and blithely walk pass all defences? Do you bypass the Arc Pylons with stealth and guile, or brute force? The powers are those you have chosen and Kaldwin’s Bridge is the perfect sandbox in which you can use them. 31

Death of the Party

“Half the city can see the lights from the party, and they dream of the delights inside.”

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ven if the exact nature of the relationship is not common knowledge, it’s clear one or more of the Ladies Boyle is important to the Lord Regent. The City Watch are out in force, including a detachment of Tallboys. The stilted walkers can be seen as you approach, raining explosive bolts down on Weepers as they attempt to cross the canal outside

other guests are just as careless with their invitations; one of the g roup gossiping outside the front door allows hers to blow away. If you don’ t already have one, you can recover and use it in her stead. Standing separate within the grounds of the Boyle estate, built from the same brick as the main house, the guard tower is crumbling from within. On the up per floor, accessible now only by climbing the

tower, you can Blink across the gardens to the upper terrace, and avoiding the City Watchman guarding it, enter the second floor bedroom of Esma Boyle. The guard tower can also be accessed through the barracks window. The houses overlooking the canal were once the homes of the city’s affluent, their faded wallpaper and carved bannisters signs of a wealth rarely seen in other parts of Dunwall. The

the Boyle Estate. Through the previous levels, the clocktower has stood as a landmark on the Dunwall skyline, that distant struc ture helping to position each area of the city in relation to the others. Dropped off on the canal by Samuel, the clocktower stands tall directly ahead of you, still unreachable but closer than it has ever been. The Boyle Estate is in the centre of Dunwall, far from the Wrenhaven River where he other missions have taken place; though still connected to it by the canal. The high walls surrounding the Boyle Estate present an imposing visage, particularly with the Tallboy stomping along the street outside. Fortunately, they can be reached with a Blink from the top of one of the street lamps, allowing you to drop into the garden on the far side and make your way unmolested into the party. If you broke into Bunting’s home during the House of Pleasure mission, you may have found his invitation to the party. Give this to the City Watch officer at the door and he will let you walk right in. Apparently, Bunting himself has already attempted to gain entry only to be ejected. The

chain through the remains of the coll apsed floors, two balconies project from adjacent walls. One overlooks the upper terrace of the Boyle Estate, while the other faces toward the canal. If you can reach th is

apartment on the top floor opens onto an alley between it and the wall surrounding the Boyle Estate. Scale the pipework attached to the wall and you can reach the window of the guard barracks.

The streets surrounding the Boyle estate feel like they inhabit a different world, poorly illuminated compared to the extravagance that neighbours them they almost fade into the background.

Possession provides a way to avoid the patrolling Tallboys. Such a route will al low you to enter the private “below stairs” space of the Boyle Estate, in this instance both figuratively and literally, as possessing one of the hagfish in the canal will let you enter the basement of the Boyle Estate. The interior shows the extravagance of the disgustingly wealthy; even stealing the purses from the belts of the guests is brushed aside by most as simply the done thing. One even jokes that they’ve had additional pockets sewn into their clothes to hide all the things they’ll acquire by the time the party is over. The City Watch and the few Overseers responsible for maintaining order are not as forgiving, but provided you are not seen by them you can part the guests from their possessions with impunity. Esma, Lydia or Waverly... one of the three sisters is the Lady Boyle you are looking for. Before you can decide what to do to prevent her continued financing of the Lord Regent, you will need to identify her and determine which outfit she is wearing. The sister you are after and the outfit she will be wearing are randomly determined when you first enter the Boyle Estate interior, meaning no two visits will play out exactly the same. Wandering the party is the Lord Brisby, who will approach Corvo admitting that he knows who he is and begging that Lady Boyle be allowed to live. Brisby is in love with her and in exchange for telling you her name, he promises to take her away forever. Handing Lady Boyle over to her stalker is easily the most unsettling “nonlethal” means of removing one of your targets. If you choose this path, you will need to bring the unconscious Lady Boyle to his boat in the cellar. Lord Brisby knows the name of the Lady Boyle you are looking for, while another guest, Miss White, who can be identified by her fly head mask, ha s worked out which sister is wearing which outfit. Together, these pieces of information are enough to identify your target and without them you will need to access the restricted second floor of the Boyle estate. Evidence within the bedrooms of the Boyle sisters will reveal which is the Lord Regent’s mistress and financial backer. The rooms of each of the Ladies Boyle are furnished in a different colour, though there is no connection between that colour and the colour of the outfit they are wearing. Each sister’s bedroom is decorated with paintings hanging from the walls, with the Lady Boyle you have come for having an srcinal Sokolov

of the Lord Regent himself. Furthermore, he has left a note for her, describing the outfit she’ll be wearing along with an item he’s given her to ensure nothing will come between them. The latter is a master key that will open every door in Dunwall Tower, something that will prove useful when you make your move against the Lord Regent himself. Esma is the easiest sister to identify; her room is the most accessible so determining whether she’s the correct Lady Boyle can be achieved quickly. Lydia Boyle presents the biggest challenge to confirming her identity, as her room is the most isolated from those of her sisters. Esma’s room can be reached directly from the back stairs or from the terrace outside. A hidden panel in her room – unlocked and illuminated by pulling a cord by the door – opens into an attic space that connects Esma’s bedroom to Waverly’s. The bedroom of the third Boyle sister, Lydia, can be found on the far side of the entrance foyer. If you want to deal with Lady Boyle quietly, the best approach is to talk to her and attempt to persuade her to follow you. Each of the sisters has a different motivation that you can exploit. Lydia Boyle is one of

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A large gallery occupies the space between the bedrooms of Esma and Waverley.Within can be found one of Sokolov’s paintings; in this case, the esteemed Vera Moray, who you may know better as Granny Rags.

Handing Lady Boyle over to her stalker is easily the most unsettling of the “non-lethal” means

Stepping into the Boyle’s home is to be bathed in golden opulence.

Lord Shaw waits on the lawn for word from Lord Pendleton. If you choose to deliver Treavor’s letter, Shaw challenges you to a duel; though you don’t need to play fair.

the best musicians in all of Gristol and can be convinced to follow you to the music room. The third sister, Esma, is interested in more carnal pleasure and can be persuaded to join you in her bedroom. Depending on your approach, each of the sisters can also be convinced to meet you in the cellar. This is also true of Waverly, the youngest and most serious of her siblings, whose paranoia can be twisted to convince her to follow you anywhere of your choosing. It’s possible to fail in your attempt to convince Lady Boyle to follow you, in which case you’ll need to adopt a different approach. By watching her movements through the party, you should be able to intercept her when she enters an otherwise

deserted location. Upon exiting the Boyle Estate, one of the Tallboys patrolling the far bank of the canal will have moved, forcing Samuel to retreat beyond the furthest gate. If you move fast enough, you can swim under before it closes, otherwise you will need to avoid the sweeping search lights of the Tallboys to reach him from street level. The Boyle Estate is a study in superficiality.The three sisters have chosen to present near-identical visages to their guests, but underneath they are in conflict, their individual personalities fuelling distrust and paranoia. Similarly, the bright lights and glamour of the party conceals the venality and corruption beneath, the guests

gossiping about the sexual proclivities of their neighbours rub shoulders with others trying to trick their companions into being arrested for treason. Unlike previous levels, the infiltration of the Boyle Estate is not the climax of hours of exploration. Rather, it’s one of your first tasks. To this end, the layout of the neighbouring streets serves not to guide you to the door of the Boyle Estate. Instead, it allows you to poke at its perimeter and discover where its weak points can be exploited. Once inside, Lady Boyle’s Last Party sees an inversion of the traditional use of public and private spaces. You are safe as long as you remain in the in the open, though doing so greatly limits your available actions. 35

Tower Fall “If the Empress had been as well guarded - how different things would be now.”

T

he time is now. Teague Martin is the new High Overseer, Treavor Pendleton controls the largest voting bloc in parliament and limited finances have forced the Lord Regent to pull the City Watch away from the Wrenhaven River. It’s time for the reign of Hiram Burrows to end. With nobody on the inside to raise the water lock, you will need to climb to ground level from t he Wrenhaven River. Red lighting and trim along platform edges highlight a path behind the walls into the inner workings of the lock. Avoid the observation deck and move out to the exterior of the water lock and you can use the gantries and pipes there to scale the walls to the roof and, in a moment of irony, re-enter the grounds using the same route the true assassins of the Empress did six months ago. Leaving the water lock, you pass eith er

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across, or above, the area where you once played hide and seek w ith young Emily Kaldwin, a patch of ground now patrolled by a Tallboy. If you climb up the pipework near the cliff edge, you can drop into the bushes around the gazebo, the scene of the Empress’ murder. Within, a City Watch guard is spending some quiet moments with a maid, for whom he clearly harbours romantic feelings. In the spot where the Empress fell , a plaque has been erected. Approaching it will trigger a hauntingly melancholy musical cue. Interacting with the Heart at this point offers nothing specific, but the things it does have to say regarding Dunwall Tower further reinforce the idea that it is the heart and soul of the late Empress Jesamin Kaldwin. The grounds are contained on two sides by the waters of the Wrenhaven River, on one by Dunwall Tower itself and on

the other by the bulk of Coldridge Prison. Unlike The Golden Cat, there are not as many opportunities to use the water to escape and reposition. It’s a long drop to the river below and, if you survive, there’ s only one way back to ground level. The City Watch guards may have stopped looking for you by then, but you are unlikely to b e in a better tactical position. Dunwall Tower has changed in the six months since you were there last. The gardens and courtyards of the Royal residence are covered now with guard posts, metal crawling like fungus up the walls exaggerating the asymmetry of the underlying structure. The Broadcast Control tower, from which the Lord Regent transmits his propaganda, grows like a tumour from the taller tower, while in its shadow catwalks and watchtowers have been erected overlooking the main road into the tower grounds; a route now seale d.

Harsh spotlights illuminate the route from the water lock to the tower entrance; all except one, which has been tilted away from to illuminate a structure squatting at the foot of the tower away from the majority of the newer additions. This is the pump house for the moat that separates the tower from the grounds. The Engineer within is no friend to the Lord Regent and will show you the means of accessing the moat in return for sparing his life. A book found on his table details Burrows Lighthouse on Kingsparrow Island, a location that will have an important role to play in later events. The moat is teeming with Hagfish. Possesses one and you can swim through a small grate at the water level into a scullery off the main foyer. Once again, Possession allows rapid access to the private spaces of the building. Using the moat, you can cross the grounds and reach the guard barracks in the shadow of the Broadcast Control tower. Running around the length of the building, a ledge can be used to reach a maintenance duct into the building interior, part of which has been covered with barbed wire thereby making it impossible to reach. Fortunately, the unprotected portion is within a Blink distance of the catwalks overlooking the road into the grounds. Inside the foyer, an imperial stair rises to the second floor – a single flight branching at a landing into two flights that meet again at the next f loor. On this second floor, the main hallway leading further into the tower is blocked by a Wall of Light. The controls and power supply are located in a small side room. This room also conne cts to the servant’s quarters which take up this entire wing of the first and second floors. The primary corridor in this area runs the full length of the building, from the kitchen on the first floor to the stairs down to the Royal Interrogator’ s chambers. Two guards within can be overheard muttering about the various noises that frequently emanate from that basement room. A doorway at the end of this corridor opens back into the central chamber, the private spaces bypassing and intersecting the public ones. A larger imperial style staircase dominates the centre of the building, a single flight rising to a landing overlooking the central chamber, converted now into a museum. From there, two flights rise on either side to meet in a combined landing on the third floor directly in front of the double doors of the Lord Regent’s bedroom. Depending on your actions prior

to reaching this point, the Wall of Light between the landing and the Lord Regent’s bedroom may be active or inactive. Most of the chandeliers in Dunwall Tower are unlit, the l ighting primarily provided by the harsh lights of the City Watch security devices or, more frequently on the third floor, by candles a nd fireplaces. The diffuse oranges and yellows create a lower contrast between light and shadow, making movement at floor level consequently more challenging. Hidden behind a fireplace in the corner of the third floor is a secret room, once used by the Empress and appa rently undiscovered since her death. Within is a recording meant for her daughter, along with a note for Corvo himself. An Arc Pylon has been erected inside

the stairwell to the Broadcast Control tower. Upon reaching the top, the pu blic announcer can be confronted and will reveal that the Lord Regent has kept his memoirs, including details of his role in the plague sweeping across Dunwall, within the safe inside his bedroom; the combinations for which he will provide. Obtaining these recordings and broadcasting them across Dunwall will reveal the Lord Regent’s crimes, causing either his arrest or murder at the hands of the City Watch within Dunwall Tower. The movement of the Lord Regent through the tower triggers a number of changes in the state of certain parts of the level. Initially, the Wall of Light on the third floor landing outside his bed chambers is disabled, the whale oil depleted. If you 37

have intercepted or otherwise delayed the man sent to replace the tank, the Lord Regent will comment on this on his way to his bedroom. Once the Lord Regent has entered his bedroom, the Overseer with the Music Box who accompanies him down from the roof will patrol the th ird floor with his wolfhound. The music room next to his bedroom is connected by a shared fireplace. The fire within can be dowsed by a Windblast. Blinking or sliding through are still possible, though you will take some damage. The roof, containing the Lord Regent’s safe room, can be reached by the stairway off the music room. The light by the door to the safe room indicates its occupa ncy, while the Tallboy patrolling inside is a challenge to avoid as reachin g the Lord Regent himself will put you directly in its path. A return to the place that was once your home and a final confrontation with the Lord Regent, the changes that have occurred to Dunwall Tower mirror those seen across Dunwall in the months since the plague began . Your actions here will mark a major step on the path to salvation

If you have set off an alarm during your appro ach to the Tower, the Lord Regent will remain in his Safe Room on the roof instead– he will also fee

there if the alarm is sounded within the Tower itse lf.

the changes to Dunwall Tower mirror those seen across Dunwall in the months since the plague began

A balcony overlooks the foyer; Blink toentrance one the chandeliers hanging above and you can enter the Lord Regent’s private chambers without having to explore the rest of the tower.

Visible to the north is the clock tower in the heart of Dunwall, nearer now than in some levels but further that it was during your infltration of the Boyle Estate.

or damnation for the city and its populace. Within the tower walls, th e movements of certain NPCs will cause changes in the environment that can be used to your advantage. The City Watchman carrying the whale oil tan k to repower the Wall of Light on the third floor can be turned into walking bomb or, if slowed down, can render the Wall of Light inactive for longer. The security in place around and within Dunwall Tower has been erected to protect against the most obvious vectors of attack, not from somebody with the powers of The Outsider. The layered security and the multiple Walls of Light between the main doors and the Lord Regent’s bedroom would keep him safe from a direct assault, but against somebody with the ability to use the vertical space in a way no normal assassin could, their placement offers little protection. Provided you have avoided detection, reaching and dealing with the Lord Regent can be one of the easiest task you will have been given.

Either via the communications device in the foyer, or in person, you have the option to confront the Lord Regent himself and can choose to reveal your identity or keep him in the dark.

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The Hangover “Here you are at last in, a ruined and drowning world.”

B

etrayed, stripped of your possessions and left for dead, you begin lying in a pit somewhere within the district of Dunwall once known as Rudshore. Even with the hole above you boarded over, there are still numerous ways to escape. If you have Possession, there’s at least one rat sharing your cell that will enable you to escape down the drain. Alternatively, the small collection of rocks around you can be used to smash the wooden beams, as can Windblast. Rudshore is a mess. Nestled in the shadow of the rest of Dunwall and once the financial district, it was gutted by the waters of the Wrenhaven when the flood barriers broke. With the buildings and offices abandoned, the Flooded District, as it is now known, has become a home to Weepers, River Krusts and a band of assassins led by the mysterious Daud. Clad in industrial garb stolen from the whale oil processing plants on the edge of the water, these assassins are known simply as The Whalers. There’s a dead Overseer in the cell

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next to you and a number of items and documents scattered across the tables in the room you find yourself in. Until you recover your own equipment, you can use one of the Whaler’s swords or that of the unfortunate Overseer. Overhead, the clouds are low and thick. The wan sunlight filtering through casts the Flooded District in sickly yellow green pall. Long shadows fall where the light cannot reach, making everything harder to see, especially at ground level. At points, the miasma is cut through by the harsh bluewhite of spilt whale oil. Where other levels would subtly encourage exploiting their verticality, the restricted movement options at ground level make that decision more explicitly useful here. The water isn’t so deep as to present a direct hazard, but it is inhabited and has strong currents that can take you away from your intended destination if you’re not careful. One of these currents is also used to discourage exploring beyond the bounds of the level. This direction is also muted and empty, compared to the bright blue white sheen that coats the

water at the other end of the road; whale oil runoff from the Greaves Refinery . The first two sections of The Flooded District present more environmental challenges than directly confrontational ones. Moving deeper in Rudshore, you enter the territory of the Whalers; their ability to perform Blink-like Transversals allows them to cover a lot of ground and makes their patrols routes hard to follow. As you move further into their territory, it becomes much more important to be aware of what is above you. With their enhanced movement abilities, the Whalers can make use of the vertical dimension in much the same manner that you can. The assassin leader, Daud, has made his home within the Chamber of Commerce building. Only with his key will you be able to leave the area. Daud’s fate is up to you; he can be silently assassinated or choked unconscious, though, as another touched by The Outsider, he is immune to a rang e of your supernatural powers and choosing to attack him openly will initiate a duel. Beyond the territory of the Whalers, the City Watch has been using the

Rudshore Gate area to dispose of any plague victims they have rounded up. Whether those who crawled out of the canal bed into the surrounding buildings are survivors or Weepers depends on your Chaos level up to this point. Between you and your escape from the Flooded District is a blasted field of rubble and desolation patrolled by the aggressive Tallboys. The rail line above will allow you to bypass the worst of the destruction, provided you can get to one of the rooftops high enough to drop onto the train car when it returns with its next glut of plague victims. The buildings that haven’t been gutted have been boarded up, arrayed in front of one are a number of unpowered searchlights. What whale oil the City Watch has is needed for the Wall of Light guarding Rudshore Gate itself and the Arc Pylons in the back alley, whose presence is preventing the inhabitants of the nearby buildings from escaping. If they are still alive, you can choose to help them by disabling the Arc Pylons and allowing them to flee. Stealing one of the whale oil tanks and using it to power the searchlights will draw the Tallboys away from their patrols to bombard the buildings. With their attention diverted, you can make a da sh for the Wall of Light. If you use the Heart during your passage though the Old Sewers, it takes on a desperate tone, describing with an insight it doesn’t fully comprehend details of the events that followed your betrayal at The Hounds Pits. If you have interacted with Granny Rags previously, there is one final encounter before you return to the streets of Dunwall. Her conflict with Slackjaw has reached its conclusion; he is finally in her clutches, chained and about to be devoured. Cast adrift, alone in a hostile environment, between your escape a legion of assassins with powers akin to your own, the Flooded District is Dishonored at its most alien and unsettling. From the sickly green shroud hanging across Rudshore, to the War of the Worlds-evoking field of Tallboys little looks like anything you’ll have seen before. This is still Dunwall, but in a state of decay and disease the other parts of the city could only hint at. Few other levels so explicitly require the use of your powers for the simple act of navigation. With the roads underwater and the buildings populated by Weepers and Whalers, escaping the muddled, halfcollapsed streets of the Flooded District is a test of both skill and patience.

The Whaler with the responsibility to train new members has some lines that might sound familiar, repeating as they do the training dialogue from Thief: The Dark Project.

From the metal gantry atop the Greaves Renery, you can look across Rudshore to the white walls of the Chamber of Commerce. It is here that the Whalers have

made their base of operations, under the leadership of the mysterious Daud.

Weepers have made the central well of the Greaves Renery their home, including one you may remember. If you chose to spare the life of High Overseer Campbell, he can be found here. Having contracted the plague, he is now a Weeper and will wander the oor near your equipment.

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Each time you return to the Hound Pits the colouration is slightly different, the time of day reected in the play of light and shadows across the buildings.

Home, Sweet Home

“Emily was there when the killing started, poor child. I hope she hid her eyes.”

T

he Hound Pits was your first moment of safety since escaping your cell in Coldridge Prison and it is to here that you return after each excursion into the heart of Dunwall. An Edwardian style construction, its three floors have been augmented by a dormered attic space providing a fourth storey to the main structure. Mysteriously the entire third floor has been bricked off, leaving an empty space between Corvo’s attic room and the chambers of Havelock, Pendleton and the servants on the second floor. Whatever happened on the third floor is never spoken of.

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Prior to leaving for the Golden Cat, you are sent into the sewers to deal with a grou p of Weepers who have somehow made their way there. Something unpleasant happened beneath the Hound Pits long ago; a few scattered Runes are all that’s left.

Stairs connects each of the f loors with open windows, providing additional entrances from the street and rear courtyard. Initially, these windows are simply a means of leaving the building from each floor. Later, when the City Watch invade the Hound Pits, they take on an additional role as covert entrances. Four main buildings make up the area that constitutes the base of the Loyalists. The two that are not directly attached to the Hound Pits, Piero’s workshop and the ruined tower, are connected by ad-hoc constructions of metal panels. The patchwork, ill-fitting nature of their headquarters is an apt metaphor for the Loyalists themselves. Each person has a role to play, even if, under other circumstances, few of them would have a reason to ever talk to the others. It is during your time at the Hound Pits that you are 43

able to observe the personalities of your fellow conspirators, from Pendleton’s alcoholism, to Wallace’s incompetent obliviousness to his master’s faults, to the growing concerns of Havelock as recorded in his journal. Standing on the banks of the Wrenhaven River and visible from the far shore, the ruined tower is al l that remains of what at one time was a much larger structure. Whether this building was related to the Hound Pits, or if it predates it, is impossible to determine. The lone remaining tower has been reinforced with metal and, though inaccessible from the ground, the single room on the second floor has been converted into a bedroom. Freed from the clutches of the Pendletons, Lady Emily Kaldwin takes he r place with Callista Curnow in the ruined structure. The heiress to the throne of the Empire, the literal Princess, takes her place in the tower and soon enough it will be time for her to leave for another castle. From the pictures Emily draws, to the public announcements broadcast from the speaker hung over the street, the Hound Pits is where the consequences of

The Hound Pits, Admiral Farley Havelock proprietor, a fne establishment

on the banks of the Wrenhaven River.

the Hound Pits is where the consequences of your actions in the rest of Dunwall play out

When she’s not hiding from Callista, or asking Havelock awkward questions about the role of the Empress in catching pirates, Emily can be found within her room in the ruined tower.

your actions in the rest of Dunwall play out. This comes to a head in The Loyalists mission, with Cecelia’s description of events becoming either one of unflinchingly brutal efficiency or an orgy of death and guilt. Havelock and the others are cast as scared revolutionaries or power-hungry thugs based upon your deeds - the acts you committed in their name with their blessing. A City Watch officer within the bar can be heard discussing how Piero has sealed off his workshop, possibly with the also missing Anton Sokolov inside. According to him, the latter is to be arrested but not harmed, though Havelock’s note upon t he bar suggests otherwise. With the workshop under attack, Sokolov and Piero have taken to cowering under the benches on the first floor. How the former escaped from his cage and made it to the workshop be fore Havelock

and the others could find him is never explained. Despite their battling egos, both natural philosophers understand their limitations. They will never be able to escape on their own, but now that Corvo has arrived, they may stand a chance. Before the betrayal, Piero had been working on a refinement of one of Sokolov’s inventions, an upgraded Arc Pylon that could, in a stroke, render unconscious or kill every City Watchman and Tallboy in the area. In order to finish, he will need the blueprints that were last in the possession of Admiral Havelock. If you have passed through the pub itsel f on your way to the workshop, you might have found the blueprints in the bin in Havelock’s now-empty room. If not, you will need to secure them before the Arc Pylon can be completed. How the Pylon is used is u p to you.

Whatever you do, it will remove the immediate threat of the City Watch and allow the two natural philosophers to make their escape. You can, of course, leave them to their fate and use the flare launcher in Emily’s tower to call Samuel. Where the Flooded District was a journe y through an unfamiliar space, the Hound Pits in The Loyalists is a return to a familiar location made unfamiliar by an invading force. The spatial map you h ave been unconsciously developing over the proceeding visits takes on a new utility here as you use it to circumvent the City Watch’s presence. The sewers that you entered to rid them of Weepers is now a secret route under the Hound Pits. Unlike the similar repurposing of space in Dunwall Tower, the return to the Hound Pits sees Corvo returning to a formerly safe space that both he and you are familiar with. 45

Friday Night Lights Throughout Dishonored, the actions you take as Corvo Attano have had an impact on the state of the world, shifting it either toward Low or High Chaos. Certain parts of each level change depending upon your current Chaos level. These variations are often subtle and primarily observed as changes to dialogue and character reactions; the most visible alterations within each level are in the number of Weepers and rat swarms. Since The Flooded District, these changes have become more noticeable, culminating in the explicit separation of the final location in The Light at the End into two different missions, each with a different climax, depending on your final Chaos level.

“Intrigue and mystery, butchery and betrayal. The death thrones of an Empire!” storm is hammering Kingsparrow Island, the sky filled with dark clouds and rent by brilliant flashes of lightning. The entire tenor of the High Chaos assault on Kingsparrow Island takes on a bleaker aspect; an end, compared to the new beginning suggested by the daylight infiltration of the Low Chaos variant. No matter your actions here, Dunwall is in ruins, maybe never to recover. The divisions that were beginning to show between Havelock and the others have finally fractured, with the Loyalists consumed by internecine fighting by the time you reach their stronghold. Martin controls the Fort and has the most men with him, though Pendleton has fortified the Gatehouse and stands between Martin and Havelock, who has retreated to the top of the Lighthouse. Now High Overseer, Martin is as arrogant as ever. After his shouting match with Pendleton, he retires to the room overlooking Pier A to plan his attack. Pendleton, collapsed on the floor nea r the freshly blown hole in the Gatehouse wall, has already been shot. He wil l die soon enough, though you can still h elp him on his way. Admiral Havelock appears

A

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to have snapped completely. Isolated atop the Lighthouse, he is threating

you may have to engage the City Watch guards sooner than you had intended.

to throw both himself and Emily from the summit. He knows his position is untenable and hopes that threating her will give you pause. Both Pendleton and Havelock – the latter in his final journal entry - makes allusions to Corvo being Emily’s father, something potentially foreshadowed earlier by Emily herself. Outside the Fort walls, things are largely the same as in the Low Chaos variant, though depending on your previous actions

Samuel, potentially sickened by what you have become, may decide he has had enough of all of you and fire his flare gun, alerting the island’s forces to your presence. Even if this doesn’t happen, it’s best to move away from your starting position, a s two guards will eventually wander down to the shore anyway. Their conversation reveals the nature of the fighting that has occurred before you arrived and their fears over what is to come.

Inside the Fort wall, Marti n and Pendleton are exchanging barbs across the main yard. Once the exchange is over, Martin ascends the stairs, leaving his guards to patrol the walls.

Though a longer route than cutting across the beach, entering the Fort via the docks provides more opportunities for concealment as it rises up in three platforms from the water’s edge, the stairs and guard stations creating short sight lines. It also has the benefit of not being guarded by an Arc Pylon. On the opposite side of the Fort to the Machine Room, and with multiple exits onto the yard, the interior of Section A is taken up with the Lifeboat Station. Four boats in individual angled launch bays, the submerged portions of each joined to the others in a tunnel that runs underneath the patrolled walkway. The Walkway Access at the far end of the Lifeboat Station leads to a stair that will take you to top of the wall, closest to the room Martin has co-opted for his base of operations. Sometime during the fighting, the Gatehouse Control Room was damaged, destroying the controls for the Wall of Light in the doorway. In its place, Pendleton’s men have installed thick metal shutters. Somebody has blasted a hole into the front of the Gatehouse far enough off the ground to prevent Martin’s men from gaining entry, though it’s not too high for you. With the forces of Martin and Pendleton isolated within their respective sections of the island, it’s not possible to exploit their animosity to force them into a direct conflict with each other as you could with the City Watch and the Bottle Street Gang in preceding levels. If you are to get past the different Loyalist factions, you will need to either engage or bypass them completely. Even if you hadn’t already witnesse d Havelock and Emily struggling on the gantries above, it would be clear something bad has happened when you reach the top of the Lighthouse. With the remnants of the Loyalists divided and dispersed across the island, the infiltration is given a pacing and structure it can lack in its Low Chaos variant. Spatially, both variants of The Light at the End are largely the same. The Gatehouse has seen the most changes, with the Wall of Light on the first floor replaced by a ragged hole blown in the wall. The dynamic elements are where the most noticeable differences can be found; there is a greater number of guards in High Chaos, with a slightly larger number of the more aggressive light bluecoated City Watch. By isolating Martin and Pendleton on the island, and separate f rom Havelock, the three part structure of The Light at the End is repurposed as a metaphor for the power

structure of the Loyalist triumvirate. Martin is the strategist, his focus long-term and inflexible, dogmatic. Whatever happened once Emily Kaldwin entered the Gatehouse put him at a disadvantage, going as it did against his carefully laid plans. The most likely culprit for triggering the f ight is

To play the High Chaos version of The Light at the End is to witness the consequences of unrestrained violence and ambition. Everything is falling apart and petty squabbles have taken over from The Loyalists’ shared goals. The three part structure of Kingsparrow Island, which

Pendleton, the consummate opportunist. Whatever move he made against the others has backfired. Havelock fled to the Lighthouse with the Empress, leaving his companions to fight it out while he finally succumbs to his own doubts and paranoia.

in the Low Chaos version represented layered security and defence in depth, is twisted here, with those three parts not forming a unified stronghold but a fractured and broken compound, isolated and at war with itself.

The smaller gantry below the main bridge houses the control panel for the Arc Pylon, while the foor

of the bridge will protect you from its discharge.

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Havelock has taken the decision of what to do about Martin and Pendleton out of your hands. They are already dead by the time you arrive, poisoned.

“So it is, with the passing of the plague, comes a golden age, brought about by your hand.” y now, Havelock and the Loyalists know that Corvo has survived and still they continue to underestimate him. Burrows Lighthouse atop Kingsparrow Island is heavily-protected by the same type of security devices that you will have bypassed multiple times in order to reach this point. The layering of these different security systems presents a challenge, but one for which your powers should be an equal match. There have been viewable maps within most of the preceding levels, though in few instances has their placement been as prominent or obvious as it is on Kingsparrow Island. Sitting on a pair of crates directly ahead of where you part ways with Samuel, the map provides only the most basic representation of the level’s spatial layout. Kingsparrow Island is built in three layers, with the outer space beyond the Fortress walls guarded by a Watchtower between the docks and the beach. Entrance to the Fort is possible from either Pier A - the docks - or Pier B - the beach - with both entrances protected by Walls of Light. Once

B

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The hallways within the F ort are cramped and evoke a feeling akin to being on a submarine. They offer short sight lines and few places to hide, if you encounter a patrolling City Watchman you will need to r eact immediately.

inside, the Gatehouse constitutes a separate layer largely sealed off from the rest of the Fort. The Lighthouse itself is on a different island; the two joined by a suspended bridge guarded by an Arc Pylon. Past the Watchtower on the beach, a small flow of water is trickling from an inlet pipe in the wall between the two piers. The hatch is open and you can scale the rocks near the docks to reach it. Inside, the inlet connects to the Control Room where a single guard patrols. This area overlooks the two entrances to the Fort through partiallyshuttered windows; the controls for the Walls of Light protecting each entrance can also be found here. Despite being inside the walls, the Control Room is isolated from the rest of the Fort, the door is locked and the City Watchman inside isn’t carrying the key. You will need to return to the outside to gain access to the rest of the Fort. Ahead of each entrance, wooden platforms extend from the Fort walls held off the ground by metal frames. A gantry below each platform can be exploited to move beneath them unobserved. A route through these interstitial spaces is, as has been seen before, highlighted by high contrast red lights and trim. Maintenance hatches provide a route between the platforms and the gantries, with those closest to the Fort walls hidden behind stacks of crates that provide limited protection from the Watchtower. The currents beyond the docks prevent you circling the island in that direction. However, to the far side of the beach, stairs descend to a jetty and from here it’s possible to climb to a second inlet. Entering will enable you to avoid the Walls of Light and breach the Fort itself. The room you find yourself in opens onto the main yard a short distance from the doorway into the Machine Room that takes up the majority of space within Section B of the Fort. Drop below the metal grating serving as a floor here and, at far end of the room, nearest the Lighthouse, a wheel will open another water pipe. A Rune, the last in the game, can be found through there and, if you climb the chain, you can turn a second wheel to open a further hatch and continue on into the basement of the Gatehouse. With no servants, this area of the island is the closest parallel to the “below stairs” areas seen in previous levels: a low security space through which you can access the high security spaces beyond. The Gatehouse interior is little more than a stairwell between the first floor and the suspension bridge to the Lighthouse. The stairs themselves are guarded, though a chain hanging the length of the central well and can be climbed to avoid the patrolling City Watch.

The suspension cables that connect the Lighthouse to Kindsparrow Island and the surrounding rocks can be scaled with some lateral thinking. Using them, you can reach the foot of the Lighthouse, avoiding the Fort and Gatehouse completely.

The lift to the top of the Lighthouse is locked, though the panel on the roof is open. Pulling the handle within will initiate the one-way ascent to the top and the final confrontation with the Loyalists. There are City Watch patrolling the walkways at the

In the Low Chaos version, with the goal of simply reaching the Lighthouse, The Light at the End can feel sparse. The confined corridors and raised platforms are patrolled but devoid of any real incentive for you to explore. There is a single Rune to

top. Fortunately , their placement should allow them to be dealt with separately, with the final guards providing little obstacle to breaching the interior of the Burrows Lighthouse. By the time you reach him, Havelock has already murdered his companions and now paces the room attempting to justify his actions to himself. Emily is locked in her bedroom, the key for which Havelock keeps on a table by the fireplace.

locate and although there are a scattered few purses to steal, there is little motivation to do so as the money obtained can never be spent. Much like Dunwall Tower, the layered security around the Burrows Lighthouse would serve well to protect against a standard attack from the sea. To somebody with the full powers of The Outsider, the problems they present are can be almost trivially solved.

Where the final level or boss encounter of a game usually takes the form of a test The Light at the End is better understood as a question. What type of player are you? Do you take the path across the beach past the Arc Pylon or do you stay on the docks? A broadly symmetrical l ayout Kingsparrow Island as a space doesn’t reward taking one route through it over another. You have a destination and multiple ways to reach it, the path your choose is your own and will depend upon the powers you have selected and upgraded over the course of the proceeding levels. It asks the question and you answer it in the way that best suits your play style and powers.

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Butcher Bay “The Empress was different. This time, you can’t just fade away into the shadows. There will be consequences.”

T

he Outsider gave Daud one word to guide his search for answers; a name, Delilah. The Rothwild Slaughterhouse operates a ship called The Delilah. Coincidences are rare in Dunwall, so if you are to determine the significance of that name, you are going to have to find out what Bundry Rothwild knows in The Knife of Dunwall’s opening mission, A Captain of Industry. Your second-in- command, Billie Lurk is waiting for you along Slaughterhouse Row; her commentary on the events within the Slaughterhouse are a frequent source of insight and suggestions. Between the Wall of Light guarding the gate and the Slaughterhouse itself, the yard is patrolled by a mix of Rothwild’s Butchers and members of the City Watch. Large oil tanks, linked by a network of pipes, dominate the space between the sea level Loading Dock and the Shipping Office at street level. The Slaughterhouse is beset by a strike; those who refused to work have had their timecards confiscated. You’ll need to obtain one to use the Slaughterhouse’s main entrance, either from the safe in the Shipping

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Office or by helping the captive Labourers. High on the rear wall of the building is a secondary entrance. If you have not upgraded your Agility, it will remain inaccessible unless you can find a way to restore power to the crane guarded by two Butchers. At the shoreline, an Arc Pylon protects the Sewer Flow Control, which will open a hatch at water level that connects to the Slaughterhouse sewers. From there, you can use the Sump Channel to reach the rest of the Slaughterhouse; the blood and offal dripping from the dying whale above coating the floor, its plaintive moans loud in your ears. Filtered through grimy skylights, the yellowing sunlight streaming into the Slaughterhouse is barely strong enough to illuminate the floor. Where the exterior of the Slaughterhouse is bathed in rich autumnal light, the interior is muted, diffuse; the off-white stone and rusted metal worn down, dehumanised. The blood that coats the floor is mostly dull and dried. What vitality there was is gone, washed away into the Wrenhaven River. Rothwild’s Slaughterhouse is a whale production line. The animals are hauled first

into the Whale Harvesting area where their lives are prolonged by electrical stimulus to promote the excretion of the valuable oil that is siphoned off to tanks in the nearby Refinery. Once the whale has been drained, it is carried through to the Killing Floor where what is left is carved up, the flesh passing through the Meat Locker before being shipped out to various locations across the Empire. It’s an efficient and brutal process and few of those involved show any remorse; even Bundry himself believes his men to be heartless. Rothwild can be found within the Accounting Office along with the instigator of the strike action, Abigail Ames. Both of them have the information you need, though getting it won’t be straightforward. If you confront him, Rothwild will run to alert his Butchers, and while Ames will promise to tell you everything she knows if you kill him, to get any answers from her will require additional work. Her motives are not as altruistic as she has been making out; she has been hired to start the strike and then destroy the Slaughterhouse and it’s the latter with which she requests your help.

Within the Meat Locker, Rothwild has arranged a special interrogation chair that he has been using to coerce member of his workforce to renounce collective bargaining. If rendered unconscious and put in the chair, either Ames or Rothwild can be coerced into providing details on The Delilah. If you choose to interrogate Ames, you have little choice but to leave her there or kill her, though with Rothwild there ’s the option to ship him off in one of his own crates to the furthest point in the Empire; the frozen north of Tyvia. The four valves that Ames wants you to open can be difficult to locate. If you have paid for the “sabotage” favour, the alarms will not sound once you begin opening the valves, though the creaking and straining of the pipes can be heard throughout the Slaughterhouse as you make your escape. Things have changed on your way back to Slaughterhouse Row. The City Watch have been replaced by Overseers, a group of which have captured Billie Lurk; their music boxes preventing her from using the powers of the Outsider that Daud’s mark grants her access to. Her capture foreshadows the Overseers’ assault on The Flooded District in The Knife of Dunwall’s final mission, The Surge. Incapacitating or killing the Overseer with the music box will allow Lurk to escape on her own. With plenty of open space and long sight lines, the Slaughterhouse presents some of the same problems usually encountered in exterior locations. Where the buildings explored by Corvo were homes or public spaces, the Rothwild Slaughterhouse is a site of industry, though the same rules apply; height is safety, so Daud’s route through the space is defined by metal girders and rusted pipes rather than chandeliers and bookcases. This openness serves to highlight the different ways Corvo and Daud traverse the environment. Daud is more comfortable using vertical space; where Corvo would need to ascend and descend in stages, Daud can leap from the girders above the Killing Floor safe in the knowledge that he can freeze time to make a Blink that would be a desperate manoeuvre for the former Lord Protector. Above all, A Captain Of Industry is a glimpse at the industrial underbelly of Dunwall, the brutality that keeps society functioning. Without the whale oil harvested by men like Rothwild, none of Sokolov’s devices would work, and the totalitarian reign of the Lord Regent would collapse - as would Dunwall’ s defence against the plague.

An inversion of the divide between light and dark seen in Coldridge Prison or the Ofce of the High Overseer, the primary means of illumination comes fromroof the high skylights in the above, leaving the oor of the Slaughterhouse in gloom.

Responsible for the processing and carving of the whales, the Butchers are loyal to Rothwild and have not participated in the strike action organised by Abigail Ames. With a job to do, and the tools to perform it, they have a contextual reason to move between locations and stop in place for extended periods.

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Legal Action “It’s them or us. No room for heroes in the time of plague.”

T

he Delilah srcinally belonged to Barrister Arnold Timsh. It was named for a woman who once captivated but now terrifies him. Timsh’s niece, Thalia, can tell Daud more, though such information is unlikely to come without a few strings attached. Segregating your starting position on the docks from the rest of the Waterfront is a Wall of Light. Beyond, an alley leads to a courtyard, the three white washed skulls on the wall identifying it as Treaver’s Close, the location of your meeting with Thalia Timsh. The Barrister’ s niece has already attracted some unwanted attention; the Hatters are one of Dunwall’s many gangs and Thalia was foolish enough to arrange a meeting close to their territory. The gang member attempting, unsuccessfully, to intimidate Thalia is not alone; his companions are concealed on the rooftop above. Thalia has the information you want on Delilah Copperspoon, offering the name teasingly as a hint of the secret she holds. If you are to find out what she knows, you must first put an end to the feud between her and her uncle. Arnold Timsh must be removed, and his mother’s last will and testament secured and returned to Thalia. Access to the rest of the Legal District is restricted; if you are to deal with Timsh, you will first need to locate the key. Stolen from the City Watch by the Hatters, its current location is determined by your Chaos level at the conclusion of the previous mission. From the outside, the houses of the Legal District retain their opulence, with clean white and red brick highlighted by blue grey metal. The insides, though, show the truth; many have been cleaned out and abandoned. With the occupants gone, only the moneyed facades remain. It has the ambience of a ghost town. Only the City Watch are willing to be out on the streets, but even then they are mindful to keep

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together, congregating at intersections or walking patrol routes that keep them within sight of their companions. The streets themselves are wide, long and difficult to traverse unobserved. In order to maintain concealment, you are pushed to the edges, to the buildings themselves. Progress is achieved by following makeshift routes across their facades, or through their interiors. As with Corvo, safety for Daud comes from sticking to the private spaces: the basement areaways, stairwells and building interiors. The Timsh Estate stands off Legal Plaza, at the heart of the Legal District. Isolated from the other buildings, the Barrister is separated both physically and socially, with the letter he keeps on his person granting

him legal protections available to few others in Dunwall’s society. Not even the respected General Turnbull, with whom Timsh is due to meet, has been afforded such sweeping immunity. In one of the abandoned homes abutting Legal Plaza, a diary outlines plans to strip Timsh of his authority and see him branded a plague victim. These pla ns were hatched by one of Timsh’s former peers, a man known simply as Roland. Captured before he could execute his plan, he now languishes in a collapsing building near the entrance to the Waterfront, his face hidden behind a mask. Balconies extrude from three sides of the building, their placement allowing for their use as both entrance and escape.

With the occupants gone, only the moneyed facades remain. It has the ambience of a ghost town

Barrister Timsh has been considered a potential target for the Whalers for some time. An observation post on the rooftops on the far side of Legal Plaza contains maps of the Timsh Estate and a copy of the key to the basement door.

The rooftops of the buildings abutting the streets of the Legal District are either too high or too steep to access, forcing you to use the same balconies and interior rooms others would. However, the way you traverse them, the connections you make between disparate spaces, is not the same; buildings are explored piecemeal as means to an end.

Unlike the similar way balconies and windows are used to allow rapid escape from The Golden Cat, the space outside the Timsh Estate is patrolled by City Watch and unlikely to afford a safer environment than that within. This is compensated for by

on the third floor discussing his niece with officers of the City Watch. Once their discussion has been concluded, he will wander his home, accompanied by at least one guard. The presence of other NPCs provides a complication if you are

Daud’s new Blink; able to freeze in place, it’s much easier to leap from a balcony, change direction in mid-air and renter the building using another balcony on a different floor. Where the Rothwild Slaughterhouse was predominately open, the Timsh Estate is compact and highly populated. Both office and home to Barrister Timsh, the layout of the building reinforces this dual role; the formal corridors and rectangular rooms of the Legal Offices give way to more intimate, angular rooms on the floors above. There are no hallways on the top floor, with each room connecting directly to at least one other. It’s here that you will find direct evidence of Delilah, though one of her portraits of Timsh himself can be seen overlooking the first floor lobby. In an otherwise disused room in the corner of the top floor stands a statue of Delilah herself. If you choose to talk to the sculpture, Daud’s rhetorical query is answered. Wherever she is, Delilah is watching you, the warnings she offers given only for the sake of “her sisters” who were once “very impressed” by Daud. As for Timsh himself, she cares not what you do. Timsh can initially be found in his office

attempting to stealthily switch the legal documents Timsh keeps on his belt. The last will and testament of Timsh’s mother can be found within a locked chest in the first floor Legal Offices. Instead of making himself the beneficiary, Timsh has, either through infatuation or fear, ensured that everything be left to Delilah. With Timsh dealt with, either dead or incarcerated as a plague victim, it’s time to get the information from Thalia and leave the Legal District. If you killed Rothwild, or left him in his own chair, a group of Butchers will be waiting when you make your way back to the docks. Compared to the buildings along Slaughterhouse Row, the Legal District appears far more salubrious. This is surface deep only; the corruption of Dunwall society is just as strong here. Both Rothwild and Timsh are brutal, vengeful men; Rothwild is at least is honest to himself about the darkness within his own heart. Arnold Timsh would gladly see his neighbours evicted, their lives destroyed and their assets seized, all while drinking fine wine and protesting whichever petty injustice he has recently endured.

THE SURGE With Overseers patrolling the former Chamber of Commerce that serves as hideout for the Whalers, Daud needs to rescue his followers before he can continue his investigation of Delilah. Where Corvo was an invader, working his way in and up, to Daud this is home, more familiar to him than The Hound Pits was to the Lord Protector. Progress through the environment is based around moving outwards and reclaiming territory. The spatial knowledge players will have developed exploring this level as Corvo reinforces a sense of an altered familiarity and allows for a non-linear arrangement of Daud’s objectives. Combined with an increase in the density and frequency of Overseer patrols, The Surge is one of the hardest encounter spaces in the game, in an environment that may be one of the more familiar.

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The Great Escape

“Get me out of this damn thing and I’ll fly.”

H

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er srcinal plan to stop you thwarted, Delilah has retreated back inside the walls of Brigmore Manor, outside the city, beyond the quarantine zone. Reaching her will require a trip upriver past the blockades. There is only one person in Dunwall capable of making such a journey – Lizzy Stride, feared leader of the Dead Eels. Unfortunately , Lizzy is in Coldridge Prison. There are two approaches to Coldridge;

is being played over all external speakers, blanketing the outside of the prison in a shroud that prevents the use of your powers. The escape of Corvo Attano has had significant impact on the structure and operation of Coldridge. The door that he destroyed has yet to be replaced and additional security measures have been installed to ensure that such breakouts are no longer possible. The most noticeable of these is the implementation of a

visit the control room once to unlock them all in turn. Dressed as an Overseer, the areas of Coldridge that are open to you are the same ones you will have moved through during your escape as Corvo: the interrogation room, the prison yard and the control room hallway leading to the exit. Provided you don’t perform any suspicious activity within sight of a City Watch guard, you can wander freely through these spaces; the whale oil tank powering the Arc

through the sewers that Corvo used to make his escape, or with the aid of an acquired Overseer uniform directly through the front door. Disguised as an Overseer, the City Watch forces within Coldridge are no longer openly hostile, but neither are they inviting. They have asked for help from the Abbey of the Everyman for a very specific purpose, so if you deviate from the areas considered necessary to that task, you will be treated as any other trespasser and dealt with accordingly. Though Corvo is long gone and the entire cell block in which he was housed now sealed, his presence can be felt throughout Coldridge. Guards and prisoners alike can be overheard discussing his escape, while those few City Watch members deemed culpable in his escape await their execution. Three of them in total stand in the yard just beyond the walls; their crimes recited to them before punishment is dispensed. If you can save him, the lone officer among them – the man whole gave Corvo the key to his cell – will provide you with information regarding the location of Lizzy Stride. Rescuing him can prove challenging, as Overseer music

central tumbler system, whereby cells can no longer be unlocked directly; the cell number must instead be dialled into a machine in the control room overlooking the central yard. Each cell has to be unlocked individually, though multiple cells can be unlocked at once. If you know which cells you want to unlock, you need only

Pylon in front of the prison yard has been even removed to ensure your safety. The Interrogation room is a wreck. Roots and vines have broken up through the earth, destroying the walls and ceiling, and collapsing the room behind. A body is slumped within the chair, burnt and unrecognisable. One of Delilah’s coven,

The contents of the cells within Coldridge, including the specic location of Lizzy Stride, is randomised each time you play, so exploring the prison blocks rst is important if you are to avoid wasting time opening cells that hold little of value.

Both the Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches contain more promnient female characters than are encountered in Corvo’s tour through Dunwall. Where the Lord Protector met plenty of lower class women, Daud sees more female characters, such as Lizzie Stride, in positions of power - albeit on the outer fringes of Dunwall society.

the murmured whisperings of the void cling to her charred and twisted form. The audiograph player on the table contains a recording of her interrogation; nobody inside the room with her left alive. Among the other items on the table is a key; of no use inside Coldridge, it can be used to open chests within the attic of Brigmore Manor once you reach it two missions later. The areas of Coldridge that remain restricted are those that were entirely inaccessible as Corvo: sections A, C and D. Some of the cells within are occupied; others have been boarded up or stand empty. One of the latter is being used by the guards for a regular game of Nancy. Several of the cells are occupied by Hatters, who will cause a useful distraction should you unlock their cells. Three stories high with cells on every floor, the cell block sees a majority of guards patrol the ground f loor, with catwalks on the upper two floors patrolled by a single guard each. These guards restrict their movements to Sections C and A, leaving the upper floors of the smaller section D relatively unguarded. Running along the exterior wall parallel to the control room hallway, sections D and C are separated by a guard office and stairwell. If you can’t find Lizzy Stride, he r location will be detailed in the logbook kept in the guard room. Section A runs perpendicular to the others forming a T with section C. Despite your ability to open multiple cells at once, it’s unlikely you will be able to keep track of each cell you want to explore, so learning the quickest way back to the control room will prove useful. Able to wander parts of the prison as an Overseer, you will be free to pla n your route through the space without drawing attention to yourself. Section A is the easiest to access, with each of the upper level catwalks within distance of a Blink from the pipework above the Arc Pylon in the control room hallway. Meanwhile, the reduced number of guards in section D is compensated for by the increased challenge presented by reaching it. Even locked inside Coldridge, Lizzy Stride is somebody to be feared. Having been additionally restrained, you will need to release her manually if she is to come with you. Despite her outward bravado, her incarceration has taken its toll, causing her to collapse once she tries to stand. You’ll need to carry her out. Even an Overseer will be questioned carrying an unconscious prisoner out of Coldridge, so regardless of how you got in, you will need to sneak out.

The Brigmore Witches are powerful, with this wreckage of the interrogation room a hint of what you are to face in your confrontatio n with Delilah Copperspoo n.

With randomised elements and cells that need to be unlocked from a central location, what is a relatively small space, compared to the areas of Dunwall you have previously visited, can take time to fully explore. Coldridge has changed since Corvo escaped. Though superficially similar, the actual geometry of the level has been adjusted in specific locations to better serve the powers available to Daud. Holes

and vents where once there were none; extra pipework clinging to the walls; even an entirely new door – the changes are generally subtle and appropriate enough to go largely unnoticed. Where Corvo explored the vertical space of Coldridge in a largely two dimensional fashion, Daud is given a more vertical playground befitting his powers and the architecture of the prison itself. 55

Gangs of Dunwall

“Wakefield’s a hard man, but he’s not as fun as Lizzy. Lizzy enjoyed it more.”

L

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izzy Stride’s imprisonment left the Dead Eels to be taken over by her former subordinate, Edgar Wakefield. If Daud is to reach Delilah, he will need to deal with Wakefield and ensure Lizzy’s ship, the Undine, is in working order. The once-fashionable Draper’s Ward is now a gangland warzone. Battle lines have been drawn and makeshift barricades erected as the Dead Eels face off against

the wall that encircles the docks; using these, you can get from one side to the other without drawing attention, though you will need to leave them eventually – and there are many Dead Eels patrolling the riverfront. Edgar Wakefield, for all his bluster, has been hiding in the hold of the Undine ever since he learned that Lizzy Stride escaped from Coldridge. A metal hatch in the hull can be opened from the water, allowing you to climb on board undetected. Dead

Eels here, and within Draper’s Ward, will no longer attack you. Unfortunately, Wakefield was only part of the problem. Sometime during Lizzy’s incarceration, a group of Hatters attacked and stole the Undine’s engine coil; without it, she’s not going anywhere. Fortunately, and somewhat conveniently, Lizzy knows the password to enter the textile mill. If you can get the engine coil back, she’ll keep her promise to take you upriver.

the Hatters. The tension occasionally breaks out into lethal skirmishes in the streets surrounding the drained canal that divides the Hatter-controlled shopping arcade from the Dead Eels’ base along the riverfront. Though pushed back to the shopping arcade, where broken glass from its onceelegant iron-framed ceiling now litters the floor, the Hatters are not yet defeated. They have managed to gain access to some of the latest Sokolov technology and have erected an Arc Pylon to guard the door to their base in the textile mill; a door further protected by an intercom and password entry system. With barricades made of corrugated metal and barbed wire, the Dead Eels don’t have access to the technology the Hatters do, but they compensate with aggression and numbers. Wakefield may nominally be in charge now, but Lizzy’s name is still mentioned in hushed tone; both feared and respected, most expect her to return. Where Draper’s Ward was autumnal, the riverfront is all industrial tones, stained plaster, stonework and rusted metal. Lizzy’s ship, the Undine (named for a water spirit) sits at dock surrounded by train carriages, crates and bolts of cloth. Metal pipes clutch

or unconscious, with Wakefield out of the picture you can signal for Lizzy by using the ship’s horn. Once she has regained control of the Dead Eels, the area around the riverfront will become neutral territory and the Dead

The Hatter base in the textile mill recalls the Bottle Street gang’s distillery. What was once one of Dunwall’s many industrial concerns is now repurposed to serve the current needs of the plague-

Rendered in autumnal colours, deep reds and oranges, Draper’s Ward is in decline but not yet entirel y devoid of life. Once an industrial centre, then the height of fashionable Dunwall society and now a warzone, what Dra per’s Ward will become once you are thro ugh it is yet to be seen.

Where Draper’sisWard was autumnal, the riverfront all stained plaster, stonework and rusted metal

stricken population; in this case, through the manufacture of plague shrouds rather than off-brand elixir. The Hatters’ access to Sokolov technology extends beyond their Arc Pylon to a Wall of Light, which has been positioned to guard the main entrance to the mill above the halfdrained canal and the now-immobile water wheel. A second door to the side is protected by multiple tripwires, which will trigger both alarms and projectile launchers. Connected to the far left of the mill, the skylights of the storage area are broken and can be used to gain entry. If you allowed him to escape imprisonment within the Slaughterhouse, you may meet a former Rothwild labourer inside who will offer some information on the events within the mill. The Hatter’s leader, the Geezer, is old and dying, his orders to the Hatters relayed through his nurse, Trimble. If you are to get the engine coil back, it might be worth discussing the matter with him. A stairwell in the back corner connects each of the mill’s floors, from the locked door to the engine room in the basement up to the attic annex. The majority of the attic space has been taken over by Trimble for a private laboratory. Above the water wheel is the manufacturing floor, where the mechanised looms are used to produce the plague shrouds. Another stairwell in the opposite corner connects the manufacturing floor to the

If you can slip into the river, it can be used to conceal your movement and, on the far side of the Undine, the lone building standing on the shore can be entered through an underwate r tunnel; a secret shrine to the Outsider has been constructed within.

The Wall of Light protecting the main entrance extends to ground level, but not into the canal itself, and with the water wheel iner t you can move along the canal bed to sneak under the Wall of Light and enter the mill.

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attic. A balcony on the level between looks out over the clanking machines, while inside the adjacent room Trimble himself watches over the Geezer. The man once known as Mortimer Hat is now confined to a chair, tubes connecting him to a whaleoil-powered machine that sustains his vital functions. The rumour is that if the Geezer dies, the machine is rigged to flood the mill with poison gas, killing everybody inside. Trimble recognises you immediately and is willing to make a deal: find a way to get the water flowing again and he’ll let you have the engine coil. The Geezer, however, seems less pleased with this arrangement; it’s hard to make out what he’s saying and Trimble won’t let you speak to him alone, but his agitation is clear. There is an intricate clockwork timer on one of the benches in Trimble’s lab which can be used to draw him away for a few moments. With Trimble out of the way, however temporarily, the Geezer is free to talk. He is a prisoner and wishes to end his life. Unfortunately, Trimble set up the gas and he is the only one with an antitoxin. In order to grant the Geezer his wish and survive, you will need to locate the formula for the antitoxin and concoct some for yourself.

Draper’s Ward throws Daud into the underworld that he has strived to maintain some separation from

If you wish to take up Trimble’s offer, you will need to venture into the sewers below the textile mill to discover what has caused the water to cease owing and rectify the problem.

The formula for the antitoxin is in a hidden behind a blackboard in Trimble’s lab. A cable runs from the blackboard to an audiograph player on the bench beside it. If you can locate the audiograph recording on Trimble’s bed, you can play it to reveal the secret compartment. There are three ingredients in the formula; two can be found within the mill, while the third, Oxrush, will require you to return to Draper’s Ward. The equipment in Trimble’s laboratory can be used to create the antitoxin. Now immune to the gas, you can grant the Geezer his final wish. With his final act, he will confess that he gave Lizzy Stride the code in the hope that she would be the one to end his life; there is more to their history than either will admit to. The Geezer succumbs before he can give you the complete code to the engine room, though the two numbers he does provide are enough for you to determine the third through trial and error. Beyond the River Krusts and rats, the sewers beneath the mill initially appear deserted. There is a locked door off the main channel, while a side passage opposite is boarded up. Smash through these and you can continue to a large chamber, where a woman can be heard calling for help. If her pleas strain credulity, it’s because she is one of the Brigmore Witches, the first you will have encountered directly. Should you chose to interact with her, she, along with two of her sisters who have been waiting nearby, will attack you. This ambush can be discovered if you are careful and, by climbing up the dried water channel, you will be able to sneak up on the waiting witches from behind. At the heart of the sewers is the water control station, which is patrolled by a pair of witches. They are responsible for the disrupted water flow, and their magic has caused vines to grow around the large wheels that operate the pump. If you can find the wrench to operate the pump, you will need to destroy the vines to allow the wheels to rotate freely and ensure the water can start flowing again. Both of these tasks are complicated by the presence of Weepers wandering the lower level of this room. With the water flowing again, Trimble will allow you to retrieve the engine coil. Alternately, if you located the body of the Hatter engineer within the sewers, his key can be used to open the locker in his Draper’s Ward apartment, within a note details the combination to the engine room. Depending on your actions in the sewers, you might find a group of witches

Art: Lenka Simeckova http://lenkasime ckova.blo gspot.com. au

waiting to ambush you when you reattach the Undine’s engine coil at the docks. If you are observant, you can catch them at their plans within one of the tunnels off the riverfront and deal with them before they can mount their attack. With multiple large locations and shifting NPC alliances, Draper’s Ward throws Daud into the underworld that he has strived to maintain some separation from. Corvo’s

influence on the city might be writ large across Dunwall, but Daud’s actions are no less impactful even if the consequences will go largely unnoticed by those in the city’s ruling class. The choices made within each of the connecting levels are reflected in Draper’s Ward itself; depending on how you choose to deal with the Hatters and the Dead Eels, it can be the site of bloody skirmishes, or a tense standoff. 59

The Death of Art

“They’re getting in and out of the house somehow, but I haven’t spotted it.”

W

ith the Undine repaired and the Dead Eels back under the control of Lizzy Stride, Daud can make his way upriver to Brigmore Manor where Delilah waits. It’s time to uncover her schemes and put an end to them; if not for the sake of Dunwall, then for that of his own tortured conscience. Brigmore Manor and its grounds are like nothing you will have seen within the city limits. A verdant, half-flooded expanse of grass lies before you. Beyond, the manor itself fades into the fog that blankets the valley in which it is nestled.

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Sitting in a valley, with other housing looking down from above, Brigmore Manor is protected from both the elements and hostile intent. Sheer rock walls rise on either side with a fence constructed between them, while tall stone pillars fank the nowovergrown path to the front door.

Far from the city’s broadcasts and public announcements, the predominate sound here is the gentle lapping of water against the shore. Compared to the hard lines and industrial tones of the areas around Draper’s Ward, everything here is lush and organic. More than that, the space outside Brigmore Manor is open, with few obvious safe spaces within the distance of a Blink; you are exposed and alone. Even the assassin, Thomas, who arrives to provide his reconnaissance report, can offer little help. Lying like supernatural landmines around the grounds and within the manor are the skulls of large, dog-like creatures known as Gravehounds. Despite the glow emitted by the skulls, they can be difficult to spot at a distance. Approach close enough to identify them and they will erupt into existence, coalescing into form around the skull and attacking you relentlessly. Throughout the grounds stand statues of Delilah, similar to the one you will have first encountered in Arnold Timsh’s home. Imbued with part of Delilah’s spirit, they will whisper your name as you approach, moving suddenly and alerting the witches should you enter their field of vision. It’s the closest Dishonored comes to implementing security cameras. An old structure stands to one side of the path to the front doors. Avoiding the booby-trapped doorway and exploring the interior will cause a witch to Blink onto the path outside to begin a patrol of the riverside; the sharp, aggressive sound of her arrival is enough to set you on edge, even if she doesn’t spot you. To the west of the path, the fence is

at its most secure and, though there is an obvious gap, it is protected by a tripwire. Beyond, Gravehounds roam amidst the headstones of the family Brigmore, scratching at the floor and howling. The sisters of the Brigmore coven stand watch over the front door, while the f looded portion of garden to the east is largely undefended; this is the easiest way to enter the grounds, though it is also the one that offers the least cover. Few of the witches enter this flooded part of the grounds, though from their position they can spot you if you are not careful, or quick. The attic spaces of Brigmore Manor are split between those that are still relatively intact, and therefore inhabitable, and those that are exposed to the elements. From the now-ruined solarium and the balconies of the east wing, you can reach these latter spaces and move through their crumbling interiors to reach the Manor’s back garden. If you can avoid the River Krusts, the back garden can also be reached by navigating

the rocks and wooden supports along the east side of the house. Built to a classic Elizabethan style “E-plan” layout, Brigmore Manor has two wings connected by a central span. Enter through the front doors, or by ascending the stairs from the crypt, you will reach the foyer in the centre of the manor. On the ground floor, the doors to the west wing are locked. The east wing is accessible, though the doorway is booby-trapped. The attic spaces that have remained intact have – aside from Delilah’s studio in the roof of the west wing – been turned into the sleeping spaces for the witches. Between the cushions and mattresses stand a number of chests, some locked. If you explored the interrogation room inside Coldridge, you may already have a key for them; if not, one of the sisters patrolling the balcony overlooking the foyer will have one. Off the foyer on the first floor is a small room where a fire burns within the hearth. Inside is an Overseer. Captured and forced 61

to eat the flesh of his brothers, he is raving. Denouncing the Seven Strictures, the Abbey and the High Overseer himself, he will explain a little of Delilah’ s plan if you talk to him, though his cries eventually lead one of the sisters to materialise and put him out of his misery. With the roof collapsed and rubble piled on the floor, the way through to the west wing can be hard to f ind. Once past these obstructions, the rooms beyond are eerily empty; occasionally, witches are visible through the fallen beams and crumbling walls as they patrol the adjacent rooms and hallways. Gravehounds howl from nearby as you approach the wooden steps to Delil ah’s studio. You can just see one pacing the length of the west wing hallway through the piled wood and stone to your left. Delilah’s studio is protected by a network of traps; tripwires run across the hole in the wall at the foot of the stairs and more are strung across the floor of the studio itself. The projectile launchers they are connected to aim at whale oil tanks collected near the support beams of the room; tanks that, once hit, will cause a c hain reaction that is

Though largely structurally intact, the inside of Brigmore Manor is in ruins. Stagnant water sits an kle-deep throughout most of the ground oor, while many of the rooms and hallways on the oor above have collapsed so completely as to be inaccessible.

The ruins of two sheds ank the fountain in the back garden. Trees that have long since stopped being tended to have overgrown, creating halfconcealed patches of grass; secret gardens from which you can observe the witches.

The visit to Brigmore Manor sees Dishonored at its most gothic and unsettling

Art: Lenka Simeckova http://lenkasim eckova.b logspot.com. au

almost certain to be fatal. Echoing with voices from the Void, a purple lantern sits on Delilah’s desk. Against the wall next to it are preliminary sketches and partially finished pictures of young Emily Kaldwin, who, at this moment is waiting in the collapsed tower behind The Hound Pits while Corvo Attano strikes back against the Lord Regent himself inside Dunwall Tower. Delilah’s journal sits on the table beside the lantern. Reading it provides the most explicit information yet regarding her plans; using a painting of the young heiress, Delilah will use her magic to inhabit and take over her body, ruling the Isles as Emily Kaldwin, while all that made Emily herself is subjugated to be eventually lost to the Void. The way to the gallery is through the ruined living rooms in the east wing. Here, the signs of nature’s continuing and inevitable takeover become more prominent. Roots and branches growing through the walls provide cover from the many sisters lingering in this area. With her now in the Void preparing to perform the

ritual, there is little the remaining sisters can do to help Delilah, so they stay in Brigmore Manor awaiting her success and their summons to Dunwall Tower. Past these waiting sisters, a long hallway leads to the rear of the house. Like Delilah’s studio, this hallway is also protected by tripwires. Strung across the floor at either end, these are easier to spot and avoid. A pair of witches stand watch over the gallery and the large empty canvas on its easel in the centre of the room, ringed by arcane markings. Placing the lantern near the canvas reveals a painting of the Void, though which you can enter and confront Delila h. Arranged at the foot of a vast tree, Delil ah is making preparations for her ritual when you arrive. Though apparently alone, she is protected by her statues which, through the power of the Void will take on her form should you attack her directly, forcing you to battle all of them before you can finally subdue her. Beyond the site of her ritual, there is another of her paintings; this one of the giant tree itself. If you can replace this

with the painting of Emily Kaldwin without Delilah noticing, you can trick her into trapping her soul in the tree for eternity. Dead or trapped, Delilah’s plan is over and nobody within the Empire of the Isles will ever know how close Emily came to becoming Delilah’s puppet. The visit to Brigmore Manor sees Dishonored at its most gothic and unsettling. With lush open grounds giving way to claustrophobic and crumbling interiors, it is a level of contrasting tensions. Outside, you are exposed. Unable to exploit the height advantage Blink normally offers, you are left to skul k through the undergrowth and half-flooded gardens, avoiding the Gravehound skulls and statues of Delilah with their whispered implications. Within the manor, you are surrounded by the sisters of the Brigmore coven, the collapsed walls and empty rooms limiting your range of options, while the numerous traps make even basic navigation perilous. Beyond the safety and familiarity of Dunwall, Delilah’s home within Brigmore Manor is unlike anything you will have seen before. 63

Art: J.C. http://risingmonster.deviantart.com

ThE AsSaSsIn’S ApPrEnTiCe IoN StOrM aLuMnI aNd ArKaNe StUdIoS DeSiGnEr RiCaRdO BaRe tAlKs cReAtInG cOnTeNt wOrThY oF fOlLoWiNg iN CoRvO’s fOoTsTePs 64

Sneaky Bastards: You’ve just released your first novel. How different an approach must you take to designing and writing a game like Dishonored, to writing a novel – and how do you get yourself into those different headspaces? Bare: The main difference is that working on a game like Dishonored is a collaborative experience. Writing my novel, Jack of Hearts, was a much more personal expression, a sort of lone ranger experience. The way I write: Turn the lights off. Put on a hoodie. Wrap some headphones around my head and crank the playlist I make specifically for each writing project. Basically, I block out the external world as much as possible so I can sink into the inner space of my story. You got your start in games working on Deus Ex. How do you feel having begun your career with what is widely considered to be one of the greatest games of all time? Is there a part of the game that you can point to and say “That bit was me”? I feel incredibly fortunate. Fresh out of college, I managed to score a tour of the Ion Storm office in Austin. While there, I said to Harvey something like, “I wish someone would make a first-person shooter with lots of action, but with tons of RPG elements too, like characters to talk to, cool stuff to upgrade blah blah blah…” Harvey responded by spinning his chair around loading an early build of Deus Ex.and I may haveup squealed. A few highlights from what I worked on: several of the UNATCO HQ visits, including the escape from the secret MJ12 facility beneath UNATCO, the Airfield confrontation with Anna Navarre and Lebedev, and the Ocean Lab. I may as well admit I’m also responsible for Howard Strong in the Missile Silo, chucking LAMs down at the player from a cherry picker, for which all the other LD’s never cease to tease me. (I still have the honor of working with Steve, and Monte, and Harvey.) What were core tenets that every designer had to adhere to, and how much freedom did they have within them? It was a very organic process, but it ultimately had to adhere to core design values at Arkane: multiple solutions, simulation over narrow scripted results, and well-crafted, immersive world design. Sometimes the needs of the overall narrative would drive what would appear in a level, and sometimes it worked the other way around: a level designer or someone else on the team came up with an undeniably cool scenario and we would figure out a way to weave it into the narrative.

“a shorter span of missions means there were fewer opportunities to show the ‘cause and effect’ of your actions”

What is involved in taking the lead on Dishonored’s DLC? On Dishonored, I was Lead Technical Designer. I also acted as Lead Level Designer for the guys in Austin, coordinating closely with Christophe

on opportunities like, “This moment here, Daud would react. He would say something.” Of course, the main structural difference is that we decided to do a bit of narration from Daud’s perspective just before each mission.

Carrier who thetwo overall Leadone Level Designer (wewas have studios, in Austin and one in Lyon). For the Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches, I had to broaden my responsibilities and oversight. This meant shifting from working as an individual contributor or even a lead over a specific area, to making sure the global picture hung together. I also worked closely with Harvey and Raf to ensure we stayed true to the foundation laid by Dishonored, while still building new and interesting gameplay.

We saw the Legal District in the first press previews of Dishonored. What led to it being cut from the base game? A lot of different factors feed into why content gets cut from games. In the case of the Legal District, it was partially a matter of it not quite fitting into how Corvo’s specific story was shaping up, as well as wanting to make sure we were providing good alternation of experience. So, it didn’t make into in the final game, but when we started working on Daud’s story, we thought it was a great Do you have a style or approach to design opportunity to reintroduce the corrupt for the DLC that you find is distinct to the lawyer, Barrister Arnold Timsh, who works base game? for the Lord Regent to strip citizens of their Not in any radical or overarching sense. If property. that were so, I think the result wouldn’t be true to the values of Arkane or the srcinal What were some of the challenges of game. That being said, I think each of us maintaining Dishonored’s Chaos system brings unique strengths and interests, over a far shorter span of missions? things that we’re drawn to or excite us You hinted at what is in fact the main more than others, while still fitting within challenge: a shorter span of missions the overall framework of Arkane’s design means there were fewer opportunities philosophy. So, for me, I’ve always loved to show the ‘cause and effect’ of your creating and encouraging dramatic actions. However, the fact that both DLCs scenarios with interesting exclusive are connected into a larger story (you can choices (and opportunities for things to use your save to continue the same playgo off the rails into the game simulation). through) meant that we could carry over Stuff like Overseer Campbell vs Capt. the chaos and the consequences of your Curnow, Granny vs Slackjaw, Rothwild vs choices from one to the other. Ames and The Geezer vs Nurse Trimble. But, I think there’s a strong continuity between the main game and the DLCs because everything takes place in the context of being surrounded by the same group of people who elaborate on and improve each other’s ideas: the other LDs, getting critical feedback from Christophe, Harvey and Raf, Austin Grossman’s writing, and so on. Daud is not the silent protagonist that Corvo was – how does this change your approach to designing mission structure and story beats? Working with Daud was really fun because of the fact that we could use his voice (Michael Madsen) to do more storytelling and characterisation. It doesn’t alter the core design of the minute-to-minute gameplay, but it means we could capitalise 65

THE STEALTH REVIEW Perched high above Dunwall, NELS ANDERSON

DANIEL HINDES

and

takes a bird’s-eye view of

CONTENTS 68. Stealth and

72.

Dishonored’s sneakiest systems and explores how it pushes the stealth genre forward

Dunwall’s Intelligentsia

74. Tools 76. The

of the Trade

Whaler’s Arsenal

77. A City

rom the very beginning, Arkane approached the design of Dishonored with the mantra, “Like Thief, but fast”. By the studio’s reckoning, if the stealth genre was to p rogress forward, it needed a swift kick in the pants. What results is an experience that exhibits the immersive simulation qualities first pioneered by Looking Glass, but explores speedy new vectors for stealth gameplay which blend and complement one another in a manner not seen before.

F

OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS

After beginning with a typical, Thieflike stealth system of light and shadow, Dishonored underwent numerous iterations due to player feedback. Many were confused as to why guards could not see the player in extreme close range even when shrouded in complete shadow, as would be the case in reality.

Thus, a system was adopted that hybridised light and shadow, along with physical occlusion. Light and shadow only conceal the player at a distance, though specifically what distance is difficult to determine even after hours of play. Occlusion, then, becomes the more immediate stealth concern. Remnants of more immediate light and shadow interplay remain. Candles can be blown out, either silently in close proximity, or at range with Corvo’s Wind Blast power, but the small area of light they generate is negligible as far as detection goes. Beyond this, core mechanics of light manipulation are absent; lights cannot be put out to bathe areas in shadow. Another minor mechanical addition to stealth gameplay comes in the form of hiding spots. These can be seamlessly entered into, and are easily identifiable as Corvo assumes an even lower crouch unique to these locations. Enemies

Verticality

70. Supernatural Sneaking

in Chaos

cannot see him in these hiding spots, so they’re logically placed beneath tables, cabinets and other furniture. Crucially, they rarely provide avenues for continued movement through the environment; they are temporary safe spots that must eventually be left in order to reach an objective. These core systems actually make Dishonored’s first level, Coldridge Prison, one of the more difficult stealth challenges in the game. Without the aid of his supernatural powers, Corvo’s progress must be slow and methodical to remain unseen. It’s a far cry from the speedy stealth the game seeks to offer. It’s upon breaking out of Coldridge, gaining supernatural insight and first entering John Clavering Boulevard in the second mission that Dishonored’s disparate stealth systems begin to hint at the possibilities that follow. It all comes down to a near and total focus on the power of verticality...

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Six O’clock High Mark of the Ninja Lead Designer NELS ANDERSON exploits the power of verticality in Dishonored’s stealth gameplay bove anything else, Dishonored is a game about elevation. If Corvo is anything, he’s a gargoyle perched upon a rooftop, peering down at cobbled streets. Verticality is core to Dishonored, from its mechanics to its architecture. The abilities encourage escalation and the structures of Dunwall invite it. Dishonored lacks any kind of light gem or other indicator of concealment. You can toggle a crouched state, but beyond that, you have no indication of how concealed in shadow you actually are. Initially, this makes the stealth systems a little muddy and

A

enemies generally cannot access is how Dishonored allows Corvo the freedom to observe and plan. Providing Corvo with the power to Blink is Dishonored’s way of inviting him to ascend. The fact that it is the only ability provided for free, and before starting the game’s first prope r level, The Office of the High Overseer, is indicative of its importance. The fact that Blink can be used often and, if allowed to recharge, without cost, alters how players perceive th e game’s physical space. In Thief, gaining elevation required expenditure of the both rare and expensive rope arrows. But with Blink, ascension is trivial.

himself and the interrogation chamber. On that second floor, large lamps offer the ability to traverse nearly the entire floor without ever touching the ground. If you initially take the low road, you still traverse the kennels by clamberin g atop the cages. Even fleeing the Office after the High Overseer has been dealt with involves traversing a series of smaller outbuildings, dropping through skylights and getting past broken doors by climbing over and around them. The level has a layered topography where networks of spaces connect at certain points. Those connections are either vertical themselves, or dangerous areas that can quickly be reached from vertical spaces –

hard to read. More than once, Corvo would be spotted by a guard when we thought we were safely hidden. But as a consequence, we simply tried to spend as little time on the ground as possible. And this is what Dishonored wants. The ground belongs to the guards. It’s their space and there isn’t any real way to transform it in yours. As you can’t extinguish most light sources or deepen shadows, the ground is hostile territory and will remain so. But the rooftops, the catwalks, the buttresses- those belong to Corvo. Rising off the ground is Dishonored’s way to providing access to its true stealth gameplay. Stealth is defined by its playercentric nature. Because the world’s default state is being unaware of the player, it must operate independently of them. The onus is on the player to disrupt the world, unlike most actionadventure games, where the world specifically creates challenge by acting on the player. Thus, stealth games are about cause and effect, about playing intentionally. Access to elevated spaces that connect to multiple areas that

Where the importance of verticality in Dishonored becomes apparent is in

for example, the rat tunnels. The Office of the High Overseer

The dynamic between the ground as enemy territory and elevation as the player’s is consistently well-executed

that first proper level, the Office of the High Overseer. The prior level is largely tutorial and while there is some use of elevated areas, it’s relatively minor. Even in the prelude Distillery District, the rooftops practically beg exploration. But in the Overseer’s grounds, it becomes readily apparent that ascension is Dishonored’s watchword. You begin the level scaling a fence, and from there, multiple entrances into the building all encourage the player to climb. Ledges around the second storey offer easy access to the High Overseer

sets the stage for the rest of the game. Dishonored invites the player to look skyward and utilise the space above. The dynamic between the ground as enemy territory and elevation as the player’s is consistently well-executed and engaging. While other stealth games choose a different set of dynamics to provide the player with the means to play with intention, Dishonored prioritises verticality. The abilities and level design all work in concert to make that space belong to the player, and what they can do from there is truly astounding. 69

Art: ViaEstelar http://viaestelar.deviantart.com

SUPERNATURAL SNEAKING

By exploiting Dunwall’s verticality, players can employ highly active and deliberate abilities to create new stealth opportunities not seen in other games. The basic process of sneaking up behind guards one-by-one, knocking them unconscious and hiding their bodies can be imbued with newfound rapidity by Blinking to and fro – even whilst shouldering a guard’s snoring weight. Simply avoiding enemies’ lines of sight can be accomplished with speed and specificity, as Corvo’s teleport ation is silent and near-instant. But it’s the rest of Corvo’s supernatural repertoire that hints at higher-concept methods of sneaking. The ability to possess animals, and later human beings, effectively allows Corvo to hide inside the body of an NPC. In certain areas, this possession-based stealth offers the path of least resistance as numerous security devices, such as Walls of Light, Arc Pylons and Watchtowers, combine to automatically render Corvo’s physical form hostile 70

The ability to possess animals, and later human beings, effectively allows Corvo to hide inside the body of an NPC

whether hidden or not. The Possession power itself is rightfully resource-intensive, though from a pure stealth perspective it feels underdeveloped compared to its suggestive potential. The time Corvo is able to possess an NPC for d ecreases as he moves from animals to humans, whereupon it’s just long enough to bypass security or move from one room to the next for a safe chokehold. It is a delicate dance of risk and reward; if Corvo runs out the possession timer without finding a dark corner, he’ll pop back into existence to the surprise of all surrounding NPCs. And he’ll likely get the guard’s vomit on his boots.

We wish the Possession power was developed further. For example, the potential ability to directly possess the next guard from the current host, creating a supernatural conga line of queasy NPCs, would extend the opportunity for player expression and ingenuity. Presently, the only action a possessed human being can perform is the opening and closing of doors. What of the ability to wield a guard’s sword, or fire his pistol – even using them against Corvo’s primary assassination target, effectively framing that member of the Watch? In its current state, Possession feels more valuable as a traversal tool, by taking control of rats or fish and

navigating through small tunnels, than as a direct method of concealment. Corvo’s second major stealth modifier is his ability to Bend Time. At its first level, time only slows, which still causes NPCs to notice him. When upgraded, time stops entirely – and with it, the NPCs’ ability to detect sound and movement. From a stealth perspective, this allows Corvo to silently bypass entire environments, especially when used in conjunction with an upgraded Blink ability, but all at a high mana cost. Interestingly, we managed to employ Bend Time to enable a covert transversal of two opposing ledges high above a street

that were too far away for a single Blink. A Tallboy patrolled between the ledges; we used Bend Time, then Blinked and landed on the Tallboy’s head, and covered the remaining distance with a second Blink to the ledge’s safety. When time resumed, the Tallboy was none the wiser as to Corvo’s boot print left on his helmet. This cuts to the heart of why Dishonored’s stealth gameplay is so fascinating. When Corvo’s abilities are used in conjunction with each other, and he exploits the game’s deliberate focus on verticality, Dishonored offers a stealth experience that feels fast, intentional and creative.

Moving through guards in a possesed body may arouse slightly confused comments, but never suspicion.

THE OUTSIDER’S ARSENAL

Here’s how each of Corvo’s supernatural powers contribute to a new stealth experience. POSSESSION

Get out of sight by hiding inside the body of an NPC.

BEND TIME

Freeze time and move freely past NPCs without being seen.

DARK VISION

Highlight enemies and their vision cones through walls.

BLINK

Access hard-toreach vertical locations to remain hidden.

AGILITY

This jumpdoublemakes reaching higher areas simpler.

SHADOW KILL

The bodies of slain enemies instantly and silently turn to ash.

DEVOURING SWARM

Summoned rats can be used to hinder gu ards’ vision cones.

When it all goes belly-up, possessing a rat and weaving thro ugh the stampede of pursuing guards provides an effective escape tactic. Just don’t get stepped on.

WIND BLAST

Put out light sources, like candles or fireplaces, from a distance.

71

DUNWALL’S INTELLIGENTSIA

One highly traditional aspect of stealth gameplay that Dishonored retains is full audio propagation through theenvironment, with objects like doors naturally muffling sound. However, different surface materials, despite emitting audibly different footstep sound effects, do not affect the amount of noise Corvo makes as far as the NPCs will recognise. Furthermore, crouching enters into an entirely silent mode of movement, whilst also allowing silent drops from negligible heights. This changes the way players approach thenavigation of Dishonored’s spaces; without the need to take changes in surface material into account, the physical movement aspect of stealth receives an immediate speed boost. This also allows players to focus their attention the artificial intelligence of Dishonored’s enemies, who have been designed to clearly communicate their current gameplay state. Lightning boltshaped awareness lines convey their staged progression of suspicion; one line results in an audio bark; two lines cause the guard to stop and look in the disturbance’s direction; three lines see the guard move and investigate.

72

Remaining in a hiding spot such as this provides immediate visual concealment.

Corvo’s proximity to the guard upon less-experienced stealth players. Crucially, causing a disturbance factors into the guard’sthose looking for a more advanced and immediate alert level, as does the nature of immersive experience can turn the markers the sound itself. A stray footstep won’t causeoff and still interpret the AI’s state thanks to a high alert, but distraction items such as a a comprehensive system of audio cues and thrown bottle or crossbow bolt –something animations. that can’t be attributed to, say, the house This extends to the enemy’s search phase; settling – will. In high alert, theseawareness it’s not uncommon to heara guard order lines remain on the edges of thescreen, comrades to “check under everything”, acting as coordinates that reveal therelative giving Corvo – should he be cowering in one position of guards in pursuit. Thisallows of these aforementioned hiding spots – the players attempting to escape asituation to chance to Blink to safety. Such sanctuary keep approximate track of their aggressors is temporary, however, as guards in search without keeping them physically in view. mode transform Dishonored’s verticality as These awareness markers are useful for refuge philosophy by looking up into the

Though Corvo is able to bypass this Wall of Light easily, alerted guards will begin looking up.

the environment’s valences transform due to the lack of a guaranteed mechanic for concealment

Some additional AI behaviours are as notable as they are easily missed. If Corvo rewires a Wall of Light so that it affects guards and not himself, the guards will realise the Wall of Light is dangerous after one of them gets zapped and will cease

their attempts to traverse through it. Civilian NPCs who see Corvo perform a hostile action will enter into a ‘cowering’ stance; rafters and down over ledges. observing patrol routes and systematically should they see Corvo again, even when he is crouched and sneaking, they will emit Within this partial failure margin, the clearing the environment threat by threat. environment’s valences transform due Even if Corvo himself goes unnoticed, his an audible cry of fear, which nearby guards will hear who will then enter into high alert. to the lack of a guaranteed mechanic for elimination of outlying guards will not. concealment, such asdeep shadows. It’s Combined with the guards’ tendencies to NPCs who enter into conversation with here that Dishonored asks its players to randomly stop and look atpoints of interest one another exhibit reduced view cones, be the most reactive; the most creative. in the middle of a patrol and the system which allows Corvo to take advantage of the characters’ distracted state and slip If Klei Entertainment’s Mark of the Ninja asks, yet again, for reactive play. All of this offers precise, digital stealthgameplay, goes further toward imbuing stealth with by. Finally, few stealth games include the Dishonored offers the polar opposite – speed and creativity, even within context of element of surprise as a part of a guard’s something muddy and analogue. The result navigating through hostile AI. emotional reactions – but Dishonored does. If the player is opting for a stealthy but is a stealth game where the pacifistic power An alarm system creates an additional fantasy is shattered as soon as the system threat layer for stealth players. Given lethal playstyle, they are able to Blink to within view and close range of an enemy is disturbed. Whilst a full combat approach Dishonored’s time period, alarm terminals can be adopted to deal with alerted guards, are large, mechanical devices that must be and exploit the half second of surprise the players who want to keep their hands clean manually activated by individual guards – no guard exhibits to initiate an instant-kill. must master not only the game’s nonlaser trip wires here. In addition to placing all These factors combine to offer combat mechanics themselves, but creative guards in the immediate area on high alert, what feels like a new standard of deployment of them. a raised alarm will spawn additional guards artificial intelligence for a stealth game. Dishonored breaks ground in both the One feature unique to Dishonored’s from out of view, who will run into the AI is the manner in which guards will area of Corvo’s last known position. These macro sense – with features like patrol routes dynamically reconfiguring – and dynamically reconfigure their patrol paths additional guards remain even if Corvo should they discover acomrade is missing. escapes the immediate search, leaving him in the micro sense with myriad smaller This effectively combats the advantage with long-term consequences to deal with behaviours. Dunwall’s guards have earned created by players perching in acorner, on his next traversal attempt. their whiskey and cigars tonight. 73

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Thief’s legacy continues not only through the stealth genre’s recent resurgence, but in the philosophies that drive immersive systems and environment design. As Garrett, players had no choice but to immerse themselves in Thief’s world, for the stealth gameplay required them to pay attention to its smallest details – footsteps, surfaces, light sources. Though Dunwall is a world is as immersive as The City before it, certain stealth systems filter the need to pay equally close attention to its minutiae. Key among these is Corvo’s Dark Vision mode. After casting the world in an amber filter, it highlights guards, their vision cones, and item pickups in primary colours. It is yet another core mechanic that Dishonored uses to speed up stealth, but at the cost of a degree of immersion. It’s a supernatural power that feels too useful for its cost; like Blink, its complete mana cost will recharge if used smartly. Perhaps a permanent mana cap for the duration 74

avenues for escape and recovery arise from the very same abilities used to overcome difficult stealth encounters

of its use, which then recharges after it deactivates, would serve to balance its sheer power of seeing all enemies through solid walls. Shadow Kill presents another interesting streamlining of the traditional stealth gameplay loop. With this supernatural power, guards’ bodies instantly turn to ash and disappear when killed. Without the need to spend time hiding bodies, Corvo can focus on systematically eliminating individual guards as soon as they leave one another’s point of view. It is worth noting that the use of these stealth powers is entirely left up to the choice of the pl ayer. To Dishonored’s

strength, it is extremely flexible in the manner it can be played; not just across the spectrum of combat and stealth, but within the sub-spectrum of stealth itself. A Thief-like slow and steady gait can be adopted, as classic elements like audible footsteps, the need to hide bodies, and keyholes that can be peeked through are free to be taken into account. Even the game’s focus on verticality can be exploited; almost all vertical pathways can be accessed from street level without the need to Blink upward, as earlier designs did not automatically bestow the power to Corvo for free. Beyond his supernatural repertoire, Corvo has access to a number of tools

Opportunistic players can fre the miniature crossbow to create a localised distraction.

that exhibit functional value when employed in a stealthy context. His crossbow bolts can be used to create pinpoint, deliberate distractions when fired into a wall near a guard, whilst sleep darts provide an effective longrange, non-lethal option. An upgrade called Stealth Boots further speeds up Corvo’s sneaking by eliminating the noise of his footsteps when walking and, later, running. It’s an upgrade that fits within Dishonored’s design philosophy, but – when stacked with other available stealth powers – we feel begins to trivialise gameplay consideration s to a degree where the increased speed it affords does not feel as tense or satisfying as the slower stealth that plays out before it. As Corvo’s supernatural familiarity increases, the spaces of Dunwall he must infiltrate become more complex. Dishonored ramps up its challenge for stealth players by introducing more guards on tighter, overlapping patrol routes, blocking clean paths of verticality, and adding more threatening security technology. This alone requires a new

kind of consideration for stealth p layers – how are the security d evices attuned? Is the rewire console easily accessible? Would it be more covert to possess a guard and slip past the Arc Pylon? The ultimate stealth challenge is found in the introduction of Daud’s Assassins, a new enemy archetype that possesses the same ability to Blink up to high spaces. They intrude upon what was traditionally Corvo’s domain, tipping Dishonored’s verticalityas-safety mantra on its head. Here, advanced stealth tactics, based upon Possession and Bend Time, becomes the path of least resistance. However, main objectives still smartly require Corvo to be within close proximity to the Assassins and their leader, Daud just as objectives beforehand required Corvo to temporarily leave the safety of verticality. This progression extends to Dishonored’s failure design, whereby avenues for escape and recovery arise from the very same tools and abilities used to overcome more difficult stealth encounters. Bend Time and Possession both cause Corvo to ‘disappear’ as far as the AI is concerned, whilst tactical Blinking can be used to escape situations to degrees of success determined by his immediate surroundings . Even the sleep dart can

PIERO’S ARSENAL

The key weapons and items that can be redeployed in a stealth context.

CORVO’S SWORD

Can be used to hit surfaces and cause an audible disturbance.

CROSSBOW

Firing a bolt will create a noise that guards will investigate.

REWIRE TOOL

Can be used to invert security systems like Watchtowers.

be upgraded to perform a combat knockout in emergency situations. Corvo is hardly left wanting when it comes time to make a quick getaway.

Dark Vision is incredibly useful - perhaps too much so.

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Lady Emily’s drawings take on a darker tone when Chaos is High.

THE WHALER’S ARSENAL

In what seems like a response to criticisms that Piero’s Workshop sold few items of interest to stealth players, in comparison to its more lethal stock, Dishonored’s DLC campaigns – The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches – contain new stealth upgrades exclusive to Daud. Of the nonlethal variety is a Stun Mine, which has the ability to zap two – later three – guards into unconsciousness within a small radius. Daud also carries a new distraction item called a Chokedust grenade. At its most basic level, it causes an area-of-effect stun against multiple guards. An upgrade turns the grenade into Baffle Dust, which causes the distracted guards to resume their normal patrol routes after the dust wears off – rather than enter into an alert phase. Finally, a corrupted Bonecharm called “Statuesque” can be found in The Brigmore Witches which makes Daud invisible to docile enemies as long as he remains completely still. This fundamentally changes Dishonored’s core stealth gameplay, but its location in the final DLC campaign makes it difficult to explore fully as an alternative stealth mechanic. Its drawback of preventing mana regeneration means combining its power with Blink is less effective in practice than on paper. It’s this Statuesque Bonecharm that highlights how strongly Dishonored’s stealth gameplay depends on the player’s management of their mana supply. Though some regular Bonecharms allow slight amounts of mana to be replenished by drinking from taps or performing a drop assassination, Both Corvo and Daud rely on a finite supply of Piero’s Spiritual Remedy to access their full stealth suite. It’s rare that these mana potions are located on the same rafters and rooftops that the assassins call their own, so they must leave the safety of their perches to explore and ensure they have a constant supply available. 76

Ultimately, these additional items help to flesh out more avenues for stealthy and non-lethal gameplay, especially considering Daud lacks Corvo’s ability to Possess enemies. It’s a pity they cannot be reverse-engineered into Corvo’s campaign. A CITY IN CHAOS

In Dishonored’s case, failure design is a funny thing to critique. Though a stealth game at its core, it supports the full range of loud, violent responses to direct combat. It’s a contentious point for stealth players; if it’s too ‘easy’ to kill when spotted and reset the situation, what tension lies in stealth gameplay in the first place? The answer is found in Dishonored’s subtle Chaos system. With the power to affect small world changes and major branches in the finale by tallying the total body count, the Chaos system contextualises the stealth approach as a thematic reflection of Corvo’s restraint. The tools and powers that turn Corvo into a whirling dervish of blades and bullets tempt the stealth player at every turn, just waiting for a crack in their discipline to show itself. Though the changes to Dunwall – additional rats and weepers – may be hard to identify as direct consequences to Corvo’s actions, the changes in responses from NPCs such as Lady Emily expertly reflect the assassin’s actions back at him. It’s a system that has the potential to immediately terrify players, as they may attempt to game the system itself to achieve the ‘best’ outcome. If anything, the very existence of the Chaos system is made too overt, with loading screen tooltips and level summary screens drawing too much attention to its presence, which is what likely prompts such a response. But, amidst the extensive artificial intelligence advances, faster and broader stealth mechanics, and a truly immersive world, Dishonored confidently presents stealth as a righteous path in a city brimming with tempting evils.

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SYSTEM SHOCKERS Sneaky Bastards speaks to

SETH SHAIN,

Producer and

Systems Designer at Arkane Studios, about the evolution of Dishonored’s supernatural stealth gameplay

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neaky Bastards: Blink is one of the most powerful tools in the game for a stealth player. What were some of the major changes made to the ability’s function and the way AI would react to it? Shain: At first, Blink was just another power that the player would purchase by spending runes. It was pretty late into production when we realised it was going to be the game’s signature power. Fortunately, it wasn’t too late to be influential on other factors in the game design. The way mana regenerates, for instance, organically fell out of making Blink the signature power. The AI design from the beginning had to account for the player’s various abilities. Blink, when you think about it from an AI perspective, isn’t that different from using Bend Time to run off and hide or using Possession to hide in a rat. The AI, therefore, were designed to react generically to the player disappearing and Blink was just another way to disappear. In early versions, however, the AI would react as if you had disappeared even if your Blink destination was still within their view. So we had to make

If Corvo Blinks, Possesses something or uses Bent Time, the guards exhibit a general state that shows they notice he has disappeared.

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When they wake up, they’re going to have some explaining to do.

allowances for the difference between seeing the player disappear and just seeing the player use magic. The idea of shadows only concealing the player at a distance is quite distinct to Dishonored. How did you settle on the variables governing that system, such as the minimum distance for concealment? As a pattern, we noticed that if the AI got very close to the player without detecting Corvo (even in very deep shadows), we got very strong feedback from playtesters that the AI looked blind, even broken. Resultantly, we

determined that line of sight (LOS) had to contribute to visibility even in complete darkness. On the other hand, if the AI could spot the player hiding in shadows at a distance, it felt completely unfair, as if the AI had scripted or psychic knowledge of the player’s location. So we knew that we could not abandon the light/shadow based model. The only thing that fit was a hybrid model, where LOS is king within proximity and then outside proximity visibility is influenced by all light/ shadow. Balancing between these two extremes was something I was always thinking about. Even when walking my dog at night, I’d pay attention to the distance he would vanish into a shadow. One of the most interesting AI behaviours is their ability to adjust patrol paths when they notice a fellow guard is suddenly absent. How complex can this path reconfiguration get, and was there ever a point where a guard noticing an absence would cause him to enter an alert or search phase? Patrol adoption isn’t a very complex system but it is a very illusory one. The AI doesn’t really notice anyone is missing from a patrol. In fact, it’s inverted from what you might think. When a patrol path becomes empty, it knows that no AI is occupying it so it broadcasts to the AI, “I have a vacancy!” Then an AI will go over there to occupy the patrol and say something with the flavor of, “I wonder why this patrol is empty.” It was a simple simulation rule that they would try to fill vacant paths and then use dialog to reinforce the illusion. This rule applied whether the player killed the previous patroller or if there weren’t enough guards to man every patrol path to begin with. You could have a map with three patrols paths but only one guard and he would alternate patrols saying the same lines.

Stealth in Dishonored is extremely fast. Even the time it takes to choke out a guard can be reduced with a bonecharm.

“when walking my dog at night, I’d pay attention to the distance he would vanish into a shadow”

So, to answer your question, no, there was never a point where it caused them to search—that is, not systemically; we may have scripted this in some places. Dark Vision is another incredibly useful stealth tool, though its fully upgraded state seems to invalidate mechanics such as leaning and keyhole peeking. Was this a conscious and necessary trade-off to create a more attractive stealth ability? Indeed we wanted stealth to be a viable option for all players and so everybody can use keyholes and lean without fear of discovery. Dark Vision, however, has a rune cost. So although it does make the other mechanics obsolete, it’s also balanced against its cost in runes and mana and the additional abilities it enables l ike seeing pickups and security devices. We were more worried that some players would just play the whole g ame this way and we debated hotly over whether or not to allow it. In the end, we decided that it’s

better to enable the player to style their play how they see fit than to constrain them and essentially deny a play style. One of the few moments in which Dishonored seems to break its simulation is in spawning new guards when an alarm sounds. Is this something Arkane wrestled with before settling on a solution that makes the alarms a clear threat no matter the state of existing NPCs? I’d argue that spawning guards in response to an alarm is, in fact, a simulation rule. What we’re not doing is emulating where these guards are coming from—there are no one-way doors for them to emerge out of—that’d just create more problems like why can’t the player go through those doors. And we did struggle with this. There were members of the team that fervently argued against it. It’s a question of scope and convention. In terms of scope, there has to be a simulation boundary somewhere

and it’s best to draw this line along a well-understood convention. Spawning in guards for an al arm is a convention that players already understand. The compromise on the team was that guards would spawn even from sometimes illogical places like an empty alley, but the spawns would be limited in quantity, and we added additional rules to hide the spawn locations as much as possible. Unless a player who is elevated above guards makes a specific disturbance from that position, much of the guards’ search phase involves checking underneath objects for the player. Was there ever a point where their search routine involved looking up at the rafters, or would that be too problematic for stealth gameplay? Sort of. At one point, we had some bugs where the AI’s vision would flick up at some point during the walk cycle. This created a huge problem for stealth in that the player would get spotted with no warning and for no obvious reason, so we got to see how terrible that was. Even before this lesson, however, we had been modeling our AI vision cones not as perfect cones, but rather as squashed cones (think of a cone with the top flattened so a cross-section would look like an upper case D on its side). This small change to the shape of their vision 81

Crossing a loading zone into a new area often places Corvo in a small, safe anteroom, giving him the chance to observe the dangerous environment beyond.

cone is what enables vertical paths to be useful for stealth. But we also like to break patterns— being vertical shouldn’t always be the best place to be or gameplay becomes too predictable. We have some distractions and some idle animations in which the AI are animated to look up. Early on, we had this idle animation where a guard yawns and stretches his arms out while craning his head back. One time during early testing, Raf was hiding out on some rafters and the guard below does this big yawn and detects Raf. Surprised and astonished, the guard unsheathed his sword and had to be drop assassinated. This is the kind moment in an immersive sim where the systems come together magically and produce these really cool stories. Dishonored introduces new methods of stealth, such as stopping time or possessing and hiding within the body of an AI. These methods are both temporary and resource-intensive as far as mana supply is concerned. What is the design philosophy behind this balance, and how did Arkane arrive at that decision? Our general balancing philosophy is to make the player feel extremely powerful without removing the challenge essential for maintaining engagement. 82

“the AI never have psychic awareness in Dishonored—they only know what they detect through their own senses”

Todd Howard covers this idea in greater detail in his excellent DICE 2012 keynote. To sum it up: too much challenge leads to frustration and too little leads to boredom. Possession and Bend Time are very effective mechanics for exploiting the AI so our goal was to balance these powers without removing their potency. We chose to employ resource cost and duration as balancing vectors. Mana cost because it maintains the p otency of the powers and at the same time adds meaningful decision-making to each use. Mana is limited in the game, so there is an opportunity cost to using expensive powers—if I spend this mana now, I may not have mana later to do it again. And the limited duration on these powers means you have to either pre-plan every second of the power duration or be extremely skillful at improvising. For contrast, I’ll explain an idea we didn’t use: cool-downs. We could have

balanced these powers with long, several minute cool-downs which would allow us to lessen the mana cost less and increase the duration. However, this would lead to a degenerate play pattern of waiting in a corner for the power to cool-down and using the same technique for every encounter. I think it’s obvious that this would be a dominant strategy that encourages waiting around and removes challenge; a strategy that may have padded game length, but at t he high cost of degrading the player’s engagement. In designing the stealth aspects of Dishonored’s systems, did you ever feel creatively constrained by the need for the game’s power set to remain generalpurpose? Design thrives on constraints. We knew from the start that the player would be able to do things like use magic to completely disappear and the AI would have to be able to handle

this in a believable way. Whereas a lot of game AIs seem to exhibit a psychic awareness of the player that toggles on and off depending on certain game rules (E.g., As soon as one guard spots you, suddenly every guard in the level knows where you are), we knew psychic awareness wouldn’t work in a game where a key part of the power fantasy is to vanish from sight. Therefore, the biggest constraint the stealth system had: no psychic awareness. It followed then that we had to create a system that emulates the AI senses and awareness. We called it the Attention system and as inputs it used the AI senses of sight, hearing and touch. As such, the AI never have psychic awareness in Dishonored—they only know what they detect through their own senses. For instance, if a guard spots you, the other guards will not share that awareness until they hear the first guard shout “Assassin!” The player, however, can easily slip away from the place where they were noticed and watch the guards gather around that spot and initiate their search. They won’t continue to know where you are unless you’re obvious or clumsy. Tell us about some of the tweaks and changes made for the sake of failure design – how were systems altered or modified to allow stealth players

to regain a state of concealment after discovery? As I mentioned, the Attention system emulates AI awareness via their senses, the player can exploit the AI senses to recover after a failed stealth attempt. After all, what good are your senses when time is stopped, or you are corporeally embodied by your quarry and have lost control of your body? Hopefully, though, we did enough to inform the player that they are failing stealth before they are busted. The awareness indicators popping over the AI’s head is a good example of a change made for the sake of failure design. Our srcinal goal was to provide enough feedback through dialog, animation, and behaviors so that players wouldn’t require in-world UI feedback. Before the UI was added, we already had a lot of granularity with the AI responses to failure. They shout things that are specific to their sensory input, i.e., “I heard that!” or “I see you”. This is crucial to tell the player how they’re failing stealth. We also had to add special shouts to let the player know when they’re recovering. For instance, if you Bend Time and Blink into cover, when time resumes the guards will exclaim, “He just disappeared!” In the end, we realized some players just were lost without UI to make the game system explicit. Perhaps players were so accustomed to binary psychic

awareness in other games that this kind of UI reinforcement was necessary for letting them know this is an analog system with partial fail built in. Adding the UI late, however, was beneficial to the end product as we couldn’t rely on UI as the sole feedback channel for stealth failure. This enabled us to add an option to disable the awareness UI which makes a lot of our hardcore fans happy. Upgrades such as the Stealth Boots and Shadow Kill radically change the core stealth loop by muffling movement sound or immediately removing bodies. Was there ever a worry that this would invalidate some traditional stealth gameplay, or were they purposefully designed to help speed up stealth in a manner similar to Blink? From the beginning, one of our mantras for the Dishonored vision was “it’s like Thief, but fast.” So these mechanics passed our design filters without worry. We figured this approach would enable and endear a new generation of stealth players. And powerful as these playerupgrades are, they’re not effective unless employed properly. An unskilled player is going to bungle stealth even with these powers. Therefore, I wouldn’t agree that these powers invalidate ‘traditional stealth gameplay’, because the player must still employ skill to avoid detection.

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BLUE STREAKS

Art: Viktor Boža http://ecsian.deviantart.com

DANIEL HINDES

catches up to two of Dishonored’s master speedrunners

ith the power to Blink through the environment at breakneck pace, the world of competitive Dishonored speedrunning is home to the most creative explorations of Corvo’s supernatural suite. Here, we’re speaking to two speedy assassins with wildly different playstyles, Jacob “FearfulFerret” Krause and Slava “Prenatual” K. Jacob’s speedrun explores the full extent of Dishonored’s supernatural powers, and completes the game in just 38 minutes and 38 seconds, whilst Slava has undertaken what is known as a “Nihilist” speedrun - he restricts himself from not only killing, but from using any items or

W

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powers, including Blink - for an incredible 80 minute completion time. Sneaky Bastards: What do you look for in a game that inspires you to speedrun it? FearfulFerret: I follow the oft-cited speedrunning adage, “run whatever game you enjoy playing, because you’re going to be playing it a lot.” Speedrunning is all about learning and repetition and practice, and a run takes a very long time to put it together. If you’re playing a game that you don’t really enjoy, there’s just no way you can make it through that process. For me, I never really get the urge to run older games, as many others do. I’ve chosen each of my games by playing them casually, reaching the game over screen,

and saying to myself, “Man, I wish this game was longer.” Speedrunning is simply an excellent way to continue to enjoy your favourite games in new and creative ways. Prenatual: Firstly and most importantly, I must really like the game. I’m a big fan of the FPS/RPG/stealth hybrids – Thief, Deus Ex and System Shock 2 are among my favourite games – and Dishonored was one of the best entries in this genre in recent years, despite some of its shortcomings. Choosing to speedrun it was a no-brainer. Secondly, the game must have a complex enough AI so it’s fun to toy with and allow for some creative problem solving through non-standard means. Dishonored offered plenty of that.

Slava, what attracted you to theNihilist speedrun specifically? Prenatual: This approach was partly the result of my unrealistic expectations (I read from previews about Thief being a huge influence and blindly hoped for the game to be totally Thief-like) and the desire for a more challenging experience. While I loved the emphasis on verticality in the level design, I was disappointed that stealth in Dishonored... minimised the importance another two major aspects – the ability to predict the behaviour of enemies and the timing of movements. Forgoing Blink brought me back to Earth, so to speak, and forced me to study the levels layout, constantly pay attention to enemies, plan distractions and do all the other things you normally do when you play a classic stealth game.

MISSION 1: COLDRIDGE PRISON

FearfulFerret’s Any% Record: 4:08 Prenatual’s Nihilist Speedrun: 7:26

MISSION 2: THE OVERSEER’S OFFICE FearfulFerret’s Any% Record: 2:45 Prenatual’s Nihilist Speedrun: 13:17

How do you plan a run? What goes into the exploration of the game’s possibilities? FearfulFerret:There’s a lot of work that goes into routing a game. Personally, I usually don’t get involved in the large-scale decisions such as the order in which to complete objectives, which items to collect, and so on; I just copy whatever the current world record does. I do, however, put alot of time into optimisation, where I plan out every jump, every skill use, and soon to shave off as much time as I possibly can. It’s a very iterative process, and is particularly important in Dishonored. The Blink mechanic is an excellent mechanic for speedrunning because of how the mana system works. Figuring out when to Blink, when to let your mana regenerate, and so on so that you end every level with no mana remaining and you end the game with no mana potions remaining is a huge challenge, and it’s the part of the game that I’ve poured the most time into. I improve speedruns by trial and error, and it cantake dozens and even hundreds of hours to really develop a run. Prenatual:Before I start planning a run I must know what options I can choose from. And to know that I have to play through the game in every conceivable way and, if possible, test all possible outcomes to every situation. I did 3 playthroughs in 3 different styles before I even started planning my Nihilist run: 1) “Normal” playthrough without any artificial restrictions, mostly lethal, 2) Non-lethal completionist run, 3) High-chaos, kill-everyone, blow-upeverything, make-the-worst-choices run. All three took about 60 hours in total and gave a pretty good understanding

MISSION 3: THE GOLDEN CAT

FearfulFerret’s Any% Record: 2:57 Prenatual’s Nihilist Speedrun: 15:32

MISSION 4: KALDWIN’S BRIDGE FearfulFerret’s Any% Record: 2:13 Prenatual’s Nihilist Speedrun: 10:08

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of the game. The run itself took me an additional 40 hours to make: that includes experimenting with different approaches, planning the routes and doing retakes. The total running length of the videos I’ve made for the main game (minus the DLC) is around 80 minutes, so the ratio of time spent vs. the resulting video length is around 30:1. It probably seems like a lot, but with the kind of stuff I do, where dozens of things can go wrong at any time, it is perfectly normal. What points of interest or mechanical intricacies about the way Dishonored works did you discover over the course of planning these speedruns? FearfulFerret:Dishonored has its fair share of mechanical quirks. Up through the 1.2 patch, you could Blink into or through basically any flat wall, door, or safe by crouching, leaning into it, and Blinking as you stand up. During the exit from Coldridge prison, you can jump onto the retracting bridge right after the explosives go off and just walk out of bounds. The ceiling in the top floor of the art dealer’s apartment has no collision in some places; you can just Blink right through it.

When you’ve got a game as big as Dishonored, you’re going to have these little glitches. A lot of the fun of speedrunning comes from trying to find them and figure out how they may be useful. The most useful mechanical elements of Dishonored aren’t quite so flashy, though. The most often-used glitch in Dishonored is called Swordless and lets you holster your folding sword while keeping your secondary weapon active, thus allowing you to run at full speed while still being able to use Blink. Additionally, some glitches can actually be quite harmful; if you run through the first part of Kaldwin’s Bridge too quickly, you can get to the door to the next area before your objective updates, which soft-locks the game! Prenatual:The most surprising thing I discovered is that and Dishonored is actually a competently designed stealth game with a lot of attention paid tolevel geometry, enemies’ placement/patrol routes and a lot of extra options for moving through the environments. With a few exceptions (both in the main game and two story DLCs) most of the levels can be navigated only through natural means: running, jumping, climbing and swimming. And doing that can beas

interesting as using Blink. If you DO use it, however, you’ll miss out a lot. To give you an example, in the 4th mission after I abduct Sokolov, I have to go through a lot of trouble toactivate the secret elevator and drag Sokolov’s body through the house without getting spotted. If I was using Blink, I would be done with that part in five seconds, but without it that section turned into one of the most challenging and interesting parts of the level How does Dishonored compare to other games when attempting speedrunning in terms of depth, creativity and enjoyment? FearfulFerret: Every game is unique, and speedrunning lets you get to know a game better than most anyone else. Dishonored has a lot of things going for it. The Blink spell is one of the most interesting game mechanics in a first-person shooter for speedrunning, and gives you many options to choose from when figuring out how to travel throughout the game world in an efficient manner. On a very basic level, one reason I love running Dishonored is the run speed. There’s a certain primal satisfaction

MISSION 5: BOYLE MANOR FearfulFerret’s Any% Record: 1:16 Prenatual’s Nihilist Speedrun: 9:05

MISSION 7: THE FLOODED DISTRICT FearfulFerret’s Any% Record: 2:12 Prenatual’s Nihilist Speedrun: 8:20

MISSION 6: DUNWALL TOWER FearfulFerret’s Any% Record: 2:09 Prenatual’s Nihilist Speedrun: 8:11

MISSION 8: THE HOUND PITS PUB FearfulFerret’s Any% Record: 0:45

MISSION 9: KINGSPARROW ISLAND FearfulFerret’s Any% Record: 2:21

Prenatual’s Nihilist Speedrun: 2:36

Prenatual’s Nihilist Speedrun: 8:27

“The better the record gets, the deeper you need to know the game before you can hope to challenge it”

in switching over to Dishonored after running a game where the character moves slower, such as BioShock Infinite. Dishonored is also a relatively popular game and tends to draw a lot of viewers both on my Twitch stream and YouTube channel, which makes runs so much more exciting. That said, I deeply enjoy every single game that I speedrun, and choosing my favourite among them isn’t really possible. Prenatual: It’s not stellar, but it’s good. The depth is less than what you find in Deus Ex: Human Revolution (which was designed from the ground with a support for multiple equally valid approaches). Levels in Dishonored are mostly static and there are very few physics objects, so you can’t manipulate the environment in any meaningful way. This was my main disappointment with the game, as it is a rather huge step back from Arkane’s previous project, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. And it’s a lot less difficult than something like Hitman, where the density of enemies is typically much higher, so if you choose to completely avoid 87

killing or knocking them out, you’d have to pay much more attention to your surroundings and plan your distractions very carefully. One thing that I feel Dishonored gets right and even better than most games using first-person perspective is controls – they are responsive and precise, with movement being very smooth and fluid – which plays huge role in making repeated playthroughs, and especially speedruns, enjoyable. What encourages you to make continual attempts for the world record for Dishonored? FearfulFerret: Dishonored requires a great deal of precision to get a good time, and the current world record, held by DecidedSloth, is extremely optimised. Getting back the record will probably be more difficult than any other speedrunning attempt I’ve ever done. The better the record gets, the deeper you need to know the game before you can hope to challenge it, and Dishonored definitely has the depth necessary to make it an enjoyable experience.

A major driving force is the speedrunning community; I stream every run I do on my Twitch channel, where viewers can watch and interact with me in real-time. When a run is going really well, there is an atmosphere of excitement that really cannot be matched. Speedrunning is both a personal project and a public performance, which makes it one of my favourite ways to experience a game. What do you feel is one of the single most creative manoeuvres or exploits employed in your speedruns? FearfulFerret: The most creative elements of a speedrun tend to be the most obscure. When you watch a Dishonored run for the first time, it looks like I’m simply Blinking toward mission targets, killing them, and then Blinking out. The huge amount of work and creativity that was used to plan out every single Blink and jump is largely invisible. Speedruns tend to draw repeat watchers because the more you watch a run, the more you can appreciate the work that went into it. DecidedSloth has a technique called the Sloth Jump that is used in the first area of the Flooded District, and is a rather tricky pair of jumps and Blinks that lets you skip about 10 seconds of navigating the flooded area. Naturally, I was jealous, and wanted something named after me, so I invented a move called the Ferret Fetch. In the first visit to the Hound Pits, Piero asks you to retrieve a whale oil tank from upstairs in his lab. Most runners stand on the stairs and jump to grab the tank. I discovered that there is a narrow window within which you can stand on the stairs and grab the tank without jumping. It probably saves less than a tenth of a second, but at least I have something I can call my own. Prenatual: It was in the 3rd level of The Knife of Dunwall DLC, where Daud must free one of his assassins before he is executed by Overseers. I had to somehow deal with three overseers before I could untie and free the assassin, but since I could only use my sword to make noises and distract the Overseers, it has caused some complications. I think this particular encounter was the one that took me the most time to figure out, because it clearly wasn’t designed for approach I’ve chosen. Finding a non-lethal solution, while complying with all the restriction I’ve put on myself, required a very good understanding of the game’s AI and a lot of experimentation. 87

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JEREMY ROMAND http://caparzofpc.deviantart.com

JULIA FROST http://nonparanoid. deviantart.com

JULIA FROST http://nonparanoid. deviantart.com

VAL BABAYANTS http://vbabylon. deviantart.com

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ROSIANA www.aorchard.com

IAIN HENDERSON http://brampf.tumblr.com

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IAIN HENDERSON http://brampf.tumblr.com

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MATVEY SAPEGIN http://sapeginm92.deviantart.com

SHELBIE “KONIRATHRAX” PILCHER http://konirathax.daportfolio.com

RISINGMONSTER http://risingmonster.deviantart.com

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THE INSIDERS Co-creative Directors Raphael Colantonio AND Harvey Smith ON THE genesis OF DISHONORED, MANAGING chaos and crafting aN IMMERSIVE world 94

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neaky Bastards: We know much about the early Victorian concepts for Dishonored. What were some of its earliest gameplay and system concepts, and how strongly tied were they t o much of Looking Glass’ own des ign philosophies? Colantonio and Smith: There are design concepts that Arkane Studios shares with older companies like Looking Glass, Ion Storm Austin and even Origin, for sure. The srcinal concepts for Dishonored gameplay were a mix of stealth and mobility, but also the feeling that the world is plausible and complete; coherent spaces that feel credibly lived in. Further, our early concepts of magic were tied to the Devil - to gain them, you had to commit acts of evil, and each time you used the powers it cost you. At one point, we wanted to use Health as Mana, too. The Heart’s dialogue is powerful enough that players have been known to alter their playstyle or reactions to NPCs based on its words alone. What went into the writing of the Heart’s dialogue, and how do you feel the information it provides complements the underlying Chaos system? The system could have been a bit more elegant. Sometimes there was repetition and a bit of schizophrenia. However, we love the dialogue. We devised the various states, wrote some examples, then turned it over to Austin Grossman and Terri Brosius. Specifically, all of us agree that some of our favorite Heart lines came from Terri, full of cutting commentary on our cold, oppressive world. Often warm, but often haunting. This is a tiny example of research paying

off. The Empire of the Isles is a place where power is unevenly divided; the powerless are devoured or abused by the dominant class. We looked up what extremely poor children did in the Victorian times, and found the term “mudlark,” which made it into a couple of books or notes and at least one Heart line. Other bits of research informed our views of the dismal conditions endured by the impoverished or excluded - in comparison to the opulence enjoyed by the wealthy. The last two variants of Dishonored’s final level provide very clear visual and gameplay distinctions that reflect the state of the Chaos system; contrasting the more subtle changes the Chaos system provides in the previous levels. Is this more significant distinction in the final level something you would have liked to explore further? That would be interesting. If we could maintain our art style and procedurally generate game content, it might be cool to branch huge sections of the game. But given our constraints, if we were ever going to make a large mission branch, the end seemed like the right place. All the more subtle stuff does add up, though, and

we hear constantly from players who are exploring the ways in which the experience feels like their own. The Chaos system is interesting in the way it changes the expectations of the player’s concept of Dishonored’s finale and resolution. In the Low Chaos finale, Corvo finds two of his targets poisoned before he arrives, and the third unwilling to fight him. What kind of iterations did these finales go through, and how deliberately were they designed to show a distinction between the game’s understanding of High and Low Chaos versus the players’ ingrained understanding of traditional “Good” and “Evil” finales? We wanted the player to be able to “win the game” in different ways. There is no overt “you lose” ending, but of course, if you let Emily die, it’s not all sunshine and roses. And if she lives, there are two different end states, showing a more or less stabilised society. Samuel Beechworth, the boatman, has three different reactions to what kind of person you are based on whether you acted judiciously (maintaining that human life has value and should not be taken away

OUR early concepts of magic were tied to the Devil - to gain them, you had to commit acts of evil

One cut level was set in a lunatic asylum with inmates who were extremely sensitive to sound.

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lightly), vengefully, or near-psychotically. We went through a lot of iteration and debate. As always, we’re never 100% certain about what we’re doing, but we’re trying to make the best game we can, and trying to make it interesting and different. Chaos and political/social stability seemed like a good thing to explore in a game about an assassin, but we did not want an outcome where you lose/are a villain vs you win/are a godlike hero. So the variations on the endgames all involve the people of Dunwall - those who you allowed to survive - moving on with life the best they can. Even though there are basically two states, neither ending is a complete win or loss. You’re the hero and you completed the journey, but the outcome is not classically good or bad. It’s possible to feel like the bad-arse who kept it all together despite the odds, or the badarse who said “to hell with it” and let it all burn down. Some criticism has been levelled at the game’s stealth arsenal; specifically, the fact that there are fewer stealth items to purchase between missions, and fewer nonlethal means of dispatching enemies. Is the stealthy, non-lethal approach inherently tied to the idea of Corvo himself showing restraint, which the Chaos system also promotes? Some of this was deliberate in that we wanted it to be easier (and tempting) to kill. It’s a more hardcore challenge to sneak, to ghost, and to play without killing. We like the fact that game offers a range of self-imposed difficulties in this way, and a non-standard approach to overcoming enemies and obstacles. (The standard way in combat/action games is that killing is the only option.) A few people have claimed that some of the powers, like Possession or Bend Time, are mostly lethal or combat oriented, but those two powers specifically are just as powerful as stealth/non-lethal tools. All that said, we added a few more non-lethal/ stealthy devices in the Knife of Dunwall and Brigmore Witches DLC. The Hound Pits Pub is opposite Dunwall Tower, and the collapsed bridge of the Distillery is visible from many levels on the water. What was the thinking behind making every level occur in a location visible from another? We’re into very cohesive worlds, plausibly laid out. We’re constantly asking people, “But how did this guard get to work, from his flat? Where does he use the toilet?” Our art and level design teams are the same and share this value. As such, the team made the effort 96

to lay out the city - to know at all times where other important locations were located, even those that did not make it into the final game. The Clocktower features prominently in that it’s visible from almost every mission, yet it’s never visited as a location itself. Is there more behind the Clocktower’s presence as a landmark for orientation? Initially, we wanted it as a kind alt-Victorian version of the Clocktower in London, visible from many locations and rendered in our style. But then it was also part of the Parliament mission that got cut. Each level has an in-world map. What is the motivation behind having them as items within each mission, rather than something players have access to in their inventory UI? Modern games have gotten a little too safe: X-ray vision, RADAR, a handling character talking into your earpiece, a PDA map, etc. Putting the maps in the world, at least until you find them, seems lower-tech and more gritty. We were driving toward that aesthetic in many ways. Arkane has mentioned that Thief II’s Life of the Party mission had some general influence on Dishonored’s own mission design. Could you elaborate on the nature of that influence, as well as why you feel Life of the Party still holds up today?

We’re constantly asking, “But how did this guard get to work, from his flat? Where does he use the toilet?”

I guess the memory we have of this mission is that it provided a great change of pace and context to the player. Also, the idea of being incognito at a very upscale party resonates with people: We’ve all wanted to do it at some point or another, right? Also, it’s an opportunity for the player to interact very closely with some c haracters that they’ve always seen as dangerous until this part of the game. Having a chance to mingle with the elite guards feels like playing with fire to the player. A set of very interesting tensions and emotions. Could you tell us more about s ome of the content that was cut? As with every one of our games, cutting is part of the process: We deliberately design 30% more content on paper than the game needs and we selec t the best prototypes to make it into the game. It

doesn’t mean that these ideas wouldn’t have worked, but just that in the context of what we needed and the experience, they didn’t make it. The Dunwall City Trials DLC highlighted some levels of systemic depth, which players may otherwise have missed, by enforcing stricter goal requirements for each challenge. How do you encourage that kind of deeper systemic exploration in the primary game, without enacting challenge-lik e goal restrictions? This is a great question because it touches one of the biggest paradoxes of our game design philosophy. The answer is that we don’t. By nature, our games let the player play their own way, so going super deep is only elective. I guess we could encourage it by giving achievements or more rewards when the player goes deep. That’s also

the reason why we did a DLC to push the player to optimise and go incredibly deep beyond what they could have done in the main game. Looking back on Dishonored and the way players explored and experimented with its systems, is there anything you would have approached or implemented differently? Probably, and our future games will benefit from the experience of Dishonored. Without giving a precise example, we became fans of giving a lot of clarity to the player, making sure they understand when there is a choice, making sure they connect the consequences later. One of the intentions behind Dishonored was to bring the immersive simulation design philosophy to a wider audience. Given the reception the game received, do you feel that has been accomplish ed? I think we did, and marketing had a big role in this success. The part that is very satisfying to us is that we have reached a wider audience without compromising the part that was so dear to us: depth, choice, simulation. A big part of reaching a wider audience is in the presentation, exposing the choices, tutorial moments, and interesting subject matter. 97

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