Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Dishonored 2 - Improvisation Run - Part 1

And at last we move on to the main event: Dishonored 2.

While I really like the original Dishonored and its DLC, it's undeniable that Dishonored 2 improved onto it in many ways big and small. Even post-release, there were a number of additions to the game that further separated it from its predecessor.



I went on a lot about it at the start of the stream, but "Custom" difficulty is one of the smartest ideas I've ever seen. Considering so much of the immersive sim's appeal is in the ability to tackle problems in the way you feel is best, giving players the ability to tailor the difficulty to their own preferences is the most logical conclusion of that.

Of course we're going to play as Emily. Even before Dishonored 2 came out, I thought a lot of Corvo's powers weren't all that great. By comparison, Emily has not only a better suite of powers, but they synergize and combine a lot better than many of Corvo's. Especially once the late game upgrades start to kick in, Emily can set up interesting combos that her father could never dream of. Hopefully, as I continue my journey, I can show off at least some of these.

In terms of non-lethal play, Dishonored 2 added a few invaluable tools to lessen the pain of attempting such a run. While in combat, if an attack is parried, the player can take a staggered guard and choke them out, rendering them alive, but unconscious. This allows a skilled fighter to still complete a low chaos/non-lethal run when if they find themselves incapable of sneaking around successfully. Furthermore, they gave players the ability to do a non-lethal, but loud drop take-down. This allows for a loud, but otherwise pacifist run of the game.

Though the premise of Delilah's coup is a silly one, it's one of those things that needs to be accepted just so that the story can progress. There's some cool things that Dishonored 2 does with it's plot and chaos systems in this game, and I look forward to talking more about them.

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