It’s been 15 years since Corvo Attano last stalked the streets of Dunwall to seek revenge for the murder of Empress Jessamine Kaldwin in Dishonored. Now in Dishonored 2 it seems another plot to overthrow the rule of the Kaldwins see’s either Corvo, or the current Empress, and Corvo’s daughter Emily Kaldwin attempt to unravel the plot and restore order to their empire.
Whale Punk Aesthetics
A dark and brooding art-style is as, with an excellently realised steampunk aesthetic, exceptional AI and some of the best level design I have encountered in years all made Dishonored one of those rare gems of a game and has kept in high in my list of personal favourites since its release. We picked up a copy of the collector’s edition of the sequel, since I am a massive nerd for collectibles and it only seemed fitting to add some love for the series to my collection.
Generally, the outer box is a glossy affair, with a large panel showing off Corvo’s mask a few in game wanted posters and the usual blurb on the back, suggesting you need to take back what’s yours. The inner box features pictures of both Corvo and Emily along with the Strangers Mark on the rear. Internally we have a double-sided poster, memoriam for Jessamine Caldwell on one side and a poster celebrating the new Empress on the other, two paper slips with serials for the game and bonus content as well as a copy of Dishonored Definitive Edition – a remastered version of the original for current gen hardware which features all the DLC, the steel book disk case and included game disk. As for the collectibles, Corvo’s mask seems like it should fit your head, it certainly has the needed height, sadly it lacks the width to be used by anyone I know who has tried it, the quality is high, with a large amount of detailing, including using clear plastic for the eye lenses – which I thought was a nice touch. Emily’s ring however can be worn and again features high levels of detail to the design and overall a great level of quality to its production.
Who will you choose?
Dishonored 2 follows on from the story of 2012s well regarded Dishonored and builds on what made its predecessor great, in the newly released sequel to the series you can choose to take on the role of either Corvo Attano, the queens protector, or instead play as the queen herself, Emily Kaldwin. While the story plays out the same, each character offers their own insight into the events that play out through the game, as well as slightly different play styles reflected in the powers available to them and their overall characteristics. Powers like blink make a welcome return, allowing you to shift from one spot to the next in the blink of an eye as do Dark Vision and devouring swarm, these are unique to Corvo. Emily has her own set of similar abilities, Far Reach being her blink equivalent, though it functions more like a grappling hook than anything, other interesting powers include Doppelganger – a power that creates a second Emily to use to misdirect opponents. Domino is a lot of fun, allowing you to ‘stack’ effects on multiple enemies at once, when Domino is in play literally anything you do to a target will be enacted against the victims of Domino. This can work well when combined with Emily’s Doppelganger ability, since you can use Domino in a way that incapacitating your doppelganger will also incapacitate any enemies you have marked with Domino. Overall Emily is useful for a more thoughtful approach to the game, with her abilities being useful for strategic use, while Corvo feels much like the bruiser of the two, able to sneak about as well as Emily, but able to both take and dole out damage in ways which she can’t. The setting much like the first is a very steam punk (oil punk?) affair, not too dissimilar in appearance to Victorian England, with the environment becoming more chaotic and unpleasant if you take a much more violent approach. The game sees the addition of a few new enemies, the ever-present rats are now joined by Blood Flies, a swarm of blood sucking flies, which can create subservient hosts. They are often located near corpses or in rooms with a few hives lying around, while easy to defeat they can be a problem if you are in the middle of a fight, or trying to escape one. There are also new mechanical enemies to defeat as well as a few other surprises I will leave for you to find as you play through the game.
