Dishonored 2 - What we want from our next trip to Dunwall

Whether you stealthily guided Corvo through the plague-ridden streets of Dunwall or attacked everyone in sight (weepers be damned), Arkane Studios Dishonored has come and gone. We loved it, calling it one of the best stealth games in recent memory, and we're ready for more.

Bethesda Softworks hasnt actually announced a sequel, but were already thinking about what wed like to see if and when the series continues. Warning: some Dishonored spoilers ahead!

Dishonoreds setting was a bleak, run-down, mostly abandoned city, which suited the narrative perfectly. Running into actual citizens (well, live ones, anyway) was rare in all except the wealthiest areas. Houses and businesses were boarded up, corpses littered the streets and empty buildings, and the constant presence of rats was very unsettling.

No matter what ending you got, putting a few years (or decades) between the end of the first game and the start of the second will give Dunwall some time to recuperate, get rid of those rats and weepers, and clean itself up. By Dishonored 2, the city should be plague-free and rebuilt, with a new generation helping Dunwall thrive once again.

Emily Kaldwin was next in line to be Empress of Gristol after her mother was murdered, but she was only a child in Dishonored. Plus, she spent most of the game either kidnapped or in her room, so we didnt actually have a lot of time to get to know her. A grown-up Emily should take center stage in Dishonored 2, which would tie the two games together nicely and provide a link between their narratives.

If you completed Dishonored with high chaos, you might have seen Emily meet an unfortunate fate, but that could be easily explained away if the developers make the other ending canon. Corvos story felt complete either way, so its only fitting that the child he swore to protect should take over in the sequel, especially because it's hinted that she's... special.

Emily is shown to have an extremely close relationship with her bodyguard (and possible father) Corvo, who secretly taught her some offensive techniques before her mothers murder. Even as a child, Emily is outspoken and capable, so it makes sense that as an adult, she would be more than able to use weapons and defensive tactics to take care of herself.

But she may have more than just physical abilities. Okay, maybe we didnt actually see Emily use any secret powers in Dishonored, but its hinted that shes been in contact with the Outsider, and a recording in the Empress secret room addressed to Emily told her to only share your power with those you truly trust. That could have been referring to her power on the throne or something else entirely, and it would be great to see Dishonored 2 explore that by giving her supernatural abilities similar to Corvos.

If youre up for the challenge, you could get through Dishonored with just the Blink ability and a lot of patience, but then youd miss out on the fun weapons and intriguing abilities Corvo gains access to throughout the game. Watching enemies go up in flames after being hit with incendiary bolts is delightful, and possessing other living beings and bending time are exceptionally helpful skills. Freezing time and seeing in the dark made us feel even more powerful, and wed like to see these kinds of tactics return in Dishonored 2--but we want more.

Emily could have a whole new host of skills bestowed upon her by the Outcast, and we'd love to see her grow even more powerful than Corvo was. More importantly, we want to see the controls revamped a bit to make it easier to control all of these powers and abilities, since managing several weapons and skills in-battle was sort of a hassle in the original.

Yes, Dunwall is repopulated and plague-free in our hypothetical sequel, but theres a whole other world out there that we never got to see in Dishonored. Various texts, paintings, and conversations throughout the game depicted other locales on the island of Gristol and beyond, and we want to see them brought to life in Dishonored 2.

With the plague gone and the quarantine a distant memory, Emily should explore the other major cities surrounding Dunwall, which would add a lot of variety to the environments. Let her spend some time on a whaling vessel and leave her home island entirely, giving us a chance to check out the other slabs of land that make up The Isles.

Though Dishonored wasnt totally open world, it did have plenty of nooks and crannies for Corvo to explore. Abandoned apartments, rat-infested basements, underground tunnels, and hidden rooms could be scavenged or passed over entirely, depending on how you played the game. However, sticking to the same few areas of Dunwall resulted in some repetitive levels and a lack of variety in environments.

With Dishonored 2 letting us cast off into the cities beyond Dunwall (at least, if we get our way), its a perfect opportunity to create bigger levels with more diverging paths, more chances for exploration, and a whole lot more variety. Bustling industrial areas, harsh climates, sunny orchids, whaling ports--lets see everything Gristol and its surrounding islands have to offer.

Some of the best parts of Dishonored are the optional side missions. Sure, you could ignore Granny Rags and miss out on her beautiful insanity, but why wouldnt you want to help her? Secondary missions stemming from the main objective of each chapter added another layer of challenge and extended the gameplay.

We want even more of this in Dishonored 2. With a bigger, more varied world to explore, there are endless possibilities for side quests. We want more interesting but non-essential characters, more secondary missions that shed some light on Emilys backstory, and more ways to show off our super-stealthy powers by wracking up completed objectives.

Throughout Dishonored, the quirky inventor Piero Joplin helps out Corvo by providing him with weapons and ammunition, as well as creating upgrades for the tools in his arsenal. This comes at a price, of course, but after a few missions youll have more than enough coins to keep your projectiles stocked, your potions plentiful, and your weapons as advanced as you'd ever need them to be. In fact, Pieros usefulness wears off the longer you play if youre playing non-violently; theres really no reason to buy more destructive weapons if youre not planning to kill anyone.

Dishonored 2 should make better use of its currency system by offering more meaningful items and upgrades. Assuming Piero and Sokolov continued to work together after the conclusion of Dishonored, theres no limit to what they could create together. Sleep darts are great, but being able to carry only 10 at a time is limiting. How about more tools to assist us in completing missions with low chaos? This goes for supernatural abilities too--with Dishonored 2, we want more multi-level abilities, which in turn will make us care more about collecting runes to unlock them.

One of Dishonoreds selling points was that the player has the ability to play stealthily, violently, or anywhere in between. While its true that you can complete the game by killing everything in sight, theres really no incentive to do so. A highly chaotic game results in more rats and those pesky weepers, as well as an ending thats a total bummer. So while you technically can go right ahead and act like a bloodthirsty, revenge-driven maniac, it kind of feels like youre being punished for choosing to do so.

We still want the option to play as peacefully or violently as wed like in Dishonored 2, but we also want better incentives for choosing either path. Give us a reason to take the lethal path so it doesnt feel like a cheap cop-out for which well be punished. Make the incentives equally rewarding for both sides, so well actually want to play more than once, and each playthrough will feel like a different experience.

Dishonoreds concepts of high and low chaos were easy enough to understand: Killing lots of people and leaving lots of corpses leads to high chaos, while a small body count results in low chaos and a nicer ending. It would have been nice if there was more wiggle room, something in the middle for those of us who just cant commit to a single style of play.

We want more murky gray areas in Dishonored 2, a level of destruction between low and high chaos for those of us who are mostly stealthy, but sometimes lose patience and just start stabbing everyone. And we want more visible changes along the way based on the choices weve made. Upping the weeper count made sense in a plague-ridden Dunwall, but with a fresh, open world to explore, we cant wait to see just how our actions will affect it in Dishonored 2.

These are just a few ideas that could be incorporated into Dishonoreds sequel, but theres plenty of potential for more. What would you like to see in Dishonored 2? Be sure to share your ideas (and let us know what you thought of ours) in the comments below.

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