Dishonored 2 Previews
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Thanks to this year's EGX in Birmingham, we have a new couple of Dishonored 2 previews to bring to your attention, offering hands-on impressions by journalists who were present at the event.
The Clockwork Mansion itself is a piece of level design genius. The entire house is a puzzle, activated by a series of levers. Pull one and the walls and staircases will collapse and re-align themselves, reinventing the area and creating new zones. To reach your objectives you need to force the mansion to re-calibrate and open the correct pathways. And that’s not always the easiest thing to do when you’re hiding from guards, both human and robotic.
Architecturally, this building is stunning. It shows off the new technology at play in Dishonored 2; while still possessing that painted look, everything feels more palpable. It also emphasises the fifteen years that have passed in this world. The clockwork systems in place feel more advanced than anything from the first game. This is also reflected in Emily’s weapons: the pistol is no longer a polished wooden flintlock, but a chunky metal hand cannon that shoots ammunition which crackles and explodes like a deadly firework.
To start my mission, I head into the basement of the mansion to free the prisoner. Doing so requires the walls of the labyrinth to be re-arranged through the use of pressure panels, which isn’t a difficult task but certainly shows off the beautiful design work. With an unconscious old chap slumped over my shoulder, I head up into the higher levels of the house in search of my target.
You have two objectives when you enter the clockwork mansion; rescue a prisoner and eliminate a chap called Kirin Jindosh. Jindosh is seemingly a genius who can’t help taunting Corvo, offering clues to the player as you explore the mechanical architecture, where the pull of a lever alters the layout of entire rooms and floors.
Playing as Corvo with a more aggressive style pushed me to approach the first confrontation a little more ballsy to begin with. Pistol cracks put guards down quickly, swords pierce limbs and follow up with a swift decapitation. Dishonored 2’s hand-to-hand combat is visceral and final; mistime a block and you’ll get a blade through your chest. Deflect an enemy sword and you can send him sliding across the floor with his own blood as lubrication.
Jindosh has his automaton guards too; spindly robots with blades for arms. Take their heads off and they keep on coming, using sound to to track you down. They’re more deadly than any human guard (who aren’t to be under-estimated) and you need to either take them down quickly with everything you’ve got, or avoid confrontation entirely.
In the lower level of the mansion, rescuing a prisoner requires that you rearrange a maze to reach his cot, while trying to stay out the way of a one of these robotic guards. Time it carefully and you can block the guard in a room and break the prisoner to freedom. Or accidently trap yourself in the same room, impaled on twin blades.
