ARKANE Lore - Dishonored and the Art of Nonviolence

[Music] dishonored is the greatest game that i have ever played it is not my favorite game nor is it perfect but it is the greatest you see it isn't like anything that came before it its elements have appeared here and there in the legacy of immersive sim design but dishonored does something truly unique it manages to make non-violence fun there's a long history to the discussion of violence in video games at one point it was a question of whether or not violent games were corrupting the youth but now game critics wonder about the narrative implications of violence and gameplay the dreaded l word appears in nearly every critique of a major aaa title and no i won't say it not yet personally i find the game industry's reliance upon violence and gameplay disappointing films and books have a variety of genres like comedies or dramas that never hinge upon violence so why is nearly every game about shooting stabbing or killing people if games are art then shouldn't we see the same diversity as other media maybe it's just easier to make a game about killing people and that may well be true but the greatest works of art are never easy to push this medium forward i think we need to explore the potential in non-violent mechanics further still we should seek to tell stories that say something meaningful arcane studios does both my name is eric crosby in this video i'll be taking a deep dive into arcane studios 2012 immersive sim dishonored the following videos will cover dishonored 2 prey and death of the outsider i will be paying close attention to the mechanics and narrative of each game and to support my points i will give brief explanations of each game's development my goal is to extract the game design lessons of each work and illustrate their shared themes of empathy these videos will be quite long i've written them as podcast style episodes so feel free to listen in the background each section will have a general theme so you can skip around to find what you're most interested in you'll find time codes for each section below finally i will cover each game's plot and levels in detail so if you wish to avoid spoilers please do yourself the favor of playing these games before watching now let's explore arcane's defining immersive sim and how dishonored used player choice to provide meaningful alternatives to violence but first a bit of history rafael colantonio founded arcane studios in 1999 along with a few friends they were a small group of self-described immersive sim aficionados arcane's first game was a first person dungeon crawler called arcs vitalis and though it was well reviewed it didn't meet sales expectations arcane then produced dark messiah of might and magic based on what they had built of arcs vitalis ii the game was a success but what followed was a series of failed projects these have been documented in the noclip documentary the untold history of arcane i highly recommend it by 2008 cole antonio had founded a second studio in austin meanwhile harvey smith was looking for work he and cole antonio had remained in contact since meeting each other at ea smith formerly a lead designer on deus ex was a perfect match for cole antonio arcane brought him on as a co-owner and they began to work on a pitch for a new immersive sim the initial pitch was a first-person ninja game the player would use magic powers and ninja tools to assassinate targets as time went on the setting shifted from ninjas in japan to victorian london as the team added supernatural and steampunk elements this became a fantasy setting half-life 2 art lead victor antinov and arcane's talented sebastian matha headed up the art team under their direction the team crafted a truly unique city dunwall bethesda acquired arcane in 2010. the publisher had been watching arcane for some time and impressed by arcs vitalis they showed interest in another first person action rpg so with the support of a major publisher arcane could pursue their creative ambitions in building dishonored arcane used the design principle called follow the fun in essence they looked to what was most enjoyable in their game and expanded on it they added new features incrementally creating new behaviors as systems intermingled in play testing for example the player could blink at the apex of a double jump which allowed them to move much further than the developers anticipated rather than calling this a bug and fixing it the developers accommodated it this is a key pillar of immersive sim design players using their tools to come up with their own solutions if there is no right way to play there is no wrong way one such emergent quality was that players never had to kill a guard this gave harvey smith the inspiration to craft non-lethal solutions to each mission the developers realized the choice between mercy and violence was meaningful they could present players with a moral dilemma as colantonio states in a 2012 gamasutra interview in this case when they do something like killing and they knew that they could have avoided to kill they might regret it a little bit they might feel emotions that they would never feel otherwise dishonored seemed poised for success it had publisher backing celebrity voice acting and brilliant marketing deus acts human revolution had released the previous year to critical acclaim the 2010s were shaping up to be an immersive sim renaissance dishonored received best in show awards at many events leading up to its release the hype was palpable dishonored released on october 9th 2012. reviews were overwhelmingly positive the pc version of dishonored rests at a 91 on review aggregator metacritic reviewers praised the diversity of mechanical options and the open level design it won countless awards that year including best game at the baftas dishonored it sold nearly half a million copies in its first month dishonored was an instant classic consider it a gift take us straight to dunwall tower or corvo has news for the empress and we've come a long way a long way to bring bad news dishonored begins with a boat ride the atmosphere is dismal a cloudy sky hulking gray whaling ships and smoke stacks billowing in the distance corvo the player character has been traveling to find news of a cure for the rat plague we dock at dunwall tower and a young girl named emily greets us with a hug emily asks us to play hide and seek which serves as the game's stealth tutorial the first mechanical interaction the player has say for turning a crank is playing a game with a child this communicates several things to the player first that stealth is the most important mechanic in the game second that emily is familiar enough with corvo to feel comfortable being herself and third that corvo cares enough about emily to ignore his duties to make her happy the first thing we learn about corvo as a character is that he cares for others and especially for her we're then greeted by some of the game's major players on our way to the empress the scene has some irony to it on later playthroughs as the player knows the fate of all these men on a first run though they may come across as background nbcs corvo's arrival interrupts a conversation the empress is having with her spymaster then this happens are you okay mother you seem sad yes don't worry darling mother is fine wait where are the guards who sent them away mother look what are they doing on the rooftop what emily come here the player is immediately given several options in combat the game prompts us to attack or defend although there is no tutorial here for blocking since corvo is the empress bodyguard it makes sense for him to defend her at all costs so the developers kindly exclude these assassins from the player's kill count this is the first of many ways the game encourages the player to behave as corvo would in doing so we're provided with an immediate sense of attachment to our character regardless of our actions the assassins pin corvo to a pillar and force them to watch as they kill jessamine they take emily and jessamine begs corvo to find and protect her the guards finally arrive and accuse corvo of the murder dishonored i enjoy that their accusation seems improvised too we've just learned that corvo arrived early from his trip so it comes across as a kind of wrong place wrong time thing following the assassination of the empress the spymaster becomes lord regent he locks corvo in cold ridge prison and tortures him alongside high overseer campbell they reveal their plan to seize power and institute strong leadership in dunwall corvo was never meant to take the fall but hanging the assassin will help legitimize their rule later a guard delivers a key in corvo's meal we break out of our cell and make our escape this opening level is quite linear compared to the others but still provides a few options we learn how to perform assassinations and non-lethal takedowns for those who prefer a more direct route we're given a sword and pistol personally i wish this opening level was more expansive the key to dishonored is finding one's own path through the level though i understand not wanting to overwhelm the player samuel the boatman meets us at the exit and takes us to meet the men who helped corvo escape the loyalists before we go on i want to take some time to praise the art style of this game i may have my nostalgia goggles on too tight but i believe this game holds up in a way that many of its contemporaries don't the watercolor texturing makes for a crisp style that feels clear and readable and it also serves to obscure some of the lower resolution textures the style feels cohesive and inspired and still looks beautiful today dishonored proves that a coherent art style is far more important than a resolution or polygon count at least that is in crafting visuals that stand the test of time we're fast approaching the point where games will be able to use extremely high poly models in engine a game like dishonored makes me wonder if we might lose something in the transition towards hyper realism another upshot of this art style is that the game runs incredibly well on pc the frame rate is silky smooth rarely dipping below 120 fps mind you i'm not exactly using low end hardware but even articles from the time of release praise the game's performance i also want to highlight the amount of world building done in just the first 10 minutes of the game the opening shot communicates to the player that dunwall is a dismal city the smog and filth of industry loom over it we know from the architecture and atmosphere that the city is a lot like london the rat plague is also an obvious reference to the real world bubonic plague although at the time players likely wouldn't have known what it was like to live through one there's a great strength in referencing the real world like this the player is immediately able to understand and identify with the setting yet there are still enough unique elements to set dunwall apart as a fantasy setting the technological elements are more evocative of science fiction and yet they fit the assassins wear gas masks and use dark magic it feels genuinely novel the soundtrack of this game is brilliant too daniel licht composed a haunting score evocative of the game's dismal atmosphere let's take a moment to listen to some [Music] highlights [Music] um [Music] i want to put the story on hold for now and skip a bit ahead into the game proper in this section i want to focus on how the game encourages the player to ward non-violence i will also give a critique of the mechanics though there is precious little to criticize arcane nailed it on the first outing with dishonored starting with the basics i love the movement in this game corvo sprints slides and climbs like an agile cat the player's jump feels damn incredible corvo bounds up and lands with a smooth bounce of the camera it feels graceful as though he's crouching to absorb the impact the movement only gets better too upgrades let the player sprint at ludicrous speed double jump and ignore fall damage however in an immersive sim the player's tools are everything dishonored provides a wealth of useful options for both lethal and non-lethal players a variety of gadgets powers and upgrades allow players to craft their own play style that's not to say that all options are equal lethal players have the advantage of drop attacks for example whereas non-lethal players can drag enemies as they choke them out this changes the playstyle in subtle but important ways where a lethal stealth player might try to get above an enemy a non-lethal player may try to lure them away from others i'm now going to illustrate just how much these styles vary i will also be showing every other power and gadget in the game my unfortunate test subjects are these guards in a mid-game mission don't worry i won't be showing any spoilers just yet first let's use non-lethal methods i'll cast darkvision to see enemies and their view cones clearly then i use possession to control this guard and walk him to a hidden location i choke him out turn and cast ben time to shoot both the other guards with sleep darts now let's try using deadly force i cast bend time again drop and place a spring razor behind this guard then i use devouring swarm to keep the other guard occupied while i turn and shoot the third the spring razor kills one but the other sets off the alarm i use wind blast to delay a group of enemies and throw a grenade into their heap i shoot this guy stab this guy shoot a few more guys burn this guy blast this guy and finally jump on this guy you can see just how chaotic the lethal path became within a few moments things went from a quiet night to a war zone by contrast the non-lethal options allowed me to remain undetected that's not to say you can't use lethal options in stealth but it's much more difficult to use powers like wind blast or devouring swarm without alerting anyone i did miss a few things there blink is corvo's satisfying movement ability it lets the player teleport to high ground or dart past enemies the rewire tool allows you to turn systems against enemies or disable alarms there's also upgrades for each of these powers which makes them even more exciting bend time for example completely stops time with an upgrade this allows the player to do some truly wacky stuff you could attach a spring razor to a crossbow bolt for example then let it fly for a huge explosion or you could catch bullets out of midair these were just some basic examples i encourage you to try the game yourself and discover all this toolkit has to offer the smaller non-lethal toolbox might seem like a detriment to that playstyle however when playing non-lethally the player is less likely to engage in combat they scarcely need the amount of firepower a lethal player has as such i never felt that the playstyle lacked anything although more options would certainly be welcome the outsider also gives corvo the heart this contraption whispers lore and secrets about characters and also reveals the location of runes and bone charms runes upgrade the player's powers so they need everyone they can get their hands on but as it stands the heart spoils some of the mystery of exploring a level i would have preferred a less direct approach perhaps pulsing faster or slower in a hot and cold style finally the most powerful tool at the player's disposal is stealth a notable departure from other games is that shadow does not obscure the player except for at a distance this encourages more careful use of the level geometry to hide from enemies it's a fun puzzle to soak in the details of the level and find the best path above everything so the lethal path has a multitude of ways to deal damage the non-lethal path by contrast encourages more sparing engagements the non-lethal player must then make clever use of stealth and their powers to avoid conflict i feel that the non-lethal path is far more rewarding in this way it's more engaging to puzzle out a way around an obstacle than to shoot one's way through it dealing with some main targets non-lethally even nets the player bonus rewards however there's an even greater incentive to play non-lethally dishonored introduces a mechanic called chaos a measure of the player's morality unlike an rpg this measures gameplay choices as well as narrative ones if the player is violent and destructive then dunwall reflects that violence the game uses this system both mechanically and narratively to great effect the game begins in a state of low chaos and the player can raise this to medium or high chaos killing targets guards and civilians all raise chaos by varying degrees so does getting spotted or setting off alarms some optional missions also increase chaos but i won't spoil those until later in this way the player's actions define corvo as a character is he an aggressive violent and angry man on a quest for revenge is he a quiet measured and calculating assassin does he seek to avoid harm at all costs the game accommodates any version of corvo the player imagines as they define who he is through play this is not without consequence as corvo deals out death and destruction the plague worsens and the city watch goes on high alert on a high chaos run there are more guards rats and weepers in later missions on a low chaos run the later missions have fewer enemies this means the state of chaos can invert the difficulty curve a violent player faces more enemies in later missions upping the challenge the non-lethal player might have an easier time likely having mastered their tools by the end this is a surprisingly sharp commentary on real violence in the moment it can be easy to use force to take what one wants but it will usually only result in more suffering chaos also affects the outcomes of the narrative the high chaos player will see friends and allies die or betray them the outsider will chide the player during their conversations at his shrines arcane even went so far as to create two versions of the final mission depending upon the level of chaos there are also several endings depending upon the player's choices confronting the player with the consequences of their violence might provoke several reactions on the one hand i've heard players complain that they felt judged and punished by the game these players felt the game should reward them for killing people since it is about an assassin this is a frustrating perspective it stems from a fundamentally misguided expectation that actions in gameplay should not have consequences should i say it should i say the l word no no not yet see corvo isn't actually an assassin he begins the game as a bodyguard a man who protects others from harm it's only the villains who frame him as a killer if the player believes that corvo is an assassin then they prove the villain's right in my view this is a refusal to engage with the game's narrative or themes in any serious way that's not to say that playing on high chaos is wrong or foolish the tricks and tools of murder can be very fun indeed it's simply the reaction of oh why is the game punishing me for murder that frustrates me so deeply there is another reaction that one can have to the game's judgment though my hope is that most players instead stop to reflect on their actions rather than becoming frustrated with the game a player might ask what they could do better as they see violence begets more violence they might choose to stay their blade more often see high chaos is recoverable so long as the player has not gone too far the player can transition back to the low chaos state if they take more ethical actions later on this can result in a very fascinating kind of emergent storytelling the player might imagine that corvo was a ruthless assassin but begins to regret his actions later on this is another master stroke by the developers it allows for meaningful change on the player's part just as well this might encourage some to try another playthrough just to see the other ending furthermore the player can still kill several targets on the low chaos playthrough if a player thinks a particular target is especially deserving which some are they can still kill them in the words of game director raphael colentonio you actually can avoid killing people and can finish the game without killing people yes it's true and it's part of our values but also the fact that you could not kill them gives more meaning to the times you do it was a choice between killing or not so long as the player does not kill more than 20 percent of the population they remain in low chaos in my view this is actually way too generous this means the player can kill every single main target and still achieve the best ending i think it would be better instead to only allow the player to kill one or two main targets this way they would have to be very selective about who deserves corvo's wrath with that said the player can get a special achievement for a no kill run it's a genuine challenge and it feels extremely rewarding to pull off the chaos system is a great innovation in immersive sim design in my view developers in the genre should take heavy inspiration from this mechanic it avoids the typical red choice blue choice problem of rpg storytelling rather the scales are subtly tipped by each moment of gameplay this provides a great sense that the player's mechanical choices have genuine weight i've now covered the major gameplay systems and how they explore and reflect the player's use of violence now i want to go through each level in detail to analyze their design and narrative this is your last warning i will spoil everything from now on i hope i've said enough to convince you to try dishonored or give it a second chance so if you want to play the game please do so and come back to me when you finished this video isn't going anywhere i hope so where did we leave off right samuel takes corvo to the hound pits pub this is the hideout of the loyalist conspiracy a group dedicated to putting emily back on the throne their leaders are a gruff military man named havelock and a noble lord trevor pendleton they have a plan and political sway but they need corvo to project lethal force accompanying these men are their various servants cecilia lydia and wallace kalista kerno joins them to be emily's tutor and caretaker pierrot joplin serves as the resident mad scientist who upgrades the player's gear in case you didn't pick up on it the loyalists are not exactly good men pendleton and havelock are powerful members of the upper class who exploit the labor of the working poor as early as this opening visit to the hound pits the player can find a darkly comic audio log from lord pendleton my furnishings have been installed at last with no small amount of complaining by that antiquated boatman the others have no idea what it's like to suffer as i have speaking of which wallace please breathe two bottles of dunwall red never mind witch and fetch a clean glass well i'll begin again tomorrow despite this all these people genuinely seem to believe in the loyalist cause while corvo was in prison spymaster hiram burroughs seized the throne now the lord regent he rules over dunwall with oppressive force the loyalist's goal is to remove him from his seat preferably with a blade but corvo must find emily first the loyalists believe that high overseer campbell knows her location so corvo's first mission is to assassinate campbell and retrieve his journal corvo pays a visit to piero who crafts his iconic mask i adore the design of corvo's mask in this game within the lore it represents the face of death itself it looks suitably terrifying with all its lenses and gears that night a godlike entity called the outsider summons corvo to the void he offers corvo his mark which grants him his supernatural abilities the outsider might appear like a devil but there's no price to pay for his gifts rather the outsider is simply curious to see what corvo does with them in this way i think the outsider is something of a stand-in for the developers they grant the player power but it is the player's choice what to do with it like the outsider arcane studios does not have an intended path for the player rather they are curious to see what players will do with the tools given to them will they choose to bring more darkness into this world they've crafted or will they guide it to a brighter future the outsider shows corvo brief flashes of the targets to come and returns him to the hound pits havelock gives corvo his briefing and asks that he rescue overseer martin kalista also asks us to rescue her uncle who she believes campbell intends to poison i love her line here do you think you could protect him you used to do that right before you had your current profession before you became an assassin kalista reminds the player that their role was that of a savior the role of the assassin is one thrust on them by havlock and the loyalists after exploring the pub and getting our gear in order samuel takes us to the distillery district this is the first wide linear level allowing the player to find their own path to the target i'd like to show how many solutions there are to the first obstacle alone the player must bypass a wall of light a barrier that will kill them they could kill the guard rewire the barrier blink over or sneak through side streets i'm willing to bet this doesn't even cover half the options available and the player doesn't even have all their tools yet it feels highly rewarding to come up with your own plan and execute on it if you can think of it you can usually trust that the developer is thought to account for it there are a few optional areas in the distillery district too tied to a side quest involving granny rags she asks the player to poison the counterfeit elixir that a local gang produces this sends the player through the luxurious home of dr galvani and to the distillery proper it's worth noting that the player never has to visit these locations during this mission these are whole areas the developers built knowing that many players might never see them it speaks to the confidence of arcane that they're okay with players missing out on some content these areas are well designed too it's a fun test of stealth to navigate through the lab undetected yet the resolution of this quest was disappointing to me the player can't complete the quest without poisoning the elixir while this does not result in any direct kills on the player's part it does raise chaos it's disappointing that the player can't reveal the plan to slack jaw or simply lie to granny rags of course a player doesn't have to complete every quest but this one starts a game-long quest chain it seems odd to me the developers didn't think to include a low chaos path we make our way to holger square and release overseer martin then we find our way inside the offices of high overseer campbell there's a lot to explore here and i love the scale of the building it has all the usual fascist design cues gray brick red flags and huge statues it doesn't exactly feel unique but it is well executed in this art style after exploring a while we find the room where campbell is planning to poison captain cournot there's an impressive amount of choices here the player can simply shoot campbell or they can be a bit more sneaky they can switch the poison in the glasses killing campbell a psychotic player could poison both glasses or they can spill the glasses causing both men to move to campbell's safe room in the basement there the player can eliminate campbell without fear of detection and escape for the non-lethal player there's a more ironic path available corvo can knock campbell unconscious and brand him with a heretic's mark campbell will lose his position exiled to some far-off land in this way corvo gets his revenge without bloodshed after grabbing campbell's journal we escape there are two new enemy types in the backyard wolfhounds can smell the player and alert nearby guards meanwhile overseers can play music boxes that block the player's supernatural abilities getting caught without access to blink or bend time typically leads to a quick death so these enemies encourage a stealthier playstyle we can rescue an overseer and his sister in this area too and they reward corvo with a safe combination this is the first of many times that corvo can rescue those in need it feels satisfying to do a good deed in this world however small we return to the hound pits and kalista will thank corvo if he saved her uncle the journal reveals that emily is being held by lord pendleton's brothers at the golden cat brothel conveniently lord pendleton will inherit their parliamentary power upon their deaths corvo sets out back to the distillery district i have to question the decision to revisit this level so soon it is a vast area and there are new locations to explore yet it strikes the player as a bit underwhelming i would have rather seen it reused later on when the player has access to all their powers that way they could see how far they've come with that said i do enjoy the side quests involving slackjaw she offers to help us eliminate the pendletons without bloodshed so long as we can do him a favor we first have to locate his missing informant then find the code to a safe in a nearby art dealer's manner this sends us back through galvani's offices and eventually to the golden cat itself on arrival a tutorial appears that encourages the player to explore alternate paths it's odd that this only appears now as the last mission already had a variety of approaches however by this point the developers know the players will have a few more tricks up their sleeve so there are more interesting paths available to creative players the brothel itself is a lavishly decorated building appropriately bathed in red light this level exemplifies arcane's aptitude for crafting believable game spaces the lounge area for example has a beautiful trellis that doubles as a path above enemies it takes genuine inspiration to make these levels seem lived in and they do corvo can find the art dealer or the pendletons here on the one hand he can murder the noble brothers on the other he can torture the art dealer for his safe code see the non-lethal solutions aren't always kind solutions after getting the safe code or killing the pendletons we find emily upstairs at first she doesn't recognize corvo with his mask but after taking it off she runs to embrace him it's a heartwarming moment amid all the darkness and again reminds the player that corvo is a man of empathy he loves emily and i think this moment is when the player will realize that corvo is more than just her bodyguard the non-lethal player will return to slackjaw with the safe code in exchange he will have the pendleton's mutilated and shipped off to labor in the mines they once owned funny enough the player can still go to the art dealer's home and loot the safe themselves we return to samuel then head back to the hound pits with emily in tow calista takes emily to her room and corvo speaks with the loyalists their next move is to find the identity of the lord region's mistress corvo must kidnap anton sokolov the royal physician who once painted her portrait we traveled to caldwen's bridge which is the least impressive level so far the verticality of this mission is enjoyable but it feels much more linear than the others it isn't a poorly designed mission by any means it still has many paths and optional objectives but when compared to the wide city spaces of the last few levels it feels a bit claustrophobic with that said the player can climb to the very top of the bridge for a picturesque view of dunwall the sense of scale is impressive even in 2020 it's worth noting that this is the first mission we're told not to kill our target there are civilians to rescue along the way too i think this demonstrates the potential for more complicated mission types for example kidnapping a target undetected or rescuing prisoners we break into sokolov's home knock him out and drag him back to the hound pits we can torture him or bribe him with an expensive brandy he informs us that the lord regent's mistress is one lady boyle but he's uncertain which of the boyle sisters she was the boyles happened to be hosting a masquerade ball that evening and corvo will be in attendance during this interlude we can learn a bit about emily too she's been having nightmares and apparently she wants to learn to swordfight she also leaves a drawing of corvo on his desk it's a lovingly drawn picture of corvo's face labeled daddy this might confirm what the player already suspects that corvo is emily's father this puts corvo's quest for revenge into a sharp new perspective i respect that arcane withheld this information until now allowing corvo to keep secrets from the player most games would have leveraged the melodrama of the father-daughter angle again it speaks to the competence of arcane that they avoided falling into this trope the player comes to the revelation themselves corvo travels to the estate district where tall boys patrol and execute infected civilians we must find a way into the boil estate whether by invitation or a bit of breaking and entering once inside we're treated to yet another beautiful interior the masquerade ball is a classic setting but dishonored pulls off the specifics in a unique way grotesque masks seem to be in fashion during the plague and some of these designs are truly inspired my personal favorite is the whale head worn by lord ramsay given the dress code corvo can walk through the party unbothered our goal is to identify the correct lady boyle and eliminate her however we see fit the impressive trick dishonored pulls is that it randomizes the target each playthrough this prevents the player from immediately looking up a guide you have to do a bit of your own detective work this also keeps things fresh on return visits the boyle sisters wear identical outfits of various colors red black and white the player must not only discover which boyle sister is the target but also which color she's wearing impressively each sister also has a unique dialogue tree that lets corvo lure them away this mission is by far the most rewarding for a non-lethal player puzzling out your target through dialogue is a great way to shake up the rhythm of gameplay there's still plenty of sneaking around to do but the setting makes it all the more exciting i do wish dishonored and its sequels had more social stealth sections like this and yet there's a huge caveat to my praise of this mission that is the non-lethal path involves shipping lady boyle off with a stalker named lord brisby you get the sense that this guy is pretty unfamiliar with the concept of consent to complete the mission the player has to knock lady boyle unconscious and deliver her to brisby it feels absolutely disgusting to participate in the developer seemed to agree harvey smith called the move wrong-headed in a now-deleted tweet it's not even the first time the game has brushed off the sexual assault of women in an earlier interlude the player can catch pierrot spying on kalista bathing what's worse they can then spy and walk in on her themselves it's gross it's creepy and it adds nothing to the game here's my suggestion for a less disturbing non-lethal resolution i think this mission should have been like the previous corvo could infiltrate the party and take lady boyle as a hostage this would serve the narrative purpose of gaining leverage over the lord regent it could also up the challenge of escaping the party with lady boyle in tow despite the creepy resolution this mission is still the gameplay highlight of dishonored this kind of social stealth wouldn't be done better until 2016's hitman and i do hope arcane returns to the style there's a ton of potential in what they laid out here the loyalists are now ready to make their move against the lord regent all that remains is for corvo to head to dunwall tower and ensure his downfall there's a nice callback to the prologue here as we help kalista find emily in a game of hide and seek the boat ride to dunwall tower mirrors the prologue too as we enter by the same water lock from the first shot the tower is nothing like we remember it draped in red flags and encased in steel there's a great variety of ways to get inside and the interior space is just as well crafted as the other missions but after the social stealth of lady boyle's last party it feels a bit underwhelming to return to the basics it's not bad by any means this mission is impressively designed and fun to explore but it just doesn't feel as fresh with that said the non-lethal elimination in this mission is incredibly satisfying the player can find an audiograph in which the lord region admits to deliberately spreading the rat plague to kill off the poor and homeless if the player delivers this to the propaganda officer he will play it over the loudspeakers throughout the city and the grand guard will arrest the lord regent for his crimes corvo returns to the hound pits to celebrate with the loyalists unfortunately for him their idea of a good time is poisoning him and leaving him for dead this betrayal should hardly come as a shock the loyalists were rich and powerful men who manipulated others to their own ends samuel for his part only gives corvo half the poison and sends him off unconscious on a boat we wind up in the flooded district taken captive by the very assassins that killed jessamine dowd makes an appearance and knocks corvo unconscious again i imagine corvo must have a pretty serious concussion by now for the amount of head trauma he's received sadly what follows is the game's most frustratingly designed mission the flooded district is a messy brown and green place which does the level's confusing layout no favors previous missions offered clear visuals allowing the player to carefully plan their movements the flooded district is far less readable this mission is also the longest and like this video probably didn't need to be quite so long to get the point across the whaler enemies in this level are a respectable attempt to shake up the rhythm but i find their teleporting is more often unpredictable than challenging or fun there are also plants that spit acid at the player making navigation a chore i might sound more negative about this than i mean to like everything else in dishonored the low points are still good even if they aren't great i particularly enjoy the resolution with doubt the player can knock him unconscious and steal his key as a kind of warning dowd's audio log suggests that he regrets killing the empress he was even planning to kill the lord regent to make some amends this might reflect upon the player if they shifted from high chaos to low the granny rags questline is also resolved in this mission she's taken slackjaw captive and it's up to corvo to rescue him unfortunately this is one of the most frustrating parts of the game granny rags can turn into a swarm of rats so a non-lethal elimination relies upon an incredibly specific series of operations i don't think most players will have the patience to attempt this personally i used a guide posted on steam and i don't feel much shame in it corvo escapes and returns to the hound pits one last time the loyalists have executed many of their staff though who dies depends on the player's level of chaos kalista will survive on the low chaos run and the player can help her escape piero and sokolov are holed up in the workshop they've built an arc pylon that can kill or disable all enemies in the area corvo can help them power up the machine eliminate all the enemies himself or leave them to their fate to my mind seeing these two men of science reconcile in the face of adversity was heartwarming it's actually a real highlight of the game to me despite how small of a moment it is i don't see how anyone could in good conscience just leave them to die we find a note from emily that reveals the loyalists subducted her to king sparrow island they intend to use her as a puppet for their own rule sokolov believes the loyalists began with good intentions but that power corrupted them while i agree with sokolove that the loyalists may have believed in their cause they were far from good havelock killed for pleasure pendleton exploited and abused the lower class and martin held power in a militant religious faction these men were oppressors long before they tried to seize the throne this presents another opportunity for the player to imagine corvo's reaction did he recognize their cruelty from the start and use them to get emily back or was he naive blinded by his own position of power both interpretations are valid and so are any others a player comes up with we never believe we launch a flare and samuel picks us up for one last ride to king sparrow island upon arrival samuel will comment upon the kind of person corvo has been on low chaos he commends the player for staying their hand on medium chaos he will criticize corvo for going out of his way to be violent and brutal on high chaos he will even fire off a gun to warn the guards of corvo's arrival if the player had somehow gotten this far without feeling judged they certainly will now i've seen reactions to this that express anger towards samuel for selling corvo out this again demonstrates a refusal to engage with the themes of the narrative if you care enough to feel betrayed by samuel you can certainly care enough to understand why he does it on a character level the violent tendencies of a high chaos corvo tend to make others distrust a person on a narrative level this is the penultimate moment of consequence for the player dishonored has been telling us all along that violence begets suffering suffering is what corvo chose on the flip side samuel praises the low chaos player if you show empathy and compassion you will receive it in return this last mission has two versions depending on the total level of chaos the high chaos player infiltrates at night with three targets and heavy guard presence on low chaos we arrive in the daytime with a minimal guard presence and a single target both versions of the mission are well designed and fun to play they escalate the challenge of stealth and encourage the player to use all their powers on high chaos we must first deal with pendleton and martin though both of them are resigned to their fate on low chaos we must simply sneak or choke our way through to the lighthouse we climb to the top and confront admiral havelock on high chaos he stands on the precipice of the lighthouse holding emily as a hostage the player must find a way to save her and kill havelock in the process if saved emily says she would have executed all the loyalists even if corvo hadn't in this ending she takes the throne in an age of corruption and allows the empire to fall into further despair if corvo doesn't save emily dunwall is nearly destroyed by the rat plague and he flees the city on low chaos the player finds havlock in the dining room he's already poisoned pendleton and martin but he regrets not being a good man like corvo he will give corvo the key to emily's room if the player speaks with him but he won't go down without a fight corvo rescues emily and brings her into a warm embrace this ending shows us an age of prosperity and peace brought about by corvo's subtle hand in this way emily reflects the player's actions back at them one last time if corvo took what he wanted through bloodshed she will do the same violence leads to ruin and the empire suffers for it if corvo was empathetic and just she will take those lessons to the throne instead she will not repeat the cycle of violence that corrupted men like havelock instead she will walk the path of restraint emily is her father's daughter for good or ill and decades hence when your hair turns white and you pass from this world empress emily emily the wise at the height of her power will lay your body down within her mother's great tune because you are more to her than royal protector i watched her bodyguard's face as they took him away dead eyes dishonored also received several pieces of dlc that i never had the pleasure of playing on launch i was wrong to ignore these until now the tale of dowd is an excellent addition to an already excellent game the knife of dunwall begins with a superb scene we watch the assassination of jessamine in first person as dowd wonders if maybe this time he went too far an immediate change from the main game is that our protagonist has a voice dow narrates the context of each mission and noir vignettes it's hard not to love michael madsen's gruff delivery it could be a coincidence but it's not the story kicks off with the outsider giving dowd a name delilah dowd heads to the rothwild slaughterhouse to find information on a ship by the same name there's a new mechanic called favors that allow us to spend coins and open up alternate paths i feel mixed on these on the one hand it's fun to play the part of a crime boss but on the other it feels like you're missing out on part of the level design if you don't buy these dowd shares most of his abilities with corvo although there are some changes dowd's blank allows us to stop time while void gaze combines dark vision with the heart bend time and the ability upgrades are identical to the main game although wind blast possession and devouring swarm are notably absent unique to doubt is an ability that lets him summon assassins to kill hostiles daod also has some new tools choke dust stuns and disorients enemies while the arc mine knocks them unconscious these non-lethal additions are more than a welcome as they shake up the low chaos playstyle this first mission shows off more of dishonored's inspired art direction and worldbuilding we infiltrate a whale slaughterhouse in the midst of a labor strike the orange lighting here is gorgeous and contrasts the ugly work done within the workers are mostly gone safe for the butchers a new enemy type that wield buzzsaws we meet billy lurk dowd second in command she appears to give us direction and commentary throughout each mission those familiar with the series will know that she becomes far more important later on the slaughterhouse is a great first level with all the optional paths and side areas you'd expect we interrogate rothwild himself who identifies the man that sold him the delilah dowd can then kill rothwild or pack him in a crate to ship him off to some remote corner of the world the trend of well-deserved and ironic non-lethal eliminations continues this mission and the next both sharply illustrate the class conflict in dunwall we see the result of unchecked capitalist exploitation both of the workers and of the whales rothwild has even imprisoned some of the strike organizers in the slaughterhouse the whales don't have it any better the butchers hang them up and cut them apart while they're still alive as a vegan myself i found the whole thing deeply affecting for what it's worth dowd can at least put this one whale out of its misery dowd heads for the manner of barrister timsch who is seizing the homes and assets of plague victims his niece will give doubt information about delilah in exchange for timch's will along the way we encounter the hatter gang who are unfortunately no different from the enemies in the main game the aesthetic choice is fine but i'd really like to see a new enemy type in the legal district we meet a man that tim chevicted he proposes that dowd give timch a taste of his own medicine we must forge an eviction notice and steal timch's proof of legal immunity this is such a great resolution it's just so satisfying to watch this rich be made the victim of his own brand of exploitation timch's niece reveals that delilah is part of a witch coven what's worse she knows that dowd is looking for her we return to dowd's hideout and find it besieged by overseers this final mission has its layout adapted from the flooded district in the main game though unlike that mission it's much more clear and readable this time around the level is much shorter too it feels as though arcane genuinely learned from their mistakes we must deal with the overseers and rescue dowd's assassins when we're done billy lurk reveals that she was the one that sold dowd out delilah makes an appearance but doesn't attack on high chaos we have to fight billy in a final boss fight but on low chaos she allows dow to judge her billy's betrayal isn't as impactful as the loyalists but it does give players the chance to define doubt is he still the vengeful brutal man that killed the empress or has his regret seeped in and given him pause personally i love a good redemption arc it feels right to let dowd do something good the brigmora witches picks up right where a knife of dunwall ended in a brilliant use of dramatic irony dowd dreams that corvo will one day come for him the player knows by now what became of doubt in their game were they kind or cruel would they have been knowing what dowd would do for emily the player maintains their items upgrades and level of chaos from knife of dunwall there are some new introductions in this dlc too pull is a new power that lets the player grab objects and enemies from afar there's also corrupt bone charms which give the player a powerful bonus with a trade-off they add a ton of potential for interesting builds and it's a shame that they didn't think of it sooner i would have loved to have tried these out in the main game now that dowd knows delilah's location he has to find a way into her manner dao knows of a criminal named lizzie stride who owns a boat that they can take up river past the quarantine the tricky part is she's locked in coldridge breaking into the prison feels movie-like and there's a variety of paths to get to lizzy unfortunately she falls unconscious when dowd rescues her so the player has to lug her out by hand i particularly like these capture style missions and dishonored they provide a meaningful mechanical departure from the usual assassination fair keeping lizzy alive adds an extra challenge to the escape too the player must avoid detection or risk getting her killed dowd's next job is to steal lizzy's boat back from the second command that betrayed her this takes us to draper's ward a massive open city level the ward is stunningly well crafted there are four distinct areas each with several paths and solutions the visual design too is a real step up from the legal district hazy skies bathe the level in orange light and there's a warm autumn hue to everything there's a gang war going on here between lizzie's dead eels and the hatters dowd must first travel to the eels territory and eliminate the usurper captain of the undyne lizzie reclaims her vessel and the eels become neutral to the player unfortunately the hatters have stolen part of the engine so dowd has to steal it back the player can sneak through the textile mill and find mr hat himself an old and sickly man kept alive by machines dowd can speak with his nurse trimble and make a deal if dowd can restore the mill's waterwheel then they will have no need for the engine coil the hatters become neutral too and allow dowd to pass into the sewers what makes this sewer so great is the introduction of the witches these enemies are able to teleport fire projectiles and ensnare the player this late into the game the player will have gotten used to stealth and combat and the witches shake things up there's a very different way this can all go down see if the player is able to distract the old man's nurse they can speak with him nurse trimble has been experimenting on him torturing him he wants to die dowd can end his suffering just like the whale and with his dying breath he gives dowd the code to the safe containing the engine coil this is the rare occasion where killing our target is the more empathetic solution we head back to lizzie and restore her boat's power she takes us to brigmore manor home of the witches delilah as it turns out is painting a portrait of emily caldwen this painting will allow her to steal emily's body and usurp her throne infiltrating the manor isn't easy there's a new enemy type gravehounds whose skulls lie in weight on the ground for doubt to cross them the player can keep an eye open and destroy the skulls before they're spotted but if they are the hounds will materialize and attack them there are also statues of delilah that can spot the player and alert enemies the witches are as troublesome as before too it makes just walking around feel tense again even this late into the game the manor isn't quite as beautiful as draper's ward but it maintains the quality of level design in this dlc i really enjoy the artistic theme to delilah and the way it's used in this final mission delilah hopes to literally capture emily's appearance with a portrait to eliminate delilah dowd must use a magic lantern to travel into one of her paintings there's a certain storybook quality to all this that i love the final confrontation takes place in a beautiful garden a drift in the void i love the contrast between this and dunwall our heroes or anti-heroes in this case come from a world of dirt smog and dust delilah surrounds herself with color and natural beauty to eliminate her non-lethally we can switch out the painting of emily with another delilah's ritual tears her into the painting leaving her stranded in the void with delilah gone or dead dowd has finally done a good deed after killing her mother and framing her father for it dowd saves emily after all unlike the main game dowd is more sharply defined than corvo we know he regrets murdering jessamine the question in the end is if the player redeemed him through their actions in the epilogue corvo comes for doubt after all on low chaos if the players stayed their blade then corvo will too he gives dowd the chance to be a better man on high chaos though dowd hasn't changed a bit he's still the killer he was at the start and so corvo takes his revenge it's a powerful ending and will hit players differently depending on how they played corvo in the main game chances are the player will have played both the main game and dlc in a similar way so they might see this as their corvo this ending feels more personal than the epilogue cutscenes of the main game corvo's judgment feels more direct and more obviously a result of the player's choices in the end dowd and corvo both learn that violence can't always get them what they want on high chaos corvo loses his daughter and dao loses his life on low chaos both men see that restraint is the path to redemption a better world is possible if we all show just a little more empathy [Music] i'd like to take a moment here at the end to level a few more criticisms at the game you might have noticed throughout the video that i'm using a modded version of the game this mod allows the player to check their mission stats in the pause menu this really should have been in the base game or at least in the definitive edition on release i recall abandoning a non-lethal playthrough because i accidentally killed somebody i only found out after finishing the mission so i had no way to know when or how it happened the statistics menu prevents this frustration you might say it makes the game more casual but arcane chose to add this in dishonored 2 so it seems like they agree with my criticism i'd have liked to have seen a new game plus mode too allowing the player to revisit earlier levels with all of their powers i think it would have been a fun reward to allow the player to go back on a power trip through the game collecting runes and bone charms can get tedious on repeat playthroughs so it'd be nice to skip it now for some smaller gripes the guard dialogue sounds like it came straight out of oblivion i think you'll get your own squad after what happened last night never doubt it some face textures have a drastically different resolution you can notice this as early as the prologue sokolov has a crisply painted face while emily and jessamine look like blob people it's a shame that they didn't bump up the texture resolution while updating the game for the definitive edition it also would have been nice to have access to the arcmine and choke dust in the main game after the release of the dlc but again i understand that this would likely break the balance still after playing the dlc their absence is sharply felt when returning to corvo and that's pretty much it there's precious little to criticize in this game i even spoke to several friends of mine who played the game and they agree that dishonored is pretty damn close to perfect i'm sure many people disagree and i just want those people to know that it's okay to be wrong i'll have you know i'm as gentle as i need to be in any given situation as i think i've proven it i told you not to bring that by now i hope that you're on board with or at least understand my general thesis dishonored broke new ground in providing meaningful alternatives to violence and action games the questions i might be asking is alright well why does that really matter violent video games are fun and they're right violent video games are fun there's nothing wrong with enjoying them yet the issue i see in the game industry is that violent games are too often seen as the only thing that is fun early in 2013 youtuber mr b tung released a video called slow down the violence in that video he discusses the use of video game violence and how it has become an industry bad habit what he said inspired me as i began my own career in game design i took an interest in games that explored alternatives to violence the reason i chose to specifically examine arcane's games is because i think they're onto something really special i think they've proven that action games don't have to use murder and bloodshed to be engaging what i see in dishonored more than anything is potential the immersive sim is the perfect genre to explore these non-violent alternatives we've seen how satisfying non-violent powers like possession or blink can be we have seen the potential for social stealth in lady boyle's last party we have felt the narrative weight in holding players accountable not for their red or blue dialogue choices but for their actions in dishonored we find the basic toolkit to craft entirely new kinds of games imagine an immersive sim focused entirely on dialogue misdirection and stealth you could use social stealth to pull off heists or find information or imagine the potential in a game built around the possession mechanic the player could swap between various animals to solve puzzles and open levels here we have the basic building blocks to break the game industry's bad habit of violence more than that dishonored is a fantastic game in its own right it features thoughtfully designed levels a wealth of player tools fantastic art and music inspired world building and a powerful narrative further still it combines all those elements in a truly special way i hope that after watching you'll feel inspired inspired to give the game a first try or to replay it after so many years inspired to make games that break new ground inspire to think a little more about the games we play inspired to be better to each other thanks so much for watching [Applause] this is my little unscripted message at the end of the video i hope you enjoyed it it was my first time trying something like this i haven't ever made a youtube video before so this was quite a massive undertaking for me um i'm quite proud of how it turned out and it's been a lot of fun to do so i hope you enjoyed it as much as i enjoyed working on it i have started a patreon and i don't expect very much from it it's just kind of there if you really enjoyed what i'm doing and you want to pitch in a little bit to help out you know it might help me get something like a better microphone or a laptop so i can make a nicer recording setup that kind of thing so if you have the disposable income to do so i would really appreciate the donation although it's by no means required um furthermore if you want to subscribe i i'd love to see an audience grow here um i have plans to make three more videos on arcane's other games as i mentioned uh dishonored 2 prey and death of the outsider and those should be coming in the next few months this one took about a month and a half to produce so i expect the others will be maybe slightly shorter maybe about the same hard to say but you know maybe now that i've learned how to do it a little easier things will happen faster so we'll see how that goes

Channel: Eric Crosby

Views: 153,960

Keywords: Video Essay, Dishonored, Games, Critique, Gaming, Arkane Studios, Arkane, Arkane Lore, Immersive Sim, Lore, Untold History, Noclip

Id: qYFtDGpV-z4

Length: 58min 56sec (3536 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 15 2020