Dishonored 2 Pro-tips
Way back in October of 2012, I posted some tips on playing the original Dishonored. So many things have happened in the intervening 4 years that it seems like a lifetime, living in France and working with Arkane Studios. I’ve been at Arkane for 8 years now – it’s been a meaningful chapter in my life.
In support of Dishonored 2, here’s an update, with quick points that will enhance your experience:
* Play stealthy or full assault-style, or mix up sneaking and combat. The game supports all these approaches because our team – especially our game designers and gameplay programmers – were tirelessly committed to this core tenet.
* Always look around for alternate pathways: Side alleys, back doors, unlocked windows, overhead balconies, rooftops, tunnels (for rats), or water-ducts (for fish).
* In sword combat, don’t forget to BLOCK! (And counter-attack while an enemy is off-balance.) Play through our little Tutorial, which also sets up the fiction a bit.
* Note that for almost all the combat moves, we’ve added nonlethal versions. (Combat choke, drop attack, slide takedown, et al.) You can play the entire game without killing.
* Change difficulty whenever you want. If you’re an advanced player or really into stealth, play on Hard.
* Try playing the game with stealth. Sneaking, playing nonlethally, or even ghosting the missions adds even more tension and drama to situations.
* Our stealth model is mostly based on enemy view cones and occlusion. Darkness only matters at a distance, making you more hidden. Up close, enemy facing and field of view matters most. (Stay behind them or behind something that blocks their line of sight.)
* Don’t forget to lean! If your body is behind something like a wall, you can lean out to peek ahead.
* Peep through keyholes before opening doors.
* Look up! Go vertical when you can, along ledges, rooftops, pipes, etc. You can often sneak past an encounter that way or find an alternate entry or path.
* Unless you’re trying to get a Ghost Achievement for never being detected, resist the temptation to immediately load a save if you get busted while playing stealth. Play it out and see what happens.
* Distract enemies with sound by throwing a bottle or setting an alarm clock.
* Eavesdrop on unaware enemies to absorb more information related to the world and the events unfolding around you. Sometimes eavesdropping updates your objectives. (Similarly, listen to street speaker announcements and read posted signs.)
* Often characters have followup lines if you hang out and listen to them (or click on them further). You’ll absorb more about the world this way.
* Notes and lore books also add a lot of background info on the world and events.
* Use the Heart to locate Runes and Bonecharms. But it will also speak, giving you more details about the history of a location, or about characters in the world.
* Don’t forget to assign your bone charms. Review them periodically. And this time, you can create your own via Bonecharm Crafting.
* If you’ve played the game once or twice, and you really want a new experience, play the game without supernatural powers. (Say “no” to the Outsider.)
* You can turn off the HUD UI, including goal markers. If you’re a minimalist, experiment with that.
* Set your brightness so the blacks are really black. The game looks better. (Check out the calibration options screen.)
* Quicksave is your friend.
* This is key: If you like the experience, consider replaying with different character, powers, and a different approach. During a second play-through you will know more about the world and discover new areas. Seriously, a second playthrough really contextualizes your understanding of the game. Highly recommended.
Special thanks to my dear friend Raphael Colantonio and everyone at Arkane (in my heart forever), along with all the talented people in the Zenimax group who’ve supported us along the way.
We appreciate all the support from players and our community (!), and like last time we’re looking forward to hearing the stories and seeing the media created by everyone ranging from methodical explorers and stealth players to crazy speed-runners using their supernatural powers to blaze through second or third play-throughs. Take care and have fun.
Great read – I’m a hardcore Dishonored fan and player and I still find that a lot of this is useful info. I’m absolutely blown away with Dishonored 2 so far. It EXCEEDS all the hype in my opinion and I was riding that hype train hard, I couldn’t help it bc I’m such a huge fan. But this game is the real deal and if I played the first one a lot (between the original and definitive editions, I DID) I’m going to play the sh#%t out of this one. Thank you
Getting collector’s edition of Dishonored 2 in the mail today, looking forward to playing it….of course I have to finish Dishonored 1 before I do.
Thanks for this! Any chance that you will ever write about your time in France? Both work and non-work cultural experiences?
Maybe. If I get time.
I found something in 1998 that I have been looking for for almost 20 years now. Thank you Harvey for not forgetting about me. You are one of the founders of immersion and you get it. Thank you so very much and keep it up! There are ingredients that can not be left out and you my friend bake a great cake. I’ll gorge my self on this one.
SR is the best.
These are fantastic tips – especially the one about resisting hitting ‘restart’ when you get spotted. I was VERY guilty of doing that in the first game, and indeed in most stealthy games. I will try my best to resist in this game, though until I get tooled up a bit it is going to be very difficult winning a sword fight against three guards!
Thank you for making these absolutely stellar games. Love the mecanics, the lore, the world, the music, the vibe.
Long-time fan of your work, and absolutely loving Dishonored 2, savouring every moment!
Dishonored 2 is a beautiful game even on an older machine with low settings. I have 152 hours in it and managed to finish off the achievements. The Dishonored series has always been one of my favorites. It makes the lore-nut in me go crazy. Even have a mark tattoo in my mess of game tattoos. It’s a fantastic game and deserves all it’s praise! Keep up the good work! Hopefully I’ll have an upgraded machine by the time Dishonored 3 drops 😉
Hello! Huge fan of your games (Deus ex, Dishonored)!
Would you consider being on a video gaming podcast: Ladies of Leet?
I have finished both Dishonored games with Clean Hands and Ghost achievements. One of the LOL cohosts is currently playing D2 and is NOT playing that way! I was wondering if you would spare us a little time to do an interview about your process, the games you enjoy playing, etc.
P.S. State of Decay is one of my go-to games and I have more than 1000 hours in it thanks to Breakdown mode! I’m glad to see you liked it too.
Thank you!
I’d love to.
Hit me up on Twitter.
Hello! The Dishonoured games are fantastic! You and your studio have created amazing. I was hoping perhaps you could answer the following:
Does the time piece remain in the inventory for a reason?
Is there another location or map where the time piece can be used?
Does the time time piece come into play in eliminating Delilah in the alternative non-lethal way?
Has the Big Secret of this game been discovered?
Dishonored support previous version is also good at that time and now the Dishonored 2 Pro is the major changes have made with great update and support is also valuable for it.The game is awesome to play and the new version is also good.
After having finished Prey (great stuff), I finally upgraded my video card just so I can finally play Dishonored 2 too. Arriving in Karnaca, that was goose-bumps. And joy. And almost tears. Do you remember playing text adventure games back on Commodore / Amstrad, etc.? Back then they were really good at giving you the illusion that really anything goes. This to me is the modern version of it. I explore every nook and cranny out of this, oft doing nothing but talking to the locals, triggering The Heart™ to tell me their darkest secrets — spending twenty minutes on populating that blood fly colony in the building a road further down ahead. Minor gripe, is there a reason why you never implement a “walk” toggle in the PC version of your games? I think Human Revolution did that surprisingly well. 🙂
Reading some recent articles about how this special type of design may or may not be an endangered species: Do you agree that the game industry has this problem that there is still a huge gap in between the “AAA” space and the “indies”? It seems the target is either big crowd pleaser or going for a specific niche experience, but little in between, for publishers too. The exception to me is what Obsidian are doing for instance, where the same studio does multi-platform South Park / Star Wars / South Park licensees, as well as smaller stuff such as Pillars Of Eternity — they even found a publisher for that more recent in Paradox. It’s getting there.
Dishonored 2 is a true masterpiece.
I love how it finesses everything about the first game.
The level of craft that has gone into every aspect of the design, the art, the programming, how the story is woven all through on every dimension, the fluidity of how all the elements dance and interact. Amazing.
Thank you Harvey for dedicating so much of your life to these amazing works!
Always inspired by what you are up to, and your great GDC talks, and overall great attitude and thoughtfulness on everything. 😀
– Murray
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