Yesterday, Bethesda Softworks released via their official YouTube channel a new trailer for their upcoming first-person stealth game Dishonored 2. The video spotlights the other playable protagonist in the game, Emily Kaldwin.
Motivation Behind Dishonored 2's Emily
The trailer video began with Bethesda creative director Harvey Smith recalling how the developers planned about Emily's character as a protagonist after the events of the first game. He stated that "it became a bit of an obsession for us," in regards to developing Emily's character.
Dishonored 2 is set 15 years after she reclaimed the throne as Empress of Dunwal, with Corvo training Emily as a means to protect herself. Her assassination skills became useful after she was dethroned and forced to become an outlaw.
This plot became the premise of a change in Emily, as she was suddenly stripped of her royal titles and begin struggling for her survival. Smith stated that Emily's motivation are partly just to "take back what's yours," but this gradually changed as she starts to see the world in a new perspective. She started to see the "corrupting influences of bad leadership," and how her role is more than just being at the throne, but "to do right by her people."
"One of the underlying themes of the game is that Emily, as Empress, is used to depending on a lot of other people to get what she needs, and in this situation, she's really only got herself to depend on," Smith noted. "And then on top of that, because she is a former Empress-an Empress on the run-people react very differently when they see her than they do to Corvo."
Trailer Showcases Dishonored 2's Emily's New Abilities
In the trailer video, lead designer Dinga Bakaba discussed the new abilities unique to Emily. Bakaba said that Emily's abilities "needed to be interesting enough to be as cool as Corvo's."
For one, her ability Domino allows her to connect the fate of enemies together. Killing one of them will also kill the others, in the similar way the first one died. Another power, "Far Reach", allows her to teleport or grab enemies from far away. This ability is similar to Corvo's "Blink", but different in usage and execution. She also has a "Doppelganger" ability which can be used to distract enemies
Smith also noted that her abilities are designed to "befitting of an Empress." He said that abilities like "linking people together so they can have the same fate" and "mesmerize people." Another ability, "Shadow Walk", allows her to become an "inky monstrosity" for a short period of time and slaughter enemies. This ability represents how Emily is "a woman who lived a pretty privileged life, punctuated by a period of darkness."
According to an interview with GameSpot, Smith said his team realized that "the powers reflect their lives or their time in the world." He went on to say that " Corvo has Rat Swarm because he got his powers during the Rat Plague. You can look at Emily: she's a ruler, so of course she has Mesmerize."
Dishonored 2 will come out on Nov. 11 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
