WolfEye Studios, the developer of 2022’s Weird West founded by ex-Arkane devs, is working on something new. Raphael Colantonio, WolfEye’s creative director and founder of Arkane, revealed that the studio’s next game will harken back to the team’s immersive sim routes, saying that fans of Dishonored and Prey will feel at home with the new project. That’s some fantastic news, considering Arkane itself seems to be moving away from the immersive sim genre. While we wait for WolfEye’s new game, it’s the perfect time to revisit Dishonored 2 and remind yourself that it’s a masterpiece of immersive sim design.
Arkane released the first Dishonored in 2012, which immediately made waves with its excellent level design and stealth mechanics. Four years later, Arkane would up the ante with Dishonored 2, an exceptional sequel that improves upon its predecessor in every possible way. If the first game was a proof of concept, Dishonored 2 is that concept executed to perfection. Dishonored thrives when it lets you lose in a large sandbox with a set of tools to navigate challenges in any way you can think of. That freedom existed in the first game, with wonderful levels with multiple solutions, but Dishonored 2 builds on that even more.
It begins with the dual protagonist set up of the sequel. In Dishonored 2, you can choose between playing as Corvo, the protagonist of the first game, or Emily Kaldwin, the now grown-up empress we saved when she was a kid in Dishonored. Each has a unique set of powers that unlock over the course of the game. While Corvo and Emily’s skills have a similar utility—both have abilities that allow for quickly traversing long distances, for example—no two skills are exactly the same. This means that you might find a completely unique solution to problems as Corvo that Emily can’t exactly replicate. Just by offering you this choice, the potential paths through every level in Dishonored 2 become exponentially greater. It makes this agame about experimentation, improvisation, and learning to master your abilities to test the limits of the game’s design.
If you’ve only seen one thing about Dishonored 2, it is most likely the iconic Clockwork Mansion,a level set within an eccentric inventor’s home, which has been rigged with endless secret rooms, shifting walls, automaton enemies, and more. The lobby of the building is just one breathtaking moment you’ll encounter in it, as you can hit switches to unfurl different staircases that offer different starting paths through the mansion’s maze. If you are fast enough, you can even find yourself moving through the extensive series of tunnels and passages behind the walls and under the mansion’s foundation, unlocking an entire second layer to the level.
Perhaps the most shocking thing about the Clockwork Mansion is how early in Dishonored 2 it occurs. As one of the first few missions you undertake, it’s a high bar that every subsequent level somehow continues to raise even further. Later levels add even more fascinating permutations for you to play with, like a time-traveling mission that lets you move between a single space in both the past and present with your actions changing each timeline. To this day, you can still find new paths through levels or other unexpected ways the game’s systems interact because there are just that many possibilities. Every part of Dishonored 2 is a showcase of just how impressive Arkane’s grasp on the immersive sim is. If WolfEye’s next game has a fraction of Dishonored 2’s greatness, there is still a good chance it will be excellent.
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