Talk:Dishonored 2/@comment-1500935-20170711144825

One of Arkane's artist, Nicolas Petrimaux, posted several early narrative keyframes of the game which I think date back from early 2015, maybe even before the game's first annoucement. Since those keyframes depict a version that is different from the final product, I made my own deductions on what this version of the game was. I'm also basing some of my reasoning on the game's first and vague announcements, which kept hidden how Emily lost her throne and the identity of the "otherworldly usurper".

Those are just hypothesis, so I'll keep them in the comment section. This will be a long post so if you're interested in video games' early developments as much as I am, prepare some tea and biscuits. :)

SPOILERS, obviously.


 * First and second sets of keyframes
 * This is something Harvey Smith actually talked about. The first concept for the game's intro featured Emily out for a snowy night stroll across Dunwall's rooftops. There she accidentally finds the Crown Killer (back then a more monstrous version) tearing apart a victim. They enter in a fight and she is flung through an open window. She then gets back to Dunwall Tower and discuss the encounter with Corvo. The last keyframe depicts Emily's cabin on the Dreadful Wale.
 * My guess is that this intro would have served as tutorial and was replaced with Memories of Training when the developers opted for a different opening for the game. I also think her stroll served as inspiration for her lone training routine described in The Corroded Man, since she crosses the river by a bridge in both.
 * The snowfall suggests that intro can't be happening during the Month of Earth, which should be during summer. Either that intro takes place months before the beginning of the game, or the commemoration of Jessamine's death was not originally part of it.
 * One wild theory about the last keyframe (unless Petrimaux uploads more) is that the game could have jumped from her encounter with the killer directly to her exile in Karnaca and her search for answers. Combined with my previous point, it is possible that the game would have not even featured Delilah's coup.

The next sets feature the missions in the same order as the game.


 * Third set of keyframes
 * This set depicts in order the missions Edge of the World, The Good Doctor and The Clockwork Mansion.
 * Neither Hypatia nor Jindosh had their definite character concepts yet.
 * The Wind Corridor, which was just a large group of wind turbine, was next to Jindosh's mansion. That means Karnaca's geography was not yet definitive either. Also the mansion has a different design.
 * The boat on the last panel is the Undine. I think Petrimaux used it as base for the keyframe because the Dreadul Wale had no design yet.


 * Fourth set of keyframes
 * This set depicts in order the missions The Royal Conservatory, Dust District and A Crack in the Slab.
 * The design of the locations is relatively simple. The conservatory is smaller and less ornamented. The Dust District is at the base of the wind turbines of the Wind Corridor. Stilton's manor is literally a giant bunker rotten from the inside.
 * Breanna has a different design and her experiments are more macabre, slicing and sewing together body parts. If Hypatia is Dr. Jekyll, Breanna leans more towards Dr. Frankenstein or Dr. Moreau. Also no mention of the Oraculum yet, Emily is there to learn Breanna's secrets which possibly led the story to Stilton's.
 * The warfare between Overseers and organized thugs was already part of the story. The Overseers still had their Dunwall design, and the gang does not look like the Howlers one bit.


 * Fifth set of keyframes
 * This set only depicts the mission The Grand Palace.
 * The Duke's party was similar to the Boyle's in Dis 1, although guests were even more bizarre in appearance. I'm guessing the developers were aiming at a creepy Carnaval of Venice feel that Emily would have infiltrated. They probably scrapped the idea to avoid repeating Lady Boyle's Last Party, and added the body double since the Duke was no longer masked.
 * The next keyframes are really different from the game. Emily recovers a painting by Delilah from the Duke's vault, which contains her soul. She then enters the painting to capture Delilah's soul with the Heart, but first needs to defeat a golem protecting it.
 * The last keyframe is really interesting. Corvo was not depicted in the rest of the keyframes, so I'm guessing this is Emily wearing Corvo's mask. I can relate this to the debut trailer, which makes no direct mention of Corvo and had the Outsider finding the mask. In Harvey Smith's early statements, the Outsider did find it and modified it a bit before giving it back to the protagonist. This was changed, as we know it from the tie-in comics and the first novel.

This is as much as I can guess from what there is. I'll edit this post if Nicolas Petrimaux uploads the rest of his keyframes. That said, I'm curious if the Coup played differently in the early version. It's possible that the game's opening was changed when the developers added the choice of playing Emily or Corvo. Delilah's coup gave a better opportunity to present that choice.