User blog:Pauolo/All pre-release info on Dishonored 2

This blog will have for purpose to summarize all new info on Dishonored 2 revealed pre-release, mostly coming from Game Informer's coverage of the game from May to June. Considering the frail reliability of game coverage in general, none of this info will be added on the wiki yet, at least until the release in November.

Be warned there will be spoilers for those who want discover the game by themselves.

Plot
The game starts at Dunwall in 1852, 15 years after the events of Dishonored. A coup removes Emily Kaldwin from the throne of the Empire of the Isles. Either Emily or Corvo Attano gets to escape and rides to Karnaca aboard the Dreadful Whale with Anton Sokolov, to eliminate those responsible and restore Emily on the throne. The boat, a whale oil-powered steamboat commanded by Captain Meagan Foster, will serve as safe house between missions. Sokolov will replace Samuel for the transit between missions, giving his own opinion on the situation.

Karnaca
Karnaca had a long past of famines, corrupt government officials, but also periods of peace. During Corvo's youth, the city was ruled by the Duke of Serkonos, Theodanis Abele, which was regarded by the population as benevolent. He passed away before the events of Dishonored 2 and his son Luca took the title. Unlike his father, Luca Abele intends to rule with an iron fist, abuses the city's economy for his own gain and wants to wage war against Tyvia and Morley to seize control of the Isles.

The city's main export is silver, which is mined locally at the edge of the city. By the time of Dishonored 2, the mine baron Aramis Stilton of Stilton Mines is missing, and the Duke used his absence to double the work quotas at the silver mines. This situation is provoking unrest and acts of revolt among the workers, whose life and work conditions keep degrading.

The giant cleft mountain at the edge of Karnaca creates an area of extremely aggressive air currents provoked by winds from the ocean. Decades before, the inhabitants created the Wind Corridor, a set of giant pipes, to channel those currents directly to wind turbines, which provide the city with energy. These winds however blow across the silver mines, provoking dust storm which fall on parts of the city.

Karnaca also suffers an infestation of Bloodflies. Those insects nests in dark areas and will seek fresh bodies to make new nests, so leaving bodies behind will increase their population. They can also infest living human hosts, who will then tend to the nests. Bloodflies will attack rats, as the latter can eat the corpses used by the bloodflies as nests.

Dust District
Previously known as Batista, the Dust District is the mining area of Karnaca, where workers live and work at Stilton Mines. "In Stilton’s absence, the new Duke is driving the mines at double the rate, so dust is falling on that part of the city constantly, and the wind storms are kicking dust up all across the city. The wind is coming in from one direction so sand piles up on the sides of the buildings. People walk around wearing masks. Conditions are horrible and miners are dying, all for the name of profit."

This situation saw the rise of the Howlers, a gang leaded by a man of the people named Paolo, who aims at taking the city's control from the corrupt government to restore it to its inhabitants. However, the local branch of the Abbey of the Everyman leaded by Vice Overseer Liam Byrne are seeing this as an attempt to lead the city morally astray, and suspect Paolo from detaining a rare black magic artifact. They have deployed Warfare Overseers in order to push the gang back. ''So the Howlers and Overseers are fighting in the Dust District, and everything’s going to s***. The people are suffering, the miners are living in terrible conditions, and everyone is suffering in the storms and the dust. On top of all that, you have the Duke who is engaging in malfeasance.''"

To contain this conflict, the Grand Guard has erected Walls of Light around the district's perimeter. Corvo or Emily will have to infiltrate the district and enter Stilton's office to discover the truth behind his disappearance. For that, they can get the help of one faction leader by delivering him the other leader, or find by themselves the secret entrance to Stilton's office.

Emily Kaldwin
Emily sat on the throne of the Empire since the death of her mother. She is highly educated thanks in part to Sokolov, and her father Corvo trained her to fight in prevention of eventual attempts at her life. She lost everything after a coup in Dunwall and is thrown in a world she only glimpsed so far during her nocturnal trips outside the comfy walls of Dunwall Tower.

She will be voice by Erica Luttrell.

Corvo Attano
Corvo kept his position of Royal Protector besides his daughter, Emily. He grew a bit paranoid after the assassination of her mother, and decided to train her in sword-fighting so she can defend herself.

He will be voiced by Stephen Russel.

Luca Abele
The corrupt Duke of Serkonos who exploit the citizens of Karnaca for his own profit. He uses the silver extracted from the mines to finance a war against Morley and Tyvia.

Luca Abele will be voiced by Vincent D'Onofrio.

Meagan Foster
Captain of the Dreadful Whale, she helps Emily or Corvo to retake the Empire's throne. She advises them how to get through the Dust District by delivering one faction leader to the other to obtain safe passage.

She will be voiced by Rosario Dawson.

Mortimer Ramsay
A member of the Dunwall City Watch and a relative to Dr. Jack Ramsay, according to Harvey Smith.

Mortimer Ramsey will be voiced by Sam Rockwell.

Liam Byrne
Vice Overseer, probably leader of the Serkonan branch of the Abbey of the Everyman.

Liam Byrne will be voiced by Jamie Hector.

The Outsider
More insights on the Outsider will be revealed in Dishonored 2, and the moments passed in the Void will reflect them.

Billy Lush won't reprise his role due to time and schedules, and the Outsider will instead be played by Robin Lord Taylor this time.

Paolo
Leader of the Howlers, he intends on taking control of Karnaca from the Duke in order to reinstate peace, even at teh cost of innocent lives. “[The Howlers] ''don’t see themselves as a gang per se. Paolo sees himself as a man of the people. The Duke is corrupt. The Grand Guard is corrupt. The Overseers are tyrannical, but he feels like he’s the true spirit of Karnaca. He grew up here, he eats the food, he’s a man of the people, and he wants to return Karnaca to the way it should be. He sees himself justified in the same way members of the Russian mafia or criminals of any stripe often see themselves.''”

Paolo will be voiced by Pedro Pascal ("You raped her! You murdered her!")

Aramis Stilton
"[Aramis Stilton] worked his way up from being a miner." He became a mine baron with a business named after himself. "People generally like him because he worked with the miner’s families, and he didn’t drive the miners too hard.” His disappearance before the events of Dishonored 2 led the mining district of Batista to chaos with the new Duke seizing control of the mines and doubling work for his own profit. The investigation in his disappearance will be the main objective of one of the game's missions.

Corvo's Powers
Corvo's powers will be returning from Dishonored, but with a few tweaks and more variety in their upgrades:


 * Blink:
 * One upgrade can freeze time when not moving, just like Daud's Blink.
 * A combat upgrade allows him to violently kick down enemies forward, using the momentum from Blink. It can also be used to assassinate through windows or from ledges.


 * Dark Vision:
 * Tweaked colors to avoid restraining surrounding visibility.
 * Activates three pulses now, 8s apart from each other. Moving sets the position of the next pulse, and they overlap to give a larger view of the surroundings.


 * Devouring Swarm:
 * Will be best used to destroy corpses and avoid bloodflies from laying eggs in them.
 * One upgrade makes the swarm larger.
 * Another gives control over two swarms at once.


 * Possession:
 * You can possess bloodflies and fly by doing so.
 * One new upgrade increases the duration of the possession.
 * Another for chain possessions, from one host to another.
 * Another to possess corpses to hide and "play dead", while still being able to observe around.


 * Bend Time:
 * One upgrade to fast forward time during activation.


 * Windblast
 * More or less confirmed, but no detail yet.

Emily's Powers
Emily will have her own set of powers, all new ones with the exception of Bend Time.


 * Far Reach:
 * A mobility power like Blink, but more like a grappling which physically grab onto something to move forward. Enemies can still spot Emily when she's using it.
 * One upgrade to grab onto objects and hurl them back to Emily. Higher level lets her grab people, similarly to Pull.


 * Mesmerize
 * Distract enemies in a dream state and stops them on their tracks.


 * Domino
 * Link actions to two characters, like killing or stunning one applies the same to the other one under the spell.
 * Upgrades allow more characters to be linked by Domino.


 * Shadow Walk
 * Becomes unnoticeable and allows access to narrow spaces. Making a lethal strike when using Shadow Walk deactivates the power.
 * Upgrades allow to do more lethal strikes before the power is canceled.


 * Doppelganger
 * Creates a double to lure enemies. Domino can be applied to the clone itself.

Combat
The combat system in Dishonored 2 will feature new non-lethal strikes. These include knocking out enemies during fights and ledge drop take-downs.

Bone Charms
A system for crafting bone charms is still being worked on.

Clockwork Soldiers
Taking out Clockwork soldiers won't count as kills. They can be beheaded and will only search for Emily or Corvo by sound.

Chaos and endings
The chaos rating system will be branched in three levels: low chaos, high chaos and very high chaos. Choices and objectives in the game will vary depending on chaos, and their consequences will influence the game's ending.