Dishonored 2 Customization Explained

The folks at Bethesda and Arkane have published a new blog post on Dishonored 2. This time, they decided to showcase the game’s customization systems, which have seemingly received a robust shot in the arm compared to the original, with additions such as new power upgrade trees, bonecharm crafting, and masterwork upgrades for weapons and tools. An excerpt on skill trees:

“We did a lot of brainstorming about how we would upgrade the powers, how we wanted to see them change and evolve,” Smith says. “Take a power like Possession, which was a fan favorite from Dishonored 1. It allows the player to get into a lot of trouble and approach situations in a lot of interesting ways.” In Dishonored 2, Corvo can now upgrade this ability so he can possess sleeping people, or possess corpses, or chain from possession to possession. “We’ve gone deeper on the upgrade tree,” Smith continues. “So players who like that power from Dishonored 1 are really going to love it in Dishonored 2.”

Same goes for Emily, who also has full upgrade trees for her powers. “It’s not only about expanding the powers, but expanding them in ways that are fun – that allow for creative play,” Bakaba says. One example that Bakaba shared: He’s seen playtesters upgrade Domino – which links together the fates of two characters – so they can connect multiple characters, then summon a Doppelganger, link their own double to several enemies, and kill their Doppelganger to take out their foes. “It’s mind-blowing what our playtesters have already done with her powers,” Bakaba laughs.

Also noteworthy: While some powers roughly correlate to each other (Emily’s Far Reach and Corvo’s Blink are both mobility powers, though they have some significant differences), most are unique to each character. Emily’s Domino, for example, is unlike anything in Corvo’s arsenal. She also has Mesmerize, which will put characters into a temporary stupor. While this one might seem similar to Corvo’s Bend Time (which slows and even stops time), the differences are substantial. “Whenever a character is out of the effect of Mesmerize, he loses his short-term memory,” Bakaba explains. “So he basically doesn’t even remember that he was in combat with you one second before. That’s not the case with Bend Time. You cannot erase people’s memory.”