Arkane: We Always Wanted To Make A Dishonored Game About Billie Lurk

Death of the Outsider is, on paper, just a standalone expansion, but as fans of the series may know, conceptually it’s looking to be a very very interesting game. And apparently, it’s something developers Arkane Studios have been wanting to do for a long time, and something they’ve always been working towards ever since they began development on the series.

Beware, spoilers for previous entries in the series follow.

Arkane Studios boss Harvey Smith was asked in an interview if fans should play any of the previous Dishonored games before playing Death of the Outsider, to which Smith gave a very enthusiastic response, claiming that the upcoming standalone game is intricately tied to all entries in the series.

“I think you should play all the games,” Smith said in response to the question. “I’m not just saying that. I’m such a nerd for the way we work. There are layers and layers through the entire thing. Like if you play Dishonored 1, and you see that all from Corvo’s perspective- Daud coming and killing Jessamine. And near the end of Dishonored 1 you have the choice to spare Daud or not. And we decided it’s canon that, for whatever reason, Corvo spares the assassin that killed the woman that he loved.”

“And then you move forward,” he continued, “and you play [the DLC packs] The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches, you see it from Daud’s perspective. Billie Lurk is there on the scene, they kill Jessamine. There’s great regret in Daud after that, and it works all the way up to the moment where Corvo faces him.”

“And then you play Dishonored 2,” he went on, “from Emily’s perspective about the death of her mother, and her relationship with Corvo, her father. How she would feel about Daud. And she’s living and traveling with Meagan Foster this whole time. She doesn’t know that this is a woman who participated in the assassination of her mother.”

Spoilers end.

“All those things are connected,” Smith said. “And then you get to play as Billie. We’ve had the idea for a very long time, that we wanted to lead one of the games with Billie Lurk. She’s one of our favourite characters. She’s very strong, she’s very deep, she’s layered, she’s voiced by Rosario Dawson,” he added with some emphasis. “Very, very talented actor. So this is like a dream come true for us, to be able to lead with Billie Lurk.”

For those who’ve played through previous entries in the Dishonored series, this definitely makes sense. The pair of Daud and Billie is an enigmatic one, and to be able to play as the latter is definitely an exciting prospect. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for continued coverage on the game.