We already know that Dishonored 2 will have two protagonists – Corvo, the protagonist of the first game, and Emily, his daughter, and that they will each play differently. However, recently, Bethesda (via GameZone) elaborated on what that will mean in terms of the two characters’ abilities.
Emily’s powers will very uniquely reflect who she is, and who she is is an Empress- and in spite of Corvo’s training, she will remain an Empress, and much like her sense of style, her clothes, and her perspective on the world is different than Corvo’s, so too will her powers. “In a way you can say the Outsider marks people according to their personalities,” said Lead Designer Dinga Bakaba. “She’s an Empress. She’s younger. She has a different personality. So her powers reflect that. She has a lot of powers that allow her to subdue the will of others.”
Corvo, meanwhile, plays largely like he did in the first game, although he does get a few upgrades. “You now have upgrades you can acquire, and you have a power tree,” said Bakaba. “I think players will have an interesting experience playing the game once with Emily and once with Corvo, because different powers mean different solutions to problems and a different experience.”
This difference in the two characters won’t just be limited to their abilities, either, but also in terms of how each of them perceive the major story events that occur.
“You can literally visit Corvo’s home neighborhood when you play Dishonored 2,” said Smith- that said, the experience is markedly more hostile for Emily. “At the beginning of Dishonored 2 [Emily] loses everything and she’s on the run,” he said. “This is also Emily’s first exposure to the way the rest of the world lives. They both have their own perspectives, and that was something important for us to get right.”
It should be fun being able to get two fully formed and unique characters during the course of the game, lending their own flavor not just to the mechanics of the game, but also to the story. Dishonored 2 is slated to release later this year on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.