You can finish Dishonored 2 "without killing a single person"

It was possible—not easy, but possible—to complete the original Dishonored without killing a single soul. There's even an achievement for doing so, “Clean Hands.” And in an interview with PlayStation Access at QuakeCon, Dishonored 2 Creative Director Harvey Smith confirmed that the sequel will offer the same option. 

Smith said Arkane designs each level in Dishonored 2 like a "mini-open world," self-contained and entirely separate from one another, that players will complete and then leave behind. “But while you're in it, it's very open and non-linear. You can play high chaos or low chaos. Even as Corvo, you can invest in one set of powers or another set of powers, you can play very violently or very stealthy. You can literally play without killing a single person.” 

Ghosting the game will dovetail nicely with the option to play without any of the powers offered by the Outsider, an aspect of Dishonored 2 that Smith revealed in June. “Some subset of gamers felt the game was too easy. They wanted a bigger challenge,” he said. “And so this time, if you play without killing a single person, or even alerting a single person, and you play with no powers mode, on the highest difficulty setting, it is quite a challenge. We don't recommend that for everybody.” 

Smith also talks the impact of voice acting in the game, how powers (should you choose to use them) will evolve differently than they did in Dishonored, and the things Arkane is doing to ensure a less “binary” endgame for the sequel. Between this and our in-depth preview from last month, Dishonored 2 is sounding very promising indeed. It's set to come out on November 11.

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Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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