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capthenpc · 2 years ago

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There's always a little more innocence left to lose

During the Steam Winter Sale this past year, I purchased the Arcane publisher bundle that included all of the Dishonored games. I hadn't played the first game in many years so I thought this would be a great opportunity to jump back in and relive those memories that I held so dear. At the time of purchase I also never dove into the DLC for the first game OR played the sequel and following standalone DLC so this was something that I was very excited to do all back-to-back.

These are my thoughts. (there will be spoilers)

Dishonored + DLC: I've played through Dishonored multiple times before on Xbox360 so I'll keep this bit short since playing it again on PC didn't change any of my initial thoughts. It's one of those games that I've held very high on my all-time list since it came out a decade ago. It's the perfect blend of gothic horror and steampunk without it being over the top or basic in its execution. The stealth elements are still some of the best I've seen to date, and how chaos affects the story and gameplay were just as interesting today as they were years ago. For this playthrough I chose High Chaos and it was so incredibly fun.

After I finished the main story I moved onto the DLC for the first time and let me tell you..it was some of the most interesting concepts I've seen in a game. The DLC takes place during the events of the mainline story, but from the POV of Daud, one of the previous antagonists. The whole thing feels like you're a mob boss in charge of this giant network of underground assassins that carry out jobs for people. Every detail is incredible right down to how you can pay your soldiers to do certain things to make the levels easier. I especially love the exploration of Daud and Billie's relationship. My headcanon is that they were forbidden lovers, which to me makes that ending so much more impactful. After playing through the second DLC involving Delilah I wish the mainline story had more to do with the witches. It was such a nice change of pace fighting spiritual beings that could actually put up a fight instead of just guards with swords.

Dishonored 2: Right off the bat it's tone is immediately dark and gloomy. I had somehow missed all spoilers for this game because I didn't think it was possible to even play as Corvo until 4 hours into the game. I'm thankful for that, though because I would choose to play as Emily every time over Corvo. No offense. Something else I didn't expect was Delilah making a return as the main antagonist, claiming to be Emily's aunt - her mother's half-sister. Corvo is frozen and you're quickly launched into a high-stakes escape mission from your own home.

It's apparent throughout the game that the dev team had a lot more resources and time to work on the fine-tuning of the environments because multiple times during this first playthrough I've stopped to admire them. There's so much life in these levels, both indoor and out. The NPC's roaming around doing jobs and talking to each other, the accessible interiors of apartment buildings and local shops that you can explore that all feel different and lived-in, the different regions blocked off for certain factions each with their own personalities and motives.. It's all designed with so much care.

There's a level that has these giant wind turbines that supply the surrounding city with power and before they wind up there's a deep screech that's reminiscent of the War of the Worlds alien tripods that genuinely scared me the first time I heard it. Once they're spinning, wind storms coat the area making it hard to see. It's so cool seeing it all happen in real-time and watching how NPC's react to it. It all adds to the world building and makes you feel like you're actually existing in this world.

At this point in the game, I've put in about 8-9 hours and got to a part of the story where things take a bit of a turn. I enter a vault to find a destroyed mansion in complete shambles - most of it inaccessible due to structural damage or blocked off by hives.(yes, there are a lot of bugs). You make your way through the rubble and have an encounter with the Outsider who gives you a time piece and basically says "have fun!" before leaving. You've now been given a tool to TIME TRAVEL!

Now, when I tell you this section was one of the most fun and interesting I've experienced in a video game EVER.. I could not believe it was real. It's done in such a faithful and artistic way. It's not just a gimmick thrown in there, it's actually so cool and makes sense given the lore and what's possible in the universe.

In present-day you're in the destroyed mansion having to deal with structural damage, bugs and witch-zombies...and in the past you're dealing with armed guards and having to navigate around mansion crew. Balancing the two simultaneously was both challenging and so thrilling. It's made even better that you can view the other side with the time piece the Outsider gave you. Flipping open the lens shows you a LIVE view of your surroundings in the other world so you can see if it's safe to jump back or forward. How I didn't get spoiled for this section is beyond me. I could talk about A Crack in the Slab for hours, but let's continue onward..

The next level that caught my eye was the Conservatory, where the witches are heavily present. It's the first level in the game that I genuinely felt a sense of horror, in a good way. I love that each level is an entirely new and different region with its own set of enemies. It's such a stark difference between D1 and D2. I didn't feel like there was any enemy variety in D1 at all and it suffered because of it. Also want to note that the clockwork soldiers are absolutely terrifying. Easy to take down, but....terrifying.

The remaining few levels stay pretty consistent in terms of overall depth and feel. Since I chose High Chaos again for this playthrough this is where you start to really see those decisions come back to bite you. The whole vibe of the world becomes more dark and less-forgiving. The dialog with NPC's is a lot gloomier and people start to bark back at you when you approach, insinuating that they disagree with your methods. I remember wishing there were more consequences in D1 for High Chaos, but I digress. The last mission before the big end fight you discover that Meagan, the woman helping you the entire time is actually Billie, the woman who shadowed Daud in the D1 DLC. I thought that was an incredible twist, especially because she helped Daud assassinate Emily's mother(the then Empress..) in the first game. The entire game you're like "who is this woman? How did they lose their arm and eye? What's their story?" and then they throw that at you. It's so well done and really adds to the gravity of it all.. She disappears before your descent to Dunwall where you confront Delilah on the throne.

This last level felt like a graduation ceremony. Walking through the streets of Dunwall as the woman I'd become, after all the death and carnage I'd created..it was eerie, yet deserving. Bodies everywhere, some hanging beside the streets as trophies. Before entering the castle I found an Overseer that was still alive and before I left them they said quite possibly the sickest/most poetic burn I've heard in a long time: "At death's door I smell the corruption of the Void upon you. A heretic against a heretic. Laughable. The world is doomed." Onward to the castle..

I didn't realize it at first, but when you travel up the winding road to the main entrance you actually return to the exact spot where the beginning of D1 was, the gazebo. There, sitting where the Empress stood is a grave in her honor. I love this little detail because it further-exemplifies the theme of this Grand Return..closing the story where it all started. A great way to end this amazing story before a battle to the death ensues.

The fight against Delilah itself was a little challenging to me and a key component to the fight was hidden behind a certain wording that I didn't immediately understand, resulting in me getting frustrated. I also jumped the gun and placed an item too early while also getting hit during the following mini cutscene so I softlocked myself. It's unfortunate that this last bit of the game was probably the least exciting and broken part of it all.. A sour way to go out, but expected for a video game boss fight to be honest. The game as a whole left me feeling extremely happy and legitimately in awe that I'd gone this long without ever touching it. With how much I loved Dishonored when it came out a decade ago this should have been a day 1 purchase for me, but like all things there're multiple factors. I'm putting this game down knowing that I'll play it again and again for years to come and I'm so excited to see what other ways I can play. I may do a full-stealth playthrough next as Corvo. We'll see!

Death of the Outsider Standalone DLC: With how Dishonored 2 ended, I was glad to see Billie got their own standalone story. I was even more glad to see that this DLC was essentially just a reskin of D2 - same as the way the DLC was for D1. Jumping in right after the last game was the best way to do it as it just felt like the same game entirely. I've been sort of struggling to come up with the words for how I feel about this DLC for a few reasons, the biggest being that it's not really grabbing my attention as much as the last two games. It's felt like a very limited version of D2 and I think had I started off with powers or with a more-engaging story to follow I'd have been better off. That's not to say during the 4 hours I've put in so far that I've not been enjoying myself, either! I just feel like in the first few hours I haven't felt as immersed into the story as I maybe hoped I would. I do appreciate how right from the jump they mention that Billie had a queer lover named Deirdre. It's actually mentioned multiple times in the first few missions and I just think that's incredible. I also appreciate how once again we're playing as a new character so obviously the moveset/abilities had to change. You go from playing as Corvo, then Daud, then Emily and now finally Billie - ALL of them play and feel different. Moving on to the levels and gameplay, I got to a part where you're in this little district called Cyria after getting your powers for the first time and basically told to have at it! I love the design of it; it's vertical and has lots of interiors to explore. My favorite thing, however, was the bounty board in the black market shop. I can't recall whether or not D2 had a similar mechanic, but if it did I never explored it. I was ecstatic to find new ways of going about fulfilling jobs (and getting paid!). It's one of the reasons I love the Hitman series so much. Give me a target and a specific way they have to perish and I'll spend 3 hours creating a route. I hope if Arcane ever plan on making another installment in the series they'll adopt Hitman's contracts system. The next mission was a huge bank heist that takes place in Cyria, but with heightened security surrounding the area. Getting into the bank was mostly no trouble, especially because the game gives you multiple interesting ways in. I chose the method of dropping a sedative gas through the vents that knocked everyone out inside. There were still clockwork soldiers roaming around and electrical security equipment all over the place that made it difficult tho. This mission was probably my favorite so far in this DLC. We're nearing the end with the final two levels, one of them being a return to the Conservatory from D2. It was really cool to be back here as the first time I was here I really enjoyed it. This time, however the place is crawling with Overseers instead of witches and it acts like more of a stealth mission than the one before. Once we got what we needed from the Conservatory we headed to the last mission in the game, the Quarry where the entrance to the Void is located. This was the first time in the game where I sort of just said "fuck it" and bulldozed my way through, killing everyone and anything that moved. At this point in the playthrough I'll admit I was getting kind of tired so I wanted to finish it as quickly as I could. I know this affected my rating because when I reached the Outsider in the end I was only given one choice; Kill him. The ending area in the Void could have been a little more exciting and I feel like it was a little rushed and wasn't given the amount of care the rest of the DLC got. I still absolutely loved the environment - as soon as I got inside and saw the whale floating above I had this huge smile on my face. I do hope in possible future installments we see more from the other 3 people touched by the Outsider's mark, maybe set before his death. I wouldn't mind going back a bit to when Corvo was in his prime.

Final Thoughts: So that's it. The story wrapped up nicely in the end, although I don't really know where it could go from here considering the Outsider was basically the one giving out the powers to people and with him gone...there's no one else. I'm sure that's the reason we haven't gotten another installment since.. Nonetheless I'm extremely happy with the whole experience. I'm glad I finally played these games after thinking about it for so long. I can thankfully still say that Dishonored is one of the best games I've ever played and now I can say the sequel is right up there with it, especially with levels like A Crack in the Slab. All-in-all, this was a stellar game series and I can't recommend it enough. Honestly one of the best gaming experiences I've had in many years. I will refrain from giving it a rating as I don't have a solid/consistent system in-place for that. It's great tho. Play Dishonored.

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thesffcorner · 25 days ago

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Part 8: Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches:

The second piece of DLC released for Dishonored is The Brigmore Witches (BW) in 2013. We pick up immediately where we left off; Daud and the Whalers are regrouping after the devastating clash with the Overseers and Delilah has made things personal - Daud is coming after her coven.

Story:

At the end of the last game, Delilah gave Daud a cryptic warning, namely, to stay away from her and her coven, the Brigmore Witches, named after the manor, they operate from. Like last time, Daud’s narration informs us that he wants to know what Delilah is planning that would have required his and his Whaler’s destruction.

Gameplay:

The first thing this DLC does right, is that it allows you to import a save from KoD. That way, you get to keep all your powers, upgrades, weapons, runes, charms and money, as well as your chaos level and body count.

Next, there are 3 new things in this DLC.

The first, is Daud’s new power: Pull, which allows Daud to pull objects towards him. It’s the same power the witches have, and it’s especially useful if you are playing non-lethally or doing a Ghost challenge-run.

The second, is a new weapon, or rather a formula change. The chokedust canisters now confuse, disorient and give their targets amnesia, making them forget they were ever hit. In theory, this is a great new addition; in practice, you get the blueprint for this formula in the second to last level of the DLC, so there really isn’t much time to use it.

The third is a new enemy: the witches. The witches are the first female enemies in the game, and they have a very similar set of powers to Daud and the Whalers: they can use Blink, Pull and a version of Windblast which activates with a scream. They also have a power you don’t, called Thorn in which they deploy vine-like extrusions from their hands.

The witches are not the only new enemy in the gang; we also have the Dead Eels, a rival gang to the Hatters, who fight with fishhooks. The Dead Eels are a mixed gender gang, the first in the series, but they won’t be the last.

Outside them, we also have Hatters, Overseers, City Watch and Guards. Weepers likewise make a return in this DLC.

Characters:

The most interesting new character that we get in this game is Delilah Copperspoon. Throughout the series, her backstory is revised three times: first by Thalia Timsh, then by the Dressmaker, and later in the sequel by Delilah herself.

Delilah is the main antagonist of this DLC, and like Daud she too is marked, although curiously, she doesn’t have the mark on her hand. While in KoD she took a rather passive role, here she is, front and centre, and her witches will hunt Daud down and attempt to stop him from reaching the manor.

Other important characters are:

Lizzy Stride

Edgar Wakefield

Mortimer Hat (the Old Geezer)

Nurse Trimble

Thomas

Not the best gender balance, but it’s not felt as acutely here, because the witches and the Dead Eels have a strong presence in the story.

Level Breakdown:

BW has 4 levels, though the first one has no enemies and no targets. Once again, we have a mix of city levels and single location levels, and like in the first DLC, one of the locations is repeated from the base game.

Choose your Mark:

Calling this a level is a bit of a stretch; it’s very short, there are no missions or targets, and no hostels to fight. It’s the closest Daud ever gets to having his own version of the Hound Pits Pub, an area where he can gear up, get info, and explore.

The area is the Whaler base in the Flooded District, where we pick up a few days after the Overseer attack.

Daud wakes up to find things are strange in his base. Corvo has arrived and you engage him in combat. Of course this is not real; it’s a dream Daud is having in which he realizes that Corvo is coming after him, and he doesn’t have a lot of time.

I love how much Daud’s decisions from the previous DLC inform what happens in this level; it really feels like you have been sent onto a journey, and the world is responding to your actions. If you played on low-chaos, Corvo will knock out the Whaler in front of him instead of killing him. Daud’s own words to Corvo change as well, mirroring what he said to him in the Flooded District level (you understand I can’t make this easy on you).

The second thing is how easy the fight is. Yes, it’s a dream, but Corvo barely puts in any effort to win, and the only power he uses is Blink.

Another thing that changes is Daud’s reaction to being awoken from the dream. On low chaos, you simply speak to the Whaler who wakes you; on high chaos Daud attacks and almost kills the man. The Whaler tells Daud that Thomas is back.

Thomas is Daud’s new point man, replacing Billie. His dialogue makes him come off younger than Billie, and he has much more of a student-teacher relationship with Daud. He doesn’t banter with Daud like Billie did; he calls him sir, and is very apologetic if he thinks he’s failed, or doesn’t know the answer to Daud’s questions. I believe he has more lines than Billie, and yet we never learn much about him.

Thomas gives Daud the rundown: Lizzy Stride, leader of the Dead Eels owns a smuggling ship called the Undine. However, she was recently betrayed by her second, Edgar Wakefield, and is currently in Coldridge Prison. With everything the City Watch has on her, she might stay there forever. Because of this, Daud knows that if he breaks her out, she will owe him.

That’s the level. All that’s left to do is gear up, wander the upper floor of the building listening to Whalers talk and read notes. You can find a letter from Billie’s where she hints that she knows Daud is also planning on leaving Dunwall and encourages him to do it.

If you let Billie live, a lot of the Whalers are worried Daud is going soft. Others are worried about the trip to Brigmore; they have been boarding up windows and walkways to keep the base safe. The Overseers, (dead or alive) are being placed into the Refinery, which explains how they ended up there when you found them as Corvo in the Flooded District.

When you are done, it’s time for a little jailbreak

A Stay of Execution for Lizzy:

Like always, Daud narrates the level’s opening. Lizzy is a really good smuggler, and she knows the river very well. She can take Daud and his Whalers past the quarantine line and to the mansion. The tone Daud has when talking about her always makes me laugh; he sounds like the father of an unruly child.

There is a pattern with the levels in this DLC, especially this and the next one, and that’s that on first playthrough they are very hard, but the moment you know what you’re doing, they become incredibly easy. Case in point, this level reuses a single location from the base game: Coldridge Prison. Like always, there are several ways in, the easiest being purchased with a favour.

The drawbridge into Coleridge is blasting the Overseer music box, so Daud can’t use his powers until he enters the prison. If Daud purchases the favour that gives him an Overseer mask and uniform, he can waltz right into the prison with the pylon turned off and actually investigate what happened.

During the torture, I mean interrogation of a witch, something went wrong, and she and her inquisitors suffered an explosive death. The Guards have called an Overseer to investigate and if Daud goes to the interrogation room, he can find an audiograph of the ‘questioning’ through which he learns that the witch committed fiery suicide, taking her captives with her.

Now that you’re in the prison, you can rescue the 3 guards who helped Corvo escape. They are about to be executed, and it helps immensely to know that you can just use a well placed chokedust or Bend Time and sleep darts to set them free.

Finding Lizzy is also easier if you know what to do. The proper way is to break into the security room, read the log and learn which sector and cell she’s in. The easier way is to simply blink into the control bridge, and from there blink on the third floor of the cell section. It’s guarded by a single guard, and you can easily just physically look for her, starting from the top down. Once you find her, blink back to the control bridge and open her cell.

You can also open all the doors and start a prison break. Likewise, if you didn’t kill Timsh in the last DLC, he’s alive, ranting to be released from his cell. As for Lizzy, as soon as you release her from the stalks, she’s in, she’ll faint. You have to carry her out.

If you didn’t leave any traces before, the pylon is still off, so you can just use the pipes above to sneak past all the guards, get on the bridge and go down the side stairs. Boom; you’ve completed the level, and you haven’t even broken a sweat.

As for Lizzy, she becomes more involved in the second level, once she’s actually conscious. I love her design though; she’s a punk with a mohawk, covered in tattoos, and teeth sharpened into fangs, like a shark. She has easily the coolest and most memorable design in any of the games, save for maybe Euola in DotO.

The Dead Eels:

The Dead Eels is my favourite level in this DLC, and unsurprisingly it’s a sprawling city level. This time we are visiting the Riverfront and Draper’s Ward, two formerly affluent areas that have been overrun by the gangs. The Hatters control Draper’s Ward, while the Eels control the Riverfront.

Thomas warns you that tensions between the Eels and the Hatters are high, since Edgar took over, so much so that the gangs are in an open war, shooting each other in the streets. The Eels are on high alert, and Edgar has barricaded himself in the Undine, having learned that Lizzy has escaped Coldridge.

Once again, if you know how to go about things, this level is very long, but fairly easy.

Daud lands himself in the middle of an active shootout between the Eels and Hatters. I love this element of the games, and I wish it was further explored in the sequel. It’s an expansion on what you could see/do in Eminent Domain, except this time, there are NO City Watch or Guards at all. At the start, both gangs are hostile to you, so it’s best to avoid them. If you blink into an apartment above the skirmish, you’ll find another one of Granny Rags’ recipes, this one, involving recreating her wedding. You’ll need two people (unconscious, dead or even half-eviscerated by rats), a man and a woman, and a golden ring. The bodies are easy to find; once the fight ends, you can easily Blink past the victorious gang and steal two bodies.

If you follow the roofs, you’ll see the entrance to Dapper’s Ward, as well as 2 Hatters and a pylon. You don’t need to deal with them quite yet though; for now, your objective is going to the Riverfront and dealing with Wakefield.

My suggestion, as counterproductive as it may sound, is to ignore everything and go straight to Wakefield. The trick with this level is that once you deal with a gang, the members become neutral to Daud, and you can explore at your leisure.

If you want to do things the intended way, you can start by exploring the canal.

On the Hatter side, two Hatters are trying to open a safe; across, a man is standing on an apartment balcony. This is Jerome, one of Griff’s collaborators. He offers Daud a very funny deal; if you kill Skinflint, a Hatter who owes Jerome money, Jerome will pay Daud, and Daud can spend Jerome’s own money back into his shop. Genius.

What’s even funnier is that if you steal Jerome’s key and rob him, he doesn’t even notice and will still trade with Daud as normal.

You don’t even have to kill Skinflint; you can just knock him out and lie, and Jerome will pay up. Truly genius.

You can find Skinflint in the canal under Jerome’s apartment. I don’t know if this is a glitch, or it has to do with my chaos level, but I’ve never been able to get Skinflint to talk to me, even though the wiki says you can.

Above Jerome’s apartment is an Eels lookout. If you listen to their chatter throughout this beginning part of the level, you’ll learn that none of them like Wakefield. He has no style, no love for the game, and is more focused on the gang war with the Hatters than the actual smuggling.

In the building over Daud can find the Dressmaker. He used to sew for the elite of Dunwall, including the Kaldwins, all the way back to Jessamine’s childhood. I find this hilarious because, true to the game not knowing how to render teenagers, this man is supposed to be in his 60’s.

The Face of a Pensioner

Since the Dressmaker can no longer thread the needle as he used to, he has retired and as a parting gift he got a lock of Emily’s hair, which he cherishes. Delilah visited him and tortured him with visions for 3 days, after which she stole the lock.

The Dressmaker gives Daud a revised version of Delilah’s backstory: she was not a baker’s apprentice, but Jessamine’s playmate, and the two were very close.

One last thing you can do before you move onto the Riverfront, is to find the golden ring and safe key in a bush. With the ring you get Granny Rags’ rune, and with the key some gold ingots.

As soon as you enter the Riverfront, Thomas lets you know that Wakefield barricaded himself on the ship. The gang knows Lizzie is coming, but they don’t know about Daud. You can also hear more Eels who complain about how needlessly cruel Wakefield is, drowning people in the river in sacks.

You can use the pipes to get closer to the Undine. Thomas will appear again and warn you that he’s being watched. Some of the Eels say the same thing; a woman is watching them.

The woman is a witch and a spy for Delilah. You can deal with her on the roofs, and you should because if you don’t, the witches will attack the Eels crew at the end of the level, as you leave Dunwall.

Thomas will also let you know that like most smuggling ships, the Unine has a hatch on the bottom that releases contraband should the ship get caught. The best way to deal with Wakefield is to dive into the river, swim up through the hatch and knock him out. Then you can use the boat’s siren to call Lizzy.

Lizzy will deal with Wakefield if you leave him knocked out, so no matter what you do to him, he’s a dead man. However, Lizzy is fairly forgiving; she tells her crew she’ll forgive them for going along with Wakefield’s treachery, but she demands fingers from some of the crew (two from Anabelle, who reacts to the demand for one). I love the way Lizzy talks and deals with the crew; it’s easy to see how she got to be in the position to lead a gang, because she’s tough, but she’s not heartless, and she does genuinely seem to enjoy causing chaos.

The new issue now is that while Wakefield was being paranoid, the Hatters stole the Undine’s engine coil, without which the ship can’t move. You need to get it, and for that you have to go to the Hatter’s Mill. Lizzy tells you the password; it’s heavily implied that Mortimer Hat, the Hatter’s leader might be someone dear to her, perhaps a father, not that you as Daud care.

Now is the best time to really explore the Riverfront and the Eel side of the canal since the gang is neutral. There are a few things here: a Weeper keeping guard over a bonecharm, and an underwater tunnel that leads you to an Outsider shrine.

The Outsider is impressed that you breezed through Coldridge, and questions if Daud has really changed, or he’s hoping to outrun the fate that Corvo is bringing his way.

On the other side, you can see the Eels letting a Hatter go, and if you save an Eel from the Hatters, he’ll comment how no one will believe who saved him. Slowly, a truce is being formed, at least on this side; time to work on the other.

To get into the Mill, you need to go around the pylon. There’s no need to turn it off, but you definitely can, perhaps as a way to test your Pull abilities. You give the password and you’re in.

I recommend two things: one, get on some high ground quickly, since a Hatter will come check who just entered the area and two; just like before, go straight for the main entrance. To the left of the wall of light are some broken windows you can use to get in. Head straight for the main office, where you’ll meet Nurse Trimble and the Mortimer Hat or the Old Geezer, as the Hatters call him.

Thomas will tell you how the Hatters make their coin; they make the shrouds used for the plague dead. This is important, since the reason the Hatters need the coil is to power their machines.

If you listen to the Hatters and Lizzy, you will know that it’s Nurse Trimble calling the shots, not the Geezer. Moreover, Trimble has rigged the life-support machines of the Geezer so that if they were to be tampered with, they will release a toxic gas that kills everyone, save for himself.

Trimble offers you a simple deal; someone broke the watermill the Hatters use for power. The men he sent to fix it, never came back. If Daud fixes the mill, Trimble will give him the engine room password, and he can take the coil.

If you take the deal, the Hatters are now neutral to you, so you can explore. A similar thing can happen here, like it did in the Flooded District level in the base game, where the NPCs aren’t hostile, but if you stay idle around them for too long, they will attack you, so I suggest you keep moving.

There are 2 ways to get the coil, and in both cases someone will lose. The first way is to do what Trimble asks and fix the mill; that way you will explore the sewers and learn more about Delilah and her plans.

The other way is to completely bypass this and speak to the Geezer. You can’t talk to the Geezer with Trimble in the room, so the best way to do things is to lure him out of the room. You can do this by setting a timer in his lab, and he’ll come running. You can silently knock him out. You can even find an audiograph that opens a wall with the antidote recipe.

Then, talk to the Geezer. He’ll ask you to kill him, by pulling out the pylon from his life support. Sounds great?

Not really, not unless you want to kill every Hatter in the building, including yourself unless you make the antidote. The Geezer will give you the first 2 numbers of the engine room code, as he dies.

There is no way to do this non-lethally; even if you manage to take all the Hatters out of the building, as well as Trimble, killing the Geezer counts as a kill, so only do this if you’re not chasing Cleanest Hands.

The intended route is to go through the sewers, which are my least favourite part of the level. Like always, the River Crusts are always watching, always waiting.

Once you get to a metal-barred door, you’ll see a dead Hatter on the other side.

There are 2 options; one, go through the side planks, which will take you to the reservoir, or two slide under the grates and next to the Hatter. It’s better to do the latter, because you will come up behind two witches who are waiting to catch you in a trap.

I love the witches as enemies, but I hate fighting them. Many of them become invulnerable to projectiles aggroed, making it needlessly difficult to deal with them if you are playing non-lethally. It’s best to avoid or knock them out.

If you take them out, and return to the reservoir, you’ll see an injured woman begging for help. The woman is likewise a witch, and she’s there to assassinate you. You can stop her, but the way Daud does it is brutal; he breaks her arm with his sword. It’s really quite jarring, since none of the other non-lethal interactions are this violent.

There is one more witch in the room to the side, speaking to Delilah’s statue. After you knock her out, you can speak to Delilah.

Delilah knows all about you; she knows you killed Jessamine, that you are marked like her and she boldly tells Daud that out of the 4 marked, she will be the only one who is remembered by history. In the base game, the Outsider tells Corvo that 8 were marked, so does Delilah mean 4 are marked right now? That checks out, since it would be her, Corvo, Daud and Granny Rags, who at this point is still alive (this level takes place right before Lady Boyle’s party).

The water pump is in the room with the ambush. Fixing it requires you to get rid of the witches, and then get a winch from the basement, which has 4 Weepers. There’s also an Outsider Shrine which requires some work to get to; you have to activate a broken fan and then slide down the shaft.

The Outsider warns Daud that Delilah has a real plan; yes, Daud can and will make it upriver to her mansion; but what will he do when he gets there? It seems that finally the Outsider is on Daud’s side, after 5 levels of questioning his sincerity and choices.

After you fix the pump, you have to take out the two briars holding the wheels (explosive bolts are the way to go), and finally you can return to the Mill.

If you don’t intend to kill the Geezer, give Trimble the news and he’ll give you the code. Get the coil and bail.

Once Daud returns to the canal, it’s silent; the gangs have made a truce. Daud wonders how long it’ll last; even the Eels seem confused, unsure of what to do now that they no longer have to fight the Hatters.

This is the final point at which the witches can attack you if you don't take care of them in the sewers, so another reason to explore them, even if you don’t intend to use Trimble to get the code.

This level rules. The conflict between the Eels and the Hatters is great; I love the back and forth between the gang members, especially the Eels making fun of the Hatters for being run by a nurse.

I also enjoyed the slow building of a truce between both sides, especially the Eels commenting on the truce’s progression as it happens.

The Hatters were not particularly interesting in KoD, and even here they don’t get a ton of development, compared to the Dead Eels. The Eels’ designs are very interesting, and their dialogue was funny while also moving the story forward, much more than the Hatters. Nurse Trimble supposedly came in to revamp the gang after they lost Bottle Street and the Distillery to Slackjaw. He wants to create a legacy for the Geezer, whether the Geezer wants him to or not, and he is the reason for the arc pylon and wall of light being used by the Hatters in the first place.

Lizzy claims that she stole the Hatter password from a Hatter, but the Geezer confirms that he was the one to give it to her, and he is sad that Lizzy hasn’t come to see him, perhaps even hoping that she would free him from Trimble’s contraptions.

What I don’t understand is if Trimble was brought in to help the Hatters, and he is hoping that the gang will live on forever, why would he rig the Geezer’s machine to release poison gas and kill everyone?

I find it kind of funny that out of all the gangs in the games, the Hatters are the only ones to appear in more than one game, and yet I find them the least interesting, and least developed.

Delilah’s Masterwork:

This is the final level of the DLC, and the official final piece of the first Dishonored game. As it seems to be a pattern with these games, the first time I played this level, I hated it. There were too many enemies, I didn’t like the way the witches fought, or how they travelled in groups, and I loathed the gravehounds.

Now, it’s one of my favourites, and I believe it serves as a much better conclusion than A Light at the End. It’s another single location level, set entirely in the titular Brigmore Manor.

The Manor is one of the most beautiful locations in the game. The yard is half-submerged in water, full of green grass, lush trees, and fireflies. There’s a truly dream-like quality to the Manor and the surrounding area, and it is the only level that isn’t set in any kind of industrial zone. The mansion itself is old and crumbling, parts of it sinking into the water, and at several points I just stopped and stared at how pretty everything was.

Likewise, though mechanically I dislike fighting the witches, their designs are very cool. They have vines and roses sprouting out of their bodies, and when they become alert, they turn black, green or grey, and their eyes glow. In the game’s universe they are meant to be unnerving and terrifying, and they really do look it. There is also a cool sense of camaraderie between them; they call each other sister, protect each other, and though the witches are not good people, they feel like a real coven.

This is also, strangely, a level where Daud goes at it alone. Thomas appears twice; at the start to warn you about the gravehounds, and apologize for not knowing how the witches get in or out of the mansion and a bit later if you’ve purchased the crate - favour to ask you if everything is in order. Outside of that you are riding solo this time around, which is maybe why Daud offers significantly more commentary on the manor and the witches than in any of the other levels.

Gravehounds are littering the yard, and they are a bitch to kill. You have to kill them twice, once to kill the hound and once to destroy their skull bone. It’s hard to do this without alerting the witches to your presence, so my advice is to stock up on bolts.

There are a few ways of getting into the estate. If you bought the hole in the wall favour, you could enter into the yard through the fence which is nice because it’s right next to the shoreline. A butler had been smuggling things here, and you can follow the clues to the waterfall in the backyard, where you will find what’s left of his body, along with a key to the mansion’s front door.

I don’t recommend this approach; the front yard is crawling with witches. Instead, I suggest purchasing the turncoat favour. A witch in a red coat will meet you in the backyard and tell you Delilah’s plan; she wants to possess Emily. She doesn’t really care for Daud, but she does care for the rest of the coven, so try not to hurt anyone in front of her. There is a way in through the crypt near the solarium; the latch for it can be found in the tripwire building right next to you. This is also where you’ll need to go for Granny Rags’ final recipe.

You can bypass all the witches in the backyard via the waterfall way which takes you to a building next to the solarium. In this building’s attic you’ll find Granny Rags’ recipe. It involves drinking 3 River Krust pearls with the water from the fountain I mentioned and gives you a rune.

As for the crypt, I suggest that as soon as you get inside, you close it, because if the witches see it open, or they hear you accidentally trip the wire in the entrance, get attacked by the rat swarm or take the bone charm under Delilah’s statue, they will come for you.

The manor is crawling with witches and it’s quite hard to navigate because it’s completely decaying. Ceilings have come down, doors and walls are blocked by debris, and the entire ground floor is flooded.

The second floor will offer you several things. One is an Overseer who was sent to spy on the witches but was caught. He’s completely gone off, rambling about denouncing the Abbey, and as far as I know, the only way to stop him from giving himself a heart attack is darting him.

The second is hearing about Delilah’s lantern, hidden in a studio. She’s closed herself into the Void, painting her masterpiece. The lantern is in her study which is rigged to shit with launchers, and when you take the lantern, you realize what Delilah wants to do: paint a portrait of Emily and possess her through it.

Getting to the gallery is hard; there are many witches on the ground floor, so I recommend using the second floor. After you knock the two who are guarding the painting you can use the lantern on the blank canvas to open a portal to the Void. The Outsider appears; he explains that Delilah imbues the subjects she paints with her will and can then control them; that’s how she’d forced Timsh to give her everything. On a side note, you can hear two of the witches discussing Timsh’s arrest, and one of them suggests that Delilah may have had a soft spot for the old man after all.

The Outsider let’s Daud know that he is genuinely surprised with how Daud has changed since he learned about Delilah. While it’s pretty clear that no matter what happens, the Outsider will no longer speak to Daud, he does tell him that he doesn’t pick favourites, but will watch what unfolds with great interest.

With that, you enter the Void. There are a few ways to deal with Delilah. The easiest is to just kill her; like Granny Rags you have to kill her twice, once just her and then her and all her statues which become copies.

The second is to knock Delilah out and replace Emily’s painting with that of the Void. You can then put Delilah on her altar and finish the ritual for her, trapping her in the Void. This also requires knocking her out once and then knocking out all of her statues.

The third and easiest way is to wait until she finishes Emily’s painting, swap them without her noticing and watch as she traps herself in the Void. It’s interesting because up until this last playthrough I didn’t realize that it was here that Delilah merged with the Void, which is how she was able to separate from her spirit in the sequel. She merged her spirit with the Void, thinking it was Emily.

With that, Emily is safe.

The Ending:

Depending on your chaos level, there are several endings. I got the best one; Daud knows that no one will know Emily was ever in danger or that he saved her, but he doesn’t need them to. His choices matter to him alone. He chose to use the Outside gifts to become a killer and kill Jessamine. But then he chose to save her daughter, and now he must deal with the consequences.

Corvo arrives at the Flooded District, he and Daud fight, and the Outsider takes over the narration. He is pleased with Daud; maybe he doesn’t pick favourites, but between Delilah and Daud, he’s clearly team Daud. He also likes that Daud doesn’t care that no one will know what he went through to save Emily, or that he doesn’t try to dissuade Corvo with that information. He did it because it was the right thing to do, and not for a desperate grasp at redemption.

The Outsider then confirms that what happens to Daud is up to Corvo. If you played low chaos, Corvo let’s Daud go, and Daud leaves Dunwall, placing his blade on Jessamine’s plaque in the Gazebo.

As far as endings go, I think this one is pretty solid, and dare I say, better than the ending of the base game. The confrontation with Delilah is an actual confrontation; even if you simply replace the paintings, you have to actually sneak in and do it, and if you knock Delilah out you still have to deal with her statues.

Likewise, since the witches only appear in this DLC, and only sparingly in the previous level, fighting them feels fun and fresh since they aren’t an enemy that has been overused to death like the City Watch. Daud facing the coven on his own makes the stakes higher, and as a player you feel the pressure mounting without the game having to resort to hordes of enemies.

The only thing I wish, is that the fight with Corvo that we get in Choose Your Mark happened at the end of this level instead. I think it would have been much more suspenseful if instead of a cutscene you actually fought Corvo, and had to win, or couldn’t win. Either option is fine, but I think winning maybe would be even better, because then Daud gets the final choice: does he kill Corvo, ensuring the Empire’s failure but his own freedom, or does he let him go?

I do like the suspense of not knowing what Corvo will decide; even knowing it’s based on chaos level; I still get tense waiting every time. I can’t imagine how much more tense it would be if I had to actually fight.

Before we end this, I do want to bring back something that I mentioned all the way back in part two, when I spoke about the Immersive Sim genre, and that is:

Player Choice vs Streamlined Narrative:

Dishonored, and the entire genre to which it belongs is all about choices. It’s a choice to play low chaos, it’s a choice to spare certain characters and kill others. In the first game at least, all of these choices combine to determine the game’s ending. The issue comes with the sequel.

Suddenly, nothing you decided matters. You chose to kill Daud? Too bad, he’s alive and kicking. You chose to kill Billie? She’s one of the lead characters. You chose to help Granny Rags and turn Slackjaw into soup? Too bad, she’s dead anyway and her dried hand is a massive plot point.

This greatly undermines the weight of the decisions you make, because nothing you decide matters. It doesn’t help that only 3 characters in the entire game are not killable- Emily, Jessamine and Calista. Everyone else, including extremely important characters like Daud, Sokolov or Billie can be killed and are assassination targets.

I really, really wish the developers didn’t create a ‘true canon’ and instead allowed the players to port a save-file like Mass Effect does. I know this is an unrealistic expectation but it’s an expectation born out of games who have done this kind of thing in the past and out of this very game stressing the importance of player choice! There has to be a better way to do this kind of narrative. Either don’t make really important NPCs killable or be willing to actually let the player kill them.

With that, Dishonored 1 is done. Join me next time when we talk about:

Dishonored 2

Part 7: Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall

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#moni talks #dishonored #dishonored retrospective #the brigmore witches

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