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Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall Mission 2, "Eminent Domain"

Eminent Domain is a very "more Dishonored" level in comparison to the visually and thematically striking A Captain of Industry. Daud is on the streets of Dunwall, in the Legal District this time hunting down a corrupt barrister.

The watery daylight, boarded up tenements, walls of light and patrolling guards are all familiar.  However, the level is rich with optional narrative beats and worldbuilding.

The familiarity also throws into relief how fine-tuned some things feel about this DLC in comparison to the base game. It supports a quick pace, but offers plenty of stealth and combat opportunities. The first map, the waterfront, is roughly a long tunnel that lets you take the rooftops or sneak along the streets, avoiding or engaging in fights with the guards.

Being able to get back along it quickly is helpful, you'll most likely find yourself backtracking to find the key to the Legal District itself if you didn't explore on the way. Throughout the level you also find some pretty gnarly encounters that seem to encourage the use of Daud's Summon Assassin power, letting you take on the guards as a twosome. That, or a bit of familiarity with the challenges of Dunwall City Trials to get you ready to be surrounded at a moment's notice.


The second map is a stretch of street with the target's estate at the centre. Like Kingsparrow Island from the main campaign, this level feels very forward with how quickly you can complete this if you wish. With a few Blinks and a run across the rooftops, a carnage-happy player can storm right into the upper floors of  Barrister Timsh's estate. Timsh will wander the estate, moving from floor to floor, which would be troublesome for speedrunners, but on a first time through makes for a nice mix of planning and reactive play. It doesn't go as far as Thief II's kidnapping mission, where the target could be in a number of heavily guarded outposts across a gigantic map, but has just enough of a dynamic nature to it to add the need for some quick thinking here and there. For example, I initially did not realise that Timsh would be going from room to room, and was naturally going through his stuff. When he walked in I had to strategically blink around him - but, got his key from his belt in the process, which was very handy.

Someone who likes to lurk and absorb the goings on of the beleaguered city will be more than rewarded. You'll get to hear arguably the best exchange between guards in the series on your approach, as a guard resists his superior's orders to turf some rich folks out of their house, based on how generous they have always been to the junior officer. The commanding officer's response is some of the most interesting dialogue regarding the grim state of affairs in Dunwall in the franchise. It is best practice in terms of giving regular enemies internal lives and their own perspectives on the things the player character is also living through.

You also get the chance to overhear a disgusting conversation between Timsh and a hapless maid as he coerces her into staying at his estate that night, with the hapless woman muttering that she'll go and get a drink while Timsh bathes as it "could be a long night". This is incredibly depressing stuff, and will enhance the catharsis you're sure to feel either taking the corrupt weasel out directly or arranging for his arrest and destitution. And finally, there is a statue of Delilah upstairs that you can talk to.

The player that takes their time and examines the environment also gets a very fun non-lethal solution, where several items must be gathered before sneaking around the estate to arrange for the denouement of an ingenious plot against the barrister. If this is more Dishonored, it's also Dishonored at its best.

Non-lethal solution:
Meet the ruined noble in the building on the right as you enter the Legal District proper
Collect the documents and the odorous package from the apartments on the approach to the estate
Plant the odorous package in the ventilation system in the basement and leave


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