Dishonored 2: Mission 1, "A Long Day in Dunwall"

"Delilah was born a pawn, but now she's got the throne. 

Fifteen years ago, the assassin Daud could have warned you about her if you'd bothered to ask."

Fifteen years ago, Daud was inexplicably racked by his remorse over his latest successful assassination. Despite a career eliminating high profile persons without a shadow of regret, killing Jessamine Kaldwin made him feel "the entire weight of a dying city crushing down on his back." His journey to redemption began with a single word from the Outsider: Delilah. In tracking down the unusually influential painter he uncovered her plot to use eldritch magics to inhabit the body of young Emily Kaldwin and rule the Empire of the Isles. That brought him into conflict with The Brigmore Witches, who are able to use powers associated with the Outsider via Delilah much as Daud's Whalers were able to through him. After infiltrating Brigmore Manor and defeating Delilah, effectively saving the Empire from tyranny and chaos, and following an encounter with Corvo Attano in the Flooded District he disappeared to Karnaca.

'A Long Day in Dunwall' begins where both the first Dishonored and The Brigmore Witches left off, with Delilah Kaldwin, nee Copperspoon having returned to once again try to supplant Emily. This time, her method is machination rather than possession. Whether or not you do the game's optional tutorial where Corvo teaches Emily the ways of night-stalking and rooftop-leaping, you begin in the Empress' shoes as she attends the commemoration of her mother Jessamine Kaldwin's assassination at the hands of Daud 15 years earlier.

The occasion is disrupted as Duke Luca Abele, immoral ruler of the Empire's southern jewel Serkonos, arrives and interrupts the ceremony by introducing Delilah - and declaring her the rightful successor to the throne. This catalyses the events of the game as either Emily or Corvo msut first flee Dunwall and then strike at the key figures in the coup from Serkonos.

You get the coolest "player select" screen I've ever seen. Granted I don't play fighting games and so on so maybe I haven't seen many. But when Delilah bursts into the throne room and her mechanical soldiers begin cutting through Emily's loyalist guards as chaos erupts on every sides, the action slowing down with Corvo and Emily back to back for you to choose which one to play as is just immensely exciting.

While one of Dishonored 2's strongest assets is Karnaca, paradisal stately buildings sweltering in the Serkonan heat, it opens on the familiar streets of Dunwall. Even after spending as much time in the grimey, stabby, intrigue-infested seat of Gristol government as I have, it is immediately enjoyable to return - and in Dishonored 2's engine it looks truly stunning, viewed from the Empress' chambers where Emily or Corvo wake up as you assume player control.

My first time through this game I played as Emily in Low Chaos, creeping slowly around the intricate maps and taking up to 4+ hours in a single mission later on. I put all my runes into stealth related abilities and was as non-lethal as I could manage - with the exception of the final mission where, frustratingly, the non-lethal option is locked behind a rune power you may not have purchased (I hadn't). At any rate, I had assumed a more assault-based playstyle on arrival back in Dunwall, as it seemed to me that Emily would be more confrontational when taking back her throne, even if she didn't want to cut down everybody in the Grand Guard on the way to it.

Continuing on from Daud's misadventures in the Dishonored DLCs, I'm going High Chaos this time and playing in NG+. NG+ here lets you re-spend all the runes you gathered last time around, and you can choose from both Corvo and Emily's powers. This lets you experiment by mixing the abilities of the two protagonists, for example using Emily's Domino to link the fates of three or four enemies before using Corvo's new Blink-kick to send everyone flying off the roof.

The level really supports a rampaging approach, and in fact rewards it. When I first went through as Emily I snuck around, choking out guards if I had to, but basically quietly finding my way along the critical path.  High Chaos Corvo is free to sweep through the post-coup city in a storm of blood and blades, and the way you descend down from Dunwall Tower makes this feel pretty amazing. Corvo is an avenging angel dropping from the sky as you navigate from the city's highest point down to its docks.

Eliminating all the guards also has the benefit of leaving no obstacle to thorough exploration at your own pace. There is a lot to see, including maps of Dunwall and the empire, the editor of the paper which has been printing sensationalist headlines about the Crown Killer and whether they are an imperial agent, and the crime scene of the Crown Killer's latest gruesome job. There's a bar with some snooty citizens by the docks which backs onto Hatter territory, and the usual end-times graffiti adorns the walls. When coming back and playing through a third time, ducking through said bar and then circumventing the Hatters while they talk provided a straight putt to the Dreadful Whale by swimming, quickly effecting my escape.

You also won't have any powers yet, even in NG+, so it's just crouching, hiding, a blade and the trusty blunderbuss. I almost never use the slow, loud guns in Dishonored games since there's always quieter or more extravagent options depending on what sort of playthrough I'm doing. However it is quite fun as a Hail Mary when too many guards are coming for you at once. Not to mention the trusty combination of stunning an enemy with a thrown bottle or decapitated head before closing in for the kill.

Overall I think starting with no powers again is a good choice for this entry in the series, introducing you to how meaty and satisfying the core gameplay is before you get the freaky powers, and giving you a basis of either stealth or combat that you'll then build on as you develop your playstyle. The level provides a lot of tutorialisation as well, from guards with their backs turned to the initial escape onto the streets where doors on each side of the street provide helpful hiding places as well as resources. You'll be well rewarded for exploring all the buildings you can get into in this huge game world, and A Long Day in Dunwall already has much to see and reasons to alternate between being indoors and outdoors.

Non-lethal solution:
Choke Ramsey out instead of killing him, get the key to the safe room (optimally done by triggering his conversation with the guards and then following him back up to the safe room) and deposit him in there with enough food to last the month and enough gold to make Duke Abele slaver.