Dunwall Diaries

At the end of Dishonored 2 Billie Lurk reclaimed her real name, and here at the end of her own quest she can return the Outsider's true name to him as well, should she choose. The game's single assassination target, a supernatural being created by a cult that needed a central figure and a lodestone for their occult worship, who was stabbed through the heart in the Void before enduring thousands of years seeing and knowing all, is within reach. This is the only setting in the series that isn't somewhere in Dunwall or Karnaca (although Brigmore Manor is technically just outside the walls of Dunwall). This is Shindaerey Peak, a mountain that has been visible behind the Karnaca skyline all along. There isn't supposed to be anything here - but Billie's investigations at the Royal Conservatory have revealed the existence of a secretive mining operation, as well as unlocking one of the best objective markers in the series: Flee to the mountains . This is where the corpo...

The Dishonored series has a great track record of reusing levels and adding fresh context, challenge and narrative import. We've seen Corvo go back to Dunwall Tower and find it has become a darkly brooding hulk of militarised authoritarianism rather than the stately venue for painters and courtiers it was on his visit at the beginning of the original game, despite it being the same architecture. We've then seen it become a raucous house party for the Brigmore Witches, who moved in and treated it with the respect a horde of teenagers would their hapless friends' parents' house the weekend after finishing their GCSEs. But I don't think there is another example in the series of a location feeling as defiled, as violated as the Royal Conservatory does here. To be fair, it was already in a state of takeover when Emily Kaldwin visited and eliminated Breanna Ashworth in Dishonored 2. But the witches had made it a sort of home and hangout, after a fashion. As bloodthirsty a...

The Bank Job is Death of the Outsider's centrepiece and maybe its most famous level. Having cased the joint in Follow the Ink, Billie is ready to break in and steal the only weapon capable of killing the outsider. She leaves Daud aboard The Dreadful Wale, sat on deck in the spot where Billie, as Meagan Foster, once conspired with Aramis Stilton and Emily Kaldwin to take down Luca Abele . Then it's off to the Dolores Michaels Bank, already sighted and possibly visited during Follow the Ink , for a mission that recalls the classic First City Bank and Trust from Thief II. The choice to re-use the entirety of the map from Follow the Ink, right down to the same black market (featuring a new shopkeep if you robbed it on the previous visit) has the effect of arming you with environmental knowledge and being comfortable with traversal, so you can approach the bank with confidence. This reminded me of Thief II also - a brace of late-game missions literally called 'Casing the Joint...

The Outsider is the only true assassination target in this game, and is uniquely able to immediately take an interest in Daud and Billie's mission and talk directly to them. He appears in Billie's cabin, taking her eye and right forearm from her again and replacing them with a Sliver (of what will become clear later) and the Black Shard Arm respectively. These gifts grant Billie the powers she'll use for the rest of the game. Displace is her version of Blink, Foresight is an out-of-body version of Dark Vision, and Semblance lets Billie disguise herself as any NPC she can get close enough to, for a time. The Black Shard Arm communes directly with the Void, removing the need for Billie to refill her mana with Addermire Solution or Piero's Spiritual Remedy and regenerating it after a short time instead. This contributes hopefully to a faster paced and more experimental approach, as players no longer need to worry about resource management where powers are concerned. Daud h...

While their actions catalyse the events of the main games, the Dishonored DLCs and this expansion-priced stand-alone tell the stories of who Daud and Billie Lurk are as people, from their perspectives. You can see how they became the people who would change the fates of Dunwall's royals forever, but you see that only after the fact. Daud sets the events of Dishonored in motion by assassinating Jessamine Kaldwin - then we see a path to redemption for him in The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches, when he saves another Empress without her ever knowing. Billie Lurk was his accomplice as well as becoming involved with Delilah long before the coup, and is a crucial ally to Corvo and Emily under the guise of Meagan Foster. Only after Delilah has been defeated once more and the Kaldwins restored to power in Gristol are we put in Billie's shoes and offered a chance to see the world from her eyes.  A street urchin who fell in with Daud for survival more than anything else...