Dunwall Diaries

"Like the ore he mines, there is something of value underneath that gruff exterior." Time itself is shattered at Aramis Stilton's mansion, and so is the owner's mind. Having solved the Jindosh lock that seals the way to the Karnacan silver baron's residence, he can be found inside, playing the piano tunelessly and raving to himself. The place itself is in disrepair, unlit and unkempt, no staff or guards, overgrown with Bloodfly infestations and mould. We will now get a chance to see who Stilton really is, and what's more to understand how Delilah has returned, in another well-known level that will change how the player interacts with the world completely. In 1849 Duke Luca Abele and Breanna Ashworth, having heard Delilah whisper to them of her return, planned a seance to bring her back from the Void. They were joined by Alexandria Hypatia in her Grim Alex alter-ego as well as Kirin Jindosh, and held it at Aramis Stilton's manor who they involved because of...

"And what are the cups at Dunwall Tower made from, Empress?" Anton Sokolov doesn't mince words with Emily or her father and Royal Protector regarding the Empire's complicity in what has befallen the Batista Mining District, stating that the "new Duke's misery has only been possible with Dunwall's support". This region has been the engine of Serkonan prosperity, but the avarice of Luca Abele means that the silver mines now work round the clock. The town and its population get no respite from the dust that gets blown through the area, and doctors' notebooks and citizens' journals found in Batista attest to the lethal toll it extracts from the workers. The silver baron Aramis Stilton helped build Karnaca, but this is a walk through the centre of its silver mining industry without his direct influence felt any more. With only the profit-driven machinery of the mining business itself remaining, stripped of Stilton's management and his co...

"Just before her mother and father married her off, so many years ago, she found Delilah instead.  It was all highways and graveyards after that, never looking back." Corvo or Emily awake on board the Dreadful Wale to another trip to the Void, this time arranged by Delilah rather than the Outsider in a demonstration of her power. She shows them her childhood. A child of a kitchen maid and the vaunted but philandering Emperor Euhorn Jacob Kaldwin, she grew distraught at her younger sister Jessamine's inclusion at court while she was hidden away. Here we see the sad, cruel upbringing that embittered Delilah against her half-sister and caused her to be obsessed with surpassing her. Blamed for something that Jessamine had broken when they were children, she was thrown out with her mother. They lived in a debtors' prison until her mother's death. Delilah is not just a fairy tail villain to scare Gristolian children along with the Outsider. She is an embodiment...

"Welcome to the final mystery, Jindosh." The Clockwork Mansion is the point at which Dishonored 2's level design goes from being simply magnificent in scope, detail and intricacy, to being also conceptually awe-inspiring. Lady Boyle's Last Party is very clever - this is very clever and an engineering marvel on the part of the developers. While still retaining all the opportunities for different avenues of ingress, exploration and optional side activities, this mission eventually draws aside the curtain to reveal a central conceit both unforgettable and ingeniously disruptive to the playstyle you might have been developing. The very structure of Jindosh's residence will move around you as you pass through it, and although the concept is kind of given away in the mission's name there is no preparing for how impressive this is and how it informs the way you'll engage with this environment. Having rescued (or eliminated) Dr. Hypatia, the protagonist and...

Having caught the train from Addermire Station Corvo or Emily will arrive at a rat plague-era offshore research facility for infectious diseases, whose chief alchemist is the next elimination target. This is Dr. Alexandria Hypatia, famed for her work with contagions and in particular the Bloodflies. In fact the mana-restoring potions you drink in this game are even called Addermire Solutions, having replaced old Piero's Spiritual Remedies in the marketplace. Hypatia is portrayed as a well-intentioned woman, who often refuses to take the money of the patients she treats (according to the Heart). However, she has become a prisoner in her own institute, with Duke Abele requiring her to stay there at all times surrounded by his Grand Guard. As you arrive the facility seems at first blush to have a lot in common with Dishonored levels past. Ascending a tower filled with guards is something Corvo did in ' High Overseer Campbell ', ' Return to the Tower ' and ' ...

"Corvo, old friend. You've lost another empress." In the game's second mission, Emily or Corvo has reached the shores of Serkonos on Meagan Foster's boat The Dreadful Whale, which serves as your base in Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider much as the Hound Pits pub did in the original game. Your lead is Dr. Alexandria Hypatia, who may have information regarding the Crown Killer. The latter has been assassinating figures threatening or problematic to Emily's rule, and Meagan and Anton Sokolov believe them to be key to understanding and dismantling the coup. In fact it becomes clear from readables that the reason Meagan was in Dunwall was that she and Sokolov were on the way to warn Corvo of the plot - but Sokolov has disappeared, and Meagan was too late. The level begins with a trip to the void and a talk with the Outsider, where you can accept his mark - or choose to reject the offer and do the game with no powers. Each mission allows for t...