At Gamescom, Emily Kaldwin took center stage, showing off her all-new powers in a new setting: the Clockwork Mansion. Originally teased in the game’s
announce trailer at E3 2015, the Clockwork Mansion is a signature themed level in which the player can trigger a series of switches to literally change the mansion around them. The walls move. The floors shift. New pathways are revealed with every alteration. Savvy assassins can even find their way through the mechanics embedded behind the walls, offering even more freedom to navigate through this complex and detailed level.
The demo begins with a look at the surrounding areas, showing off the lush, sun-splashed setting that differentiates Karnaca from Dunwall. Through narration delivered by her ally Meagan Foster, Emily is warned about the mansion’s owner, Kirin Jindosh:
“The Duke’s circle is full of clever bastards, but no one is like Jindosh. His home is supposed to be full of marvels, and there’s a reason people are afraid of his mansion. Jindosh won’t care who you are or what you want. He looks at you like you’re a puzzle, to be taken apart.”
Emily arrives at the outskirts of the mansion to see a courtyard crawling with guards. She uses Shadow Walk to sneak by, brutally eviscerating two of them while still in shadowy form. Once she materializes again, she links together three guards with her Domino power and slices off the head of her nearest foe – causing the remaining pair to part with their heads as well.
Upon entering the mansion, Emily triggers the first switch she sees – and even within that initial room the possibilities are dizzying. Walls drop. The floor slips away. A Clockwork Soldier rises up from an opening below. A majestic staircase emerges, leading to an upper level that’s lined with curio cabinets. Doors materialize. Pathways appear – both within the clockwork of the walls themselves, and in the newly formed room. A closed chamber gives way to grand hall. And we hear Jindosh’s voice, welcoming Emily with an overly solicitous tone that drips with menace.
Moving from room to room, triggering switch after switch, Emily is accompanied by Jindosh’s voice – until she spots him walking toward her, safely behind a glass barrier. Jindosh comes closer, puffing on his ceramic thumb (which doubles as a pipe). He recognizes Emily. And then the chase begins.
Jindosh sets his Clockwork Soliders against Emily, who uses a combination of her abilities, her weapons and the building itself to dodge her foes and destroy a few of these mechanical menaces along the way. At another point she summons a Doppelganger to help fight off a human guard and Clockwork Soldier. Later, we see Emily take down a human guard with her sword, before using Far Reach to pull herself through the space between the shifting walls. In an expert flurry of motion, Emily triggers a change in the mansion and rushes through the moving walls to emerge on a balcony with a stunning view of Karnaca below. She then navigates her way along the outside of the mansion, heading back inside via a vent that brings her ever closer to Jindosh himself. The demo ends with Emily capturing Jindosh, battling a series of Clockwork Soldiers… and making a tough choice about whether to finish him.
Also shown at Gamescom to select media: a first look at the Royal Conservatory – a new level in which Emily faces off against the mysterious Witches. These slithery, magical foes originally appeared in the Dishonored DLC, and return with a vengeance in Dishonored 2. In another high-chaos demo, media saw a fast-paced display of Emily’s abilities in action, as she slices, shoots and powers her way through witch after witch – until an unexpected ending. (Want to know more about the Witches? Pre-order Dishonored 2 and you’ll get a free copy of Dishonored Definitive Edition, which includes the DLC where the Witches are first introduced.)
