Dishonored 2 finally launches in November 11, so we’re now getting to see more of what’s in store in store for Emily and her father, Corvo, once they reach the sunny new land of Karnaca.
Don’t let anything sneak up behind you like a teleporting assassin, keep your eyes on the shadows with our list of upcoming PC games.
If you want to know more about this gorgeous, windswept new location in Dishonored 2, you’re in luck – Bethesda have fired over a bunch of concept art, along with commentary from art director Sebastien Mitton.
Dishonored 2: The Bay
“Originally meant to be a mood board, Sergey Kolesov pushed the limits here by showing the bay being hit by the sun and rain at the same time, while the mountain blows its dust along the wind corridor.”
Karnaca might look sunny, but this image gets across the weather variety we’ll see during our time there.
Dishonored 2: Infestation
“When you get a feature idea from the game design team, you never know how deep you’ll go in making it feel grounded into the world. The bloodflies ecosystem is a good example of where art mixes with story; showing that animation and gameplay can work well together.”
If you’re not already aware, Karnaca has a slighly worse problem than just rats: bloodflies make hosts of corpses, so the more you kill the worse the infestation becomes.
Dishonored 2: The Park
“‘Imagine Havana or Genoa with spots downtown where you can see giant trees too big to be felled’: this was the brief given to the artist Laurent Gapaillard, who’s one of the most talented pencil artists in the world.”
Dishonored 2: The Overlook
“The Shindaerey Peak serves as a natural landmark and helps players orient themselves, no matter where they are in the city of Karnaca. Here, the shot is taken at the train stop before the entrance to the house of Kirin Jindosh (a mad inventor), which overlooks the entire city.”
You can probably bet that mad inventor is responsible for the clockwork house and robots seen in the trailer.
Dishonored 2: The Dust District
“We really enjoy creating meaningful environments and the Dust District is a great example of this: a giant peak with silver mines at its base, a wind corridor that leads to a district at its end, and industrialization of the district with giant windmills – these were the starting points of the development of this area in Karnaca.”
Dishonored 2: The Palace
“Built on the vestige of an old fort, the Palace of the Duke is the result of the clash between classical and noble materials with modern lines.”
Dishonored 2: The Inhabitants
“Karnaca is the result of years of urbanisation including different waves of settlers from Morley, Tyvia, and Gristol which helps to give it, in addition to the natives, a great lineup of quirky faces.”
Dishonored 2: Map of the City
“Thanks to the Serkonan Cartographic Society, some of our maps are topographic! The last wave of settlers was people from Gristol, who came in with money. They started a more structured urbanisation with boulevards, a hidden harbor, and even a big canal splitting the island in two, from Quintana Gates to the far North.”
You can tell Arkane have put a lot of thought into making sure Karnaca not only looks nice, but it makes sense as a place. Expect these levels to have a history.
Dishonored 2: Interior
“With this image we wanted to mix a British curiosity cabinet with a rich interior from Cuba or Italy. The goal was to create a contrast between Dunwall (location of the first Dishonored game) and Karnaca (primary location of Dishonored 2) in terms of tone and lighting.”
Yep, this single room in Karnaca is far brighter than anything in dingy Dunwall.
Dishonored 2: Enclosed Courtyard
“Here we can grasp the inspiration from our photo trips to Barcelona and see how our visuals are influenced by how the player will move around the environment.”
Basically: expect levels to be layered, with plenty of opportunity to zip up to higher ground.
Dishonored 2: The Windbreaker
“Because the wind and dust can be so violent that it damages Karnaca’s buildings, we came up with the idea of giving buildings in the Dust District diamond shaped blocks to break the strength of the wind on its surfaces. We then added some wind panels to the edge of these blocks, which is what you can see in this image.”
Dishonored 2: The Dreadful Whale
“The Dreadful Wale is not just a nice shell of a boat, but a real ship with rooms to explore, which the player will visit many times throughout the game. Like the Hound Pits Pub in the first game, the Dreadful Wale serves as your hub between the different missions.”