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Dishonored 2 lets you perform non-lethal melee attacks and block bullets with your sword

Dishonored 2 Emily Far Reach

Dishonored 2 just had a lengthy gameplay stream on IGN, featuring a mission played by one of the lead designers, from both Corvo and Emily’s perspective. Co-creative director Harvey Smith on-hand with some commentary, and avid listeners (hi) might have picked up some new details. 

Keep an eye on all the upcoming PC games at that link there.

The demo started with actress Rosario Dawson’s character – who is owner of your base, the Dreadful Whale – sailing you into a mission.

The docks at the mission’s start are a neutral area, and Smith promises more missions will be laid out like this – they’ll be more densely populated, and not everyone is an enemy unless you make yourself one.

I won’t spoil the mission for you, but here are some of the new features I noticed while watching:

  • You can now peek over cover, not just around corners.
  • There are non-lethal melee takedowns, not just a stealth choke. You can slide into a melee knockout, for example.
  • The combat choke is a new way to control enemies who are aggroed. You can stun enemies and grab them around the throat – from here you can choke them out, use them as a human shield or even throw them.
  • One of the more creative uses of powers the gameplay demo showed was summoning Emily’s doppelganger double, strapping a mine to its back and letting it attack an enemy, triggering the mine once in proximity.
  • Black Bone Charms are a rare new variant of upgrade. Sometimes enemies will have them equipped, granting them interesting abilities.
  • Bend Time allows you to scrub time forward slightly.
  • If you kill their friends, guards will sometimes flee. When running away, they can fall over, giving you a chance to capitalise on their error and making you feel like an absolute badass.
  • There’s a sword upgrade that allows you to block incoming projectiles like a certain cyborg ninja.
  • Your cabin in the Dreadful Whale changes based on your in-game actions.

That’s all for now, but I’m sure we’ll find out more over the coming weeks, as Dishonored 2 launches on November 11. Don’t expect our review before then, though, as publishers Bethesda have created a new anti-consumer policy to make critiques prior to release impossible.