Apologies for the technical mess that is this recording. That said, we went through quite a decent chunk of the game in this stream, and it ended up being a lot of fun.
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Dishonored 2 is a really fun game, and honestly pretty stable once it starts running (at least, now that it’s been patched). That said, I always get a bit nervous when I launch it because I can’t tell how many times I’ll need to relaunch it to get it to run properly.
Even then, there’s a separate problem that really only affects streamers like me. Whenever I Alt+Tab out of the game, I find that it’s basically impossible to load back in. This means that if I need to make audio adjustments live, that I need to quite the game in order to do that. It’s easier to save, quit, and relaunch that to Alt+Tab out and back in. I didn’t include it in the final post, but the first 13 minutes so this stream were plagued by these types of technical issues.
But in terms of what we covered in the stream, we entered and completed the Dust District. There are two really cool aspects to this stage. One, the fact that multiple, opposing factions in the same level, in opposition to each other. Though I didn’t take advantage of it in my run, you can use this fact to have members of the two factions take each other out so you don’t have to. They toyed with the idea in Brigmore Witches, but it’s nice to see the mechanic return.
The other thing I adore about the Dust District is the number of solutions of available to the player, and how they impact the ending (in a small but noticeable way). The goal in the Dust District is to solve the Jindosh lock’s puzzle and open the door to Stilton’s house. While difficult, the player can just work through it’s logic and move on, skipping the level entirely. If that’s not to their liking, they can give one of the two faction leaders over to the other, securing the solution from the one they side with. But if that idea is also displeasing, they can instead do as I did, and steal the solution from the person who normally gives Stilton his food and supplies.
The fact that this one level has so many interesting options is astounding, one that even skips the level completely. At the time, this attracted quite a bit of attention from critics, and for good reason. Many designers are terrified of the idea that a player might miss content, so having the option to skip it completely is a bold choice.
Then, we have A Crack in the Slab. As I said in the stream, it was really odd that both this and Titanfall 2 came out in the same year, and both had a level with a time travel mechanic. And like the one in Titanfall 2, this one is quite abusable. We had a ton of fun getting caught by guards, then popping out of time to escape, only to run around and re-enter time to choke them while they’re turned around. The Assault/Non-Lethal option is best in this mission. Time travel is also used in a number of really interesting puzzles to acquire Runes and Bonecharms.
Next time, we’ll finish up Crack in the Slab, and discuss it’s most interesting features a bit more.
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