Dishonored 2 Launch Trailer, Early Impressions

Technically speaking, those who pre-ordered the title should already be able to play it tomorrow, but Dishonored 2 won’t release until the 11th. That said, in an era where launch trailers are released even weeks before launch, I wouldn’t say there’s anything particularly wrong in Bethesda releasing their title’s trailer today. You can check it embedded below:

While reviews will unfortunately take a while to come out, thanks to Bethesda’s new policy regarding review copies, IGN has published some early impressions:

From my first several hours, there really is a feeling that Karnaca is populated. Runes – which are the currency used to upgrade your powers – are coveted by Howlers pretending to be in peril, while shady types that you just stumble upon may ask you to find a body in exchange for… something ‘worth your while’. There’s a feeling that the world is alive, and a loitering NPC might open up an optional quest at any moment.

While I’m still in the early hours of Dishonored 2, Emily is shaping up to be a very versatile protagonist. Obviously nudged into being as a ‘stealthy’ character, her Dark Vision ability can be evolved to visualise enemy routes, and while her Far Reach ability is, at first, in step with (original protagonist) Corvo’s ‘Blink’, it can be evolved to grab and throw various objects; enjoyably chaotic when around tanks of whale oil.

While NeoGAF user Dmax3901 offers a less than flattering look at PC performance (based on his review copy), but has more positive things to say about the game itself:

Facing towards the back of the throne room I get a solid 60fps, but after turning 180 degrees it drops to 32. Going back to the door through which I first entered the room it drops even further to 18 fps. Keep in mind this is all on the lowest possible settings at 1080p. I figured it was perhaps a driver issue. So I did a clean uninstall and then installed the drivers Bethesda specifically recommend for AMD cards. Frame rates were exactly the same in those particular areas of the throne room. I then considered that perhaps this was an isolated incident, it was early on in the game after all, perhaps it’ll even out from here on. Unfortunately this is not the case. Any time I faced a particular open area, as you can see from the following screens, the frame rate tanked. Now bear in mind not all of the below shots are on the lowest of low settings (I turned some of them back up after testing the throne room) but to be honest with such weirdly specific and enormous dips, I don’t think it’s got much to do with settings.

…

Enemies are a lot tougher now, especially at the beginning when Emily has no powers. Unlike the original game, they no longer have to have their whole bodies turned toward you to spot you. If you raise their awareness meter even a little, they’ll continue on their patrol but their head will be turned towards where they spotted you, making it quite difficult to get away unseen. Guards will notice if doors have been opened (even if they weren’t in earshot when you opened it) and when approaching them from behind, if you’re in their peripheral vision, they will spot you very quickly. It’s quite brutal.

Update: I’ve corrected a mistake I made concerning the release date of Dishonored 2. The title releases on November 11 and not November 10.