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What a confounding beast Dishonored 2 is. Like its predecessor, this is a game that gives players lots and lots of ways to murder people, then shames them for doing so. After every level it offers you a rating based on your conspicuousness and kill count. "Taking lives will cause Emily (or Corvo) and their allies to grow more cynical. Too many deaths will lead to higher levels of bloodfly infestation and a darker final outcome for the story" it tells you, wagging its schoolmarm finger in disapproval. So, if you're like me, you try not to kill people. But the developer also teases players for taking a more humane approach! If you're going for a non-lethal playthrough, you'll find your inventory stocked to the max of bullets, crossbow darts, spring traps and grenades after the first few hours - to such an extent that the discovery of these items feels pointless. The bulk of your super-powers are likewise languishing away, atrophying as a slave to your moral compass. This weird, oxymoronic push and pull between offering you empowering options then chastising you for using them makes playing Dishonored 2 feel akin to being a famished vegetarian attending a BBQ. ("I think you can still have the potato salad!")
The point is that it feels like Dishonored 2 developer Arkane isn't exactly sure what makes the game fun, as "fun" is different things to different people. So instead it offers players a boatload of stealth and combat mechanics, a series of lightly branching narrative choices, a generous quick-save feature, and an irritatingly conservative morality system, then asks the player to whip up their own concoction of infiltration-based adventuring.
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