Trivia / Dishonored 2

• Author's Saving Throw: The dev team felt that the representation of female characters in the first game was somewhat lackluster (Details on this can be found on the first game's trivia page), and expressed some regret over it. As such, they decided to address the issue in this game by giving female characters larger roles, and other minority groups are also represented more than in the first game; there are at least two homosexual relationships ^note Theodanis Abele & Aramis Stilton, and Delilah & Breanna, and the minor character Mindy Blanchard was confirmed by Word of God to be transgender.
  • One of the biggest criticisms of the first game is that despite giving you a huge suite of tools to kill people in odd or creative ways, you're punished with a bad ending by the Karma Meter for killing too many people. This means that the most fun way to play the game is also the one that will result in an ending most people won't like. Dishonored 2 rebalances the karma system so that it's possible to kill more enemies without triggering the High Chaos ending.
  • The original game had very lackluster ways to take down your foes nonlethally. You could either choke them out or snipe them with sleeping darts, both of which took a long period of time and were fairly repetitive compared to the numerous powers and tools that the lethal path offers. Dishonored 2 has new avenues for nonlethal takedowns:
    • Stun grenades and stinging darts give you more options to knock out targets or make them flee.
    • Nonlethal drop attacks can be used to instantly KO targets inside or outside of combat.
    • Players now have a variety of tools to deal with enemies nonlethally in direct combat by triggering a chokeholds after a parry, knocking them down (e.g. with a dart to the leg) then stomping them unconscious or sliding into enemies for an instant takedown.
    • Where several of Corvos powers (e.g. Windblast and Rat Swarm) were only useful on loud or lethal runs, Emily's new powers are designed to be equally effective whether the player is going loud or stealthy, lethal or nonlethal.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: Much like the first game, the sequel features the vocal talents of such well known actors as Vincent D'Onofrio, Rosario Dawson, Pedro Pascal, Sam Rockwell, Jamie Hector, and Robin Lord Taylor.
• Defictionalization: Johnny Chiodini (formerly of the gaming websites Eurogamer and later Dicebreaker) found a recipe in the game for hagfish dumplings, and decided to cook it, with some modifications.
• Development Gag: The Clockwork Soldiers were originally designed to look far more ornate, with human-like faces and polished ceramic plates as armor, and this design was featured prominently in the announcement trailer. However, they were later redesigned to the much simpler and more skeletal appearance seen in the final game. Notes found in the game indicate that Jindosh altered them because they apparently weren't intimidating enough, and parts of the original Soldier design can be seen on display in his manor. A modified version of the porcelain-coated Clockwork Soldier later appears in Death of the Outsider, on account of the surprising popularity of the original design among fans.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Erica Luttrell, who is a lesbian, voices Emily, who is stated to be a bisexual through Word of Gay.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Erica Luttrell provides the now-adult voice for Emily Kaldwin instead of Chloë Grace Moretz.
  • Robin Lord Taylor replaces Billy Lush as the Outsider.
  • Rosario Dawson takes over voicing duties for Kristy Wu's character, likely to hide the fact that Billie Lurk and Meagan Foster are one and the same.
• Word of Gay:
  • Used by director Harvey Smith to clear up some of the subtext regarding characters like Aramis Stilton and Mindy Blanchard.
  • The devs also consider Emily to be bisexual, which never comes up in the game itself. The gender of her unseen lover Wyman is left intentionally vague so the player can come up with their own version of the character.