Why Arkane wanted to continue Emily Kaldwin's story in Dishonored 2
Dishonored 2 reacquaints us with one of the first game's most important NPCs, now in glorious playable protagonist form.
Dishonored 2 players can elect to play through as Corvo Attano, or stick with initial protagonist Emily Kaldwin.
Fans of the first game will remember Emily as the ten year old daughter of the Empress, who is assassinated before her very eyes. Corvo then rescues and raises Emily, the child of his lover and possibly his own daughter, and her development is shaped by his actions.
"There’s something kind of magical about Emily. As soon as we finished Dishonored 1 what we really felt energy about was continuing Emily’s story."
Discussing Emily during an E3 2015 livestream, Arkane boss Harvey Smith said player reaction to Emily's role in the first game is one of the main reasons the team wanted to continue her story.
"So many players have come to me and said 'Wow, that moment where I walked into her room and I saw that drawing on the wall, and I realised an impressionistic child is watching how I handle the situation. I changed my play style because of that,'" he said.
"There's something kind of magical about Emily for us and the game. As soon as we finished Dishonored 1 we began talking about how what we really felt energy about was continuing Emily's story.
"What kind of person would she grow up to be, what kind of empress would she be. As you find out in the game, what kind of outlaw would she be."
Bethesda has released the segment on YouTube. Check it out below; there's also some discussion of Emily's powers, which differ from Corvo's.
Dishonored 2 is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One in 2016.