Level Research: The Clockwork Mansion - Dishonored 2
To allow for accurate position enemies and other interactive objects in the Sketchup plan, I decided to research into the level design, namely using Kotaku and GamesRadar as my main sources of information. The following information is adapted from the articles referenced at the bottom of the post.
The Mansion transforms as the player moves around the level, walls and floors moving at the discretion of the owner of the mansion, Kirin Jindosh.
Part of its design includes a different colour palette to the rest of the game, it becomes warmer, distinguishing it from the dirty city of Dunwall, the rest of the game’s setting. It also noticeably is one of very few locations that does not contain an enemy type of Bloodflies and their nests. The level design evokes feelings of Bethesda’s other franchise, Bioshock.
Players are met with an audiograph introducing the target – Kirin Jindosh, warning players that intruders will be killed. The level is designed around reflecting the characteristics of the target in the world design, the mansion is over the top wealth, reflected in the colour palette change, Jindosh is an overly egotistical character. However, the cracks show, Jindosh has weakness – his ego being the main one. In the hidden areas not meant to be visible to guests of the mansion, the house is dirty and the colour palette reverts back to the grey tones matching the rest of Dunwall.
The only route to progress is into a room that appears to be a dead end, until a lever is pulled and the room transforms around the player. It brings up the first enemy – a Clockwork Soldier that is isn’t activated so the player is introduced safely to the level’s enemy type. Up until this point in the game enemies have all been human, making the player change their play style to adapt to this new enemy type. Parts of the floor change and stairs appear creating an exit for the player to proceed through.
If the player progresses upstairs (alternative exit is through a lower hallway) the player comes face to face with the target, Jindosh. Repeating the introduction to the Clockwork Soldier, Jindosh is behind a glass screen. He taunts you throughout the level, confident in his security measures put in place. He is ‘a constant presence in the mansion’ [1] through the use of sensors he can track the players movement through his mansion. He questions your actions, both impressed when the player kills his creations and simultaneously becomes maddened by the fact you’ve destroyed something so expensive. After conversing with Jindosh, two Clockwork Soldiers appear, as the layout of the room changes to add objects to block lines of sight or escape to higher levels using your powers. Verticality is important in this instance to ensure the player isn’t immediately disadvantaged.
Players can access areas not meant to be such as access panels to switch traps off or reverse their effects to harm the Clockwork Soldiers and use this to their advantage. Initially, traps can block access to certain areas, reversing these allows players more freedom and more options for destroying the Clockwork Soldiers.
The players (if following the route above) will then arrive at a quicker end to one of the options for completing the mission. The completion criteria either being a lethal takedown or a non lethal takedown. This leads the player to the non lethal takedown by showing the player his Electroshock machine. The player has then entered the Laboratory, and can see Jindosh walking around with two Clockwork Soldiers roaming with him. The circular layout with the added verticality of the upper layers serves to make the room feel like an arena, added by the constant taunting through the intercoms throughout the level. Pillars are placed along with desks to provide opportunities to stay undetected and out of the line of sight. Players can then either run straight for Jindosh and murder him, completing the lethal takedown criteria, or they can stealth kill the Soldiers and place Jindosh in the machine.
To activate the chair entails solving a puzzle: by switching areas of the laboratory using their power needs to leave enough for the machine the player can electrocute Jindosh, leaving him ‘as a lobotomized invalid’ [2],his machine designed to leave victims without their memories or personality, rendering him useless as an enemy.
The next part of the mission revolves around rescuing a character called Sokolov. The path being described is also a route to Jindosh if the player decided not to take the previous path. The mansion is completely interconnected, allowing players to reach multiple objectives in any order by any route depending on actions taken (such as switching traps off/reversing their effects)
Accessing a staircase will take the player to a floor filled with pressure plates creating a maze patrolled by a Clockwork Soldier. There is a resource bank nearby filled with weapons and tools. Wooden boards block the view to what could be pressure plates, the player has to destroy them. If the player has not encountered the enemy it warns them of how sensitive to sound the Clockwork Soldiers are.
Two guards wait by the exit elevator where Sokolov is held, the player must get rid of them to access the exit out. Alternative exits include using a level to move a guest room down and entering it and moving it back to its original place. Exiting through the hall way will take the player into the first room the player entered that transformed. The previously dormant soldiers will become active, giving the player multiple ways to deal with them whilst carrying Sokolov escalates the difficulty.
Information gathered from Kotaku’s: A Closer Look at Dishonored 2’s Best Level and Games Radar’s: The Genius of Dishonored 2’s Clockwork Mansion.
[1] GamesRadar. (2017). The Genius of Dishonored 2’s Clockwork Mansion. [online] Available at: Available at: http://www.gamesradar.com/the-genius-of-dishonored-2s-clockwork-mansion/
[Accessed 29 Sep. 2017].
[2] Alexandra, H. (2017). A Closer Look at Dishonored 2’s Best Level. [online] Kotaku UK. Available at: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2016/11/28/a-closer-look-at-dishonored-2s-best-level [Accessed 29 Sep. 2017].
