7 Secrets Of Dishonoured 2's Development

5. Subtle Politics

Dysfunctional infrastructure; a divided populace; a brutal and unapologetic state ruling with an iron fist. Sounds quite familiar, doesn’t it? Well, it’s probably down to the fact that Arkane had a clear-sighted approach to the political make-up of Dishonoured 2’s world. That is – a clear-sighted way to ensure that the game wasn’t necessarily overtly political. It’s subtle in the game and it’s the better for it.

Mitton and the crew ensured that they were not actually making any kind of “statement” with the game. Rather, the game’s subtextual themes speak for themselves.

What the team did emphasise in the game is the importance of people on the make-up of a city. The team remarked, simply, “a city without people is not a city.” But, the city of Karnaca is also not exactly something you’d find on a postcard – not a “travel destination.”

Karnaca is instead a city that has fallen from its height as a powerful, influential metropolis of grandeur – to a place of abject corruption, in almost complete disrepute. It used to be “the jewel of the south,” now it’s a diamond buried by the dirt of social turmoil and infrastructural decline.