There is a central question at the heart of narrative game development – it has always been there and it probably always will be: how do you give a player the freedom to explore and express themselves, while also providing a cogent story for them to experience?
There are hundreds of possible solutions. While highly systemised role-playing adventures, such as Mass Effect, allow player individuality through complex character progression systems, open-world titles (Grand Theft Auto V, Far Cry, etc) accompany their backbone narrative missions with dozens of discoverable side-quests and emergent encounters. Whatever the approach, it’s always a tussle between guiding the player and just letting them go. […]
At this year’s E3, publisher Bethesda announced that a sequel is on the way, giving players the choice between two characters: original protagonist Corvo and Emily Kaldwin, the daughter of the empress assassinated at the beginning of the first game. Set 15 years later, and after a fragile peace, Kaldwin has been deposed from her rightful throne, plunging the Empire of Isles into chaos once again – now the two leads have to regain power, taking the action away from the industrial city of Dunwall and toward the more prosperous coastal town of Karnaca. […]
On top of that we were thinking, well, our swordfighting could have been a little deeper, our stealth could have been more reliable with better feedback, and our UI was slapped together at the last minute. Just at every level there was something to deepen or extend or think about longer.”
Smith was also interested in developing the character of Emily as a central, playable entity. In the first game she acts as a reflection of your actions – if you avoid violence, she’s seen painting happy pictures, if you murder everything and everyone, it’s all black crayon monsters.
“So it felt like, what happened to that little girl?” says Smith. “She was born into privilege, she was marred by this terrible tragedy, and then after that she was raised by Corvo. What would she be like as a 25-year-old adult – as an empress and then an outlaw? It was effortless to find that part.
“If you play as Emily it’s all new – she has her own set of powers, her own assassinations and animations, so she feels different, she feels like a finesse character. In the video, we show a power called Far Reach [a teleportation abaility] which can be upgraded in different ways, and it changes your flow through the world and your mobility. Just on a video game level, moving through the world feels different. But if you play Corvo, it’s all this classic stuff, it’s the rat swarms, it’s possession, it’s stopping time – he feels more heavy and brutal, he’s an older guy.”[…]
