Set design in Dishonored 2

Arkane Studios Lyon were presented with an interesting opportunity when they began creating a sequel to the smash-hit stealth-action videogame Dishonored (2012). The original was set in the dense industrial city of Dunwall at the heart of an empire, and art director Sébastian Mitton saw the opportunity to show players the rest of the world.

He and the Arkane Studios team began to sketch out the island city of Karnaca – “the jewel of the south at the edge of the world.” Mitton believes strongly in hiring fine artists and visual artists to create the concept art for a game, infusing Dishonored 2 with a painterly quality, against the general trend for photorealism in major contemporary videogames. Sculptor Lucie Minnie was hired to create character busts in clay, which were then translated into digital forms. To inform the main characters’ neo-Victorian outfits, Arkane worked with fashion designer Maya Hansen, who has previously made garments for Kylie Jenner and Lady Gaga, among others.

This concept art was created alongside the narrative details of Karnaca. Arkane tracked centuries of waves of fictional immigration and worked out how these would have influenced different eras of architecture and social structure in different areas of the city.

Every aspect of Karnaca has been thought through, supporting Dishonored 2’s immersive gameplay and environmental storytelling. This relation between worldbuilding and gameplay can be seen in the Dust District. Arkane realised that the nearby silver mine sits upwind of this area, and so dust from the mine would regularly blow through the streets. This changes the gameplay in the Dust District, as players can use the lack of visibility to their advantage to sneak past the guards.

– Jim Fishwick