Dishonored guide: 12 Essential Tips To Conquer Dunwall

By Alex Dale for CVG UK

Dishonored gives you a giddying amount of freedom to achieve its objectives, and at first it can seem overwhelming. We didn't feel like we'd really got a handle on Corvo's abilities until we were over halfway through the campaign, and by then our sloppiness had resulted in numerous unnecessary deaths, including a dog.

Don't end up like us. Don't kill a dog. Read our essential tips guide so you can hit the ground running in your new life as a sneaky-stabby assassin...

1.Dark Vision 101

If you want to get through the game without being detected (or, at least, without being detected all the bloody time), you should make levelling up Corvo's Dark Vision skill a priority. In its most basic form, Dark Vision works a lot like Batman's Detective Vision, allowing you to see guards (and their cones of vision) through walls, albeit only from short range.

Throw a few extra runes onto the fire however and Dark Vision's true worth burns brighter still. When fully-maxed out, Dark Vision also highlights items of interest, and more importantly, allows you to trace electrical wires all the way back to their power source. This is useful when you're faced with a Wall of Light or an Ark Pylon...

2.Leveraging Walls of Light

Walls of Light are electrical barriers that instantly vapourise anyone who blunders into them. Anyone that is, except the guards - Walls of Light by default are calibrated to let them through unharmed.

There are several ways to slip past them. The most obvious (other than taking the long way round) is to locate their power source and remove it - although this will put the guards on high alert.

More ingeniously, you can use a Rewire tool (purchasable from Piero's workshop) to reverse the Wall of Light's polarity - meaning they zap the guards instead of your good self.

3. Leveraging Ark Pylons

The above trick also works with the Ark Pylons, who in their natural state will electrocute you on sight. Once rewired you can lure entire guard sentries towards them to their death, like a morbid Pied Piper. Don't get too greedy though, as enemies respawn after a while.

If you don't have a Rewire to hand, you can 'blink' past them without getting caught if you're quick on the draw.

4.Maximising Mana

Like everything else in Dishonored's world, Mana is at limited and resupplies come at a premium. Make what you have last longer by showing restraint and not spamming your attacks.

Indeed, lower-cost magic skills such as Blink or Dark Vision can be used indefinitely, so long as you give your meter time to recharge.