Dishonored 2: Harvey Smith on the idea of player choice

With a sequel to Arkane Studios' fascinating stealth adventure on the way, its co-creator discusses systems, freedom and followers

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.