Arkane Studios Harvey Smith Explains Why Emily Kaldwin Was A Playable Character In Dishonored 2

Arkane Studios’ Co-Creative Director Harvey Smith said that the decision to make Emily Kaldwin a playable character in Dishonored 2 came about because of the criticism the developer received for having so few female characters in the original game that were rich.

In an interview with Engadget during E3 2017, Smith said ‘At first you take some criticism and you you’re like “Wait a minute,” and then you go look and it’s then it’s like, “Wow, every woman in Dishonored 1 is either a servant, a prostitute, a witch, a queen, or a little girl.

‘That was not an intentional choice,’ he continued. ‘When something like that pops up, you can get defensive if you want, or you can say, “Guys, let me just ask this: Did we mean that?” And the answer is no, we did not mean that,” Smith added.

‘Would the game be worse if we took an action on this or would the game be better? The game would be richer and more interesting.’

Standalone title Dishonored: Death of the Outsider was announced at E3 and will star Billie Lurk who appeared in Dishonored 2. It will be available this September on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.