Dishonored 2 New Game Plus mode hits Steam, lets you combine Emily and Corvo's powers

If you've ever wanted to play mix-and-match with the supernatural powers of Corvo Attano and Emily Kaldwin, the first of two planned free updates to Dishonored 2 will make you very happy indeed. It includes a New Game Plus mode that will give you access to all of the abilities of both characters, as well as all Runes and Bonecharm traits you've collected from previous sessions, which can be reassigned to different powers.

"Dishonored players have asked for it, so now New Game Plus is here for Dishonored 2,” creative director Harvey Smith said. “If you've ever wanted to make higher-powered characters, now's your chance. If you've wanted to play Emily Kaldwin with Possession or Devouring Swarm, or Corvo Attano with Domino, now you can. We've been having fun with it here at Arkane Studios, and we hope you will too.”

The free update is the first of two that are planned for Dishonored, and will be released today in beta ahead of a full rollout scheduled for December 19. The second update is slated for January, and will add a new Mission Select option and additional custom difficulty settings. The full list of changes made by this update is below.

New Features:

New Game Plus mode!
New Quick-Access Wheel option for hiding/unhiding items

Improved Features:

Fixed Oraculum false-kill count in Royal Conservatory
AI detection tweaks to clarify when players are detected or not
AI locomotion improvement for running
Fixed various Bonecharm effects (Strong Arm, Spiritual Pool, etc)
Fixed a problem in slow-motion where some inputs were ignored
Blood Thirst: various enhancement and fixes
Killing an NPC with their own bullet is now more reliable
Tweak for mana potion refill speed, depending on difficulty
General performance and optimization improvements
Fixed various game logic issues
Fixed various User Interface issues

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.