The core mechanic that’s used to drive gameplay through all of the Dishonored games is options. Through the game, the player is given multiple options and paths that can effect both the player experience and long-time storyline and eventual ending of the game. Seeing as Dishonored and all of its DLC are stealth/assassin themed games, there are multiple choices given for where the player can go, what they can do, and how they can accomplish tasks based on how they wish to play. In the Knife of Dunwall DLC, the first level sees the player trying to sneak into a whale slaughterhouse of striking workers.
From the start there are different paths the player can take, choosing to reach the gate by either sneak out of the way and out of sight of the guards or killing them for a more direct path. Although the latter seems quicker and more efficient, the player is, at the same time, gradually punished for killing too many people as the game progresses, making it slightly harder to traverse and possibly leading to the games “bad end”. Once the player reaches the gate, there are already a few options, laying the groundwork for a more versatile and open gameplay. The gate is a wall of electricity that will incinerate anyone who passes through it who isn’t a guard.
The player can choose to either remove or blow up the whale oil take that powers the gate, rewire it with a rewire tool and reverse its effects, or skip it altogether, and climb up through buildings and over roofs to climb the wall. Once inside the slaughterhouse yard, the player has three choices for how to get into the slaughterhouse. The most direct is through the front, which can only be accessed by punch card. At the beginning of the game, the player can choose to purchase a “favor”, using coins that can be collected through the game, to pay a worker to write three numbers on the side of the main building.
These numbers are the combination to a safe in the foreman's office which holds the only punchcard. Although this is seemingly the easiest option, it also costs the player coins that could be used on ammo and weapon upgrades, and deposits the player right in the middle of the level, where there are more enemies to catch them.
The second option is more indirect, but does carry it's own set of risks. Off towards the left, there is an arch pylon, which functions same as the wall of electricity, but works based on proximity rather than touch. This pylon is also guarded. Behind the pylon is a lever which opens the sewer gates under the dock on the far left, the player can then climb through the sewers, avoiding a swarm of rats, and enter the slaughterhouse that way. This is a stealthier approach, but also requires the player to avoid both enemies and the arch pylon. The final approach takes the player to the far right side of the yard, up on a metal catwalk, which is also guarded. on the catwalk the player finds an empty receptacle for a whale oil tank and the controls for a crane, which requires whale oil to power it. The player can use whale oil tanks taken from the other machines, or fill their own tank. To fill a tank, the player must then go under the catwalk, retrieve an empty oil tank, and move to the far back corner along the wall to the oil dispenser, fill it, and go back to place it in the receptacle and pull the level to power the crane. the crane moves a chain from the left to the right, allowing the player to climb it up to a balcony, accessing the slaughterhouse from there. This option, although offers the least amount of direct enemies and dangerous machinery, it requires more components and tasks done to access it, causing the player to spend more time moving around the map, risking being seen by enemies. The whole Level is laid out based on different choices that the player can take, each with its own given and possible consequences that can sometimes be determined by how the player chooses to traverse the game. How the player traverses the game and how they decide to move through the level both determine both the difficulty level of the game, how the player proceeds through the next level, and how the story itself plays out.
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