Dishonored 2 is filled with interesting level design, but its A Crack in the Slab mission in particular owes a lot to BioShock 2, according to designer Thomas Boucher.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Boucher says "In BioShock 2 there is one level where you can travel between the past and the present. For A Crack in the Slab, we wanted to push that idea a bit more, use it as a gameplay tool this time. We asked ourselves, what can we offer players with this mechanic that other games have never tried to?"
Bioshock 2 used this trick to show the stark contrast between the extravagance of the past, and the dilapidation of the present day. However, you weren't able to directly switch between the two versions.
Arkane gave players the direct ability to hop between the past and present in A Crack in the Slab. This allowed for exploration and crafty puzzle solving. Of course, creating such a level requires a few development tricks, which Boucher also explains: "It is a little trick, which is basically to build multiple maps within a level. One map for the present, and one map for the past, for example, with us then teleporting the player from one to the other."
While it is designed to feel like you're hopping between the same map, it's actually two separate levels and the game is just moving the player between the two individual maps Arkane had created to pull this off. While Bioshock 2 put out the idea out there, Dishonored 2 decided to take it even further. Inspirations come from all over and it's how the genre evolves over time.
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