Popular Culture Review 29.2
tive . All of the games in the Dishonored series combine both their narrative elements and mechanical elements such that the overriding concerns related to the environment and the conditions in which many of Dunwall ’ s and Karnaca ’ s citizens live blend seamlessly . At the center of this lies the player ’ s control over play style , with two primary modes of play available , each presenting permanent and evolving changes to Dunwall , Karnaca , and their inhabitants . Although the games allow two modes of play , Low Chaos and High Chaos , they do not allow much switching between the two , and the selected mode of play directly impacts gameplay elements throughout , especially in the games ’ endings . 3 There is technically a third category�which may be called less-than-High Chaos�that is not explicitly revealed to the player , as the game only rates missions and overall chaos levels on a scale of low to high . This less-than-High Chaos mode still causes an overall negative tone to the gameplay , but it is less severe than its highest counterpart .
The first game is divided into ten missions , the second into nine , and the third into five , and after completing each , the player is presented with a scorecard detailing whether the mission was Low or High Chaos and providing other statistics , such as the number of enemies killed or whether the player completed the mission without being spotted or detected . 4 The difference between a Low and High Chaos play-
3 While it is possible to have some chapters completed as Low Chaos and others as High Chaos , the game tracks overall instances of Low or High Chaos and uses this measure as the basis for both changes in the game and the ending that the player receives . It is possible for players deliberately attempting Low or High Chaos playthroughs to replay chapters to achieve that end .
4 Being able to “ ghost ” a level , as this no detection playthrough is often called , does not determine Chaos level . Of more importance is the player ’ s overall casualty level and decisions he or she makes regarding
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