Wall Week

Dishonored’s Wall of Light is built to control, but teaches you how to be free

We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it… or can we?
By Jeremy Peel
A body is zapped to dust in midair by an electric wall in Dishonored, as a nearby guard reels backwards.
Don't try this with the Jank paywall either.

Getting directions in a city devastated by plague and gang warfare is an alarming business. Excuse me, sir, how might one reach Holger Square, and the office of the High Overseer?

“It’ll be a rough trip,” says Samuel the boatman. “Used to be you’d go straight up Clavering Boulevard, but now it’s not so easy. City Watch still holds the bigger streets and they’ve set up those Wall of Light checkpoints. A man walks through one of those and he ends up burned to a crisp.”

Good gracious, the things they can do with whale oil these days. Sure enough, a banner hangs above the ancient gate that breaks up the Boulevard: ‘THE BOLDEST MEASURES ARE THE SAFEST’. Beneath it, a 16-beam floodlight illuminates the cobbles. And beneath that, a deceptively clear passage, beset by ominous cables and machinery. Through the gap, the City Watch passes unharmed; anyone else is vaporised instantly.

This post is for paying subscribers only

Already have an account? Sign in.
Tagged with:
Wall Week / Bits / Dishonored / Viktor Antonov
Jeremy Peel

Jeremy Peel

Jeremy Peel is an award-nominated writer, podcaster and videogame consultant of 15 years' experience, which makes him an old fart in journalist years. He loves Deus Ex with all his heart and tends to side with Tracer Tong at the end these days.