Good advice, which I also use, but apparently not enough.

I won't use any guides as that is not the way I want to play, I'd rather discover it myself. And if that means missing stuff so be it. The upshot is I am finding new things the second time around.

I am focusing on remaining unspotted, which of course takes some reloading to keep going, in order to get the Shadow achievement. So far so good. Dead folks see nothing

I've reached the Clockwork Mansion level, which is the fourth one I think, and am near the end of it. Two things I wanted to mention

One is, this time around I've experienced no framerate issues at all. The first time I played it, having entered the mansion proper, my frames were cut in half, about 30, through the early parts of it. This time, perfectly smooth, pegged at the vsynch limit. I had a look a couple days ago and my settings were default, mostly a mix of high and medium/normal. So I bumped a few of the texture-related ones while turning off bloom and depth of field (always do in all games with those two). I'm running a Ryzen 2600, 1660Ti and 16 gigs o' ram. This game is now four years old and it runs beautifully. I'm hoping Coot might give it another go and see if things are better.

The second thing is, and I commented on it during my run four years ago, is that the Clockwork Mansion level is wonderful. I'm a huge fan of the Thief games, especially Metal Age, and this level, and all of both Dishonored games really, is such a Thief-like experience. This level would have fit beautifully in that series, an extension of the Mechanists, done with gobs of imagination and innovation. The building is really cool, and graphically so convincing in its machinations. It's a huge form-shifting puzzle, with the sinister voice of the antagonist relentlessly egging you on. Highly atmospheric and imaginative.

When I wrote my thoughts upon completion of my first run I singled out this mission and the Crack in the Slab missions as standouts, and it's fun to experience it again.

Both "Crack in the Slab" and "Clockwork Mansion" are among the most creative and unique levels I have ever played in any first person shooter and I've been playing that genre of games since the original Wolfenstein 3D so I have some experience.

High praise indeed Panzer

And this game was released in November 2016, not 2017 as I seemed to have thought.

It's on the Steam summer sale for US$12 if anyone missed this one and wants to give it a go.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/403640/Dishonored_2/

For US$23, you get both Dishonored games and all DLC. A good deal.

For $31, you get Prey too, plus Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. I haven't played the last two, but both Dishonored games and Prey are some of my favorites of all time.

Arx is one of the best CRPGs ever made. This game was made as a successor to Ultima Underworld, but they never could secure the rights and is fantastic with original lore and story.

That was Arkane's first game correct? I know it has a good rep, and it's first person, which is a big plus for me. It may be a little too classic for me, but ya never know. If I didn't already own Prey and both Dishonored games I would probably go for that bundle.

I've always been interested in Arx but never played it.

I was also going to remind folks if they don't remember that Dark Messiah Might and Magic is another Arkane game I believe. I never finished the game though I've always enjoyed its game play and levels over the years. I still have it installed and I think I'm halfway through or so. The story and some of the characters are too dark for me so I don't know if I'll ever finish it but it has that trademark Arkane feel and presentation with the combat. I remember playing the demo way back when and was amazed how they incorporated animations with physics. It uses the Source engine so it still looks great and plays pretty darn well. Not as fluid and smooth as we're used to now with Dishonored and Prey but its good. First person melee, ranged and magic combat and stealth game play with some minor rpg elements. Its very satisfying to run about kicking orcs off of high ledges or into traps.

By the way, this game came out in September to what I'd judge as lukewarm praise. Response is mixed, the trailers look fun, but the gameplay seems limited. Seems like it's more Arkane goodness, but too little of it, with some annoyances, having read the Steam comments. Anyone play Deathloop yet?

It's on sale less than two months after release, which suggests sales have fallen short of expectations, but I really don't know.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1252330/DEATHLOOP/

I think I've seen ONE of my Steam friends playing Deathloop and I also recall that the majority of reviews were not positive. One of the major complaints revolved around performance. It seems the graphics engine is not optimized for PC's.

Too bad, and I'm honestly surprised if they released a bit of a stinker. Not sure it is, maybe I'd like it. But I have no plans to pick it up on this evidence.

They're now making a game called Redfall, an X Box exclusive.

I doubt the game is bad. Arkane games tend to be avoided by most because they require more conscious effort and thought to play through. They do not simply hand the player directions and tell them what to do, which to me is a huge plus. The last thing I want in any game are forced missions that instruct me on how to play them.

There is some truth to this. "Prey" is an outstanding scifi shooter in every aspect in my opinion but it had very limited mainstream success. Some of the major game review sites that I read also mentioned that it seems "Deathloop" was made for a very specific audience in mind. That's fine unless that specific audience isn't quite enough for your game to end up in the black at the end of the day.

Interview with Harvey Smith, one of the guys at Arkane who worked on Dishonored series, Prey and several other games. It also contains some info about Redfall.
https://www.nme.com/features/gaming-features/boss-level-2022-harvey-smith-arkane-studios-3312368

Redfall looks like a larger open world game compared to their others with coop multiplayer. Looks kinda like L4D with vampires instead of zombies, but with a skill tree. We'll see how it turns out.
But, I'm a sucker for some coop shooters and Arkane makes some interesting worlds to explore.

Here's the trailer


Looks like most X Box exclusives it'll be released on PC as well.

Looks interesting but I'll wait for word of mouth from user reviews before I decide to buy or not. Having COOP multiplayer though is a big plus for me.

I'm still disappointed about D2. Even after a video card upgrade the game still runs like crap. I don't know what it is about that game engine. I know its not only me because there are plenty of forum threads and discussions on this very issue. If memory serves I tried the game again when I got my new video card but that may have been before I also upgraded to Windows 10 as well as upgrading to my first SSD hard drive. I don't know if those would help but I'm pretty much fed up with trying this game over and over again with no favorable results. I loved the first game and played it twice with over a hundred hours but D2 is a frustrating piece of software. Its weird too because Prey uses the Cryengine 3 which is used in Crysis 3 and even in some budget games and it always gave me performance issues however Arkane took that same engine with Prey and managed to make it run buttery smooth unlike any other Cryengine 3 game I've ever played. What's the deal with the Dishonored engine? It seems unnecessarily demanding if not unoptimized and its already a 5 year old game.

Speaking of Prey I never finished my first play through as I have yet to reinstall it on my uprgraded PC. I hope Steam saved my progress.

I seem to recall that Prey uses the Steam Cloud for saves so you should be ok. I played through Prey three times. I thoroughly enjoyed that game.

Thanks Panzer I think you're right as its a pretty new game.