Dishonored 2 coming from Arkane Studios, features two playable characters

Dishonored 2 is coming from Bethesda Softworks and Arkane Studios, the developer confirmed tonight in Bethesda's news conference kicking off E3. The reveal was not unexpected, even hinted at in a rehearsal gaffe picked up on Twitch yesterday.

The sequel will come to PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One, Arkane's Harvey Smith announced.

A trailer showed that the game will feature a new optional protagonist, Emily Kaldwin, the princess from the original Dishonored. Players can also choose to play as Corvo Attano, the first game's protagonist, and opt to play with pure stealth or with guns-out action. "You can play the entire game without killing anyone," Smith said.

Smith said that in Dishonored 2 the Empire of the Isles is once again in peril as an "otherworldly usurper seizes the throne."

The original stealth action-adventure game, set in a time-displaced Victorian-era England, launched in 2012, a year after its development was announced. The game garnered wide critical acclaim; Polygon scored it a 9.0.

Arkane's president Raphael Colantonio, announced the game alongside Harvey Smith, formerly of the Deus Ex series. The two were co-directors of the first Dishonored.

Here's the first teaser trailer for Dishonored 2.