Overview
When it comes to the Clean Hands, Ghost and Shadow achievements, the biggest problem seems to be when players fail to get one of these whole-game trophies, yet they are certain they never killed anyone or were never detected. Especially when they claim their “end-of-mission” statistics screens all show “Didn’t Kill Anyone” and “Never Detected” both checkmarked. It’s easy to see how someone could conclude that their game is bugged. But one player claimed to have an answer to that dilemma. He proposed a somewhat unsettling idea where the end-of-mission statistics are not necessarily the same as Steam achievement statistics. In other words, the Dishonored game and the Steam achievements register kills differently. To quote, “If you alert a guard etc. and take it OFF of it’s scripted AI patrol and it dies or makes a kill, it counts against you.” The implication being, even though the end-of-mission stats show no kills, the Steam achievement counts it as a kill and negates Clean Hands and Ghost. A good cyber friend of mine responded to that with, “that would be a horrible way to implement the achievement system.” And, I whole-heartedly agree! However, at the time, I had no evidence to refute the claim. Well, now I do. And now, that myth is busted, along with a few others that still linger in the minds of many players.What follows is a mission-by-mission description of my Achievements Test Playthrough
Prologue and Mission 1
Some players still believe that, during the Prologue, killing an assassin or being detected may count against the Clean Hands, Ghost or Shadow achievements. So, when they appeared, I shot the first two, and the third one displayed an awareness meter with a full set of red bolts, which would normally count as a detection. Having received all three trophies dispells that idea.
In mission 1, In the “explosive door area, I left one unconscious guard out in the open on the lower level at the foot of the steps, to prove that he won’t be killed by the explosion. Surprisingly, he isn’t always a “dead or unconscious body found”, when other guards come rushing in the area after the explosion. Although he was in this case.
In this same area, I placed the second unconscious guard in the open kennel container next to the escape door (not in the dumpster) to prove the safety of this spot.
Mission 2: High Overseer Campbell
I did both the Granny Rags’ side jobs, for two reasons,
- to cause weepers in the Distillery District in mission 3, and
- to trigger the Granny/Slackjaw quest in mission 7: Flooded District.
I used a game exploit where I can “Switch glasses to Campbell’s side”, which of course poisions Campbell, yet I still got a checkmark for “Didn’t Kill Anyone”, at the end-of-mission stats screen. Curnow escapes safely and no alarms were rung. I wanted to show that this does not lock Clean Hands. Oddly, this exploit results in Campbell being the sole weeper at the bottom of Greave’s Refinery. A fate normally only seen when he is branded.
Mission 2b: Interim Mission at the Hound Pits
I choked out both weepers beneath the Hound Pits pub, without being seen. This is an often misunderstood part of the game. Even though there’s no end-of-mission stats screen, if either one dies, it does count against you as a kill, negating Clean Hands and Ghost. Likewise, if either of them detects you, that will negate Ghost and Shadow.
Mission 3: House of Pleasure
I sleep-darted all four weepers on lower Bottle Street. This causes bodies to be found but, doesn’t affect the achievements.
I accepted both Slackjaw’s side jobs so I can get the only non-lethal solution for the Pendleton bros.
Mission 4: The Royal Physician
At the first arc pylon, on the south end of the bridge, I alerted guards in an attempt to make them prematurely spot the thugs, then fight them, usually resulting in 1 guard and 2 thugs dead. My intent was to test the end-of-mission game stats vs the achievement stats question. Unfortunately, I
experienced a bug where the guards and thugs become friendly and there’s no fight and no one dies. (Sorry Margotbean)
At the Northside Bridgeway, I released Sokolov’s subjects from the wall of light cell so they are seen escaping. Guards pursued and killed them. I was not charged with a kill. This was a good test of the game stats vs achievement stats issue.
I choked out a guard and placed his unconscious body where rats eat him. As usual, it didn’t count as a kill in the end-of-mission stats. (It’s possible to test this in mission 2 on the part of Bottle St that goes under Clavering Blvd. I just forgot to. But the results are the same … no kills charged to me.)
Mission 5: Lady Boyle’s Last Party
I searched the upstairs rooms to id the target and get the Dunwall Tower Master Key. Then, I talked to Lord Brisby to set up the non-lethal solution. However, instead of turning her over to Brisby, I fed the unconscious Lady Boyle to the rats in the cellar. This didn’t count as a kill in the end-of-mission stats. But at the time, I wondered if the Steam achievements would count this as a kill but no, obviously it doesn’t.
Missions 6, 7, 8 and 9: No More Tests
Nothing more to test so, I played the steathy, non-lethal method to the end of mission 9, where I watched as the Clean Hands, Ghost and Shadow achievement trophies popped up.
Notes
If you have any questions or If you think of any situations I may have missied, please leave a comment.