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Since I replayed Dishonored in full I've been thinking a lot about the chaos system and how the world is a mirror. In other games (Mass Effect and Dragon Age mainly come to mind) you can play your protagonist to be cool with murder and make things worse but beyond the people affected by each quest, there isn't much to be seen in the world as a whole. There'll be lore snippets at the end saying what becomes of X and Y, but that's about it.

Unlike them, Dishonored's system actively shapes the world as you play and you can see the changes with each mission. It's more obvious if you experience both low chaos and high; the plague hits SO, so much harder if your world state has high chaos.

In the Flooded District, there's a group of people trying to flee the infested, decaying area, but there's too much security around and they need help. But that's only in low chaos conditions. High chaos is hopeless and bleak and there is no one left to save—they have all become weepers who attack you on sight.

But why would Corvo killing or not killing people have such an impact overall? It's more than just the increased security (seeing as they are reacting to an active, extremely dangerous murderer on the loose.) It's the grief that runs deeper and deeper. It's everyone having lost all hope. It's civilians, poor or rich, falling ill just the same. No salvation except that which rests on the edge of a blade.

So when I say the world is a mirror, I mean there is a symbiotic, constantly morphing relationship between Corvo and the world. The world reflects him in this half-asleep sort of way, like it's waking up and resyncing itself with his actions once he receives the Mark of the Outsider. He's in tune with the Void, and the Void is everything at once, so when the Void sees his extreme violence, the natural conclusion is: this world must be awful, for such a man to exist.

I'm coming at this from a very, very abstract sense. Corvo makes the decision to spare no one—the world agrees and becomes what is needed in order to lead a man to such cruelty. It sees him slaughter an innocent for alerting the guards and it is a reminder it should be crueler too. The rats should inherit this city.

Whereas ghost Corvo, a sad but still kind man who chooses to avoid bloodshed in all circumstances, is a balm to the open wound that is Dunwall. There has to be good left, there has to be something worth saving in this mess if this man who has lost everything will face the men who orchestrated the coup and yet leave no trace behind, leave no corpses, no blood, no sound. The world remembers to be kind in turn.

This might be a bit confusing. I'm not sure how to explain it better. The game isn't guaranteed to lead to ruin and tyranny from the start. It's neutral. It's all me playing with the external concept of game mechanics for player entertainment and what those changes could mean if seen only through the story lenses.

What is the passive influence of the Void-touched upon the world? And I would say that this is it. Self-determination that becomes predetermination. A good man must have seen good in order to still have hope, so there must be good somewhere. A cruel man must have suffered injustice and apathy, so the world must be unjust and apathetic. Mirrors.

Just my thoughts.