A fan theory that has existed for over a year now suggested that both Dishonored and Deathloop are in the same universe. Turns out, that fan was correct as studio director Dinga Bakaba, who directed Deathloop, confirmed the theory during a recent episode of The Official Xbox Podcast.
Bakaba, who is the studio director of Arkane Studios in Lyon, known as Arkane Lyon, was joined by director Harvey Smith of Arkane Austin (Arkane Studios, Austin, TX). The two were asked by podcast Xbox Podcast Co-Host Jeff Rubenstein about the two games and the possibility of a connection between the two, specifically on whether or not they share the same universe. Bakaba addressed the question and confirmed that this was indeed true and that Deathloop takes place after the events of Death of the Outsider, the standalone title that followed Dishonored 2.
The question from Rubenstein first comes up at 45m:42s where he asks the two directors about the theory after he spent some time going down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos and theories on the subject. Take a look and have a listen:
“Not everyone has seen the same thing. Not everyone has heard the same song that you might have heard hidden somewhere. Not everyone has seen every room, et cetera, et cetera. So, it was nice to see the community peek at the little clues we did sprinkle everywhere that, yes, indeed, we envisioned Deathloop to be happening in the future after Death of the Outsider.”
Bakaba goes on to say that Arkane did not want to make the connection a big deal at the time as the two games are meant to stand on their own and Deathloop needed to have its own identity. It was important that Deathloop maintained this with its own style and music and they felt that revealing the connection too soon may have been a hindrance, in that regard.
Bakaba adds that after the events of Death of the Outsider, where- spoiler alert, the Outsider is no more, the studio wondered what could happen next.
“As we were making Deathloop, we said, hey, that could be one of the things that could happen after that. So, we have a certain timeline to link that and there are a lot of clues, actually, in the game.”
Dishonored recently celebrated its 10th anniversary on October 9th, having released in 2012 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.
Can't let this day go by without saying thank you to our community for loving Dishonored as much as we do.
So many of you have shared what this world and these characters mean to you. Happy #Dishonored10
Celebration art 🎨 by: @ziqqix of @posterposse pic.twitter.com/giprdwIfOi
— Dishonored (@dishonored) October 9, 2022
Dishonored was followed by Dishonored 2 in 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC with Dishonored: Death of the Outsider after that for the same family of game platforms in 2017. Since then, the studio has released Deathloop in 2021 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and plans to release Redfall for Xbox Series X|S and PC in 2023.
