Arkane Studios exploded onto the video game scene with the first Dishonored game back in 2012, and in 2016, we got a sequel. Now, five years later, Arkane is set to release a different class of assassin in gaming with Deathloop, leaving many Dishonored fans wondering exactly when we might get Dishonored 3.
The Dishonored games have had a fairly self-contained story at this point, with the various plot hooks set up in the original game reappearing in Dishonored 2 to form that story. However, we’ve only explored two of the series’ four islands, to say nothing of the Pandyssian Continent, that far-off and highly dangerous continent that’s only mentioned in in-game books.
However, various leaks have come out in the intervening years that hint that Dishonored 3 does, in fact, exist, so Arkane may work on it after Deathloop has been released. Arkane is currently hiring for an as-yet unannounced Triple-A game, and Dishonored’s co-creator, Harvey Smith, is also working on a new game.
Arkane also said after Dishonored 2’s release that if they did continue the series (which they say is currently “resting”), they’d focus on a new protagonist, rather than continuing the story of the Kaldwell Family with Corvo and Emily. Various DLC had focused on other side characters, including Daud, and his sidekick Billie Lurk, so it wouldn’t be entirely unprecedented.
Since, again, there are still at least three landmasses we’ve yet to explore (the Pandyssian Continent and the other two islands of Morley and Tyvia), and with a massive amount of lore findable in the series, there’s plenty of fodder for Arkane to use in adventures of other protagonists.
The ending of the Dishonored DLC “Death of the Outsider” also contributes to this. With the Outsider now separated permanently from the Void, the Void and the physical world are both destabilized, and who knows how such a story thread could affect a future game.
Either way, with Arkane working on Deathloop and Redfall, it might be a while longer until we can know for sure if Arkane is working on Dishonored 3 or not, especially since Deathloop is almost out. Once that’s done, Arkane may shift all of its resources to helping finish Redfall before they really start production on other games.
There’s no guarantee that either of the unannounced games are Dishonored 3 either, but Deathloop and Redfall could end up contributing to Dishonored 3’s development in some way as new mechanics, powers, and visual styles are tried and tested.
So we can put Dishonored 3 development starting after Deathloop to be “Plausible” for now. With two upcoming games that haven’t been announced yet, either one of them could be the next Dishonored game, but we’ll have to wait and see when they’re announced.