Above: Delsin’s neon powers transform his metal chain into a sword.
If you corrupt her
Choose this option if you feel like being a jerk. Delsin angrily declares that Fetch’s fate is “My call!” When Reggie tries to object, Delsin twists his arm and threatens to beat him if he doesn’t get his way. With this decision, the mission takes on a vengeful streak as Delsin and Fetch go out to silence anti-Conduit protesters who are using Fetch’s likeness on their signs.
How you “silence” them represents another wrinkle in Second Son’s morality system — combat now plays a role in how good or evil you are. When you zoom in with neon, you can finish enemies by hitting either their heads or shins: The former kills them, while the latter incapacitates them. A similar decision-making process occurs when they drop their guns and surrender to you. Murdering citizens, whether on accident or on purpose, is also a factor.
For this mission, I experimented more with the smoke powers. If neon is your rifle, than the smoke is your shotgun: Delsin’s explosive combos are ideal for close-quarters combat. Instead of transforming into traces of light, he disappears into a black shroud filled with burning embers, making it a good defensive move for dodging attacks. He almost looks like a ninja when he pops out of the shadows to hit bad guys with his flaming whip.
However, because Delsin can only have one power at a time, you can’t just swap back to neon whenever you feel like it. You must find a source of your preferred power (like cars, air vents, or neon signs) and absorb it every time you want to change your abilities. It’s a bit cumbersome, but I saw plenty of objects I could use for either smoke or neon, so it seems like you won’t have a problem finding the powers you want.
One of the more drastic changes in this level was the tone of Delsin’s and Fetch’s conversation. While it was still somewhat lighthearted, Fetch sounded like she was out for blood. At one point, she even talks about roasting a guy from the inside out. Delsin had little interest in getting to know her and focused more on their goal of killing anyone that stood in their way. The mission ended with a tense stand-off between Delsin and a group of government soldiers.
Above: With the smoke ability, Delsin’s chain becomes a flaming whip.
Living with this burden
By making folks like Fetch change with Delsin’s character, the decision to become good or evil is no longer a selfish act. You’re responsible for these other people now. This adds so much more weight (and possibly, tragedy) to the story.
I still have a lot of questions. Can you have a mix of good and bad friends? How many possible endings could this lead to? Sucker Punch remained coy about any details beyond what we saw in the demo. But with little more than a month to go until release, we won’t have to wait too long to see what else Infamous: Second Son has in store for us.