PART 1 — THE CELL

After the opening events and Corvo’s imprisonment, you’ll eventually find yourself sitting inside Coldridge Prison.

A guard brings Corvo some food.

Underneath the bread is something significantly more useful than prison lunch:

A message and a key.

Grab them and unlock your cell.

There’s a sword available immediately after leaving.

You can take it, but remember what we’re doing here.

We’re not turning this prison escape into a massacre.

Once you move forward, you’ll encounter your first guards.

And this is where we’re going to learn something important about Dishonored.

You don’t have to fight everybody.

Stay crouched, watch their patrol patterns, and wait for openings.

If you need to remove a guard from your path, approach from behind and use a nonlethal choke rather than killing them.

Once they’re unconscious, move them somewhere safe and out of sight.

And when I say safe, I mean SAFE.

Don’t leave unconscious people somewhere dangerous and assume the universe will take care of them.

We’re trying to escape prison.

We’re apparently also running a daycare for unconscious guards.

CLEAN HANDS WARNING #1

An unconscious enemy can still die.

So don’t dump unconscious guards somewhere dangerous.

Find a quiet, protected location away from environmental hazards and leave them there.

Our philosophy for this playthrough is going to be simple:

If we’re unsure whether something could kill somebody…

we aren’t doing it.

PART 2 — GETTING THROUGH THE PRISON

Continue sneaking through Coldridge.

You’ll eventually encounter more guards and rooms where you have several possible approaches.

Remember:

You do NOT need to knock everybody unconscious.

Sometimes the safest Clean Hands strategy is simply waiting for a guard to turn around and walking right past them.

Think of it this way:

Every unconscious body we create is another person we have to babysit.

So whenever possible:

Sneak first. Choke second. Panic never.

Okay.

Probably some panic.

EXPLORATION

There are 1,010 coins worth of valuables available during this mission.

However, there are:

0 Runes
0 Bone Charms
0 Outsider Shrines
0 Sokolov Paintings

So if you’re running around Coldridge wondering where the hidden rune is…

Stop.

There isn’t one.

We’ll have plenty of supernatural treasure hunting later.

For now, apparently our greatest supernatural ability is stealing loose change.

PART 3 — GETTING THE EXPLOSIVE

Eventually you’ll need the explosive required for your escape.

Keep using the same strategy while moving through the prison:

Watch patrols.

Wait for guards to separate.

Sneak around whenever possible.

Use nonlethal takedowns only when necessary.

And keep unconscious guards somewhere protected.

Eventually you’ll make your way toward the prison’s outer door.

And THIS is where our Clean Hands run encounters its first particularly nasty trap.

🚨 BIG CLEAN HANDS WARNING 🚨

Before planting the explosive, check where you’ve left every unconscious guard nearby.

There is a dumpster near the outer door.

You might look at that dumpster and think:

“Perfect! Nobody will find him in there.”

DO NOT PUT AN UNCONSCIOUS GUARD THERE.

The upcoming explosion can kill a guard placed inside it.

Meaning you can personally avoid killing anyone, carefully sneak through the entire prison…

…and then accidentally blow up the guy you tucked into a dumpster ten minutes ago.

There goes Clean Hands.

Dishonored has officially taught us something.

I’m not calling it a rule yet.

But I’m writing that down.

PART 4 — BLOWING THE DOOR

Once you’re ready, plant the explosive.

Then get away from the door.

After it detonates, additional guards can investigate the area.

You don’t need to fight them.

Hide.

Wait.

Let them search.

Then move through the opening once you have a safe opportunity.

Remember what we’re doing:

We’re escaping.

We’re not trying to prove to the entire Dunwall City Watch that Corvo could beat them in a hallway.

PART 5 — THE SEWERS

Once you’re outside Coldridge, continue toward the sewers and follow the escape route.

Keep your Clean Hands mentality active.

Don’t start attacking people simply because we’ve successfully escaped the prison.

Eventually, you’ll make your way toward the river and meet Samuel Beechworth.

And congratulations.

We’ve escaped Coldridge Prison.

WITHOUT KILLING ANYBODY.

Hopefully.

BEFORE YOU CONTINUE

When the mission statistics appear, CHECK THEM.

For our Clean Hands playthrough, we want confirmation that we completed the mission without killing anyone.

If the game reports a kill when you thought you had zero:

STOP.

Don’t shrug and continue.

Reload an earlier save and figure out what happened.

Somebody we knocked unconscious probably had a considerably worse afternoon than we intended.

MISSION #1 CHECKLIST

Before moving on, we should have:

✓ Escaped Coldridge Prison

✓ Zero kills

✓ Clean Hands still alive

Optional:

□ Find as much of the 1,010 available coin as you want

And most importantly:

✓ Did not accidentally explode the dumpster guard

Seriously.

I’m going to remember that dumpster.