Dishonored 2 dev team Arkane Studios promised series fans a new Game-Plus mode as free DLC last month, but they didn;t offer many details. The wraps have come off now, as well as a release date next week on December 19.

The new mode opens up when you complete the game once as Emily or Corvo. Then, you will be able to play the game again with all of the Outsider's abilities unlocked, and all of the runes and bone charm traits collected on the first playthrough. Rune points will be able to be reassigned to any ability, so you will begin the game anew with a character customized the way you like it from the first mission onward.

“Dishonored players have asked for it, so now New Game Plus is here for Dishonored 2,” Creative Director Harvey Smith told BethBlog in a post about the update. “If you've ever wanted to make higher-powered characters, now's your chance. If you've wanted to play Emily Kaldwin with Possession or Devouring Swarm, or Corvo Attano with Domino, now you can. We've been having fun with it here at Arkane Studios, and we hope you will too.”

Game Update 1 will be the first of two free updates, but there are as yet no details on what he second one will offer. Various fixes and changes have been in beta testing, but the official update will go live next week on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Here is a quick look at what the update will bring.

New Features

• New Game Plus mode!
• New Quick-Access Wheel option for hiding/unhiding items

Improved Features

• Fixed Oraculum false-kill count in Royal Conservatory
• AI detection tweaks to clarify when players are detected or not
• AI locomotion improvement for running
• Fixed various Bonecharm effects (Strong Arm, Spiritual Pool, etc)
• Fixed a problem in slow-motion where some inputs were ignored
• Blood Thirst: various enhancement and fixes
• Killing an NPC with their own bullet is now more reliable
• Tweak for mana potion refill speed, depending on difficulty
• General performance and optimization improvements
• Fixed various game logic issues
• Fixed various User Interface issues