This week in video games, November 28, 2016: Dishonored 2, MechCon on Saturday

This week, Steep is released, MechCon comes to the Commodore Ballroom, Fantastic Beasts comes to Lego Dimensions, and you can travel to Mars, sort of. But first, Dishonored 2 satisfies with its fully realized setting and its sandbox style.

Dishonored 2 delivers on the promise of stealth action set in a stunning world

The delightful Dishonored, released in 2012, presented us with a familiar yet uncanny world and gave us a choice to explore that world any way we wanted.

The sequel has us making decisions, too, the first of which is deciding which character to play.

You can choose between Corvo Attano, the protagonist of the first game, or his daughter, Emily Kaldwin, who, at the beginning of Dishonored 2, is Empress of Dunwall but who is deposed at the beginning of the story. The two protagonists have similar but different supernatural powers that you'll use to retake the throne.

As before, you can choose whether to move through the game stealthy or with force, and once again there are consequences to those decisions. The more bodies you pile up, the more chaos is injected into the world, the darker the dialogue, and the more gruesome the world becomes.

We also get a new environment, with either Corvo or Emily forced to leave Dunwall—which was inspired by Victorian London—and travel to Karnaca, which draws from cities like Barcelona and Madrid.

The setting means so much to the Dishonored games, and Karnaca is beautiful and brimming with nooks and crannys to explore.

Although you can play Dishonored 2 wreaking havoc and creating carnage, this really is a game to be played sneaky. It won't be easy, but it will be satisfying.

Vancouver's Piranha Games hosting second annual MechCon at the Commodore

MechWarrior Online is a game in which players pilot large armoured and weaponized suits called "mechs".

The game was developed in Vancouver by Piranha Games, and on December 3 at the Commodre Ballroom, the second annual MechCon will take place.

In addition to panel discussions and game demos, the event will feature the finals of the MechWarrior Online World Chapmionships.

Eight teams from around the world will be playing for a piece of a prize pool estimated to be US$150,000. The final games will start at 9 p.m. on December 3 and are open to the public for live viewing.

Fantastic Beasts comes to Lego Dimenions

Lego Dimensions continues to roll out more characters and game worlds. Timed to release with the film is a new story pack set in the world of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The story pack inclues a new gateway of the Magical Congress of the United States of America that sits on the Lego Toy Pad and features six levels of narrative based on the film.

In addition to Fantastic Beasts, other entertainment franchises now available include Sonic the Hedgehog, Gremlins, E.T., and Adventure Time.

The Gremlins team pack includes Gizmo and Stripe, and the E.T. fun pack inlcudes the lovable alien

Each expansion pack gives players access to an open world based on that franchise.

These latest expansion packs also feature arenas for the new Battle Arena mode in which up to four players can play locally. The battles can be competitive or cooperative, and you can configure the teams, playing 2v2 or 3v1. 

Travel to Mars in VR and see if you can survive

If you've got a virtual-reality system at home, buckle up, because there's going to be no end of titles being released in the coming months. And not everything coming is a game, in the purest sense of the word.

The Martian VR Experience, for example, is more of a simulation that gives you the chance to become an astronaut.

The Experience comes from Ridley Scott's RSA Films and is based on the film The Martian (itself based on the book of the same name).

Available for both PS VR and the HTC Vive, The Martian VR Experience will have you taking on the guise of protagonist Mark Watney, who is stranded on Mars. You'll have to travel to the Red Planet first, then drive a rover and use equipment on the surface in the same way that it occured in the movie.

Releasing this week