You cannot see. Every footstep, punch and shout sends out a pulse that maps the streets around you in red contour lines for a moment. Patrol the rooftops, listen for trouble in the alleys, and deal with it.
Checking for a headset…
Left stick
Walk. Click it to sprint.
Right stick
Snap turn. Pull it back to slide: under a swing, or into someone's legs. Click it for the menu tablet: it appears in front of you, and you press its buttons with your hand.
Parkour
From the tablet. One man runs for it over the rooftops and you go after him, no batons. His feet and yours light the way. Touch him with either hand to stop the clock; your wrist watch shows the seconds.
Dojo
From the tablet. Pick who you want to fight and they come at you in waves on the pier out on the river, for a score. A man knocked into the water counts.
Stealth
From the tablet. Eight men guard the building site. They see what is in front of them, hear your pings and running feet, and shout if they find a friend lying there. Crouch, keep to the dark side of the hoarding, throw a brick to send one the other way, and take them one at a time. Clear it without a shout for a ghost bonus.
Museum heist
From the tablet. Row out to the museum on the island, steal the pot from its vault and get it back to your boat. Here you can hear the guards' hearts through the walls: each one glows at his chest, beating faster as he grows uneasy. Cut the vault's lasers in the security office or crawl in through the duct, leave a brick on the plinth when you lift the pot, and do not drop it.
A
Jump. Hold, then release, for a leap that clears rooftops.
Listening
Tap X (left controller) for a sharp click of the tongue: it shows the few metres round you in fine detail and READS whoever is in it, or whoever a hand is pointing at: you hear their heart through walls, coloured by what they are, and an armed man glints. Hold X for a quiet train of clicks that moves with you. Tap B or Y twice for the long pulse: the whole neighbourhood, slowly, and loud.
Climbing
Close an empty hand on an edge (a sill, a parapet, a balcony rail, a fire escape) and you hang from it; pull down to climb, reach for the next edge, bring it to your waist to get over. Run at a railing to vault it; leap at a chest-high wall to pull yourself up; leap along a wall at a run to run along it. Fire the line at something above you while in the air and you swing on it. Crouch as you land from a height to roll.
Grappling
With a thug in your grip: yank him in toward your hips for a knee, turn your wrist over hard for an arm lock (he drops his weapon, and a gang man held like that talks), or turn your whole body to throw him over your hip. With your arm folded, swing the elbow into him. Parry, then hit: a counter. Drive a beaten man into a wall, a car or a railing to finish him.
The gangs
The Westside Dogs, the Kovac Crew and the Crane split the city. Robberies you hear from down the street, hostages, deals, gang fights, car chases, break-ins, meetings on the roofs. The police come with lights and sirens and take in whoever you leave lying there. Pick up the evidence, make one of them talk, or follow a runner home: find a gang's safe house, raid it, take the lieutenant's books.
Home
The loft: a mission board, an evidence wall, your record, a rack of suits you have earned, a weapon rack, a heavy bag, reaction pads and a shelf for what you find. Touch them. Everything is kept between visits.
B or Y
Tap for a sonar ping (clapping your fists or batons together does the same). Keep it held and time slows for everyone but you, for about three and a half seconds; red closes in round the edge of your sight and thins as your focus runs out. Focus comes back slowly on its own, and faster for every parry, dodge and deflected bullet. The upper row of lights on your left wrist shows how much is left.
Grip
A baton hangs on each hip. Press grip there to take one; it stays in your hand. Press again at the hip to put it back, or anywhere else to throw it (it ricochets and returns). Keep the grip held as you throw and it stays where it lands, ringing, to light the place and draw thugs over; press again to call it back. Hold grip on a reeling thug to grab him, then swing and let go. Take hold of a man from behind who has not seen you and keep squeezing: a silent choke. He is out in a second and a half, and nobody hears a thing. Let go early and he shouts.
Grip, empty hand
Away from your hip, an empty hand closes on whatever is in reach: a bottle, a bin lid, a chair, or a knife, gun, sword or cane a thug has dropped (reach down for things on the ground). It is yours while you squeeze. Swing to hit with it; let go mid-swing to throw it.
Trigger
With a baton in hand, fires a line from its tip. On a wall, ledge, scaffold or cable, hold the trigger to be hauled there. On a thug, it drags him to your feet. With a gun in hand, fires it: a few rounds, and loud.
Fists
Punch for real: a blow has to travel before it lands, so draw back and throw it. A baton is swung with the arm: flicking it from the wrist does nothing. Thugs watch your hands and cover up high or low, so show one and hit the other, or hit the legs to slow them; the quick ones sway back from a swing they see coming and hit straight back. Uppercuts stun.
Defence
Duck high swings, sidestep low ones, or put a hand in the way. A hand held in the path blocks. One sharp movement into the blow, from a steady guard, parries it and leaves him stunned; flailing hands never parry. Watch for feints. Nothing slows down for you unless you hold B or Y.
Bullets
Gunmen fire quickly, in ones, twos and threes, and lead you if you run in a straight line. The muzzle stops following you an instant before each shot: move then. A swung baton sends a round back; a bare hand does nothing.
Swords
The swordsmen make no sound; watch for the blade. It only hits if it passes through you, and only a baton in its path stops it. Duck, step aside, or parry with a swing. Knock the blade aside with a baton and he is open for a moment.
Watch
On your right wrist: the needle points to the nearest crime and the figures are how far, in metres. It beeps when a new one starts. When it is dim, there is no crime and it is pointing at the tower.
Thieves
Some crimes are a snatch. The thief runs the moment he sees you, over the rooftops if he can. He is loud enough to follow by sound alone; run him down.
The tower
The tallest building in the city. Bodyguards outside and on every floor, and their boss at the top with a cane. Put him down and every thug in the city goes with him.
Walls
Walls stop sound. A ping lights the street you are in, and what it can reach through doorways, down alleys and over rooftops.
The street
Bins, bottles, crates and chairs can be knocked about. Windows break, street lamps can be put out, parked cars have alarms. People in the shops and on the pavement run from a fight.
The city
A river along the south side with two piers, and an elevated railway down the middle avenue. The train lights the street as it passes; you can ride its roof. A subway line runs under the park's row of blocks: four stations, and trains you can ride between them. Six hundred people live here and keep their own hours: walk up to any front door and go in. Things you can pick up are drawn in amber.
Figures
Bright and densely lined means hostile. Faint means civilian.
Keyboard: WASD move, Shift sprint, Space jump (hold to charge), C slide, X crouch, R ping (hold to slow time, tap twice for the long pulse), Z precise click (hold for moving sonar), B press what you are looking at in the loft, M menu tablet (then the number on the button), mouse buttons punch, Q/E take or stow a baton (hold to grab a thug, or to pick up and keep whatever is lying in reach), F throw, T throw and leave as a lure, G hold to fire the line and be hauled in, or fire a gun, Esc menu.
↑quiet
M menu · R ping, hold to slow time, twice for long pulse · Z click · Space jump · Shift sprint · C slide · X crouch · Q/E baton, hold to pick up · F throw · T leave as lure · G line or gun · B press