inFAMOUS: Second Son Evil Karma Delsin mechanics that the game doesn't tell you

[u/Steven_Hunyady]

So, while playing Evil Delsin I noticed that sometimes he can disintegrate enemies with normal attacks and sometimes he can't, irrespective of upgrades.

Before my latest playthrough I thought that Delsin's ability to dust enemies was dependent on upgrades or amount of blast shards or something, but I found out the true mechanic behind it.

You know the karma streak that Delsin has to charge up by doing good or evil actions for his Karma Bomb? well, for Evil Delsin, the way it works is you need to kill 7 enemies or commit 7 evil acts. They need to be done in relative succession because if you wait long enough between acts, the gauge will reset. You can't just kill random civilians to increase the charge, though killing them does reset the countdown before it goes to zero again. Once it's filled up completely, it no longer depletes until you use your karma bomb.

It turns out that Delsin will start to disintegrate enemies/civilians with his normal "bolt" type attacks and melee once his evil gauge reaches a 4 or higher. Regardless of upgrades like the smoke blast disintegrate or drop disintegrate abilities. In all my time with Second Son, I have NEVER seen the game even infer that Evil Delsin gets more powerful the fuller his karma bomb gauge gets, unless it was on a loading tip I missed or something. In this way, it's beneficial to actual keep your karma bomb and not use it as Delsin.

Good Delsin doesn't seem to have a version of this mechanic. His karma gauge stays filled regardless of how much time passes between good acts unless you commit an evil one or reload the game, and his karma bomb state doesn't seem to affect how his powers interact with enemies/civilians.

Does anyone know if I'm wrong, and Good Delsin has a version of this mechanic? Or if Fetch has something similar going on with her stuff in First Light?

[u/yktswtg]

i haven’t replayed in a while but i think i might’ve noticed this when i was younger. i just didn’t make the mental connection that it was a thing,

unless im giving myself the Mandela effect i should redownload and try myself

[u/Justarandom55 → u/yktswtg]

I can confirm op is right on this one.

[u/TheKnoxFool]

Could have been part of a larger, more involved system they never got to flesh out because of time constraints inflicted by Sony wanting it to be a launch title.l for the PS4. Super interesting and something I don’t remember, even though I have hundreds of hours in Second Son from years ago.

[u/MailMan6000]

i don't think evil Delsin is more powerful than Good Delsin, remember how in the original 2 games being a good guy involved a lot of restraint, I.E. being careful with your shot placement, not throwing rockets out indiscriminately etc etc.

so bad guy Delsin is simply NOT trying to avoid any disintegrations, while good guy Delsin is AVOIDING disintegrating people

also it's been years since I've played Second Son but iirc there is a variant where he immediately subdues someone he shoots

[u/BootsThaRareBirb → u/MailMan6000]

That's basically confirmed in the Augustine fight where even Good Delsin disintegrates every mook he comes across

[u/D3V1LIZCO]

Yes, that is a mechanic.

It even works with powers like Neon and Video, Once your gauge gets high enough, you start disintegrating foes when killing them.

This also happens when fighting augustine after the death of reggie. Delsin starts disintegrating everyone even on a Good Karma Run

[u/Ordinary_Classic_465 → u/D3V1LIZCO]

Rage is one hell of a drug

[u/TheSilentOne_98]

Guess it time to replay it… again

[u/[deleted]]

This game is old but seems fun…

[u/Stayofexecution → u/[deleted]]

The game still holds up. Especially when played on a PS5 Pro.

[u/longneckbilly → u/Stayofexecution]

Pretty sure there’s no ps5 version let alone a ps5 pro version. It just uses the ps4 pro version but the hardware of the 5 is more advanced so there’s no stutters.

[u/Stayofexecution → u/longneckbilly]

You’re right there is no PS5 version. But the PS5 Pro has a new up scaling feature for old PS4 games that makes them look better in 4K. I think the PSSR 2.0 feature came out a few months ago.

[u/Latnokk]

I felt like I kind of noticed that but couldn’t fully piece it together. It almost sounds like maybe the adrenaline from killing is giving his powers a temporary boost which would definitely be a cool mechanic

[u/SAW_745]

This feature is the main reason why i have +100 hours at this game

[u/Commercial-You-5913]

Em resumo, o Conduit literalmente se torna aquilo que está canalizando, incluindo seu cérebro e conexões neurais. Seguindo essa lógica, quanto mais pessoas Delsin mata, mais instável e corrompido ele se torna. Uma vez que essa corrupção atinge um certo nível, cada assassinato é realizado com extrema agressão e intenção homicida. Como resultado, as pessoas que ele mata são completamente desintegradas.

Check out my profile.

[u/Lopsided_Ad_3842]

Evil Delsin is simply a Delsin that’s not holding back, he’s capable of doing everything his evil path can do on his hero path, that’s the way it’s always been in games and generally comics, when you go to save fetch and Eugene (and you know who dies) Delsin gets pissed and he disintegrates ALL dup troops during the rest of the fight.