Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Tested on: PlayStation 4
Assassin’s Creed: Origins: The Hidden Ones DLC – Review
Ubisoft has hit the ball out of the park with their last addition to the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Mixing it up so far that it might as well have been a different franchise all together, was a good decision. It does polarise their fans, the hardcore fans might not like the new direction the game went, and the fans that craved a change are very, very relieved that the changes are that extreme. As with all Ubisoft titles as of late, the game hasn’t been officially released and yet a gold edition is revealed which gives you access to DLC. In this case the first of two, titled: Assassin’s Creed: Origins: The Hidden Ones. You can read up on the main game here.
Story
The DLC takes place after the events of the main game. Four years to be exact. It’s also in a completely different region, seeing as the last one was cleared of the immediate threat. You team up with the branch of the order in Sinaï to rid that region of the Roman threat. It’s not a vast squad, but three goons and their leader pressuring the people of Sinaï. They’ve have taken over and are proving very earnest in keeping the region under their control. The story, because of being DLC is very short and thus tightly wound, keeping the momentum up and making for a very immersive experience. It’s also fast paced, something the main campaign lacked. The contrast is quite stark. The ending is also rather emotional.
Graphics
If you want to know what the DLC looks like, you might as well play the main campaign and expect nothing less. It’s just more of the same and that should be lauded. It just looks good. Then again it’s 2018, so anything that comes out on current consoles and the PC has no excuse to look anything less the part. The aesthetics didn’t get too altered as a consequence and Sinaï feels like more of the main game, only slightly more vertical in nature.
The reason that the ending was so emotional is because of the fantastic work on the animation. The people who worked on it really didn’t skip a single frame of animation, that’s how fluid it looks.
Sound
The music is on point, the voice acting is equally stellar, there’s really nothing new to say about it. Ubisoft realises that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. So they didn’t, thank Horus. There is however one little niggling annoyance, and that’s the fact that the music on the closing scene, misses the ‘Pixar’ tearjerkiness.
Gameplay
Assassin’s Creed: Origins: The Hidden ones, is like the main game, an action adventure game. The core gameplay hasn’t been altered. So you’ll be hunting down underlings until you can flush out the big bad wolf. Along the way you’ll be climbing, riding horseback, killing random enemies. The only addition to the gameplay are two things, there’s the ziplining, that give you the opportunity to kill from up above at dazzling speeds, and the rope lifts like in Assassin’s Creed II. This helps you traverse heights that much faster, which does the parkour and the traversal a world of wonders.
The fact that there are no new skills or other things to unlock makes the DLC feel lackluster when it comes to the gameplay. You’ll have to be level 40 or 38 – if you are feeling bold – if you want to start the DLC, and you’ll be leveling up really, really fast. With the first mission dropping a whopping 22 000 experience on you, making leveling up really, really easy. This makes the original main game and side mission rewards feel like sad excuses. The fast experience rate gives you the opportunity to level up for the next upcoming DLC. So you won’t have to keep grinding to get where you need to be.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a second helping of Assassin’s Creed: Origins, then Assassin’s Creed: Origins: The Hidden Ones will fill that need, it won’t do much more. If however you are burnt out of the game, then this won’t pull you in, it’s just more of it. If you loved it you’ll want to buy the season pass.
Assassin's Creed: Origins: The Hidden Ones DLC - Review,
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