Video Game Review: Legacy of the First Blade: Bloodline DLC
Fight alongside Darius in the final First Blade DLC.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Legacy of the First Blade has been a hit-or-miss DLC package. The first episode offered some intrigue as far as ties with the bigger scope of the series, and it also included an extremely useful upgrade for handling bodies upon assassinations. The second episode spent far too much time on the open seas (let’s save that for the standalone pirate game, okay?) and had a controversial ending.
The final episode, Bloodline, feels more like the opening episode. Picking up some time after the second episode, the setup is pretty straightforward for anyone who’s played the series before: bad things happen to Kassandra/Alexios, and now they’re out for revenge under the tutelage of a seasoned Assassin.
Familiarity also comes through with the mission selection, which doesn’t really break the mold of anything set prior. That means that all of the stuff you’ve done in previous episodes — and really, the entire game — happens again. You’ll be scouting out enemy strongholds, taking down leaders, searching for clues, and eventually doing the occasional bit of really nasty combat.
Although the DLC provides some new firepower for your Misthios it doesn’t change much; really, you’re doing familiar missions then getting rewarded with a 30-60 second cut scene, and then chugging along until the final boss.
Story-wise, some questions get answered and longtime series fans will see things begin to lock into the bigger Assassin’s Creed puzzle. But one of the issues here is that DLC should give you something tangibly new to play with: either new types of level design, new characters, or new experiences. Legacy of the First Blade fails to really deliver that, so the same churn that was fun for the proper game feels unsatisfying for paid DLC, even with new weapon/skill upgrades.
Thus, it’s a mixed bag, and given the hefty price of the collective DLC, it’s hard to really recommend it as a whole for those that didn’t already invest in one of the premium editions, especially when all of the meaty narrative stuff can be easily watched online. The gameplay experience itself is more of the same, and while the core game is wonderful (indeed, it was my GOTY for 2018), the DLC feels empty without a tangibly different environment or challenge.
OVERALL (3/5)
A disappointing conclusion to Legacy of the First Blade, Bloodline provides little creativity for the gaming experience, despite moving the narrative forward and offering ties into the bigger series history.
