Video Game Review: The Fate of Atlantis: Torment of Hades DLC
Greek god or Tron extra?
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey went full-blown mythological with the launch of The Fate of Atlantis DLC. In the first episode, your misthios traveled to the Elysium Fields for a vivid and colourful adventure that was fun even though it didn’t really innovate too much. The second episode, Torment of Hades, is out now and it’s going in a completely different direction.
No, literally. Instead of heaven, you’re going to hell, with all the requisite fire and brimstone.
Is the setting mere window dressing? Yes and no. First off, this episode continues the overall sense of “this is different and fun” that came with the Elysium episode (and was lacking in the First Blade DLC series). Much of the mission structure is the same: the core quest involves doing smaller tasks and assassinations before taking out more important foes (and one famous three-headed dog).
The difference here, though, is the expansive nature of Elysium is traded for a much smaller space. This may be intentional to give a greater sense of claustrophobia, at least in Assassin’s Creed terms. In terms of gameplay, though, it does mean that you have less to traverse, which means there’s less dead (no pun intended) time in the episode. While that seem like a drawback, it works here, given that Hades‘ three areas aren’t stunningly gorgeous like Elysium.
This is fun and unique, and if you plan to resume the proper game after finishing the DLC, you’ll get some impressive equipment upgrades as you journey with — and battle with — a who’s who of Greek mythology (and some surprise guests). In a way, it’s like the Assassin’s Creed mashup with God of War that was always wanted, especially with a pretty epic ending.
What the game isn’t, though, is any reinvention of the wheel. Both main and side quest structures are fairly typical for the main game, though the completely different setting and somewhat goofier tone make it a trip worth taking.
It’s hard to not have a good time with this, especially given the crisp mechanics of the engine. But you’re not going to experience anything new, regardless of how enjoyable this several-hour excursion is.
OVERALL (4/5)
Torment of Hades flips the script as Kassandra/Alexios journey through mythology. Is it worth signing up for? We’ll just say this: go to hell. (Sorry, we had to do it.)
