(footsteps crunching gravel)
(bow stretches)
(arrow whooshing)
(man gasps in pain)
- [Brandin] As the first
part of the first batch
of post-launch content for
Assassin's Creed Odyssey,
Legacy of the First Blade Hunted
is a short, straightforward dose
of just some of what
makes Odyssey so good.
Though it doesn't do
anything particularly new,
Hunted does double down
on the behind-the-scenes
shadow syndicate structure, that made
picking of the Cult of Cosmos across the
Ancient Greek world so enjoyable,
(battle cries)
and introduces a great new villain.
(sword clanging)
(rocks crumbling)
(groaning)
(gravel crunching)
- Who are you?
- [Narrator] Hunted is
a good starting point
for a much larger plot
that was just eluded to
in the base game.
While the lack of an
Assassin's Brotherhood sub-plot
in Odyssey never really bothered me,
this introduction of a
well-known Persian figure
from that lore, and his
back story, is interesting
enough to make me want to
continue filling in those gaps
after Hunted's three to
five hour runtime is over.
With new allies comes new antagonists.
Returning from its introduction
in Assassin's Creed Origins
is the Order of the Ancient, which,
if you're keeping score at home,
eventually evolves into the Templar Order.
It operates similarly
to the Cult of Cosmos,
with its own web of web of masked figures
that must be investigated, uncovered,
and eliminated one by one.
As this is only the first third
of the full downloadable content,
those efforts are focused solely
on just one branch of the tree,
which offers a scant seven targets.
However, Hunted does
introduce one of the more
intriguing and memorable
villians in Odyssey.
And that's because he poses as much
of a psychological
threat as a physical one
to Alexios or Cassandra.
Listening to his ghostly,
disembodied voice
taught me about all the people I've killed
in a bid to be a hero,
has me excited to see what new characters
Ubisoft has in store down the line.
- [Villain] Look at them.
Do you remember their screams?
Does it weigh on you, all
of the misery you've caused?
- [Narrator] The entirety of this episode
takes place in the georgeous, fiery,
red-orange forests of
the Macedonia region.
Though it's a large chunk of land,
aside from one mission where you briefly
take to the sea, you'll never leave it.
Which might be a tad disappointing
if you've already scoured it like I have.
Beyond the story and characters,
Hunted does add some new
weapons and armor to collect,
but not much that changes the gameplay
to any interesting degree.
The exception to that being a new skill
in the Stealth Tree called Death Veil,
which makes bodies of enemies
you've assassinated disappear.
It's a useful trick that
improves quality of life,
so you're not micro-managing
corpse disposal
during several of Hunted's missions
that strongly encourage
a stealthy approach,
which should make fans of
older Assassin's Creeds happy.
- [Hooded Character] I could
hear you all the way from here,
- [Main Character] Then why ask?
- Integrity is important.
- [Narrator] For more on
Assassin's Creed Odyssey,
check out the opening minutes
of Legacy of the First
Blade Hunted gameplay.
You can see my original Odyssey review,
and a montage of every
Assassin's Creed review score
IGN has ever given, and
for everything else,
you are already in the right place
right here on IGN.
(painful moaning)
