Following along with the monthly release of episodes, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey pushes through in Episode 2 of The Fate of Atlantis, Torment of Hades. As the penultimate episode, I am expecting plenty of padding and lack of writing similar to the previous DLC story, hopefully, my expectations can be torn down just like the statues of Episode 1.
Ending off on a cliff-hanger, episode 1 thrust us into the depths to face off against Cerberos, or rather Cerberus. Starting with a blast of fire, this episode has a much better beginning than the first, though the cliff-hanger showed how little excitement the first episode did have within it. Finally taking on the beasts of myth, we get to engage in slightly new content, though if you had fought the mythical beasts of the base game you will see similar mechanics at play.
Just like in previous missions, since we killed someone’s pet we are now indebted to the owners of such, and so begins our quest within the underworld. Recruiting warriors, which includes Herakles and Perseus among others in hopes of replacing the lost mutt. With a stark contrast to Elysium, we will now travel across the hellish landscape of the underworld.
Featuring more boss fights, or rather mercenary fights, this episode is much more action-packed than the first, which may be a welcome sight for veteran players with levels reaching beyond the normal limit. While there are more fights the episode still contains side-quests, some relating to past characters in the 1st episode who may or may not be dead-dead.
Similar to the first Story pack, the 2nd episode is shorter than the beginning at around 4-6 hours, though this will depend heavily on your gear and experience with the game itself. There are side-missions to pad that time out though due to the more concise design of the underworld even those can be completed somewhat faster than before.
Engaging in more boss fights, monstrous beasts and exploring a more unique climate set this episode on a different pedestal than the last. Whereas before you were helping out the citizens of Elysium, you’re now mostly helping hades as well as beating down most others you meet along the way. Though due to this shift in focus the storytelling does take a hit, and the story wasn’t much to write home about before.
Keeping most of the problems from the 1st episode, this release will be put on the fence on if it is worse or better due to the change in design. If you prefer all-out combat you may prefer this entry, though if you’re more interested in the story you may come to dislike this more. Either way, due to the more combat-orientated design you will gain more gear than in the introduction, so prepare to organise your fashion.
The difficulty within Torment of Hades is higher than the last, with health bars and damage increasing ever more so than Elysium. I did find some areas to be quite higher than others, though due to all my skills and gear I was able to handle them with different strategies or take advantage of poor AI as usual.
Overall, Episode 2 of The Fate of Atlantis gets a 5/10, it continues plenty of the poor design choices of the 1st episode without alleviating any of the concerns found there. The skills continue to be circumstantial, gear can be outclassed with previous end-game sets and a lack of new, or less used, mechanics is somewhat disappointing. If you prefer combat you’d like this more, if you’re more focused on story than you’d hate this more.
You must be logged in to post a comment.