Assassin's Creed Odyssey The Fate of Atlantis Episode 1 Fields of Elysium Xbox One X Review

DLC for the Assassin's Creed franchise has always been short mediocre adventures, with the occasional striking moment. Assassin's Creed Odyssey The Fate of Atlantis Episode 1 Fields of Elysium, that's a mouthful, is a huge step forward for DLC in this franchise. Providing an extensive adventure with branching narrative paths and a collection of great characters. The missions don't diverge from the traditional Assassin's Creed formula but the story is more than worth the asking price for this introduction. Fields of Elysium is a giant step forward for Assassin's Creed DLC and one of the best expansions in the franchise.

Fields of Elysium has the player traveling to Elysium, an area within the afterlife that houses celebrated heroes. Unfortunately, the goddess Persephone is refusing anyone to pass in or out of Elysium, living or dead, and rules the realm with an iron fist. The player must attempt to weaken Persephone's hold on Elysium by playing multiple sides against one another in a giant rebellion.

The narrative is the best part of Fields of Elysium. The story takes steps to bridge the connection between this tale and the modern day and giving Layla some much needed time in the spotlight. Like the main campaign, the player is given ample choice of how they wish to navigate the story. Both gods and humans each have their own desires in this war, with the player stuck in the middle. You're given ample opportunity to change your actions, to which the person giving you the order will use or act upon.

While the narrative is branching and extensive with incredible characters the gameplay hasn't changed from traditional Assassin's Creed gameplay. You'll have a giant, and beautiful, new world to explore but much of the activities being busy work. Destroying statues, freeing enslaved people, and taking bases will require much of your time. In fact, there are several missions that require you to tediously weaken the hold Persephone has on Elysium.

The world of Elysium is beautiful, with a diverse selection of caves, mountains, and fields of flowers. Traveling to each area is a joy but expect a lot of climbing and diving as roads are extremely poor here. There are teleportation gates that allow the player to travel up cliffs quicker but these are little in number. Those who played Assassin' Creed Syndicate will be begging for that grappling hook when exploring Fields of Elysium.

The enemies themselves are not traditional foes and offer a much-needed breath of fresh air. Infused with god-like energy, these guards are much more challenging than the enemies of the living world. They have the ability to use energy either as auras that drain your Adrenaline or cause massive damage. Elysium does not have a bounty system but scattered throughout are rock sentry guards that come to life when a guard is hostile within its vicinity.

As always, you'll earn experience and new gear for completing missions. Fields of Elysium doesn't include any new abilities but does offer enhanced versions of existing talents. The gear itself is a step up from the previous DLC, with a greater selection of items to obtain. Ubisoft has included an option for players wishing to enter the DLC asap since it requires the player to be in a specific point in the main campaign to begin.

Fields of Elysium does have a major technical flaw. In the mission "The Keeper and Kyros" the NPC the player needs to escort will often get stuck on the terrain. I had to restart the entire mission multiple times to get the NPC to follow since it kept getting caught in the environment or refused to move forward. But outside from this 1 mission, the DLC ran well.

Fields of Elysium is a step up of what is expected from Assassin's Creed DLC. This one episode easily surpasses all 3 episodes of Legacy of the First Blade. With 5 hours of deciding who to trust, what actions to take, and seeing that decision manifest in the future. There's a lot of busy work but the narrative easily overshadows this shortcoming.
 

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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