When I was reviewing the original body of "Assassin's Creed: Valhalla" (hereinafter referred to as "Valley"), I once said that what I am most satisfied with "Valley" is that it is the series that has paid the most attention to returning to the traditional stealth game style of the series since "Assassin's Creed: Origin". While it is innovative in its gameplay, it actively introduces classic elements from some old works in the series, combining the old and new, so that the stealth gameplay of the game presents a new look.
In the DLC "Siege of Paris" that just released, I was very pleased to see Ubisoft take another step forward on the road of "Salute to Classics". Although the new DLC "Siege Paris", although in terms of overall gameplay, compared with the "Heroic Valhalla" body, the return to the traditional "infiltrating mission" of assassination has given the process of this DLC a unique charm, firmly grasping the hearts of my old players in the series.
This review will involve some spoilers, please watch it as appropriate.
The so-called "scene mission" means that players can explore the entire task area in certain specific nodes in the plot process to unlock additional infiltration conditions and finally achieve additional level-passing methods. This form of mission design first existed in the predecessors of the series "Assassin's Creed: The Great Revolution" and "Assassin's Creed: The Hero". However, with the progress of the series RPG, this gameplay was gradually forgotten.
In the "Siege of Paris" DLC, the "Infiltration Mission" has finally returned, which should be something that many old players in the series are happy to see. Although the process of this DLC is not long, Ubisoft has added multiple related levels to it, which can be matched with good level performances and not high level difficulty. New players in the series can easily achieve these infiltration challenges.
In these tasks, the protagonist Aivor will usually first be in a relatively open map scene, and scan interactive NPC characters or letters with mission prompts around the scene through "Eye of Odin". After simple interaction with them, you can obtain some clues about the infiltrating area, such as the hidden passage of the palace, the location of the key NPCs, the opportunity to approach the assassination target, etc. Using these clues, players can sneak into the target area more secretly and approach the assassination target without bloodshed.
In actual games, this process may also undergo some dramatic twists. For example, in the early stage of the DLC plot, Evor was able to first get two clues to enter the church where he was targeted by talking to the NPC in the city's tavern - a key and a code to enter the door, which pointed to two story lines in the plague and slums in the city. Players can choose one of them to advance, or they can choose "Everything". Around these two clues, their respective story lines will also derive some interesting plots, and after completing these plots, players can unlock different ways to enter the area.
After entering the assassination area, the player assassinates the targetThe methods are also diverse. You can launch a charge directly from the front and kill all the way to the target, or you can explore the scene and find various opportunities to close to the target to complete the assassination.
Please take the assassination of the bishop as an example. If we use the premise of avoiding direct violent conflict between the two sides, we will approach the target in a sneaking manner throughout the process. On the second floor of the church, we will meet a believer who is about to meet with the bishop. At this time, Evor can make suggestions to go instead of the other party, and then get the clue that "you need to wear a special robe when entering the bishop's room". Search for the treasure chests around, find the robe and wear it, Evor can swagger into the basement of the church. After coming to the room where the bishop is, he approaches the opponent and completes a sword assassination. The whole process will not alarm any guards, flowing, and show the professional qualities of an assassin.
Similar level designs are not uncommon in this DLC. They give players the right to freely choose the way to pass the level. Through this form, the fun and strategic nature of this DLC level is improved to a certain extent. While returning to the classics, it also allows the slightly perfunctory stealth gameplay in recent works of the series to get back on track. This is a good signal, and if Ubisoft can continue to design this way in the next sequel, it should be a change that all players in the series are happy to see.
In addition to the "inspin mission", this "Siege of Paris" DLC has brought players new maps, new equipment, new skills and other elements as usual, but compared to the former, these new contents seem to be less important.
The map of the "Siege Paris" DLC is a brand new Frankish area, which extends outward around the city of Paris, and the map area is not large. In addition, the plot basically takes place near Paris, and there is not much explorable content on the map, so it always gives people the feeling that the map utilization rate is not enough. Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing for players. At least those players who have experienced the desperate situation of the map treasure chests during the Assassin's Creed: The Revolution should be able to breathe a sigh of relief at this time.
Ubisoft of course also introduced some new elements to the game's map exploration, such as the plague in the city and the rebels scattered in various areas of the map. In terms of setting, they are in line with the unique era background of France at that time, but from the actual game experience, they do not look very special and amazing.
The Paris plague not only exists in the slums of Paris, but also in the slums of society who are suffering from plague. In some special environments such as urban sewer systems, large-scale mice will also become enemies that block players' progress. They will come from all directions and quickly launch an attack on Ivor. Only by constantly attacking can the players barely drive them away. After they enter the city drainage system, they must use heavy objects to block the sewer entrances to prevent them from coming out to harass the players again.
Of course I can understand that Ubisoft has added this to this DLCThe purpose of setting is indeed a good idea, but compared to the role of a single player, I actually hope that the plague can also play some role in combat, puzzle solving and other aspects. For example, in some scenarios, groups of mice are used to trigger some puzzle solving mechanisms, or induce groups of mice to attack the enemy without exposing the player's position - there is a similar move among the newly added bow and arrow skills, which may better enhance the presence of the plague in the game.
The same is true for the Rebel Army mission. Although it can be seen everywhere on the map, it does not have a strong sense of existence. To a certain extent, it is more like a simplified version of the robbery task that has frequently appeared in the game body before. Completed tasks will not bring any sense of accomplishment. It is just to obtain some limited equipment, and the form of the task itself is also relatively simple and boring. Generally speaking, I am not willing to pay attention to this kind of side tasks, and it will not have any impact on the advancement of the entire DLC process.
Finally, let’s talk about the plot of this DLC. As the second largest drama DLC of the "Halloween Temple", the story of "Siege of Paris" is based on a real battle in European history. The plot of the Norwegians siege of Paris in the plot completely restores the process of this battle. This is also the reason why the "Assassin's Creed" series has always been praised by history enthusiasts.
But judging from the detailed plot performance, the multiple characters created by DLC this time did not leave any deep impression on me. In order to protect his tribe, the protagonist Aivor came to Frank to be a peacemaker. Although he had been dealing with each other for several times, the impact on the plot was minimal, which was not conducive to the shaping of the protagonist's image.
The core characters of several villains were unable to show any character charm, and they often changed the image before and after at the key nodes of the plot, and the image changes before and after are too rapid and in a huge contrast, making it difficult for people to understand the purpose of these changes for a while. For example, the character who tried to face Evor's sword the previous second, but the protagonist put down the butcher knife in his hand because of the protagonist's "mouth escape". Of course, I am not saying that there cannot be these changes in the plot, but this should require a more plausible process. The game should let players understand the intention of these changes through the plot performance. And this is also something I think I lack in the last three "Assassin's Creed" games.
Of course, overall, this "Siege of Paris" DLC will be a pretty good story, especially for old players in the series. The return of "Scene Mission" has allowed us to find more shadows of the series' classic works from this new work, and also give the game's stealth gameplay a more unique depth. This is the most satisfying thing about this DLC.
In contrast, the other content in this DLC seems a bit dull overall. The newly added settings and gameplay are not well combined with the story theme, so it seems not that important. As the plot of this articleFor DLC, it has not been able to further shape the image of the protagonist. Apart from the tortuous and moving plot, there are not many elements that can make people shine.
But from the perspective of series development, as the second large-scale plot DLC of "The Temple of Valhalla", "Siege of Paris" has successfully completed its mission. Because it further proves that the classic elements of the series can be combined with today's more modern gameplay, which may provide a feasible idea for the future development of the "Assassin's Creed" series.
As a fan of the series, I would like to support this plan.
