Supplement turned out, to put it mildly, strange. Although it is possible to spend time with pleasure. Redesigned the combat system, making it a full-fledged hand-to-hand combat, evoking thoughts of the Bloodborne without endurance control. Replaced the protagonist in the present tense. In fact, the “Origins” can be considered a restart of the series. But, as in many studio projects, the sequel is much closer to perfection.
One of the key problems is not the best story, which has practically no relation to the main story. One of the key problems is not the best story, which has practically no relation to the main story.
First, you will go to the lands of Macedonia in the north of the map, the events of the second part will unfold in the locations of Ahea, and the final episode will tell about the adventures of heroes in Mesinia. It must be admitted that the choice of regions is ideally connected with the storyline: everything begins in ordinary, but pretty scenery, then the players are transferred to the beautiful countryside with flowering meadows, and the story ends in a half-burnt zone, when Cassandra (or Alexios) is going through difficult times.
The combat system now works like a clock. The developers have tightened the responsiveness of the management, and now the fights are one of the most enjoyable and complex parts of the game. Ordinary opponents can still get bored, but the various mini-bosses have a carriage there, and you will hate some of them. But at the same time here, unlike the “Sources”, if you died – you know for sure that only you are to blame. Climbed on too strong an opponent. Did not notice the blow. They stepped in the wrong place. Not in time made a lunge. In any case, this time the game exactly warned you.
For each opponent you need to look for a separate approach, but the diversity is still felt. For example, one will respond with a non-blocking attack on each of your attacks, and the whole battle with him turns into a series of jewelery-calculated deviations. Another shoots fire arrows, the third has poisoned blades.
The gameplay also has not changed. In the list of abilities of the murderer, the skill “Death Curtain” appeared – if you acquire it, the corpses of opponents killed by a sudden attack will automatically disappear.
Two other branches of skills, too, added two skills. The hunter has this “Shooting without thinking,” which allows you to quickly release several arrows from each other one after the other. And the most useful skill, called “the fury of the race”, received a warrior. This is a series of five powerful blows, which not only inflicts great damage to the enemy, but also restores three cells of adrenaline. You can alternate it with a combination that is activated by pressing R1 and R2, and not give anyone any chance of salvation.
In addition to the complexity, you determine which mode to play the game in: “Hero” or “Explorer”. The first one will be guided through the quests, pointing directly at the goal of the current task (that is, everything is as before). But the second one needs to search for each quest location and character himself, guided by prompts.
In the middle of the second episode, the protagonist will search for ciphers to install on his own ship, “Chimera’s Sigh” – a siphonophore, which is a kind of flamethrower, which is located on the front of the ship. That is, it is suitable only to set fire to enemy ships while trying to ram them. Improving the siphonophore to the fourth level is not difficult, “upgrades” are very cheap, only with increased damage this weapon seems completely useless.
The tab with cultists has also been updated – now there is a separate section for representatives of the Order of the Ancients. Their identities, as is the case with members of the Cult of the Cosmos, are unknown until you find all the clues or go to the region proposed in the description. These villains are gradually revealed: first you can find several followers of the Order of Hunters, after the start of the second episode the Order of Storms joins them, and closer to the final the branch of the Order of Power is unlocked along with its leader. One more endgame quest is associated with all these scoundrels, for the completion of which players are entitled to a special reward.
The dialogue system uses the experience of the best representatives of the genre: you can lie, attack, seduce, threaten, and so on, and the result of your choice is not always predictable. You lie to someone – and they will bite you. You start to stick – and the character turns out to be married.
In addition, the Peloponnesian War rages around, Athens and Sparta are fighting for influence, so you can take the contract to seize a specific area. It is necessary to weaken the protection of the local ruler, kill him, and then fight in a common landfill (150 to 150) until victory on points. The beauty of the system is that it works by itself. Sometimes you are simply invited to join the final battle, and both parties are invited – choose by reward and personal sympathy. Do not respond to the invitation, they will cope with it. And if you help one of the parties for a long time, the second one will stop giving you contracts. Mercenaries in this world and without you enough.
In fact, there are so many mercenaries that there is a whole rating, mercenaries do not sit idle either. They can often be found in different places: they mainly go on someone else’s orders. But, of course, the most frequent order in ancient Greece is to bang Kassandra herself.
And everything would be fine, but the mercenaries are the most elite enemies of all, apart from the legendary monsters like Medusa Gorgon. Even if they are weaker than you, it will not be easy. If you are about equal, the battle may well take several minutes. And if the difference is greater than the level – better not to go. Your weapon will hardly harm the enemy, and he will kill you with one or two blows.
