Assassin’s Creed Origins was without a doubt one of the most impressive open world titles of 2017, and my personal pick of Game of the Year. When it was announced there would be two DLC story expansions, it immediately peaked my interest. Even after spending 50 hours in the base game, I still wanted another excuse to jump back into Ancient Egypt. The first of these two expansions is The Hidden Ones.
The Hidden Ones takes place roughly four years after the ending of Origins, and explores the early actions of the Assassin Brotherhood. Bayek now has multiple followers for his creed, and together they work in the shadows, aptly calling themselves The Hidden Ones, to assist the Rebels against the Roman empire. The narrative isn’t anything mind blowing, but the story is more of a backdrop to have Bayek discover the beginning of the Brotherhood’s foundation and ideals. Once again, voice actor Abubakar Salim knocks it out of the park as Bayek. There is one particular cut scene towards the end that really stood out to me as a fantastic performance by Salim. It also proves why Bayek is the best Assassin in the series since Edward Kenway.
The entirety of the expansion is set on the Sinai Peninsula, a gorgeous new region on the already gigantic map of Origins. The region is filled with canyons that never once got old to scale. Like the base game, the map has question marks scattered around that are easily obtained. I was able to 100% this expansion in about 12 hours or so, with the main quests taking up about 5 of those hours. With a $10 price tag, I’d say that’s a good amount of content for an expansion such as this.
It’s just a shame that there are not any particular new activities from what was in the original game. The question marks all consist of the same things to do; enemy and animal hideouts, loot chests, Stone Circles, etc. It would have been nice to introduce a new side activity considering the entire expansion is contained to one entire area. That being said, the plethora content added is still worth the price of admission. I still found the satisfaction of exploring open areas just as I did in the original game. Who needs vacations when I can just ride off into the distance for miles on m horse and rob the occasional guard of his iron.
The majority of the main quests did not feel as inspired. They mainly followed the same mission structure of the original game, which is okay as freedom to tackle missions any way possible is what gave the game it’s identity. There were some noteworthy moments I experienced in The Hidden Ones. One sequence particular tasked me with a regular assassination, however he was located in the biggest enemy garrison I’ve seen in Origins. I spent a good 30 minutes on this particular level and it was quite the memorable experience as it added some much needed challenge. The final mission of the main quests also added an epic ending as it was very reminiscent of an AC4 mission.
The most important question one asks about a DLC is simple, “Is it worth buying?” Considering the state the industry is in with regard to DLC and expansions, many are becoming more and more skeptical for “extra content.” There are times in games where the DLC feels as if it should have been in the original game (looking at you Destiny). Luckily, The Hidden Ones does not feel tacked on. It tells a prologue story for Bayek’s journey that felt like an added bonus to already exceptional game. Is it just more Assassin’s Creed: Origins? Well yes it is, but I’m completely okay with. Considering the expansion is $10, I don’t see any reason for a fan of Origins to skip out on this. Now we just have to wait for The Curse of the Pharoahs.
