This DLC does what all good additional content for a game should do; add new features while expanding on the setting. The game is fun and probably the best way to tell a side story in the Assassins Creed universe.
It's now 1888 and Evie has been called back from India to London. The city is gripped in terror due to the vicious murders by 'Jack the Ripper'. Jacob has also gone missing so it's up to Evie to save the city and her twin.
Narratively the game switches between Evie and Jack (the Ripper) as the former is investigating and hunting down the latter. As Evie your not only trying to stop the Ripper but save your brother and the Assassin Order itself which is at risk of exposure by the Ripper. I don't want to get further into the plot for fear of spoilers.
Functionally, you spend most of the game as Evie and all side missions are hers. You have only two neighborhoods to explore this time, all with a bunch of things to find. The game world is a smaller, darker, colder experience here. Time has passed since the end of the main game and the protagonists have aged analog with the city. It's a subtle change, but small things, like NPC fashions or the number of smokestacks in the skyline, effectively create a different feeling.
A simple upgrade tree is present here as well as rewards for finding chests and completed g RR side missions. These are different from the main game but far more tedious. The big addition now is Fear mechanics.
Through special equipment and certain moves Evie can cause fear in here enemies. She also defaults to nonlethal takedowns. Jack has these abilities too, but we'll get to that later. It's a new way to play the game and it adds new challenge to the missions.
Speaking of which, there are a few excellent assassination missions. Like in the main game these have multiple routes to the target with side objectives. These are challenging but super satisfying to complete.
There's a few things that hold this back. It's a bit buggy it one. While this isn't enough to make it unplayable, I did have to repeat several missions because objectives wouldn't register.
The bigger problem is in tone. The game goes to great lengths to show Jack as a 'bad' assassin. The non-lethal Fear mechanics are annoying to use with Evie and while they may be there to show a difference between her and Jack, they only obstruct the fluid combat of the base game. Only through completing all of the side missions do they become decent.
When control shifts to Jack however the Fear moves are perfect. The addition of a third type of Fear move in your arsenal along with enough enemies to make it necessary makes the mechanic work. More importantly, it makes it fun.
The Jack segments are by far the best part of the DLC. They fully utilize the mechanics introduced in this game while keeping the solid combat of the base game. They're an insight into the villains madness in a way that only a game can do.
It's hard to take the side of the protagonist when the sections that let you play the villain are so much better. While I know I'm supposed to see the differences in the ways that these characters use the Fear mechanic, I just find myself dreading playing as Evie.
The Good:
-Fun, exciting side-story
-Excellent Assassination missions.
The Bad:
-Still buggy
-Only Jack sections fully ultizie the new mechanics.
This DLC is a lot of fun at its best, and tedious at its worst. I do like it, but it's own new mechanics hold it back. Assassins don't need clunky non-lethal tools to scare enemies, they just need to stab them.
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