How about Rogue-lite inside Assassin's Creed...?

Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Saga - Another reason to return to AS: Valhalla

DLC are different: from a small expansion of the arsenal and a couple of skins to a full-fledged story supplement on new locations. The quality and quantity of added content always varies depending on whether the developer has a conscience or not.

For example, in PayDay 2, players were offered to buy a bunch of guns and a character with a completely flat, faded character for a fee - this is called "breaking the game into DLC to sell it ten times more expensive". In this way the developers put the players before the fact that the game without add-ons is a beta version, even though it is not directly stated anywhere. For such developers have already warmed up somewhere... 

But there are DLCs of a completely different kind. Such additions bring to the game not only in-game items, but also significantly expand the main story without breaking the boundaries of the concept of the game world. Blood and Wine" for The Witcher III can be called a reference DLC.

A little more preface....

For a long time Assassin's Creed series could not find its face. After the third part, it was as if the series was spoiled by a void. New parts turned out to be duller and duller. Apparently, the murder in Desmond's scenario is equivalent to a black cat crossing the road, a broken mirror in the cemetery and a walk under the stairs at the same time ...

Only in November 2020, Ubisoftsmobilized this curse with the release of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. The game was liked not only by critics, but also by fans, and the Scandinavian setting was surprisingly organic to the series. Ubisoft did not try to come to such a result: they shoved pirates without Johnny Depp into the game, and excursion into the history of the Great French Revolution, and we communicated with the great philosophers of antiquity - all to no avail. Only the Vikings appealed to people. Skol!

Ubisoft has been supporting Assassin's Creed: Valhalla with updates for years. With the appearance of Forgotten Saga free add-on "Scandinavian Assassins" updated to version 1.6. And we need such a long preface only because Forgotten Saga is rather a gift for those who have already passed the game or are close to completing the main storyline. The DLC turned out to be quite hardcore in some places, but let's talk about everything in order... 

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla получил свой Rogue-lite

Forgotten Saga starts with a stereotype: our protagonist enters a camp where he/she is offered to drink a potion based on hallucinogenic mushrooms. After drinking the potion, Eivor goes to the realm of the dead Nilfheim in the guise of Odin, where he challenges Heli, the Goddess of Death. The souls of the dead who have not been able to go to Valhalla wander through the Scandinavian underworld.

After each death, Eivor Odin's memory is cut off. He looks around Nilfheim, vaguely remembers these places, but does not remember the past, does not remember how he died. In this way Ubisoft have cleverly played with the DLC sub-genre - Rogue-lite. Not to be confused with Rogue'like, Forgotten Saga treats the player with care: it does not take away all the accumulated progress after death. And in general Forgotten Saga has more similarities with RPG than with turn-based dungeon races in classic Rogue'like. 

You don't need to know more about the plot. Spoilers of the ending of the add-on will hit you hard on your emotional perception. I will only say that the ending is pleasantly surprising, it is something on the level of the ending of Assassin's Creed II, and maybe even higher...

Death is only the beginning

Over the course of the narrative of the entire Forgotten Saga, the player will have to visit four locations, each of which the game will place enemies in advance by procedural generation. The player chooses the sequence of passing through all four islands himself.

Before each run, Odin takes a leap of faith and finds himself in one of four worlds. The starting location is much more useful than it seems at first glance no one even hints to us.

Swinging from the original game in Forgotten Saga does not work, you will have to swing from scratch. It sounds, of course, repulsive, but to return Odin's former power is not so time-consuming. According to the developers' logic, the add-on can be completed in two hours. However Ubisoft would not be Ubisoft if they made human balance without grindwall: run, shake experience, die and start again, run, pump Odin's skills and start again. 

Fortunately, there is no ruthless grind, and the player's success depends not only on the level, armor and weapons, but also on personal skill. After death, Odin is revived with random weapons, so you'll be able to pick up something specific only closer to the finale. The rest 60% of the time spent you will use whatever comes to hand.

Ubisoft made a mistake with the balance of armor. In the last of the 4 locations there is only one deer statue - local treatment, so closer to the final One will have to either show the wonders of swordsmanship, or die. Getting to the last location is not easy. With each subsequent location the enemies become more dangerous. And it's so frustrating when you lose already dressed. And the thing is that armor sets are not equally useful. Toward the end, the characteristics decide, while at the start you can safely cope with playing with anything.... 

The above-mentioned shortcomings are almost the only disadvantages of the addition. In addition to a simple walk around the map, Ubisoft has also provided players with hidden quests, which are not so easy to notice - a tribute to the genre Rogue'like.

As I said before, each subsequent location becomes more complex, so the player will have to brainstorm at times: where and what bonuses are needed, what to swing, go straight ahead or sneak like a silent shadow. 

But the main thing - all this praised variability really does not get bored after five attempts to pass the game: locations change appearance, and enemies - swarm to other places. Even the bosses in each location change.

Verdict

There is no question of buying Forgotten Saga, it's free. But is it worth spending time on the add-on? Taking into account the fact that it will take you 15 hours to complete the game, it's more likely to be yes than no, it's a matter of preference. If you like Scandinavian themes - Forgotten Saga will not repel you and will give you an amazing ending. And if you don't like Vikings... then what have you forgotten in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla...?

And seriously, Forgotten Saga is exactly the kind of DLC that it's common to put others as an example.