Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: The Fate of Atlantis – Episode 2: Torment of Hades Xbox One X Review

Assassin's Creed Odyssey's The Fate of Atlantis continues with Torment of Hades, forcing Alexios or Kassandrea into service with the God of the Underworld. Much of the DLC has you completing errands to try and learn about your staff but resolves many of these tedious activities with great boss battles. With some battles molded by your actions within the core campaign. The new explorable area of the Underworld does offer some thrills but eventually, Torment of Hades becomes a serviceable penultimate journey.

Torment of Hades has Alexios or Kassandra dumped into the Underworld, faced with Hades guardian Cerberus. After killing the dog the Underworld is left without a guardian, causing calamity within the realm's very delicate structure. Hades then enlists you into conscripting 4 legendary warriors to guard the gates and fix the rifts that prisoners have been using to escape Tartarus. In exchange, Hades also agrees to tell you more about the staff.

These many jobs have you traveling through the Underworld, killing hell hounds and supernatural beings. Some enemies are recycled from the previous adventure but the new enemies offer a distinct formidable challenge. Mostly due to their absurd health.

What makes Torment of Hades stands out is the boss fights. There's a lot of powerful enemies in the Underworld that each fight using distinct tactics. Some are seeking revenge against the player for killing them and others are old allies. While the DLC can be accessed directly without the need to progress through the story it's highly advised you complete the core campaign for narrative purposes.

The boss fights against legendary Greek heroes such as Achilles are amazingly challenging but hollow. With each fight starting and ending with barely a whimper. As the heroes simply accept the job of Guardian once the player defeats them. 

Outside from the boss fights, you'll locate optional areas to explore littered with new weapons and armor. For the most part, the story required armor and weapons easily surpass anything else in the DLC. Making much of the grinding unneeded unless you want to get all the achievements.

The world does have its own specific themes. With skulls craved into mountains, sulfur pits, and that distinct underworld look. It's definitely a contrast from Elysium. Hades is particularly unsettling, teeming with confidence and power the god does care about his realm but enjoys toying with mortals both emotionally and physically. The player is no exception.

Torment of Hades does bring its own bounty system. There's no police system like in the core campaign but instead Fallen enemies. These enemies consist of people the player killed in the core campaign, back again for revenge. Most are optional but the player is expected to kill most targets to progress.

Torment of Hades does offer a great selection of boss fights but expect to comb through a lot of tedious jobs. Exploring tombs, defeating legendary heroes, and finally closing rifts for much of your time in the Underworld. All ending with a cliffhanger to be answered in the finale. It's a good penultimate episode that will leave players with more questions than answers.
 

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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