G'day there guys and gals!(Warning! Some topics may be spoiler territory!)
It wouldn't be far from saying that Unity's launch was seen with a lot of criticism, hatred and to put it simply, justified complaining at the game breaking bugs. In light of this, Ubisoft announced that their first DLC would be free for all, as an apology to the glitchy launch.
Despite being a fan of the series, I can say without a shadow of doubt that this new addition definitely makes up for their mistakes in the past.
Dead Kings takes place after the events of Unity's main storyline (Although you can play this DLC after Sequence 4, playing this DLC first will ruin your experience!) and players take control of a broken Arno seeking passage to Egypt, but the reason for that is as vague as "I must get out of Paris". With the assistance of an old friend, Arno is asked to perform a simple, small task in the town of Saint-Denis. Thus begins your journey with the storyline.
Looking at it objectively, the main vocal cast has definitely been improved across the six new missions although the writing seems a bit off at times (The relationship between Arno and Leon is well established over time but the same cannot be said for many other side characters) but the storyline itself holds up well regardless. Without giving too much away, the simple task of retrieving a manuscript turns into something far more interesting...
Gameplay wise is just as great as always, especially with the introduction of the Guillotine Gun which, if you can excuse my language, is amazeballs; the weapon itself in melee form works under the heavy animations but the firing of the gun is almost as if a nod to Assassin's Creed Rogues' grenade launcher. Although the most powerful is the Sword of Suger; a 5 gold star sword, the sword (when fully upgraded) has a 30% chance of emitting a burst of blinding light, stunning your enemies. This can prove effective when fighting against the mass amounts of enemies.
Speaking of which, Dead Kings introduces a new kind of enemy: raiders. While looking like average civilians, they are incredibly weak when fighting single handed. However, when six or more group together, many will attack out of turn or throw stones from afar, stopping your heavy attack in its heels. Alternatively groups have a single leader (Generally a heavy Royalist) and killing him will set them running.
Lastly I want to mention the abundance of additional content such as Story, Murder Mystery and Suger Puzzle missions to keep the gameplay going on much further than the main storyline. Although some can be done within a minute or so, the addition is still a welcomed one and caused for much celebration.
While graphics and sound effects remain the same in the beautiful, gloomy, fog-ridden town, what impressed me greatly was the recreated musical score; a twist on the original score, the music during fighting almost brings a desperate or saddened feel to the combat, bringing further light onto Arno's darkness. Before the end of Unity, he was a carefree man, forever smiling during tomfoolery. However with the dark atmosphere, the grief stricken musical score and Arno's brutality, it does set a very dark tone to the DLC overall.
Lastly I should mention that as far as I've played, I have found no bugs or glitch at the time of writing this review, speaking volumes for the dedication Ubisoft has made to bringing this game up to speed.
With plenty of references to previous games, even a name drop here and well over 7 hours of content to enjoy, Ubisoft's apology DLC is worth your time and attention for their hard work,dedication to improve upon their game and give thanks to players who stuck around during the long haul. The ending is one I personally did not see coming (but the evidence is all around you, literally!), although some areas lacked length the DLC itself has brought my full attention back to Unity.
It takes guts for a major company to say they're in the wrong. To this gamer, it wasn't necessary for them to do so but the least I can do is convince you to give them one more chance.
Assassin's Creed Unity - Dead Kings DLC: A-
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