Assassin's Creed Revelations DLC: The Lost Archive Review

Wait, This Isn't Portal

LASERS!

Though I had purchased it beforehand, I didn't play "The Lost Archives" DLC for Assassin's Creed: Revelations until I was already midway through Assassin's Creed III. I had every intention to, but ACIII arrived the day I was done with Dishonored, and I was too excited. The impetus for me finally playing it was a sort of spoiler tweet I had read about a major character from the series, so I wanted to find out firsthand how all that gets revealed.

Assuming you've played through the main game, "The Lost Archives" is similar to Desmond's revelatory missions when you take a break from Ezio's quest. In those missions, the camera switches to a first-person perspective, and you are tasked with navigating abstract environments to passively receive more background. The DLC is no different except instead of Demond's mind, you're perusing Subject 16's. It makes sense that on your fourth game of being aware of his existence, you should be granted the luxury of finding out what happened to him and why he's mildly insane when you meet him.

There are a lot of right angles to consider.

The environments are mostly composed of monolithic slabs with varying textures to mimic specific environments from Subject 16's memories. There are added details to make your location very clear, and sometimes, the abstract ways the DLC conveys actual events are creative. For example, there's a gridded texture that "kills" you if you touch it (i.e., sets you back to a checkpoint). There's a point where Abstergo security is chasing you, but instead of showing actual figures coming after you, many red gridded blocks begin to form and multiply, pushing you to move quickly and leave the area. Scenarios like that are a nice touch due to their applied approach, but like the Demond missions from the main game, you can't help but wonder how exciting this could've been if you just played something representational like the core campaign. There is never an explained reason why things have to look like this given the Animus' capabilities, but I can't deny that the look is somewhat compelling.

Oh, the blocks are slanted now. I get it.

Platforming is sadly unlike the assassins' abilities you control the majority of the time. You can't run up walls and ledges; you can't run at all actually. Movement is restricted to a power walking pace, and you are given a weak jump to bridge tiny gaps as they arise. Navigation is instead tied to blocks you can generate at will (for reasons unknown). You can prestidigitate long rectangular blocks or sloped triangular blocks right in front of you, though after three blocks, the game removes the oldest one you created. New to the DLC is a springy block that allows you to perform a remarkable jump to higher places or farther reaches. It is definitely necessary in some parts, but landing is extremely unwieldy, and you will find yourself frustrated more often than note when you need to cross large areas with them.

Instead of enemies to kill or chase you, there are mostly just hazards. The aforementioned gridded texture acts as the "lava," and there are also lasers to avoid for the same progress-stunting reasons. New to the DLC is a yellow laser, which can be blocked by your blocks for a limited time. Initially, this is introduced via some simple puzzles, but later on, there are areas where you have to avoid those yellow lasers and craftily place your blocks all while the blocks are moving. Many of these scenarios await as you get closer to the final sequence, and they sadly become frustrating the worse they get. Granted, I did not find any one scenario insurmountable, and only a few of them required quicker reflexes than normal. What's unfortunate is that aside from receiving the spring block, you do not get more powerful or capable. You are expected to navigate a 2 - 4 hour game with the same set of skills you were given from the get go, contrary to the main game, which continually enables you.

Well, this looks peaceful.

Along with these qualms, the effect of the narrative is dichotomous. As I said, you passively receive information about what happened. As you enter specific rooms, you can hear dialogue from Subject 16's past that reveal small tidbits about how he ended up in his predicament. However, you never participate in the telling of the story, making the DLC almost a museum. I did appreciate the areas where it is obvious you are accomplishing a certain task in the game's abstract way, but in the end there is one way through every area, so you can stumble upon the same story pieces anyone else would in the same order. To its credit, the narrative is rather interesting, and there's a rather big reveal that makes some things make more sense. (This reveal is also sort of addressed in Assassin's Creed III, but this is the only way to find out the background behind it to answer your questions.) It is just a shame that it all couldn't be delivered in a more engaging manner.

All in all, it is hard to justify the $9.99 (or equivalent points) price tag for something you actually know could've been so much more. The narrative is interesting, but its delivery and the gameplay behind getting it are just obviously subpar. I should note that it comes with some extras for the main campaign, including a secret area and armor, and three new multiplayer characters, none of which I have touched yet. Still, I would argue that since none of those things contribute to the main story like the labyrinthine missions do, and you were probably already done with the main game and its multiplayer by the time this came out, they are not of additional value. I would also warn that if you want to suss out your time's and money's worth of value, you should pursue the hidden collectibles in each area. Otherwise, you'll be more disappointed. So...buy it if you're curious!

Images obtained from The Assassin's Creed Wiki.