A Pharaoh'S Shadow Assassins Creed Series Built On

IDG Hayden Dingman And yet for all its fantastical elements, its also clear a painstaking amount of work and research went into the Duat too.

I didnt really think twice about putting it offusually Assassins Creed DLC is filler, an indulgence I save for the quieter parts of the year.

Its an excuse to jump back in for 5 or 10 hours, and in the case of Assassins Creed: Origins I planned to spend some extra time mopping up side content Id skipped.

I played through it recently though and quickly found out Curse of the Pharaohs is legitimately fantastic.

Less visually impressive than the Pyramids, the Valley of the Kings nevertheless plays host to a bunch of tombs dug into the cliffs, including those of Queen Nefertiti and King Tutankhamun.

The idea of the curse was popularized after a handful of those involved with the unearthing of Tutankhamuns tomb in the early 1900s died in mysterious ways.

Curse of the Pharaohs takes this to the extreme, with Bayek finding Thebes terrorized by the spirits of the pharaohs themselves.

Nefertiti, Rameses II, Akhenaten, and Tutankhamun arent resting as peacefully as one might like, and Bayek suspects someone is using a Piece of Eden to resurrect the ancient rulers.

To start, this is an expansion to the vast open-world recreation of Egypt from the base game, and Thebes doesnt disappoint.

From the winding streets of the city itself to the landscape-dominating Temple of Hatshepsut to the dusty Valley of the Kings, its a dense and varied region, as packed with impressive vistas as it is small details to admire.

Like Origins proper, the amount of work put into this living-history version of Ptolemaic Egypt continues to amaze me, and as a side note, I really hope Ubisoft expands the superb Discovery Tour mode into the Thebes map.

Id love to explore the Valley of the Kings in a pseudo-academic fashion too.

In any case, the real surprise is that Thebes is only half the map.

Curse of the Pharaohs s central gimmick, and what makes it a must-play, is that Bayek adventures into the afterlife.

IDG Hayden Dingman Origins dabbled in these ideas of course, with Bayek chatting with his assassination targets after hed stabbed them through the hearta throwback to the original Assassins Creed, where Altairs victims had similar on-deaths-doorstep monologues to deliver.

Origins s were way more stylish, with elements of the Egyptian pantheon interjected into the fray, or symbols of an unwitting villains sins rendered larger than life.

He escorted his victims to the Duat, the realm of the dead, but always returned to Egypt after leaving them to Maats judgment.

Early on, you recover an artifact stolen from Nefertitis tomb and are tasked with returning it to where it was found.

Easy, right Except it turns out where it was found is actually a glowing doorway, a portal into Aaru where Nefertiti residesa vast field of golden reeds, dominated by statues of the famed queen (modeled after the famous bust in the Neues Museum).

Take a look: IDG Hayden Dingman Its incredible, an outlet for all the knowledge of the Egyptian afterlife that no doubt informed Origins proper but had to play a background role to Bayeks more serious and down-to-earth revenge story.

Here, real-life Thebes takes a back seat to a realm of the imagination.

A Pharaoh'S Shadow Assassins Creed Series Built On

Its a series built on historical accuracy, or at least the appearance of historical accuracy, and so its refreshing to see Ubisofts veritable army of world-builders let loose on something more fantastical.

There are 12-foot scorpions to fight, plus jackal-headed guards in the shape of Anubis.

The birds have human heads, and will shout at you as you run past.