Assassin’s Creed Origins: The Hidden Ones Review

DLC expansions tend to fall in one of two columns. They can add vital narrative context to the base game or serve as an interesting but largely tangential side adventure. Assassin’s Creed Origins: The Hidden Ones certainly lands in the latter column, though as a standalone affair it’s by no means lacking. Rather, this first expansion of Origins helps reinforce many of the strengths and intriguing qualities that made the main story so compelling.

Story

The Hidden Ones picks up an undisclosed number of years after the conclusion of Origins. Bayek and his emerging proto-Assassin Brotherhood (the titular “Hidden Ones”) continue to spread their influence across and beyond Egypt.

Trouble arises when Bayek must help counter and subvert the Roman occupation of the Sinai Peninsula. With this comes the usual conspiratorial machinations and dangerous clashing of forces. Bayek and company have to not only complete their mission but also question their very motives for undertaking it.

Origins spent its story ruminating on matters of corruption and lingering trauma. Meanwhile, The Hidden Ones is a tale of the costs and complexities of undertaking a revolution. The expansion’s best moments tend to dwell on how Bayek deals with his cohorts and adversaries’ conflicting ideologies. In the process, The Hidden Ones lays the groundwork for the series’ eponymous Creed. A distinct sense of remorse over killing and melancholy in the face of personal sacrifice permeate the whole tale. But in particular, the last hour drives this mood home quite effectively.