Asassin's Creed: Odyssey--The Season Pass Conundrum

If you're at all budget conscious, the thought of spending an additional $40-$50 on DLC (for a game that already cost $59.99) can be downright anxiety inducing.  Much of the time you don't know if the content you're paying for will be worth it.  I decided to buy the season pass for Assassin's Creed:  Odyssey because I enjoyed the base game and I received that base game for free (*free in the sense that it was packaged with a new graphics card) so I wanted to throw some money at Ubisoft.  I'm going to try to wrap up my thoughts about the DLC with the hopes of helping someone else who might be waffling on this purchase.

Here's what you get in the Season Pass for Odyssey.

The season pass includes two separate story arcs that add in many more hours of content.  Both story arcs seem to have a different type of focus that follows a pattern I noticed in Origins--one focuses on more narrative driven content that works to tie characters, story, etc. together and the other is more exploration/open world driven.  Both packs add in many additional hours of gameplay, new weapons, new armor sets, and new types of enemies.

Legacy of the First Blade
Pros:
+Narrative driven.  The focus of the first DLC pack is tying together Kassandra/Alexios with the entire assassin storyline.  If you're someone who likes storytelling and seeing how everything in the bonkers AC timeline is pulled together, this DLC does exactly that (in a controversial way...).

+ New characters.  As part of the story you are introduced to Darius (a Persian assassin) and his son (or daughter).  Darius has a compelling story tied to Persia and the assassins.  His son/daughter is boring as crap and serves a purpose tied to the aforementioned controversy.

+ New (ish?) enemies.  The story introduces a new conspiracy (The Order) of Persian (and maybe some unhappy/traitorous Greeks).  The basic enemy type doesn't change much--there are still brutes, regular soldiers, archers, stabby rogues, etc--but you do get a brand new cultist menu of baddies to track down and assassinate.

+New weapons/armor sets inspired by Persian aesthetic.

Cons:
-Player choice is stripped in the name of connecting story dots.  This was the big controversy that blew up when this DLC was originally released.  It was so contentious that Ubi actually ended up changing parts of it.  If you're extremely attached to playing your character a certain way...you're probably going to be disappointed.

-No new areas to explore.  The story takes place in three different Greek zones (that you've probably already fully explored).

The Fate of Atlantis
Pros:
+ Ties together some of the more confusing main storyline elements--i.e. those involving the staff of Hermes Trismegistus/Layla Hassan.

+ Introduces three new zones inspired by Greek mythology--Elysium, the Underworld, and Atlantis.  Each zone has is ruled by a different "god" (Isu) and is a part of the main story.  There are new places to explore/attack.  It's a welcome change from the potential 100+ hours spent in Greece in the main story.  Each zone has its own unique mechanics.

+ New abilities.  Part of the story involves unlocking the potential of the Staff of Hermes.  Special "insight" stones introduce alternative abilities (for example, one ability juiced my Wrath of Ares ability into a flurry of rapid spear attacks).  These abilities are Isu inspired and help spice up those same ol'-same ol' skills you've used for those same 100+ hours.

+ New enemies.  Isu soldiers have new, more challenging abilities.  The Atlantean Polemarchs in the last part of the DLC are extremely tough fights (unless you cheese the fights like I did--hide in a bush, snipe w/fire arrows, continue sniping while Polemarch freaks out from being on fire... dead Polemarch)

+ New boss fights.

+ New weapons/armor sets.

Cons:
-Story ending/parts of the story.  There's always the entire aspect of the story taking place in the animus and what is exactly going on is a tad confusing.  The worlds of Elysium, the Underworld, and Atlantis are simulations within the animus (I think?) and Aletheia is helping to guide Kassandra/Layla through them to juice up the staff.  The third episode (in Atlantis) in particular seems to also commit the sin of stripping out much player choice.  Kassandra/Alexios is placed in the role of "judge" and is told that they will be making serious decisions that could potentially impact the future of the city (which appears to be a bastion of human/Isu cooperation).  In the end though, your decisions don't really seem to matter at all.

-Layla Hassan.  She does a bad thing in the story and it just felt weird.  I was turned off by the entire Layla sequence.

Final verdict:
Buy it on sale.  I liked the new zones in Fate of Atlantis and parts of the story in each DLC, but wasn't extremely thrilled by the lack of meaningful choices.  There are also the "Greek stories" which add in new chaining story missions to the base game that involve some of the main characters (and I actually quite liked many of them).  I do think the $49.99 price tag is fair for the amount of content that you get.