Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: assassin's creed, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Curse of the Pharaohs, HRL, ubisoft

The Ghosts of Pharaohs Past Will Haunt You in Second AC: Origins DLC Expansion

Published Fri, 23 Feb 2018 17:05:10 -0600

by Madeline Ricchiuto

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According to the latest from Ubisoft, the second DLC expansion pack for Assassin's Creed: Origins comes complete with the ghosts of cursed pharaohs who will absolutely haunt you until you solve their unfinished business. The DLC storyline will start off pretty simply. Bayek is headed to Thebes to pick up a "mysterious artifact." You know, your usual ACO tomb raiding scenario. However, Bayek finds himself over his head in a pretty literal way.

Rather than dealing with the Order of the Ancients, you run across some undead pharaohs who are materializing in the streets of Thebes and slaughtering civilians. Because all ghosts exist only for carnage.

Really, what it comes down to is a crimewave of tomb robbing stripping the Valley of the Kings like Best Buy on Black Friday. So, to keep the local spooks from utterly destroying the city of Thebes, you have to hunt down key artifacts related to each pharaoh to make them crawl back to their tombs.

The Curse of the Pharaohs map includes some vast new territory with new surprises. You have access to the city of Thebes, which includes the temples of Karnak and Luxor. Across the Nile, you'll find the Valley of the Kings, complete with plundered tombs. Once you encounter a restless pharaoh, you head into their individual afterlife which functions as a self-contained open world connected to their tomb by use of portals. The underworld includes new, exotic loot, floating ghost barges, and mythical creatures.

The afterlife areas are open for fast travel once you discover them, and pull double-duty as a crash course in some of the lesser-known sides of Egyptian mythology. This includes the Egyptian theory of the soul, which came complete in five separate parts. One of those parts was a human-faced bird called a "ba." And now in ACO, ba are everywhere in the afterlife, and you can even hunt them if you're feeling particularly salty.

The Shadows of the Pharaohs represent your new big bad. These guys will occasionally appear randomly as limited time boss encounters and go on a rampage. These enemies are extremely resilient and can do a lot of damage, making them a challenge even for high-level players. And when you encounter them in the afterlife, they get a nice power-up which means they can kill you with only a single special attack or two. For that reason, the level cap has been raised to 55 in Curse of the Pharaohs. You also get seven new abilities:

Dash Boost rewards perfect dodges with a damage boost.
Overpower Fury heals Bayek and removes any status ailments when he unleashes an adrenaline-charged Overpower attack
Predator Bow kills can be infected with Flesh Decay
Hunter Bow shots can pierce through shields
Light Bows will get more damage by scoring consecutive hits
Warrior Bow blasts will inflict bleed damage
Favor of Osiris rewards you for spending time in the afterlife by refilling Bayek's tools and arrows while down under

The new skills require 15 Ability Points to unlock, so you'll want to keep an eye out for any glowing question marks on the map to help you unlock them as soon as possible. Because you will need them.

Curse of the Pharaohs will launch on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on March 13th. It's included in the Season Pass for Assassin's Creed Origins, or can be purchased separately for $19.99 USD.

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