This review contains spoilers
Link to main AC Revelations review - https://backloggd.com/u/RedBackLoggd/review/563059/
Played as part of the Ezio Collection
The Lost Archive remains one of the most pathetic pieces of media ever conceived in a video game universe. To give you guys some backstory, during the production of AC Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Désilets was so angry at Kristen Bell for asking for increased royalties for Lucy, that he decided to haphazardly kill-off her character (why they couldn't have just recast is a rant for another day). At the time, this made for a shocking twist, but rather than ride the tide and accept it as a simple deific manipulation from Juno, the lore champions decided to go the convoluted route of changing-up Double Agent Stillman into Triple Agent Stillman! That’s right, it turns out Lucy was successfully convinced by Abstergo executive Warren Vidic to switch sides, thereby making her torturing of Subject 16 deliberate and not accidental.
I don’t know why they couldn’t have just stuck to the original script, but lo and behold, this was the nonsense they came up with. And to explain away such a big plot development in the most accessible way possible, they chose to tell it in a short, undermarketed DLC for the filler game Revelations, that being The Lost Archive.
Unlike prior AC expansions, Lost Archive has to be accessed from its own menu and apparently focuses on Subject 16 as he experiences six levels akin to the first-person puzzle sections that Desmond could access in Revelations. I say apparently because at no point is it made clear who you’re playing as on Animus Island, though I’m going to assume it’s him because who else would be doing this?
Those optional parts from Revelations were mixed amongst fans, but I personally enjoyed them and wasn’t against a greater elaboration similar to what we’ve seen occur with minigames in other titles (Captain Toad from Super Mario 3D World, Gwent from The Witcher 3, etc…). Unfortunately, outside of a trampoline construct that comes up twice, there have been no variations or upgrades made to the systems, and the level design isn’t exactly the most exemplary in the timeless platforming genre.
The storytelling, however, is where the real issues reside. Rather than just copy the template they used for Desmond by having Clay narrate what transpired to him over the course of his life, you instead get sporadic conversations played in the background as you wander amidst the corridors. Existing figures like William Miles and Vidic, as well as newbies like Clay’s father, echo dialogues of the past, and the scattershot format fundamentally fails at building-up or conveying the tragic undertones the writers are evidently aiming for. You get dashes of Clay’s troubled relationship with his dad, his descent into madness by the Bleeding Effect, and his realization that no one is coming to save him, but none of them last for more than half-a-minute at best. Worst of all is how the grand revelation about Lucy is conveyed: Ubisoft didn’t bother getting back Bell or at least a voice mimic to deliver any lines- her motivations are disclosed purely in one of several supplementary collectible files. Absolutely pathetic.
Oh, and if you want to rub salt in the wounds, the “true ending” is locked away behind another set of collectible cubes (also present in the base game)- trying to beat The Lost Archive without finding all of these just loops you back to the beginning.
The visuals are at least pretty solid. I’ve always been a sucker for techno realms, and the arthouse team did a solid job at programming those motifs into the digital architecture. Rooms also morph depending on the period of Clay’s life that he’s in, and it was nice seeing callbacks to the OG Animus Room and bloodstained walls from ACI. Whenever the DLC tries to pull in nature vistas, however, I did think it faltered, mainly because they just felt out-of-place, as did the silly attempts at generating horror through hard cuts to grainy, found-footage blasts from the past.
Sound is pretty minimal. I didn’t like that they didn’t bother crafting any new falling noises as it remains the same regardless of how long your drop is or the surface you’re landing on. Luckily, the score makes up for these deficits as it marks the first time of the AC franchise musically dipping into its cyberpunk influences. Synthwave-lite pounds in the background whenever you’re in the memories of Clay’s time in Abstergo, evoking corporate malice. It’s a shame such good compositions from Ola Strandh were wasted on this forgettable product.
Overall, unless you were a huge fan of those Desmond sections, I don’t see The Lost Archive offering much. The fact that Clay barely speaks in it should tell you all you need to know about whether it achieved what it set out to do.
Played as part of the Ezio Collection
The Lost Archive remains one of the most pathetic pieces of media ever conceived in a video game universe. To give you guys some backstory, during the production of AC Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Désilets was so angry at Kristen Bell for asking for increased royalties for Lucy, that he decided to haphazardly kill-off her character (why they couldn't have just recast is a rant for another day). At the time, this made for a shocking twist, but rather than ride the tide and accept it as a simple deific manipulation from Juno, the lore champions decided to go the convoluted route of changing-up Double Agent Stillman into Triple Agent Stillman! That’s right, it turns out Lucy was successfully convinced by Abstergo executive Warren Vidic to switch sides, thereby making her torturing of Subject 16 deliberate and not accidental.
I don’t know why they couldn’t have just stuck to the original script, but lo and behold, this was the nonsense they came up with. And to explain away such a big plot development in the most accessible way possible, they chose to tell it in a short, undermarketed DLC for the filler game Revelations, that being The Lost Archive.
Unlike prior AC expansions, Lost Archive has to be accessed from its own menu and apparently focuses on Subject 16 as he experiences six levels akin to the first-person puzzle sections that Desmond could access in Revelations. I say apparently because at no point is it made clear who you’re playing as on Animus Island, though I’m going to assume it’s him because who else would be doing this?
Those optional parts from Revelations were mixed amongst fans, but I personally enjoyed them and wasn’t against a greater elaboration similar to what we’ve seen occur with minigames in other titles (Captain Toad from Super Mario 3D World, Gwent from The Witcher 3, etc…). Unfortunately, outside of a trampoline construct that comes up twice, there have been no variations or upgrades made to the systems, and the level design isn’t exactly the most exemplary in the timeless platforming genre.
The storytelling, however, is where the real issues reside. Rather than just copy the template they used for Desmond by having Clay narrate what transpired to him over the course of his life, you instead get sporadic conversations played in the background as you wander amidst the corridors. Existing figures like William Miles and Vidic, as well as newbies like Clay’s father, echo dialogues of the past, and the scattershot format fundamentally fails at building-up or conveying the tragic undertones the writers are evidently aiming for. You get dashes of Clay’s troubled relationship with his dad, his descent into madness by the Bleeding Effect, and his realization that no one is coming to save him, but none of them last for more than half-a-minute at best. Worst of all is how the grand revelation about Lucy is conveyed: Ubisoft didn’t bother getting back Bell or at least a voice mimic to deliver any lines- her motivations are disclosed purely in one of several supplementary collectible files. Absolutely pathetic.
Oh, and if you want to rub salt in the wounds, the “true ending” is locked away behind another set of collectible cubes (also present in the base game)- trying to beat The Lost Archive without finding all of these just loops you back to the beginning.
The visuals are at least pretty solid. I’ve always been a sucker for techno realms, and the arthouse team did a solid job at programming those motifs into the digital architecture. Rooms also morph depending on the period of Clay’s life that he’s in, and it was nice seeing callbacks to the OG Animus Room and bloodstained walls from ACI. Whenever the DLC tries to pull in nature vistas, however, I did think it faltered, mainly because they just felt out-of-place, as did the silly attempts at generating horror through hard cuts to grainy, found-footage blasts from the past.
Sound is pretty minimal. I didn’t like that they didn’t bother crafting any new falling noises as it remains the same regardless of how long your drop is or the surface you’re landing on. Luckily, the score makes up for these deficits as it marks the first time of the AC franchise musically dipping into its cyberpunk influences. Synthwave-lite pounds in the background whenever you’re in the memories of Clay’s time in Abstergo, evoking corporate malice. It’s a shame such good compositions from Ola Strandh were wasted on this forgettable product.
Overall, unless you were a huge fan of those Desmond sections, I don’t see The Lost Archive offering much. The fact that Clay barely speaks in it should tell you all you need to know about whether it achieved what it set out to do.