Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will alter DLC scenes and dialogue after all

Changes address controversy over forced romantic storyline

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s “Shadow Heritage” expansion will get changes to its story and cinematics after all, following a controversy in which the protagonist character was hard-wired into a heterosexual relationship that conceived a child, despite the earlier story choices some players could make taking them into same-sex romances.

A Ubisoft community manager said that Ubisoft Quebec is making changes to a cutscene and dialogue in Shadow Heritage “to better reflect the nature of the relationship for players selecting a non-romantic storyline.” The changes and a renamed trophy/achievement some found insensitive and inconsistent with their character will be implemented in a future patch.

“We’ve also been carefully looking at the next episode, Bloodline, to ensure the paths that players experience mirror the choices they make in game,” the community manager wrote this afternoon.

[Warning: The remainder of this post contains spoilers for “Shadow Heritage,” the second chapter of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s Legacy of the First Blade add-on.]

“Shadow Heritage,” the second chapter of the premium DLC Legacy of the First Blade add-on, is meant to tie the protagonist (either Kassandra or Alexios) to the lineage of Assassins established by the series over the past decade. In this chapter, either character will end up having a child with the son (or daughter) of a proto-Assassin character named Darius.

However, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in the run-up to its October launch noted the ability to play as a female or a male character, and same-sex or opposite-sex (or both) romance options among the limited role-playing choices. When “Shadow Heritage” revealed the character had settled down into a heterosexual relationship — even if they had spurned the romantic overtures of Darius’ son or daughter — fans reacted with disappointment and criticism.

In addition to subverting the sexual orientation some may have chosen for their character, others said the forced storyline made players’ earlier participation in the story meaningless. Also, the trophy/achievement earned after the scene where the child is born was called “Growing Up,” which some construed as a comment that being gay or childless was a phase to grow out of.

Jonathan Dumont, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s creative director, apologized last week for the clumsy handling of the DLC’s plot twist. He’d said the writers’ intention was to show that Alexios (or Kassandra) now felt compelled to preserve their lineage in light of the sacrifices made by their grandfather and mother. Acting even despite their sexual orientation to do so was meant to show the importance of carrying on, Dumont implied, but he acknowledged that “the clarity and motivation for this decision was poorly executed.”

Legacy of the First Blade premiered on Dec. 4, 2018 with the first chapter, “Hunted.” It was followed Jan. 15 by “Shadow Heritage.” The final chapter, “Bloodline,” is expected sometime in March.