Ubisoft is Changing That Forced Relationship in the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Shadow Heritage DLC

The general reception to Ubisoft’s action RPG, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has been overwhelmingly positive, with the game receiving multiple Game of the Year nominations from various outlets last year. Even with the critical and commercial success of Odyssey, fans were left disappointed with the Shadow Heritage DLC. This was due to the lack of player-choice regarding an in-game relationship and the language used with the associated Trophy. Without getting into spoilers, the DLC disregards player-choice and forces you to engage in a romantic relationship with the opposite gender, regardless of whether or not you choose to pursue same-sex romance options in the game. The Trophy that unlocks after is titled, “Growing Up,” leaving a bad taste among fans regarding the connotation it has towards bearing a child. In light of this, Ubisoft issued apologies and announced that the DLC would be patched to take player-choice into account, as well as renaming the associated Trophy.

This comes by way of the Ubisoft Blog:

After hearing player feedback and discussing within the development team we are making changes to a cutscene and some dialogue in Shadow Heritage to better reflect the nature of the relationship for players selecting a non-romantic storyline. These changes, along with renaming a trophy/achievement, are being made now and will be implemented in an upcoming 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.

This is fantastic news, as the general reception surrounding these issues have been quite negative. Odyssey is an experience that boasts player-choice, so to have a DLC that completely disregards that sort of goes against the mantra of the game.

Even with this blunder, the narrative behind the backlash and the outcome in which Ubisoft is implementing changes to the DLC is fascinating. It just goes to show how much video games and technology have evolved, going in a direction in which player feedback is integral and it’s great that developers are aware of this.

Have you played the DLC? What are your thoughts on these changes to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey? Let us know!

[Source: Ubisoft Forum]