AC Odyssey: Legacy of the First Blade
Quests & Design Highlights
Persian Puppetry — Crafting Exposition Through Engaging Gameplay
This quest introduced The Tempest, the central antagonist of Part 2, focusing on delivering exposition in creative ways to keep players engaged.
Key Contributions:
- Cinematic Collaboration: Worked closely with narrative and cinematic designers to craft impactful cutscenes, aligning with leads and handling backend setup for smooth transitions.
- Background Storytelling: Placed strategic NPCs along the player's path to provide passive exposition without disrupting gameplay.
- Interactive Investigation: Designed a streamlined investigation objective where players interrogate key shipyard workers to learn about The Tempest. Careful placement minimised frustration and maintained narrative focus.
- Subtle Foreshadowing: Introduced NPC spies subtly tracking the player during the investigation — a rewarding detail for attentive players.
Knives in the Dark — Leveraging Systems for Unique Encounters
This quest utilised procedural systems combined with handcrafted elements to create a fresh gameplay experience.
Key Contributions:
- Systemic Mercenaries: Integrated custom mercenaries with tailored fighting styles and behaviour, distinct from the typical bounty system.
- Strategic Challenge: Crafted mercenaries with complementary combat roles — a brute and a poison-wielding rogue — to offer varied tactical encounters.
- Stealth and Combat Options: Designed opportunities for silent takedowns or an all-out fight, catering to different player styles.
Additional Contributions
- Onboarded new team members, sharing best practices in quest and level design.
- Wrote flavour text and contributed to brainstorming narrative beats for quests.
This project was a rewarding opportunity to deepen my quest design expertise while leveraging my level design background, ultimately contributing to a rich and immersive player experience.
Legacy of the First Blade is a downloadable content expansion for Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, released December 4, 2018. A three-part episodic story arc, it introduces players to the first person to ever use the Hidden Blade and reveals the history that ultimately led to the formation of the Assassins.