I finished the first DLC this morning and I liked it, though it's not without flaws. Elysium is a lot of fun to play around in and they've even taken a step up on some of the tombs and hidden locations, which hide what are essentially upgrades to some of your abilities(Bull Rush, Ares Rage, Rain of Destruction and slow time). The main quest does involve a budding rebellion lead by Adonis, who in this case is a a still alive Human in love with Aphrodite(though apparently has a thing for Persephone) rather then a god, but there's also a number of factions competing against each other, all of which use Kassandra to do their dirty work.
This leads to a number of different choices on how you can handle some of the things you're asked to do and while pursing the various faction plots it becomes increasingly difficult to tell what the "right" choice is or if there is even one. In fact, as they progress, there's the distinct feeling that you pretty much can't win regardless between the various factions all trying to screw each other. Checking the ending cutscenes on youtube and the fact the trailer pretty much spoils Kassandra getting kicked into a pit pretty much confirms there's not a not of variations in the ending, mostly boiling down to watching some of the faction heads get some kind of punishment for their crimes.
In the end, Kassandra gets knocked down into what is presumably Tartarus to face Cerberus, and then it cuts out because the TEMPLARS ARE HERE! A short fight between Layla and some Templar goons later, you're told some time is needed to recalibrate the Atlantis data files or something technobabbly, thus the excuse why you can't continue on in the DLC. Cutting off just before the Cerberus boss fight? Damn, that's cold Ubisoft.
Also, it leads to a WTF moment when one of Laylas compariots, Victoria, reacts to Layla fighting off a Templar Hit Squad and killing a couple of them with the accusation of being a psycho. Which comes across as weird considering Victoria is an Assassin, Layla is an Assassin, and a FUCKING TEMPLAR HIT SQUAD showed up with intent to murder them! Christ Victoria, do you not know what the hell is going on? Do you not know what organization you work for? Yes, I know not all Assassins perform hits but it's still an implicit part of your organization. Not to mention killing those Templars clearly counts as Self defense considering they did come with murder on their minds.
Anyway, my other gripe with the DLC is that there's a big climatic conquest battle at the end where you and your allies storm Persephone's palace, and instead of putting any real work into it, say, giving you objectives and showing the army progressing across the acropolis in stages, rather you get a big chaotic melee, punctuated with a boss fight against Hermes(who is a pretty decent challenge at least). THe one thing I did appreciate is that any overseers(region leaders) you haven't already killed will end up acting as mini-bosses during the conquest battle.
It does feel like a notable step up from Legacy of the first blade and it very clearly channels the Curse of the Pharaohs DLC from Origins, running with afterlife Premise. It's still unclear exactly what's going on as of the end of part 1, though I suspect the answer is going to revolve around that the "simulations" Elethia mentioned are either recreations of past events from 75,000 years ago, a version of the Matrix where a number of ISU uploaded their brains to survive the first Solar flare(and can't leave because there's no bodies to return to) or some weird combination of the two. The ISU don't break character for the most part, though there are a few hints there's more going on. Particularly at the end when Persephone explicitly says she lost "Your world" and Elysium is all she has left. There are references and implications several times of Elysium being a prison. And then there's the notable amd as yet still unexplained translucent globe in the Elysium sky and the fact Altheia explicitly says in the Atlantis Entrance hall that Atlantis either is or contains an ISU archive of sorts.
The fact the ISU act like highly powerful dicks makes them fit nicely with greek mythology, especially in the manner where it feels like none of them are really trustworthy and you should be wary when working for Persephone, Hekate and Hermes. How this squares with them being ISU is harder to determine, since we don't know the exact context. There are a couple of ways we could justify it:
-THis is a matrix-like simulation that the ISU reside in digitally with admin-level privs and the ISU have gone Native, embracing the "We're Gods" thing. Granted, if you'd been trapped in a simulation for 75K years and everything is presumably there for your pleasure, I guess you'd probably end up being an abusive prick too. I can't help but think this is also a westworld style dig at gamers in a way.
-Along the same lines, the ISU have always been depicted as being, well, entitled dicks at the best of times, with a couple of them embracing the "I'm your God. Worship me, Peasants" works pretty nicely and Kassandra doesn't know any better, or not enough to really split hairs. Minerva was one of the nicer ones we'd need up until the newer games and even she pretty much treated humans like childern, whereas Juno was literally trying to set up the whole "Worship me" thing.
-The whole thing, including the ISU, is more or less fictional but based on real people who are long dead and basically emulating their characters. Truth but not fact, if you will.
Aside, there's a nice moment midway through the DLC when you're told of a notable Spartan warrior who could be of help to the rebellion. It turns out to be Leonidas, who I'm sure everyone remembers from the 300 reference from the very beginning, as well as actual history. He and Kassandra get to share some nice moments and conversations and it's a shame that they don't get more time together here.
At one point, Kassandra has been tasked by Persephone of killing the man(in exchange for resurrecting someone of her choosing) and when she arrives, he invites her to fish(much like he wanted to do with his unseen son in the prologue). They share a few moments just enjoying each others company fishing before the business of Persephone's offer comes up(either by spilling the beans or just trying to kill him). I chose not to kill him because I like the old guy, because I didn't trust Persephone at all to uphold any deal she made and hell, if we're resurrecting anyone, why not resurrect leonidas?
Sadly, you can't go back and tell Persephone to stuff her deal(well, you can try to talk to her but telling her to Fuck off isn't an option). Instead, you're forced into betraying someone else who you previously helped and presumably is sympathetic to your goals, so the railroading there is annoying.
And finally, it might be a wild stab in the dark, but it does seem interesting this Leonidus fits the one from the beginning so nicely, despite the fact Kassandra doesn't actually know him for obvious reasons. The whole thing about fishing implies that this is somehow based on the real man, either through the spear somehow or something else, and not just made up for Kassandra's benefit.
