Story Overview
This is a combat and time intensive CULTIST HUNT!!!!
Bloodlines tie key characters to Greek Gods. It is your responsibility to find and defend family
members who have been targeted by the bitch-ass illuminati. With great power comes great
greed! You play as either Deimos or Kassandra – A MISTHIOS. An assassin for hire that will
take any job YOU accept. Some quests have time limits but many will never expire allowing you
take your time completing them in part and moving on to something more interesting/palatable.
Come back when you want to tackle a 3 part mission.
The game is so lengthy and you go on so many side missions that I wouldn’t say the main
storyline is the main selling point. Taking out 25+ cultist members spread far apart and locating
clues towards their whereabouts will become part of the journey but there are numerous
distractions that are worth indulging. Such as the Pephka Arena where you take on waves of
warriors looking for glory or fighting legendary figures – Madusa and the Lava Cyclops are some
that come to mind.
World Design
As you travel the vast open landscape of Peloponnesian war times (431-422 BC) you will
encounter and likely kill THOUSANDS of Spartan/Athenian soldiers and many more murderous
mercenaries (probably around 100 of those).
There are MASSIVE amounts of Land AND Ocean to explore. Mostly grassy countryside/woods
and large metropolises but there are many smaller spots to enjoy as well – ranging from small
salt farms on the coast to private pirate bays. There’s even Amazonian bow using flame
shooters that kill all outsiders intruding in their village!
This map would take forever to run or swim across, thankfully within the first 5 levels you will
have a summonable horse and become the captain of your very own warship! Even running a
few hundred meters becomes tedious so calling “Phobos” will likely become second nature for
you. At your immediate disposal you will be able to access your bird companion’s sight. With
one press of a button you can find your POV shifting to that of “Ikaros” swiftly gliding around a
distant building and zooming in locating marks/treasure. Ikaros is essential as synchronizing with
him on certain cliff edges and village post will grant you FAST TRAVEL access. With more than
25 islands (some of which will have enemies too powerful for your current level which will force
you to come back) It is crucial to save time by going slightly out of your way to synchronize
every time you see a white bird symbol on the map.
The bird symbol will be green if you have fast travel access and the more sync spots you
connect to the more powerful the bird becomes. Later on he will harass someone you choose
doing 1/5 HP damage and distracting them while you grab nearby treasure or sneak attack
them. He can also see their travel trajectory. Stalking your prey and learning their route can
come through for you big if they are on horseback, they are potentially leaving the area, with
cities being enormous you can easily lose track if you don’t lock on target.
Difficulty/Combat Learning Curve
This in an RPG that offers far more than hacking and slashing. With highly customizable and
comparable armor(sets) that offer endless buffs and or debuffs, you will have to experiment
and find your style. With around 35 unlockable abilities you will find yourself to be a completly
different warrior compared to how you start out.
In the Inventory section there is a LOADOUT area 1-5 which will have your set gear ready to
switch. You cannot do this mid-combat but by running even 10 feet or hiding in a nearby bush
will gain the access you desire. Quickly going from an up close and personal poison dagger build
to a distanced fire arrow Hunter build. Additonally, you are given the option to RESET your
abilities. In the abilities section you can press a button in the lower right hand side instantly
refunding you points. Crediting you and allowing reallocation towards a better approach, for a
specific mission, or simply a fresh start.
At level 50 you unlock MASTERY LEVELS which instead of unlocking a power you can utilize
your ability points to specialize in specfic areas E.G. increased health for your Tamed Beast.
Yes, in this game you can unlock BEAST MASTER which will allow you to run around with a
tamed Wolf/Lioness/Lynx/Bear by your side. Each animal with varying attack styles speeds HP
and usefulness. Fire is their main weakness but be careful roaming around with them because
they follow closely and falling off a cliff while you jump around feeling powerful can be
depressing! As the game progresses you gradually take less FALL damage eventually
becoming nearly immortal. Just become you can hop off a building, rolling as you land, like
you’re on the playground, doesn’t mean your companion will survive. Keep this in mind because
taming another animal may mean you need to double back to an area 4000m away. Angling
during combat so that you attack enemies head on while your helper attacks from the back or
side will keep you both alive longer. Keep in mind slashing at your beast wont hurt it but you can
set an area on fire which will affect anything that steps on it.
In the options of the game you can choose between three plainly explained difficulties but you will
die many times no matter what so just try one and change it whenever you feel ready. More
importantly there is an option for all base enemies to be equal to your character level OR to be
what they naturally (based on the area) would be. Within 4 levels of you. You will find out quickly
that a few levels makes a big difference. Mercs captains lieutenants and leaders will always have
a power and health amount 4-8 levels higher than the grunts of that same level. Constantly
paying attention to your surroundings is vital as running in the direction of 2 overpowered
polemarks will be a much harsher task than rolling or parrying the 4 or 5 goons swarming on
you.
Being fearful will not be rewarded. Crowd control techniques such as RING OF CHAOS or
OVERPOWER BOW STRIKE will come in handy especially when you have to deal with
CONQUEST BATTLE(s) which is a major clash made available in each area when you lower
the Nation Power (this is done by killing leaders and or burning war supplies in forts). This will
always be a war zone between the spartans and athenians. Crucial as it gives you epic gear
and huge amounts of EXP.
There are many weapons to choose from yet not many ways to approach combat. Either quietly
crouching and sneaking undetected and getting within assassination range or rushing in to an
enemy base like a maniac taking groups of 20 soldiers out.
You have Hunter Warrior and Assassin scores. Levels and highly customizable gear determine
those numbers. If you want to stay at a distance and utilize
poison/fire/explosive/paralyzing/death ARROWS then you will want to buff up your Hunter
damage. Close combat damage meaning any weapon other than the bow will be determined by
Warrior numbers and Assassin damage will determine whether or not you one shot someone
when attacking unnoticed or within a few seconds of being spotted (there is a SLOW TIME
Ability down the line)
TIPS/TRICKS
Use Meditation
MEDITATION is a baseline ability that you can use to rest and move forward time 12 hours.
Rush Assassination
Guards and character routes are LESS ACTIVE AT NIGHT!
The best technique of the game is likely RUSH ASSASINATION. By throwing the broken spear
of Leonidas you have a chainable weapon attack that can take up to 4 people out without being
detected. This often times wipes out anyone near the front entrance and allowing you full
access to the location’s spoils.
Parrying
You can also PARRY incoming arrows the same way you would parry a regular blunt attack. I
never seen anyone doing this because you need to practice your timing but it’s deffinitely a cool
option. Another odd situation with arrows is after spotting sharks with Ikaros you can swim
above them and instead of diving/fighting them in their territory you can shoot arrows down at
them through the water. I didn’t discover this until level 30 but it’s always available as an option.
Underwater fighting is slower and far from easy. Arrows to their head before they know you’re
around is far more efficient.
Revelation for Passage Finding
REVELATION is an ability you unlock early on which utlitizes Athena’s sight to find hidden
passages and loot. You can use this AFTER completing a conquest battle. The dead laying
around on the battlefield will not usually have any loot on them but using this ability can CHEAT
THE SYSTEM. Prompting additonaly Drachmae! Also, enemy encampents nearby will be
caught in the action so running to one afterwards can get you 5-10 dead bodies with loot just
chilling there.
Great Axe + Overpower
Utilizing the GREAT AXE and coupling it with the overpower ability R1 R2 is certainly the best move in terms of bang for your buck. This move which costs three adrenaline segments will often times get you four kills. It is a chaining attack that can destroy everyone surrounding you. It is best to use this on a mercenary then rotate your point of view to another soldier hit them with the chaining attack rotate back to the mercenary and hit them a second time oftentimes wiping enemies out completely that would take 10 hits with a lesser weapon.
Epic & Legendary Gear
Dismantle standard gear sooner than later. Epic or legendary pieces that you don’t want now
may come in handy down the line so store in in your boat instead of selling it. You may find
yourself with 700+ pieces of armor and the game will let you know that you have too much shit
to carry. It’s annoying trying to sell 400 items in one sitting so visit your Blacksmiths often.
If you can handle the opponents in the area it is best to upgrade your weapons and armour
every 10 levels. 1,11,21,31 etc You get a natural power boost for reaching those levels. There’s no good reason to waste
resources on your gear every 2 levels. Your ship takes A LOT of wood obsedian and gems to
upgrade so keep everything in long term perspective.
Horse Mounting
When you call your horse you should start running as you will automatically hop on. No good
reason to stand around waiting and then manually climb atop the hooved helper.
Do not be afraid to look up additional tips and tricks on YouTube! There are so many options in
the game it’s likely you will wish you found out more sooner than later. Have fun exploring all the
possibilites.
Who would I recommend this game for?
I consider this to be an epic game providing an extreme addictiveness. A powerful draw to
complete endless side-quests has “cost” me almost 175 hours. To complete the main story it’ll
probably take the average person 100+ hours of dedicated search and slaughter. This is not a
simple task for casual players with no time to kill. I also wouldn’t say this is for kids. I have heard
some people turn off the blood splatter in the settings but that doesn’t remove all of the sexual
tension or the stains of dragged slaves. The only real criticism I have is that the game lacks
enough options for you to be a “good guy” there’s so much killing and scumbaggery no matter
how you respond to people and what missions you accept it still feels as if you are push into a
corner of being a vigilante leaning more towards the dark side. Oh, and also the programming is
flawed sometime your bear will get caught between a wall or some weird shit like that. If anything
it’s more of a laughable offense.
Sometimes I get tired of playing for the day but I always end up going back. I’m hooked and
before even completing the main storyline I found myself purchasing VALHALLA (the next game
in the series)
