Steelrising: Cagliostro's Secrets Review (simone.spinozzi)
The DLC is end-game material, you need to have already completed the Bastille, so in order to play it you need to replay all the game as this sits right before going to Versailles to confront the King, i found no problem in that, but i have seen people complaining that they did not wish or had no time to replay the game.
The game-play itself is extremely satisfying as usual. The new area opened by this DLC is very well made and satisfyingly labyrinthine. The boss is interesting and the new enemies have satisfying new mechanics attached to them. The new area opened at the Bastille is about as big as the Bastille itself even if not as intricate. So, I found this DLC overall an extremely positive addition.
My main gripe is about the story being told in this DLC.
The big question about Giuseppe Balsamo count of Cagliostro, (given the ending of the game) is... why is Aegis still alive?!?!
In this DLC he seems to be well aware that she is after him and... this DLC answer "why is Aegis' equipment scattered all over the place" which... is really not a question i needed to ask or get an answer to.
At best i would ask why this equipment exists in the first place.
In the main game "Sleepless" quest he is shown to know about Aegis and he wishes her to "rust".
The way the story is told the very fact that Cagliostro knows that Aegis is going against him is... it makes no sense for Aegis to even be still alive.
While i will not go in details at the very end of the main game it is clearly shown that Cagliostro could have deactivated her remotely at any time without much effort, which he tries to do during the ending cut-scene.
And due to what this "remote off button" is... it is not even something that would deactivate more things than Aegis alone by herself.
During this entire DLC we get to know more people who were aware of Aegis... uhm.... well before she was given the order to go to stop this entire madness. So... she was considered a threat before becoming a threat?!?!
There is this ridiculously funny scene playing in my head where Aegis just passively watches people shipping away her clothes and accessories because she was given orders to not interfere with the workers and servants and no orders to stop them.
Given that it is strongly implied in the story that she gained the ability to think for herself when she was given the initial vague order by the queen, or possibly when she was given the vague order to protect the queen, thus forcing her to start to think about what does it imply, at the time when they started just moving the equipment away from her she was (mentally) barely more than an infant trying to grasp the reality around herself.
So... i did not like the story being told, due to it making less than zero sense and (if anything), due to what happens in the end boss,it leaves me still wondering why is Aegis still alive to end the game.