Ryse: Son of Rome has just released its third planned DLC pack for the Xbox One, called “Duel of Fates” according to Xbox Wire.
The DLC will include two arena mode round-to-round maps called Invictus and Barbarous. The pack will also feature a survival map called Island. As hour d’oeuvres, the pack will also contain 2 gladiator skins featured from the single-player campaign: one Glott the barbarian chief and the other from Marius Titus, the main character.
Justin Robey, senior producer at Microsoft, described the maps as sprawling, multi-tiered “Roman Holodecks” that tell their own stories. As an example, Invictus and Barbarous are loosely based on historical events. Invictus surrounds the Servile Wars while Barbarous surrounds the invasion of German “barbarians” that led to the downfall of the Roman Empire.
In Invictus and Barbarous, players are tasked with seizing control and holding certain landmarks such as the God Tree, lighting wicker men on fire, defending Emperor Nero from harm as he plays his lyre (possibly kidding on the lyre part) and avoiding numerous traps.
In Island, the player starts off already bleeding and must hold off an endless wave of enemies, performing executions to restore his/her health. According to the post “the limited combat space and constantly diminishing health creates a wonderful sense of urgency, and this tension is heightened further by unassailable hwacha raining arrows down on the battlefield.”
The Duel of Fates pack is out now on the Xbox Marketplace and costs $8.99 as a standalone, or is part of the $19.99 season pass.
