Age of Mythology: Retold, in case you're unfamiliar, is a sort-of remake of the classic 2002 strategy game that—as per our , which gave it a solid 75, "walks the tightrope of updating the bits that feel clunky by today’s standards without killing the sense of nostalgia."
But there's a fly stuck to those rose-tinted glasses. As players have observed, the game has exactly one DLC [[link]] to its name (bar a soundtrack) the . It's currently on sale for $6 (£5) and, [[link]] as the name suggests, lets players use the portraits from the 2002 original release.
It's also bundled in with the premium edition—along with advanced access, which is why both the base game and the DLC are available for reviews right now. What we have here is a unique situation where, perhaps for the first time, a DLC [[link]] has received a "Very Negative" Steam reviews before the game it's attached to has even arrived.
I'm not coming to the defence of the DLC in isolation here, but in the interest of fairness I feel obligated to point out that the premium version (which includes these things) seems objectively fine. For $20 extra you got seven days of advanced access as an early buyer, a new god to play with, and two upcoming expansions that are fresh to the game—which is a reasonable price point on the face of it.
As far as its base game reviews go, Age of Mythology: Retold also seems to be pleasing long-term fans. At the time of writing, it's sat at a 92% positive user review score, with roughly 3,670 advanced access players giving it the thumbs up. Not too shabby. I'm reminded of a larger-scale fiasco that happened with Dragon's Dogma 2—where the game was actually a riot, but some poorly managed DLC packaging gave it a . Optics are, as always, vital.