Can you play the entirety of the game as Aiden Pearce?

[GensenPrime]

I know that this game has the bloodlines DLC where they brought back aiden and wrench from the first two games for a new story and as playable characters. I really liked the first game and Aiden as a protagonist despite it being an unpopular opinion. Thinking about picking this game up since 10 bucks for gold doesn't seem too bad. Can you play the bloodlines story right off rip or do you have to complete a good chunk of the main game before you can start playing as Aiden? I have no interest in the "play as any NPC" gimmick.

[KenTWOu]

Originally posted by Schingle:

Can you play the entirety of the game as Aiden Pearce?

Yes.

Main campaign: You have to complete tutorial sequence ~20 min: play a short level as spider bot, pick your 3 agents, drive to DedSec Safehouse, complete short tutorials there (how to upgrade, how to buy clothes, how to melee fight, etc,). As soon as they tell you to go outside Safehouse for the first time, and "save" button becomes available in the main menu, you can talk to Aiden Pearce in front of Safehouse to join him to the team, and play as him after that. The game will force you to switch to other agents for some missions, But you can play as Aiden Pearce during almost all of them.

There is also an earlier mission, where they tell you to hire construction worker for his cargo drone. You can fail that mission, Bagley will say that he did everything himself, and you don't need construction worker anymore, allowing you to continue to play the game as Pearce

Bloodline DLC: You can launch it from the main menu as soon as you installed the game. You'll play as Aiden Pearce from the get go, and then as Wrench for some side/main missions.

Originally posted by Schingle:

I have no interest in the "play as any NPC" gimmick.

That said, playing the whole game as Pearce will become repetitive pretty fast. It's better to try other operatives and their abilities to make gameplay more fun. more varied. Most of the people who didn't like the game, played as one or two prestige operatives. Most of the people who loved the game, embraced 'play as anyone' feature and tried everything, seeing the game depth.

Not to mention that the game is more fun with permadeath, and you have to disable it, because Aiden Pearce could literally die in the process.

Also to get more weapons for Pearce (pistols, silenced pistol, shotguns, assault rifles, LMGs) you have to either recruit people with those weapons to your team or use Mina's Mind Control glitch to get those weapons. You also have to recruit people for some 'quality of life' perks for your team. What I'm trying to say is you won't be able to completely ignore 'play as anyone' systems in the main campaign.

P.S: no matter what you decide buy Gold edition, Bloodline DLC alone won't give you Aiden Pearce and Wrench for the main campaign as playable characters.