Ancient Greece speaks to the imagination of a lot of people. It was a time where you could be one of the most powerful rulers alive or where you had to struggle for your survival each and every day. On paper, Ancient Greece sounds amazing but in reality, it was a brutal time to be alive if you were born in the wrong family. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey tells a story of a constant shift in power while you’re in the center of it all. Welcome to your Odyssey.
Introducing our new heroes
Right from the start, it’s clear that a lot of time and love went into the world of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. The game starts off with a very impressive scene, building up to the introduction of our new hero. I liked this opening a lot and to be honest, I immediately liked the game more than its predecessor Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Where you started as a powerful character in Origins, the hero of Odyssey is someone from the lower class. For the first time in the franchise, you can actually choose who you’ll be in the game. Ubisoft gives you the freedom to pick a male or female leading character. At the start of the game, you’re able to choose between Alexios and Kassandra. Since it’s the first time for a main Assassin’s Creed game to feature a female lead, I played as Kassandra. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but playing as a female hero really feels different from all other Assassin’s Creed games. It brings a new vibe to the franchise and just because of this change, it really felt like I was playing a completely different game. Adding this freedom to choose your own hero is a smart decision for sure.
Whoever you pick, the main story of the game remains rather the same. You’re both outcasts slowly becoming the legendary hero/heroin everybody has been waiting for. The story is a typical Assassin’s Creed one filled with betrayal, false promises, and a constant search for ancient artifacts. Yes, there’s also a present-day segment to the story and the more you advance, the more complex everything becomes. Odyssey offers a lot of different stories all combined in one world. Besides your main missions, there are tons of interesting side-missions with important narratives to keep you going. The world of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is huge and if you want to clear every story, you’ll be hooked to your screen for a lot of hours.
Time to explore the world
At the beginning of the game, you’ll have to make another important decision. You’ll have to choose between Exploration Mode or Guided Mode. The Exploration Mode is new and enables you to explore the world more freely. In this mode, you’ll never see a clear quest marker but you’ll need to find your next location or person of interest with the clues you managed to collect during your exploration of the world. This makes it a lot more realistic and even rewarding when you finally find what you’re looking for. Exploration Mode feels like a positive innovation in the franchise since you’ll truly discover the gorgeous world the team created. Of course, you’ll need to prepare for some long searches if you’re tracking down legendary equipment but with the help of your loyal eagle, you’re always able to get a nice overview of the map.
If you’re not a fan of discovering everything on your own, you can pick the Guided Mode. This mode leans closer to older Assassin’s Creed games where a marker showed you exactly where to go. Remember, however, that Odyssey uses the same engine as Origins so there’s no mini-map, just a compass bar in the top of your screen. That being said, with the Guided Mode you’ll find your quests without any problems. If you don’t really know which mode suits your game style best, you can always change those settings on the go, just like the level of difficulty. It’s clear that the team wanted to create an Assassin’s Creed that speaks to a lot of gamers and thanks to the freedom in these options, I think they nailed it.
Create your own destiny
Freedom really is the cornerstone of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. Whatever you do, you can always change your own destiny. Just like Origins, you can create the character that fits your style best. With every level you rise, you can spend skill points in three different skill trees, being the warrior, hunter, and assassin tree. As a warrior, you’ll invest in the new combat, hunter focusses on your bow and arrow knowledge while the assassin branch focusses on sneaky attacks. It’s great to have this freedom once more since it’s really crucial to upgrade your character if you want to survive. Assassinating a strong character, for example, will only deliver some damage instead of killing him/her at the beginning of the game. If you want to assassinate those characters with just one blow, you’ll need to spend several skill points. This extra layer of strategy worked like a charm in Origins and I got the feeling it even got better in Odyssey.
The freedom doesn’t stop there. During the dialogues, you’re always able to decide how you’ll respond. At first, this is rather basic with just a couple of options, but the more you advance, the more important these decisions become. The game has multiple ending so if you’re going for a certain direction, it’s crucial to stick with your decisions until the very end. Thanks to this, you’ll truly play your Odyssey and it won’t come as a surprise that you and your friends can easily go through a different kind of story.
Conquer them all
Just like before, combat is crucial for your survival and never before did you had to face this many enemies. The world is filled with danger and it doesn’t always involve humans. The wildlife of Odyssey is simply amazing and the variation of animals is truly admirable. You’ll have to watch out for deadly wolves in the forests but also for deadly sharks in the sea. Odyssey is all about exploration and it’s great to see that you can, once more, discover new mysteries both on land as in the water. Discovering sunken ruins still feel amazing.
Just like in Origins, Odyssey uses the same renewed combat mechanics. Your main weapons are activated with your shoulder buttons and parrying the attack of your enemies is extremely crucial to survive. That being said, throughout the game, you’ll fight a lot of enemies, including extremely powerful ones where you really have to use everything you’ve learned to make it out alive. Combat isn’t limited to the land since naval combat makes a return once more. Just like everything else in the game, you’re free to approach your enemies the way you want, enabling you to survive battle after battle with your preferred style. Combat never felt this fluent and accurate as in Odyssey, it’s clear that the team learned a lot from previous entries.
Conclusion:
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey easily surpassed everything I was hoping for. This is the perfect Assassin’s Creed where freedom of choice, addictive combat, and a gorgeous new world go hand in hand. Right from the start, the game just ‘clicked’ and the more you advance, the better it all gets. Ancient Greece offers the perfect playground filled with dangers and mysteries. This simply is an entry in the franchise you have to play.
