Review — Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Explore ancient Greece and forge your path as a legendary Spartan hero in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
2018 sees the release of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, which is set in ancient Greece, more specifically during the Peloponnesian War that saw Athens and Sparta facing off against each other. For the first time in an Assassin’s Creed game, the player has to choose a male or female character at the start of the game. Both are experienced mercenaries, or “misthios” in Ancient Greek, who are descendants off the famous Spartan king Leonidas (as seen in the movie 300 and in various other media). Alexios or Kassandra inherit Leonidas’s broken spear and are set on learning more about their family, while dealing with the war between Sparta and Athens, and a cult set on controlling all of Greece and by extent the world. As usual for an Assassin’s Creed game, the storyline focuses on the rivalry between the Assassins and the Templars, with a big focus on history intertwined with the supernatural. Odyssey is no different, and explores the origins of the Assassins and Templars even further.
A family drama
Before the game lets you dive into either Alexios’s or Kassandra’s family history, the player is put in the sandals of the legendary king Leonidas. The opening mission, which re-enacts the famous Battle of Thermopylae, serves as a combat tutorial, and sees you facing off against a horde of Persians soldiers, followed by their heavily armored leader. The opening gives of a real 300 vibe, with a stunning cinematic followed by a fairly large-scale battle. After the tutorial, the game switches to the present and focuses briefly on Layla Hasan and her assistant Victoria Bibeau. Layla is a familiar face for those who player the previous game, Assassin’s Creed Origins.
In Odyssey, she discovers the broken spear of Leonidas, on which she finds the DNA of the game’s main characters. The Animus is fired up and an impatient Layla gets to pick one of the characters. This section allows the player to customize his or her game experience. Not only do you get to pick between Alexios or Kassandra, you also get to decide on the difficulty level and the amount of guidance the game will provide you. You get to choose between having quest markers all over your radial map, or having none at all. The game offers an “exploration” mode which completely forgoes quest markers and sees you as the player having to discovers clues yourself, piecing everything together as you go. This mode offers a nice alternative to the “hand-holding” that most games nowadays provide.
You start off on the island of Kephallonia, the “hometown” of the main characters, were the protagonist is approached by some thugs in service of “the Cyclops”. After beating them up, you get to decide whether you want to spare them or not. This showcases one of the game’s new mechanics, where you as the player get to make choices. Most of the quests can turn out in different ways depending on the choices you make. Sparing an enemy can result in a potential ally, or killing one can result in losing access to important clues for another quest. Deciding whether you want to help a plague-ridden family that’s looking for a cure, will have a significant impact later in the game. Your choices matter, and this gives the player some sense of responsibility and accountability for their actions. This concept is also found in the conversations. The player is offered multiple choices, and you can be either rude or kind.
A flashback reveals that the main characters were left for dead by their father. A Spartan oracle decided a human sacrifice was needed to please the gods, which turned out to be the protagonist’s sibling. Sad and angry with this decision, the protagonist pushed the priest of a cliff. A disgraced father, going by the name Nikolaos, saw no other option then to throw his own child of the cliff as well. They survive however, and eventually start to live the life of a mercenary, helping out citizens here and there. The start of the Peloponnesian War changes everything though, and the remainder of the game sees the protagonist navigating its way across the various Greek islands in search of their family, while at the same time trying to uncover a plot to delve all of Greece in chaos.
The art of war
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey builds on the game mechanics of its predecessor, Assassins Creed Origins. Last year, Origins brought more RPG elements to the series than ever before. Being able to unlock skills by leveling up and equipping different kinds of weapons which improve your character’s abilities and stats has made a return. Each time you level up, or at certain key moments in the story, you’ll earn skillpoints which you can invest in one of three skill trees: hunter, warrior and assassin. Each tree focuses on a specific style of play, with “hunter” improving the character’s archery skills, “warrior” granting skills in melee combat and “assassin” unsurprisingly centering on stealth. Each skill tree has passive abilities, but Odyssey adds active abilities for the first time.
These can be equipped and accessed via quick-slots. Holding down L1 of L2 will open up the skill wheel, and following it up with a triangle, circle, square or cross will have the protagonist perform the allocated action. This can be anything from setting your weapon on fire to launching a spear at an unsuspecting opponent, with and upgrade to this allowing you to chain to another foe. There’s a huge variety of skills, but one of my favorites has to be “shield breaker”, which allows you to rid your enemies of their shields, rendering them more vulnerable. And then there is the “Spartan Kick”, which, if aimed right, allows you to launch your opponents off a cliff or a roof. Note: shouting “This. Is. Sparta!” does not grant you any bonus damage.
Unlike Origins, you lack a shield, but the combat mechanics will feel very familiar if you played the previous game. Combat is very fluid, but still requires you to be careful when facing multiple opponents at the same time. A lot of enemies will have shields, so just smashing the attack button won’t do you any good. The regular enemies shouldn’t pose much treat once you get used to the game’s combat, but you should be wary of the more challenging adversaries. The game features a kind of reputation system: stealing something, sinking merchant ships or murdering people will increase your penalty meter. This puts a bounty on your character’s head, and you’ll soon find yourself being hunted by mercenaries. Each mercenary is unique, with its own name and strengths and weaknesses, reminding me a lot of the “Nemesis System” in Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Shadow of War. The higher your bounty, the higher the level of the mercenary that comes after you will be. Defeating these mercenaries allows the protagonist to climb the ladder and increase their reputation as a mercenary themselves. Defeated mercenaries often drop great loot in the form of weapons or armor pieces with more powerful abilities.
Aside from a great melee combat system, Odyssey also offers in-depth naval combat. Your ship, the Adestria, can be customized to increase its firepower and maneuverability, or purely for cosmetic reasons. Where naval battles were sparse in Origins, Odyssey has plenty. The combat mechanics have clearly been upgraded and are more focused on close quarter battles. Extra options like fire arrows increase your damage output, while focusing fire on specific parts of enemy ships will help you take them down more easily. A new feature is the option to recruit lieutenants for your ship. You do this by knocking down enemies as your explore the Greek islands. Rendering them unconscious instead of killing them will allow you to recruit them for your ship. Each lieutenants ads his or her own benefit. Certain characters you encounter during side quests will also be able to join your crew, and these will often provide you with better bonuses than the regular ones.
Bring me that horizon
Odyssey’s map is massive and invites the player to go exploring. You’ll find plenty of locations both on land and on sea to look for precious loot. Since your character can equip a plethora of weapons ranging from double daggers to spears and polearms, and has five slots available for armor pieces, you’ll often find yourself looking around for better gear. Defeating enemies, looting chests or completing quests will reward you with gear that’s scaled to your current level. Other items include drachmae, the game’s currency which allows you to buy stuff, and materials for upgrading your gear. If not for the loot, wandering around the islands or sailing the Aegean sea is a wonderful sight on its own. The game is stunningly beautiful, from the characters to the environments. As usual with Assassin’s Creed games, much care is given about the historical background of the various landmarks and characters you encounter, although Ubisoft often takes some liberties regarding historical accuracy. Not that it takes anything away from the enjoyment of the game.
From early on, the player is given a lot of freedom to roam around. You’ll find plenty of side quests in the multiple villages you discover, which lead to even more locations with even more side quests. It’s hard to become bored with the game. If you want to take a break from the main storyline, you can do some side quests, or sail the seas and broaden your horizons. One of these “side quests” is the ongoing war between Sparta and Athens. You as the protagonist can interfere and influence the outcome of this struggle by attacking soldiers, setting either side’s war supplies on fire or assassination key leaders. Most areas are controlled by one of the two factions. If you succeed in lowering their influence, you’ll trigger a “conquest battle”, in which the factions face off against each other in a massive battle. Whoever wins gains control of the area.
The verdict
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is by far one the best in the series, even surpassing Origins, which was one of the best games of 2017. Odyssey might not become Game of the Year 2018 — I’m looking at you, Red Dead Redemption 2 — but it is certainly one of the better ones . Ubisoft clearly listened to the players, and they’ve already shown this with Origins. This year’s game builds on its predecessor’s success and certainly delivers. The graphics are stunning, the gameplay is beyond amazing, and the story is endearing enough. Aside from the main quest, the game offers an incredible amount of content that will easily keep you busy for 100 hours, if not more. The occasional bugs and glitches take nothing away from the masterpiece that his game is. I’m glad that Ubisoft managed to redeem itself, but at the same time I’m afraid of what is to come. Can they improve on the success formula of its two latest creations? I want to believe, just as I want to believe that we’ll eventually get an Assassin’s Creed set in Flanders during the Spanish occupation in the 16th century. But what I know for certain is that Odyssey is a success, plain and simple.
5/5
Reviewed for PlayStation 4
