Assassin’s Creed Odyssey takes a leap forward, and ventures into new, yet familiar territory for the franchise. There has been some scepticism surrounding this new AC title, with many fans fearing that this epic tale came far too soon. Well, we got our hands on the Xbox edition of Odyssey, and I must say, I can actually applaud Ubisoft Quebec on this one.

Ubisoft renewed our hopes with Assassin’s Creed Origins, thanks to a two-year hiatus in the franchise. They had fallen into a rut where they were trying to innovate systems, however, because they were churning them out every year, they were plagued with technical issues. Remember the horrifying missing face debacle in Unity? Yeah, exactly.

It took all fans by surprise when Ubisoft announced a whole new AC title only a few of months after the launch of Origins. Some were excited, thanks to the success of Origins; others were hesitant because it looked to be a case of history repeating itself. Thankfully, Odyssey doesn’t suffer from the technical issues of past sequels, but it's not the Assassin’s Creed game you might be expecting.



Ubisoft’s vision for Odyssey was to create a platform for you to carve out your own odyssey, your own journey based on your choices, actions, and playstyle. This puts the game’s direction in your hands, rather than simply progressing along a linear tale, and allows you to write your own story in a unique and monumental period of history. The focus here is you; how you want to play, what story you want to create, and I think they have done a great job bringing this concept to life.

Thankfully, Odyssey doesn’t suffer from the technical issues of past sequels, but it's not the Assassin’s Creed game you might be expecting.

When it comes to the story, Ubisoft has built on what we were introduced to in Origins, albeit with some tweaks here and there. The greatest improvement to the narrative is the way the world actually shifts with events, and the way most missions are interlinked with each other. There is a choice-based system that is meant to influence the story down the line, but it mostly influences dialogue interactions you have with key characters. As an example, a moment from the prelude, and the choices I made then, are still impacting dialogue twenty hours in. This creates a fluid, continuous narrative, rather than a jarring tale of segmented events. I was also elated to be able to play as female protagonist and, this time, it feels like the game was designed with Kassandra in mind from the get-go.



Your choices can also influence combat difficulty as depending on where your allegiances lie; combat will either be brutal and intense, or slow and calculating. There are plenty of actions that will help you down the line - sparing someone’s life, or forming a partnership with important people, can help your cause as you progress through the storyline. When it comes to side quests, they are still mostly trivial activities but the impact those quests have on the world are what’s important. Oh, and levelling up! Unlike Origins, Odyssey is not as lenient in its levelling system; a high-ranking opponent (captains, Polemarch’s, etc.) that is even one level above you will provide quite the battle.

There are plenty of actions that will help you down the line - sparing someone’s life, or forming a partnership with important people, can help your cause as you progress through the storyline.

The shift towards a traditional RPG structure is quickly evident, with a tweaked skill-tree, which has been somewhat simplified since Origins. The addition of abilities, such as "Spartan Kick", "Healing", and "Shock Wave", all have made the combat more brutal, intense, and hands-on. There is a much heavier focus on ground combat, with assassinations becoming more of a playstyle choice rather than necessity, and Odyssey has shifted fully towards Dark Souls-esque combat. This may sound bad at first but, if you think of the time period (the Peloponnesian War), it represents one of the most brutal combat periods of history, so I think Ubisoft have done well to match the mechanics with the era.



There is a heavier focus on the naval combat this time around and, before you let out a sigh, remember this game is set in Ancient Greece (which is mostly islands) so, technically, it fits the setting far better than other AC titles. In addition, they have simplified the mechanics, it works, and it's still better than the naval sequences in AC III.

A new addition to the Assassin’s Creed series is the ‘Guided Mode’ vs. ‘Exploration Mode’ option when you start up the game. The Guided Mode provides a familiar AC experience; here is a quest marker, go there, stab that, follow more markers, stab that too, and complete the quest. On the other hand, Exploration Mode encourages you to listen for clues in dialogue, piece them all together, and then determine where your quest is. There is no marker for you to follow, and you'll need to consult the map to figure out where to go. Once you are close enough, Ikaros (your eagle) will highlight the quest position exactly. This mode encourages exploration (clearly), and alleviates the monotony of simply following quest markers for 40+ hours. Furthermore, this mode bolsters the RPG feeling of Odyssey, and truly shows off Ancient Greece in all its glory when you actually stop to take in the environment.



Graphically, Odyssey is similar to Origins, with some touch-ups to the lighting, facial animations, and the eyes (oh, the eyes!). Clothing flows a little more naturally than in Origins, but the exchangeable armour pieces are more akin to RPG fittings, such as in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, compared to the upgradable set pieces in Origins. You can increase stats by visiting a blacksmith, as well as add weapon enhancements. A beautiful and gory addition to Odyssey is the way blood on your clothing interacts with the world; blood will dissipate from your clothing when you enter a body of water, literally washing you of the blood of your enemies.

On a technical note, there were some frame rate drops and interaction problems that need to be patched in the near future but nothing-game breaking at launch. There were also moments where the eyes of characters were slightly off, looking creepy as heck, and I hope that Ubisoft will correct this soon. As this is a Ubisoft title, you can expect some teleporting NPCs, occasionally glitching out, and had some minor behaviour bugs.

A beautiful and gory addition to Odyssey is the way blood on your clothing interacts with the world; blood will dissipate from your clothing when you enter a body of water, literally washing you of the blood of your enemies.

I played most of the game on a standard Xbox One and Odyssey punished the system; the fans were always pumping air at full power. The texture quality was also reduced a little, and there were flickers of black screen from time-to-time. As a point of comparison, I spent some time playing on the Xbox One X as well, and the game really showed its true colours (mind the pun). It looked absolutely impeccable, and not only was every scenes vastly improved in terms of texture quality, but the mesmerising colours of Greece looked stunning, thanks to the HDR implementation (also available on the S model and PS4/PS4 Pro). I would recommend playing on an enhanced console if you can, to truly take advantage of the glorious scenery that this game has to offer, and to enjoy the smoothest gameplay possible.

Before I wrap up, I want to add a personal thought. There are going to be countless opinions on Odyssey, claiming that they have lost their brand identity. Ubisoft has openly spoken about shifting Assassin’s Creed in a new direction, and it's evident that they are looking at a more RPG-centric focus. Assassin’s Creed needs to evolve, I mean, that’s what we have been asking for. Personally, as a massive AC fan, I love the new direction that Odyssey is taking and I am excited for the future of the franchise. There will be growing pains but it is tough to go in a bold new direction and, for me, I think it’s a direction AC needs to follow.

I would recommend playing on an enhanced console if you can, to truly take advantage of the glorious scenery that this game has to offer, and to enjoy the smoothest gameplay possible.

Overall, I'm really enjoying the new mechanics, despite a somewhat slow start to the game. Ubisoft has built upon existing mechanics, improved them, and really pushed that RPG feel to the forefront. There are some technical bugs that need to be patched out, even after the day-one patch. If you are used to playing RPGs, then you will find this year’s iteration to be quite familiar. Ubisoft has taken a different approach to the AC franchise, focusing on putting the player at the forefront of their journey by means of choices and consequences. Odyssey has achieved its goal spectacularly, and while some might not like the shift, it's time to embrace the fact that Assassin’s Creed has evolved and it’s time that we, as fans, evolve with it. Odyssey provides a beautiful, epic adventure about family and destiny.