It was subtly announced by Ubisoft that their next Assassin’s Creed game will be set in Ancient Greece. At Ubisoft’s E3 press briefing, we were presented with a ton of new information regarding how the sequel will shake up the franchise. Development team Ubisoft Quebec has let us know that Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey will be a full fledged role-playing experience where player agency will shape the overall narrative. Also, Odyssey is giving players the option to play as either the male Alexios or female Kassandra.
It’s not shocking that Odyssey looks absolutely stunning in it’s recreation of Ancient Greece. Ubisoft has always excelled in creating fully-realized open worlds, and this entry should be continuing that consistent quality. One thing I noticed in the their E3 live demo is how similar the game looks to Origins in terms of it’s HUD. It would’ve been nice to slightly change up the game’s HUD symbols to distinguish itself from it’s predecessor, mainly due to the criticism Ubisoft always gets about their annual releases of the AC series. There were some slight tweaks I did notice such as the abilities on the bottom left corner of the screen. It looks like players will need to swap out certain abilities throughout combat, and I did notice that many of the abilities had a mystical element to them, which is caused by the First Civilization’s ancient artifacts.
Combat also looks similar to Origins in it’s presentation. I was slightly disappointed to see that many of Origin’s combat animations are roughly the same, such as the executions and enemy movement. It’s worth taking note that combat will be heavily reliant on offensive maneuvers rather than defensive. There’s not even a gear slot for shields in game’s user interface, so players will need to focus on dodging and parrying this time around. (Yes, you can Spartan kick enemies). Speaking of gear, Odyssey looks to build upon Origins with even more variety. Origins did have outfits to choose from, but these were only cosmetic. With Odyssey, there are different pieces of armor to choose from, which include helmets, breastplates, belts, greaves, and bracers.
The biggest change that Odyssey is bringing to the series is the inclusion of a choice-based narrative. Showcased in the demo, we saw Kassandra having specific dialogue options to choose from which indicated how the mission may play out. Interaction with the game’s many characters will have also have an impact on it’s role-playing elements. There is now an option to build relationships with other NPCs, even going as far as developing romantic interests. It has been made known that players can also add these NPCs to their ship crew. Oh yeah, don’t forget that naval combat is back! With over half of the game’s map being water, ship exploration will be extremely necessary. Luckily, it won’t just be a means of getting around, as the ship customization from Black Flag looks to return.
I’m sure there will be those out there that will say Odyssey looks way too similar to Origins. While they may be right in some aspects, I’d say that Origins has essentially laid the groundwork for the continuing franchise. Yes, combat and exploration are going to feel similar, but the introduction of a choice-based narrative and a full-fledged naval system looks to give this game it’s own identity.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey releases this year on October 5 for Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC. For more information on Odyssey and the game’s editions at release, please visit Ubisoft’s news page.
