Assassin's Creed Odyssey Review

Introduction:

I am back again following Assassin's Creed Origins with its sequel, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, a title actually set earlier in the game series' universe. From Ancient Egypt we are now in Ancient Greece, following the life of one of two exiled Spartan mercenaries, Kassandra or Alexios. The choice of which you play as is a permanent one, without starting a new game. There are multiple save slots though, so you can play as both without losing your progress with the other. As it has been stated Kassandra is the canon character, she is who I have been playing as. Quickly starting an Alexios playthrough, and seeing something written about the two characters, it seems their stories are reflections of each other, so you should not miss anything too substantive by choosing one over the other.

As you play, Odyssey will present you with many more choices than that, and there are consequences for these choices too. An easy example would be the small side quests you can come across, where an NPC that was impacted by a decision may have you do something as a result. Sometimes it is a mission to recover something they lost, but other times they may just thank you for what you did. This is definitely a departure from much of what we have seen in previous Assassin's Creed games, and indeed there are many differences between Odyssey and even its immediate predecessor.

Being set prior to the events of Assassin's Creed Origins may seem very odd, especially as this means it predates the founding of what came to be the Assassin Brotherhood, but the Cult of Kosmos, a precursor to the Templar Order is very much present and wreaking tremendous havoc on the region. The Cult's goal is to not only achieve power but to claim the power present in your very blood, for both Kassandra and Alexios are descendants of the First Civilization. This leads you to not only try to destroy the Cult but also discover the truth of your family while you try to protect them. It may sound like a lot, but you are up for the task, partly thanks to the Spear of Leonidas you have. This is actually a First Civilization artifact that was passed down to you from that Spartan king, who was also your grandfather, and like many such artifacts, it possesses powers and abilities that can turn the tide of almost any encounter.

Besides the Spear, you will use various other weapons, though not a shield, and have the ability to upgrade and enhance all of your gear by visiting a blacksmith. The Engraving system for enhancing your gear is more complicated than you might expect, but you can be sure I will go over some of its more interesting characteristics in the Gameplay section. You also have your own ship, the Adrestia, and crew for traveling the waters between the Greek Islands and fighting the various other ships you encounter. The ship has a number of upgrades available to it and by recruiting people to your crew you can further improve and shape its combat capabilities. Almost always with you is Ikaros, an eagle that you can take control of to scout ahead and mark enemies and other objects with, like Senu in Origins.

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey has an M rating from the ESRB for intense violence, blood and gore, sexual themes, and strong language. As the captured media is not censored, if the game may be inappropriate for you, so too will be this review. Also I may at times use strong language during the review playthrough, which can be viewed on YouTube and is embedded on the Gameplay section, as I have been with some recent reviews. The other videos embedded in this review do not include the microphone track, so it is just the game's content that may be an issue.

Before getting to the review, the game does support Tobii Eyetracking so I have been playing with the Tracker 4C and enjoying it. (It is so nice to mark enemies with Ikaros by just looking at them instead of moving the camera.) Now it is time to get to the review!