Presentation
With Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Ubisoft Quebec pushes much further the shift toward role-playing that began with Assassin's Creed Origins. From the start, players choose between Kassandra and Alexios, then influence certain relationships and situations through dialogue choices and decisions capable of changing the outcome of several quests.
This freedom accompanies a vast open world covering a large part of Greece and the Aegean Sea. Each region has its own landscapes, cities and conflicts, from the streets of Athens to the mountainous territories of the Peloponnese and the many islands scattered across the sea. Historical research strongly informs this representation, but Ubisoft does not attempt a strictly documentary reconstruction: real Greece serves as the foundation for a world designed above all for adventure and exploration.
Combat places significant emphasis on character development. Weapons, equipment and abilities allow players to gradually shape their style around direct combat, ranged attacks or stealth. The Spear of Leonidas supports this progression and provides a narrative basis for abilities that deliberately exceed those of an ordinary fighter.
The war between Athens and Sparta also becomes part of the open-world structure. Regions can be weakened before becoming the setting for large conquest battles, while the player remains first and foremost a mercenary: they can fight for either side depending on their interests rather than following a permanent political allegiance. A bounty system also sends other mercenaries after the player when their actions attract too much attention.
Naval exploration once again plays a major role. Aboard the Adrestia, players can freely cross the Aegean Sea, fight other ships, recruit certain characters and land on the many islands spread throughout the world. This continuity between land and sea strongly reinforces the sense of travel at the heart of the experience.
More than a reconstruction of one specific historical episode, Odyssey uses Ancient Greece as the setting for a personal adventure. The conflict between Athens and Sparta, historical figures and Greek mythology provide the backdrop for a story that gives player choice and the construction of an individual journey an unusually important place within the series.
What to remember
- An open-world action RPG set in Greece during the Peloponnesian War.
- The choice to play as Kassandra or Alexios, with dialogue and decisions influencing parts of the story.
- Character progression based on equipment, abilities and several approaches to combat.
- A vast world combining land exploration with free navigation across the Aegean Sea.
- Battles between Athens and Sparta in which the player participates while remaining a mercenary.
- A deliberate blend of Greek history, family conflict and mythology.
Conclusion
Assassin's Creed Odyssey lives up particularly well to its name. Its greatest achievement lies less in any single event than in the feeling of undertaking a long journey: leaving a small island, taking to the sea, discovering Athens or Sparta, meeting philosophers and soldiers, pursuing a family story and gradually venturing into a Greece where history increasingly gives way to myth.
This scale also has a downside. The world is enormous, activities are numerous and progression can sometimes dilute the urgency of the main story. Its structure built around levels, equipment and repeated objectives also marks a significant departure from earlier installments more directly centered on stealth.
But Odyssey fully embraces this transformation. It no longer seeks only to let players travel through an era: it invites them to build a character within it, choose certain responses, take sides according to circumstances and chart their own course between the islands. This feeling of personal adventure, carried by a bright and monumental vision of Greece, is the strongest part of the game's identity.
Good to know
- Assassin's Creed Odyssey was primarily developed and directed by Ubisoft Quebec.
- The game was released on October 5, 2018.
- Its story begins in 431 BCE, during the Peloponnesian War fought mainly between Athens and Sparta.
- Players can choose either Kassandra or Alexios for the adventure.
- The installment greatly expands the role-playing mechanics of the series, particularly through dialogue choices, character customization and different possible endings.
- The return of naval combat and the importance of the Aegean Sea are integral to the design of its open world.
