From Renaissance Italy to Ancient Greece, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has certainly covered plenty of historical eras.
In the latest instalment of the series, players don swords and sandals as Alexios or Kassandra — a man and woman with a sad past, as we’ve come to expect from other Assassin’s Creed titles.
For those of you who have dabbled in the 50-odd hours it took to complete ancient Egypt-themed Assassin’s Creed: Origins and enjoyed it, you will be pleased to know the core gameplay that made that title so good has remained the same. However, Odyssey incorporates gameplay options usually reserved for role-playing games: dialogue options, branching quests and multiple endings.
From what I have noted in the 10-or-so hours I have put into it, the formula seems to work well. Very well.
The dialogue options may be few, but they can be very useful if you are prepared to spend the time asking the tough questions.
Your reaction to certain situations impacts on the storyline, a feature I’ve always loved and am pleased to see added to Odyssey.
Some quests are a little dull, especially when you have to complete several in a row to gain enough experience points to progress to the next character level, but don’t let that put you off too much.
What the multiple endings potentially offer I will find out in about another 40 hours — about what you would expect from an Assassin’s Creed title.
The game uses a skill tree system that allows the player to unlock new abilities.
The three skill trees are Hunter , which improves player character’s archery, Warrior, which puts emphasis on combat, and Assassin, which focuses on stealth.
It replaces the system used in Origins, which granted the player a series of passive abilities, which is for the better.
Naval combat also makes a welcome return.
Visually, Odyssey is stunning — more than once I have found myself sitting atop a synchronisation point in awe of the environment.
With a nice musical score and quality voice acting to boot, Odyssey is another step forwards for the franchise and a worthy step back in time.
Assassin's Creed: Origins
For: PS4, Xbox One
From: Ubisoft
Rating: ★★★★
