To accompany that twisting narrative and ensemble of interesting characters in Odyssey, Ubisoft has once again delivered a stunning location that you can move around in freely without any loading times. These sections are really the one glaring blemish on an otherwise memorable narrative.
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You don’t see any loving relationships form or any lust between characters, instead, you’ll have to give a response full of innuendo whilst your potential lover is asking you to save their life or even more oddly, quickly gather items to save their dying father. When the option is available, it often feels like it has been crowbarred in to fit a romance quota the developers set for themselves. Regardless of which character you choose to play as you’ll occasionally meet NPCs of both sexes whom you can attempt to seduce. Whilst the majority of the new conversation elements are a huge success, the new romance options often seem forced and unnecessary. At times, there aren’t any obvious right or wrong options at hand, but the ability to make Kassandra who I wanted her to be and see the results of my actions play out in the world felt like is a definite step in the right direction and a welcome addition to the series. I chose the second option with little thought at the time and later learned that the plague had spread across the whole island of Kefalonia and caused widespread death and devastation. A group of soldiers are eager to prevent the illness from spreading by killing the family, and so you must decide between letting them be executed or saving the family. These different options can vary hugely - from simply digging into the backstory of characters you meet, discovering their intentions, and asking for directions, all the way through to shaping story-defining moments that will lead to one of the game’s several different endings and permanently alter the world around you.Īn example of this comes early in the game when you come across a family who are sick from a plague that has destroyed their village. Through the new conversation system, players can steer the dialogue in cutscenes how they wish from a selection of different choices. Finally, and the only way the game really links into the Assassin’s Creed series, is the continuation of the present-day storyline where Layla, who was introduced last year, continues her search for First Civilization artifacts.Īt the heart of Odyssey’s excellent story is the new addition of player choice, and for the first time in the series, players can now control how they respond and act in different situations. Her search soon uncovers the existence of a mysterious cult, and whilst your path will cross with some of its members during the game’s nine long chapters, you’ll still have the option to search for the identity of its leader long after Kassandra has found the answers she was looking for.
Separated from her family as a child, she’s a highly skilled mercenary on a quest for answers as she makes her long journey home to Sparta. Like Bayek’s revenge mission 12 months ago, Kassandra is also fuelled by personal motivation.
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Taking place 400 years before Origins introduced the idea of the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templars last year, Odyssey offers a much deeper narrative experience than we’ve seen from the series so far, with three separate story arcs that will often intersect with each other throughout the game’s substantial runtime. For the record, I chose Kassandra and will refer to our protagonist as such throughout the rest of the review. Who you play as in Odyssey marks a first for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, as you now have the choice of playing the game exclusively as a male or female character in the shape of siblings Alexios and Kassandra. Set in 431 BCE in Ancient Greece during the Peloponnesian War between the Delian League led by Athens and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta, Odyssey’s island-hopping story sees you playing as the descendant of the legendary Spartan King Leonidas (the “This is Sparta!” guy).