Assassin's Creed Odyssey review: Takes the Assassin's Creed series to a whole new level

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a risky release. From the trailer and screenshots of the game previously released, he looks very much like Assassin's Creed: Origins, the two are almost the same, even the UI is very different. In this context, serious doubts about the two "skin change" can be heard.

Ubisoft, and the open world it symbolizes, has certainly been experiencing a period of fatigue among players lately. In addition, Ubisoft's "Assassin's Creed" IP also needs an innovation to bring the competitiveness of this IP back to a new level.

So, if Assassin's Creed Odyssey fails, it may lead to a collective backlash against formulaic open worlds and questions about the eternal youth of the Assassin's Creed IP.

Fortunately, after more than 50 hours of playing, my impression of Assassin's Creed Odyssey has taken a dramatic turn. It does look and feel similar to Assassin's Creed Origins, but the gameplay, including the combat design, the story, and the good chemistry between the systems, make it one of the best open world games out there, and the best Assassin's Creed generation in years.

Reality merges with myth

With Assassin's Creed Origins, Ubisoft followed the lead of games like The Witcher 3 at the time in incorporating dialogue branches into sandbox games to put character choices and story development in the hands of the player. In Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Ubisoft has completely unshackled itself in this regard.

In the first chapter of the game, the equivalent of just leaving the novice village, the player can understand an extremely difficult choice. A complex character who is constantly being rendered in the game and has a deep relationship with the protagonist, when the player meets him for the first time, he can directly decide whether to fight against him through dialogue. In previous episodes, Ubisoft kept hinting that this guy might have a lot of plot to unfold, but now, I can kill him right at the beginning of the game. In addition, the dialogue options have a time limit, and the choice gives me a particularly heavy sense of pressure.

When I made the choice, I was rewarded for the result. That said, the orientation of the different choices makes obvious sense for the player's experience, and Ubisoft isn't skimping on it.

In addition, in the choice of world view, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey also gives players enough freedom.

The story is set during the historical Peloponnesian War, when Athens and Sparta fought a 27-year war with their respective Allies that spanned almost the entire Greek-speaking world. "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" the protagonist was born in Sparta, but later due to some events, abandoned by his family and country, grew up to become a homeless mercenary with no fixed side.

So in this game, you are free to fight for either side. For example, when an area is under Spartan control, you can weaken them to trigger an invasion and help the Athenians overthrow Spartan rule. But when the territory changes hands to Athens, you can also kill the leader of the Athenian garrison and get another share of the reward from the Spartans.

The mode of invasion has also become manic. The invasion takes place in an open field, with no assassinations, no stealth, just two armies facing each other, and the player is one of them. Under some rules, the player must kill the enemy as quickly as possible in the battlefield, as well as kill the enemy team leader to complete the mission. Players often ridicule the "berserker" creed, "peerless" creed, in this work, Ubisoft simply directly to the player.

There is also no strict division of the main line, and there are antagonists in both Sparta and Athens. Throughout the game, if you want to give the protagonist a precise positioning, I think it is not an assassin, but "God of war". The main character is completely single-handedly against the entire Athens, subverting the pattern of the world. And in this game, Ubisoft also added some mythological elements. For example, against "Medusa" and "Minotaur Minotaunos", the shape and skill performance is particularly exaggerated.

More fluid fighting, and more assassinations

In terms of action polish, Assassin's Creed Odyssey takes the series to a higher level.

Its combat tempo is faster, slashing and dodging give the player more room to play, and put higher demands on the player's skill. Thanks to the game's more pure RPG, the protagonist can do more actions, such as tumbling, bullet time after dodging, and various exaggerated combo skills.

Most of the skills can be released with one click, and the energy accumulated in battle can be consumed. It's like a flying kick full of Spartan style, full of power, and better with the cliff terrain.

In the later part of the game, when you point these skills to seven, eight, eight, and even challenge a group of people, dodge, chop, and skills bring smooth fighting experience, even in the current pure ACT, it is still considered good.

In addition to the close combat skills already mentioned, Assassin's Creed Odyssey also makes a lot of points about archery, some of which are more exaggerated than others.

For example, after learning a certain skill, the player's bow can go straight through the wall and shoot enemies behind the wall. Other abilities allow the player to control the path of the arrow, which is like tracking a missile, turning several corners and hitting enemies in blind areas.

It's bigger than a sniper rifle.

Meanwhile, in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the bow and arrow are basically "silenced" weapons, meaning they can be used as long-range assassinations while prowling without attracting enemy attention. Thus, in this work, the meaning of the assassin is liberated from the concept of the sleeve sword. A true assassin works both ways. Of course, in terms of setting, Assassin's Creed Odyssey takes place at a time when fraternities and sleeve swords did not exist.

In terms of map setting, Assassin's Creed Odyssey delivers the largest map in the series. What is more satisfying is that although the map is large, the degree of homogeneity is not high. The scenery of different areas is different, and the folk customs and other aspects have traces of restoring history. In the wild, the work is not completely realistic, its color is relatively bright, and the visual experience is quite comfortable.

Thanks to its varied Settings, Assassin's Creed Odyssey's infiltration and assassinations get deeper. For example, these scenes might be a vast quarry in the wild, with uneven terrain. Or it could be an abandoned temple, made up of piles of broken walls with a steep cliff on one side. In general, due to the differences in terrain, players will have different strategies when diving.

Moreover, a major feature of the Assassin's Creed series is parkour, so in the game, the hillside of nearly 90 degrees everywhere in the field can be climbed without obstacles, and the player can climb to the other end or use as a stealth route, and come and go extra freely.

In addition to land scenes, more than half of Assassin's Creed Odyssey's maps are sea.

Ubisoft has not let go of the sea either. First of all, compared to the original "Assassin's Creed: Black Flag" naval battle, "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" has evolved significantly. Players can recruit crew to board, to gain ship gains, but also can learn some ship skills, such as rockets and other powerful attack means, to enrich the means of defense.

And in the "Assassin's Creed" of the foundation of the "assassination", this time Ubisoft also more articles. The most obvious is that the player can trigger a heavy hit assassination after getting close to the other player. In addition, some of the melee moves mentioned earlier, as long as the situation is appropriate, can also be used as an assassination method to kill the other party instantly, playing a "stealth" and "assassination" effect.

It is not difficult to see that Assassin's Creed: Odyssey has become an RPG, but in terms of action, it has actually become heavier and more worth playing.

Multiple systems bring good chemistry

The reason why it is RPG is simple, because of its ordinary, rare, legendary equipment quality division, as well as specific equipment values. But fortunately, these equipment differences are not only numerical. First of all, different types of equipment, such as dual-wield daggers, giant hammers, etc., have different battle rhythms. With some skills will also have a different effect.

In addition, these equipment can be inlaid badges, which can really affect the player's fighting style. For example, some increase the player's venom damage, while others increase stealth. It is worth mentioning that Venom damage here is considered elemental damage in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, just like other abilities, such as Fire Arrow, which has a restraining effect on some of the above enemies.

In this game, often suddenly, will interfere with the player's game, is the mercenary. Assassin's Creed Odyssey expands the mercenary setup into a system as well. There is a power hierarchy, some of which are also related to the main line. The player has to climb to a higher level by killing mercenaries of a similar class step by step, and obtain necessary information from them.

These mercenaries will roam the map. You can ambush them in advance, or you may be on a mission or battle when they are suddenly attracted, you have to fight the enemy, or find a way to avoid first. In addition, in the game in front of the residents of the search for items, kill people, it is possible to fall into the situation of being wanted. It will be easier for players to attract mercenaries who get in the way.

In terms of tasks, the game basically runs on three main lines in parallel. Fortunately, these three main threads have different themes, and the resulting plot types are also very different. In addition, these three clues will more or less produce some interweaving, the player will not have too obvious sense of separation during the game.

Finally, in terms of people, Assassin's Creed Odyssey is pretty bold. The character of the NPC is humorous, and the interpretation of some historical figures in the script is almost a rewrite. For example, the real father of the player in the play, as well as some celebrities around the player all the time, the specific here will not reveal the plot.

In short, Assassin's Creed Odyssey is by no means a "skin change," "enhanced version," or "big DLC" from its predecessor, Assassin's Creed Origins. It's certainly becoming more RPG oriented, but its ACT content and interpretation of the story have also reached a new level of series. For fans of the Assassin's Creed series, this game is definitely worth a try. At the same time, it makes me hope that the next Assassin's Creed will make new changes in those directions.