Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Review

The story of the Misthios should not be missed.

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Odyssey is a winner because of this diversity. Whenever you’re bored of something, you can chase another goal – and it’s bound to be different enough and engaging enough to kickstart your interest all over again. I loved taking to the high seas once more in all out pirate-wars (and the shanties make a welcome comeback), fighting in the arena, or just having sex with everything that moves. Thanks to its Ancient Greece setting – a society of nymphomaniacs by all accounts – there’s never been more romance options, though I use that term loosely. It seemed that any given side quest could end up with me in bed with another stranger, only to say kalinihta moments later.

Presentation:

You’d forgive Odyssey if it lacked in detail or fidelity, thanks to sheer size of the world it presents, but somehow that’s not the case. This game is gorgeous, and its world full of beautiful places to explore and brutal people to kill. The diversity on show in its visuals matches that of its gameplay, and travelling to new locales was always a rush just to see what this new verdant land had to offer. Odyssey is bursting with life, whether it’s in its little villages, its vast towns and cities or just out in the wilderness. Animals make a comeback as a much deadlier game than your human opponents (a particularly early-game showdown with a boss Boar was one of the trickiest fights I’ve had all year in gaming and had me cheering when I finally slaughtered the bastard)

The sound design is also top notch, with great voice acting for the most part (and an amazing turn for Kassandra herself, who quickly won her way into my heart thanks to her badass voice actor). The music is smartly used too, only ever playing at worthwhile moments – moments that are elevated by a pitch perfect score. It’s the first Creed game in a long time where I’ve actually sat up and paid attention to the music, so that should say something.

Unfortunately Odyssey has its fair share of Ubisoft-styled bugs. The most heinous one I encountered was when the frame rate would suddenly drop to a single frame every few seconds, the top halves of every enemy on screen would disappear – leaving only their legs running at you – and Kassandra would vanish completely. This almost always ended in a complete game-ending crash, and plagued me a couple of times throughout my playthrough. There are other, less annoying glitches but ones that pull you out of the experience regardless. I understand we’ve all come to expect these kinds of ‘hilarious’ bugs by now but – really, should we have to? Hopefully the two year wait between Odyssey and Creed’s next big title (please be set in Japan) affords the game a little more polish.

 

Conclusion:

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” is a masterful accomplishment – something I definitely did not expect when I learned it would be another annual instalment after Origins comeback. I wrote it off months ago, so it gives me great pleasure to say that Odyssey is the new gold standard for Ubisoft games, and easily my favourite Creed game to date. It offers a massive, interesting, diverse world full of fun (if slightly repetitive) gameplay. It boasts the series’ best protagonist in Kassandra, and best of all it puts the overarching story of the franchise – a silly, sci-fi set up that never pays off like you’d hope – mostly on the back burner for a more invested, personal tale of familial drama and kicking bad guys off cliffs.

Whilst it’s a big investment to make, Odyssey is worth every hour you put into it.

Good

  • Fun, engaging story
  • Massive, detailed, beautiful world
  • Gameplay loop is addictive and enjoyable

Bad

  • Bugs aplenty
  • ‘True End’ nonsense threatens to mitigate the fun of free will
  • Can become repetitive if you don’t take the initiative to mix things up
9.1

Amazing

Story - 8.5
Graphics - 9
Sound - 9.5
Gameplay - 9
Value - 9.5
Reviewer - GamerKnights

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