Assassin’s Creed has always held a special place in my heart. I’ve been through it all, the great; Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed IV, and the not so great; Assassin’s Creed Unity, I’m looking at you, you bug-ridden personality-absent waste of HD space. The series truly has had it’s ups and downs, though the ups far outweigh the downs. What makes Assassin’s Creed so compelling is that it uses history as its playground, opening a wide range of possibilities with each and every new release. Next in line is Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
There’s a particularly large amount of weight riding on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, given that it’s the first sequel since Assassin’s Creed Origins came and completely altered the formula. You see, despite how excellent many of the Assassin’s Creed games are, the gameplay mechanics, the foundation and the functionality, eventually became stale. This lead Ubisoft to take a break from their annual Assassin’s Creed release schedule to give them time to reinvent the formula and produce something that ultimately went down extremely well.
Origins’ proved to be a smash hit among fans and critics alike. Ancient Egypt? What’s not to like. It’s one of the most rich eras in known history. Its gameplay was more RPG focused than any other game before it, which can also be said about its approach to open-world progression. By and large, it may not stand as the best Assassin’s Creed in the series, but it’s certainly one of the most well rounded. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has a lot to live up to. We’re not yet sure when this release, but if it’s not this year, it’s certainly hitting in 2019.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will take players to Ancient Greece, a setting that’s equally as compelling and arguably more brutal than that of Origins’ Ancient Egypt. Again, information is extremely thin on the ground right now and as such, we’re not sure when Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will take place, but we’re assuming the difference in time between Origins and Odyssey wont be too great of a gap. The short teaser, seen right over here, shows that of one character booting another character off the edge of a cliff, presumably to his death.
This kind of references the iconic depiction from the movie 300, which saw Spartans kicking the Persian messengers into the well ahead of the Battle of Thermopylae. Once the kick has taken place, the short clip transitions to the game’s title, complete with a logo that houses a Spartan helmet – confirming the Greek theme. However, if you look even closely, you’ll see that the chap doing the kicking is wearing a sword that has a snake-headed handle. Yes, the very symbol that’s sported by the ever elusive Order of the Ancients.
The Order of the Ancients eventually become the Order of the Templars, which could mean one of a few things. The chap that gets kicked off the cliff is actually the Assassin – possibly surviving to then seek vengeance. Far-fetched I know, but if Sandor Clegane can do it, why the hell not? It could also mean that kicker is the Templar, which may well setup a story not so dissimilar to Rogue, only reversed – Templar turned Assassin. More interestingly, however, this may well be Ubisoft showing us that Odyssey will allow us to choose what to play as.
It’s a shot in the dark, for sure. Ubisoft promises more details at E3 2018, which is right around the corner. So, now that we have a rough outline as to the setting and theme of the game, what do we want to see? It goes without saying that the game needs to maintain the quality of that found in Origins, as well as its structure, pacing and depth. Much like Origins, I suspect we’ll be seeing a strong emphasis on religion, which given Ancient Greece’s diverse history on the matter, could very well lead to some wildly interesting events and DLC.
Ancient Greece was split into many different states, with each one ruled in its own way. This could point towards some very differing locations dependent on how large the world map will be. Each state had its own laws, government and money but they shared the same language and religion, so that, to some degree, would help to keep all of this diversity under one neat umbrella. Other notable additions could include theaters, Olympic games and trials by jury. That, ladies and gents, is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot of potential here.
Equally as such, Odyssey may well be one of the darkest games in the series if it truly does follow the path of the Spartans. Take infants, for example, when a Spartan boy was born, he was inspected by the council of elders for any physical deformities. If physical deformities were detected, these babies were often left to starve or shoved off Mount Taygetus. There’s much more, much darker subject matter than this, so I’m intrigued to see how Ubisoft plans on handling this in the long-run, while faithfully depicting historical events.
Personally, this will undoubtedly split the crowd, but I would love to see the return of multiplayer functionality. No, I’m not talking Unity, but something more in-line with the likes of Brotherhood. I absolutely loved Assassin’s Creed Origins for its single-player focus, but one glaring omission hit me on a regular basis; how well suited multiplayer would be for the likes of chariot racing and arena combat. I’m probably alone on this front and certainly of the minority, but something I would most definitely cheer on if this is present in Odyssey.
Still, when all is said and done and as huge Assassin’s Creed fan, I’m very much looking forward to learning more. Hopefully E3 2018 brings us all the details that we need. Until then, it’s all guesswork and hearsay. We’ll be sure to follow up with another opinion when we find out what Odyssey is all about on Monday, June 11th at 1:00 PM Pacific Time. Are you looking forward to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey? Or did Origins burn you out already? Got anything that you would like to add? Sound off in the comments below to get involved.
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