I apologize for my hiatus, it's been far too long and that's unacceptable, however, it's not without reason. The next piece I wanted to deliver to you was a review of the recently released: Assassin's Creed Odyssey. This has been a game I have been anxiously awaiting as I have always dreamed of an open world, sandbox set in the Peloponnesian era of ancient Greece. With the amazing job that Ubisoft did in Assassin's Creed Origins, completely redeeming the hatchet job of Assassin's Creed Unity, I was eager to see how they handled my favorite time period in history. Let's just say they did not disappoint. I have been gone for so long because I have been very busy exploring ancient Greece, and selling my sword to the highest bidder in the first Peloponnesian War. Without further ado, let's talk about the game, what I enjoyed, and what problems there were with the game.
The Good
Normally when I do these reviews, this would just be a long summary paragraph talking about all the things I enjoyed, but a game of this scope deserves a bit more than that. I am going to be talking about each of this game's facets it brings to the table in a great deal of depth, for quite possibly my lengthiest review I have ever done.
The Narrative
Assassin's Creed Odyssey does something unique that it has never done before, the choice between two protagonists: Alexios or Kassandra. While I have only chosen Alexios, due to my wish to maintain posterity with a semblance of Historical Accuracy, it honestly doesn't matter who you choose as both their stories are identical. Either way, you play as the descendant of Leonidas, whose family underwent a horrible tragedy that left you stranded on the island of Kefalonia where you were brought up to be a mercenary by trade. As an adult, you are hired by a mysterious man to kill a Spartan general of great renown, and this sets you on an Odyssey across the Aegean Sea as you become an instrumental force in the Peloponnesian war, swaying the tides of war one way or another by aiding either Athens or Sparta, while simultaneously hunting a cult bent on spreading their dominion and influence across Ancient Greece. It is a story of revenge, redemption, and family and whether it be Alexios or Kassandra, there has not been a protagonist with so much heart since Edward Kenway. While this will be a statement that will undoubtedly spur some argument due to the very positive reaction of Bayek of Siwa, the protagonist of Assassin's Creed Origins, the reason why these characters are better are due to how much better the story of this game flows. Origins, for all its strengths, had quite possibly one of the worst narrative flows of any Assassin's Creed games that left me confused for a good quarter of the game. No such issues exist with these characters as their narrative flows very well and you feel for the characters throughout every step of their journey.
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Setting and Historical Accuracy
When I was a boy, the Iliad was my bedtime story. I was obsessed with Greek myths and by the time I was finishing grade school, I had filled myself with enough knowledge of Ancient Greece, it's culture and history, to give my teachers a run for their money, so when I got to experience this time period firsthand, I was overwhelmed with joy. Speaking to the Pythia at Delphi, standing before the statue of Zeus at Olympus, meeting the great Perikles and having discourse with some of the greatest thinkers and philosophers of any time, fighting in battles in the Peloponnesian war, it was all a dream come true. While Historical accuracy is also a problem I had with this games, those problems were mere the minor details that were things only classicists like myself would really care about.
The Mythology
By far the BEST time I had in the game was fighting the monsters of myth and finding the legendary armor sets and weapons of the great Greek Heroes like Theseus, and Achilles. I don't think I have been happier in any game as I was when I entered the labyrinth and was led to the Minotaur by the thread that Theseus had used to ensure that he would not be lost in the labyrinth. What's more was that as a big fan of the Dark Souls series, it seems Assassin's Creed has implemented the multi-phase boss fights for these monsters of old, and what's better is that unlike the shitty 'Trial of the Gods' from Odyssey, each of the monsters are unique and have different move sets.
The Bad
That pretty much wraps it up for the good portion, now we get with the bad parts of the game. Now before I get started here, I feel I should clarify that MOST of these are not big problems, they nitpick on minor details in the game. I want to make sure that is clear before anyone gets up in arms about anything I say here.
The Combat
In Assassin's Creed Origins, the franchise introduced a brand new fighting mechanic modeled heavily after the Dark Souls series. This has become a very common trend for the fantasy/RPG game as it frankly is kind of the gold standard. In Assassin's Creed Odyssey we see that mechanic return in a very odd way. It's not that the combat is bad, it just doesn't seem particularly organic to the time period. The Combat of Ancient Greece, during this time period, was heavily reliant on the Shield. The hoplite formation dominated the battlefield as strength was found at it's greatest in numbers. The interlocking of shields to form a Phalanx created an impenetrable unit, good for both defensive and offensive maneuvering on the battlefield. Our character uses no shield whatsoever but instead uses an Isu (first civilization) tech spear paired with another melee weapon. While this is without a doubt a very fun mechanic. I feel it should have been that his shield was an artifact that allowed for these powers to be used, or to have made this the combat mechanic of Origins and this game have been heavily reliant on the shield. This is a good time to shift into my next problem:
Historical Accuracy and Its effect on the Story
So these problems are interconnected, and part of it is nitpicky, but it does lead to a MAJOR problem I have with the game. While the setting and the gist of Greek culture is done beautifully, it's on the minor details it fails, however, there are enough of them to leave a sour taste in my mouth at times. For example, this character was trained by their father to be a Spartan warrior and is a Spartan. However, he/she does not use a shield (to go back to the issue from before). The hoplite shield or Aspis was an almost religious artifact to the Spartans. The Spartans had an idiom:
Come back with your shield, or on itWhile I understand that the main character did not complete the formal hoplite training that Spartans go through, it just doesn't feel right to be this Spartan mercenary without a shield. However there is a problem that goes hand in hand with the character's training and the game's story that becomes a massive problem, and that is how they handled the character of Kassandra.
As I said in The Good section, the story of these characters are IDENTICAL which means that where Kassandra was a baby in Alexios' campaign, Alexios is a baby in Kassandra's. Kassandra received combat training from her father, which is something that just WOULDN'T happen in this time. Now if Kassandra was just an exception due to her heritage as a granddaughter of Leonidas, that would be one thing, however, Ubisoft and the dev team of this game decided that rather than deal with the sexism of the ancient world, they would just ignore that it was a problem and portray the time period as something it wasn't. Where this becomes a huge issue for me is that despite the disclaimer that these events are in fact fictional, people look to these games as a representation of history. By doing this you allow people to have romanticized this time period as being something it's not, and this can be very dangerous. History is doomed to repeat itself if we don't commit ourselves to learn from the mistakes of the past. There was a lot of great things about ancient Greece, but it was a far cry from a society of gender equality that they show in this game. Female mercenaries, women who own property in Athens, women being able to attend symposiums and seminars with Socrates, it's all a fiction that NEVER happened, and that annoys me a great deal.
This is NOT, nor SHOULD it be an Assassin's Creed Game
My last problem with this game is that as great of a game as it is, it is a TERRIBLE Assassin's Creed game. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a cry for a new IP or at the very least admitting that Assasin's Creed has an expanded universe where new titles can exist while being attached to this overarching story. The weakest parts of this game were the parts that were forced to be associated with the Assassins, and big shock, they are, for the most part, all in the present. This game could have been so much better if it had the ability to run wild and actually explore the potential of being something new. I feel like all the assassin nonsense could have been replaced with being hired for mercenary contracts where you actually led your crew of mercenaries into an all-out battle to turn the tide. Instead, we got "WE NEED TO TAKE DOWN ABSTERGO!" that was frankly played out in the original games.
At the end of the day, Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a great game, a solid 8.5 out of 10 for me. I had a great time exploring the Greek world and will definitely continue playing the game on days off. However, it is restricted by the fact that it's attached to a franchise that's, in all honesty, past due for extinction. That along with a lot of minor issues in historical representation compounding prevent it from being the perfect experience it COULD be.
This has been another edition of Comic Relief! hope you enjoyed and we'll see you again next time!
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