I had already talked about it: the greater mystery of the new Assassin's Creed Odyssey it undoubtedly concerns the choice of the setting period. After our inferences (which you can find here) in the end the truth has come out: the game will be set around 400 BC, and this brings all Odyssey with the hands behind Assassin's Creed Origins, a title that narrated last year the origins of the creed. But if the origins of the creed have not yet been born, what will it deal with Assassin's Creed Odyssey? Let's find out everything that came out of this E3 2018.
The origins of the origins
The focal point I want to focus on concerns the chosen era: the Ubisoft saga has always shown a certain accuracy in choosing epochs, details and information to be included to make the story compelling and coherent. The fact that this time the storyline regarding the future will be mandatory to play it makes us understand how Ubisoft is returning to make important that section that at the time was dedicated to Desmond Miles, and which now could finally reveal the future of this endless fight. The deities could also play a fundamental role: let's remember how Minerva was centric in the original plot, and Greek or Roman gods might appear in their original forms from past eras (again adding that long-forgotten mythology).
For historical coherence, thanks to the fact that the struggle between freedom and control has been advancing for millennia, being born right in Eden, Assassin's Creed Odyssey could tell facts directly related to that era, and act as the glue between that story and the one seen in Origins. On the other hand, we have already talked about it, Darius, the first user of the hidden blade, killed Xerxes thanks to it, long before Bayek discovered it in his adventure. In short, we could have seen the origins of the creed many years later, but this does not exclude that the two factions already existed at the time, and Assassin's Creed does not need an official nomenclature, but rather to make the player live those exciting moments in which we got used to it.
Naval battles are back
One thing that really excited the fans (but much more the new players) of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, was the naval battles, really well studied and detailed. They will come back in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, also thanks to the setting, but this time they will be more complex, free in terms of choices and customizable. The dynamic weather and the day-night cycle will affect this component, bringing everything towards a high realism. On the other hand, at the time the naval battles (read and told in many writings) were something necessary to be able to defeat the enemy.
The large-scale battles, however, will not stop only on the sea, also arriving on dry land: you can in fact engage in conquest battles, real carnage that will not only require you to kill the opposing champion, but will move the hand of the genre towards the strategic, simulating some battles much more thought out than the standard ones.
Fee or non-fee
Many Assassin's Creed chapters have told canonical stories related to the Assassin faction. Rogue showed something different, Black Flag drew a character far from belief, and the two products worked in their own way. Assassin's Creed Odyssey will do both: if Kassandra impersonates the canonical history (also described in the future book that will come out), Alexios instead will have a more marginal role, not in terms of presence, but of description of the events. However, everything will revolve around the player: the choices you make, in fact, will influence the plot even changing the endings, making Assassin's Creed Odyssey a much more RPG title than the previous ones. The choice of character will change some details, but the real storyline will be written by the player.
The dialogues will be one of the driving forces for this style, which the direct grandsons of King Leonidas will have to overcome by even changing the relationships with the NPCs they encounter. We don't foresee a plethora of different endings, also because Assassin's Creed has always been based on an important and defined story, and making it totally editable by the player would only lead to confusion.
Assassin's Creed most RPG ever
We talked about RPG as far as plot choices are concerned, but the real component that should affect the choice made by the developers is the gameplay. Indeed, a further step forward compared to Origins has been taken: the fights have in fact become slightly more tactical and the amount of fighters you will find against you will be larger than before. To help you, the choice of how to customize your hero will revolve around three subclasses: Hunter, Warrior e Assassin. Upgrading these three sections or not will lead to unlocking unique abilities: this is how you can unlock moves like Leonidas' kick (announced by 300), defensive or offensive skills, or some old-fashioned assassin attack.
Everything will have fallen into the role of the gameplay seen in Assassin's Creed Origins: instead of Senu we will have Ikaros, who will have the same functions in terms of gameplay, and the combat system will always be free flow, complete with a menu almost identical to the previous one.
Eppur si muove
Do not despair though: many users had complained in playing Origins, precisely because of the lack of that skeleton made known in the previous chapters, and among all complained about the lack of parkour as the soul of the game. In Assassin's Creed Odyssey, parkour puzzles will come back strong and bursting, taking advantage of the verticality of the map more, at least more than what was done in Assassin's Creed Origins. The possibility of recruiting NPCs also returns, thus strengthening your allied forces.
All customizable but… no customizable hero. The presence of the character editor was rumored, but the choice made by Ubisoft, in my right opinion, it will make everything much more faithful to the idea of the developers.
In short, it seems that Ubisoft has learned well from past mistakes: on the other hand, the idea of making the saga non-annual does not affect the production chain of the game, especially considering that each development studio works for years on the title, alternating in the publication. Assassin's Creed Odyssey wants to define a next step in the saga, and if Origins was the testing ground, now Odyssey will become the consolidation of the whole. Inspired by titles such as The Witcher 3, Fallout and Skyrim, the RPG soul of the game will become more and more preponderant: after all, Assassin's Creed has always told a story of men with ideals, and what's better than living those ideals in the way that the player wants?
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