On Oct. 5, Ubisoft teamed up with the University of Utah’s Crimson Gaming club to host an “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” launch party. There, I played the first two hours of the newest Assassin’s Creed. It was an enjoyable casual event where Crimson Gaming hosted stations for playing the game as well as a fun couch co-op where participants had fun with a handful of other games.
“Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” is set in ancient Greece during the Peloponnesian war. You play as either ‘Alexios’ or ‘Kassandra’, an orphaned mercenary who has found themself in deep trouble with a roughish brute nicknamed ‘The Cyclops.’ That’s basically all I played, running around the starting island and exploring side quest after side quest.
This game is one of those where a player will first look at the map and reflexively think, “Oh boy, there goes the next few weeks of my life.” “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” looks like an unbelievably massive game, with thousands of tasks to accomplish.
There are three paths a character can go in terms of gameplay — hunter, warrior and assassin. In the four levels I got through, I focused on the assassin skill tree. (Athena’s Sight is a fantastic early level skill, especially for loot hungry monsters like me).
The combat is quick and simple but still gives a player that feeling of accomplishment and awe when a cool finisher goes off. I did notice that the stealth takedown animations repeat with very little variety. Yet besides a few lip syncing problems and minor model mishaps, I had a good time with the game and could see myself playing a lot more of it.
I have not played an “Assassin’s Creed” game since “Brotherhood,” and this game, along with the bits that I saw of “Assassin’s Creed: Origins,” is shifting away from the original “sneak around stabby stabby” formula and becoming more of an RPG “beat ’em up” style game. In light of this thought, why not just cut the “Assassin’s Creed” brand and write a separate story? Ubisoft and other triple-A game studios get made fun of for the once-a-year assembly line on game franchises, and “Assassin’s Creed” has become one of those series. I know that there are small nuances that go into game marketing, but it’s just something to think about.
I give “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” 4.5/5 Stars.
You can find Crimson Gaming on Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and Instagram. You can find Ubisoft on Twitter, Instagram and their website. “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” is available now on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows.