Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • (groans)

  • - Come and get it

  • - [Brandin] Ironically, for a game set in Ancient Greece,

  • Assassin's Creed Odyssey is anything but Spartan.

  • This epic scale action role-playing game shines

  • as a grand adventure through a magnificent,

  • beautiful open-world on a scale we've rarely seen.

  • With so few compromises between quantity and quality,

  • Odyssey vaults over its predecessors to become

  • the most impressive game in the history of the series.

  • (string music)

  • Assassin's Creed Odyssey begins more than 2400 years ago,

  • at the onset of the Peloponnesian War.

  • This was a decades long struggle

  • between Athens and Sparta for dominion

  • over the Ancient Greek world.

  • And after an astonishing 60 plus hours

  • of galloping, sailing and slicing through

  • that historical-fiction sandbox,

  • it's easy to see why it was worth fighting so hard over.

  • Odyssey's world is the biggest

  • and most vibrantly colorful of the series,

  • and though much of its playground is blanketed

  • in the fickle blue waters of the Aegean Sea,

  • its playable acreage is only rivaled

  • by its sheer jaw-dropping beauty.

  • But, as with virtually all grand-scale game worlds,

  • flaws are just under the surface.

  • The immersion is occasionally broken by draw distance,

  • textures that sometimes arrive late to the party,

  • or getting terminally stuck on geometry.

  • Or, maybe a lootable item will become unreachable,

  • or your tame beast becomes untamed when you die and reload.

  • (bear roars)

  • The bugs are annoying, sure, but this is still

  • one of the best open worlds I've ever explored.

  • (string music)

  • - [Narrator] For the first time in an Assassin's Creed game,

  • we get a choice of whether to play exclusively

  • as a man or a woman.

  • Now, they're effectively the same character,

  • though Cassandra's voice acting is more consistent

  • than that of her brother Alexios,

  • and accents throughout Odyssey are hit-or-miss,

  • usually falling somewhere between good

  • and outright scenery chewing.

  • - Is that a yes?

  • Did he say it?

  • - He sure did boss.

  • - [Narrator] But the facial animation

  • of the marquee characters is superb,

  • and you can sense the subtle disgust

  • or confusion on the face of Alexios

  • or Cassandra without them having to say a word.

  • Alexios and Cassandra are easily

  • the most flexible characters in any Assassin's Creed game.

  • As a mercenary, my Alexios was free

  • to be whoever I decided he should be.

  • A merc with a conscience, a one track mind horn dog,

  • - So, blood does pulse in those veins.

  • - It roars.

  • - [Narrator] Or a ruthless, murdering psychopath,

  • there are no wrong answers, but there

  • are definitely consequences.

  • - I'd never make an arrangement with you.

  • - You're wasting my time.

  • - You need to die!

  • - [Narrator] Most dialogue decisions usually don't

  • carry much meaning outside of whether

  • your character is an upstanding person

  • or a total dick.

  • - Take this and get out of my sight.

  • - Do you think we're farmers that can be bought for beans?

  • Take your money and stick it up your...

  • - [Narrator] But, some of those choices do affect

  • the greater world around you.

  • Varied side-missions become available according

  • to your deeds and some side-characters could live or die,

  • all the way through to the multiple possible endings.

  • I never felt like I screwed myself

  • out of something I wanted to do, but I had the freedom

  • to be who I wanted to be.

  • I was often too lazy or self-assured

  • to hide my murderous ways, which put me at odds

  • with Odyssey's new notoriety system.

  • I initially found the procedurally generated mercenaries

  • who were sicced on me to be little more

  • than loot pinatas, but when they started

  • to show up in force to complicate matters

  • while I was in the middle of sieging a fort,

  • they earned some respect.

  • I appreciate the chaotic X-factor they bring

  • to Odyssey, and rising through their ranks

  • to gain the attention of their legendary warriors

  • is a fun meta-game in and of itself.

  • (daggers slicing)

  • - Similarly, the new nations struggle system

  • allows you to help the war effort for

  • either faction in each region.

  • By destroying supplies, pillaging war chests

  • or deposing a national leader,

  • you'll trigger a conquest battle.

  • While these huge melee or naval battles

  • are thoroughly excellent and reward some good loot,

  • they ultimately don't mean much.

  • No matter who you side with, or who wins,

  • the war machine keeps turning.

  • (combat)

  • - [Narrator] Odyssey continues what

  • Origin's started last year,

  • moving combat to a free-flowing dance

  • of light and heavy attacks.

  • The weapons are swords, daggers, axes, maces and staves,

  • all of which behave just differently enough

  • for meaningful nuance.

  • In the heat of battle it's an easy to grasp system

  • of slashes and skills, and I'm still

  • picking fights just for the joy of it.

  • There's a staggering amount of weapons and armor

  • to find, upgrade and engrave with powerful perks.

  • It's great that you can make a favorite piece

  • of low-level legendary gear useful in the late game,

  • if you pump enough resources into it.

  • But, even though I didn't always have

  • the crafting materials or currency needed

  • to upgrade my old reliable helmet to my current level,

  • a constant stream of new, viable gear continued to pour in.

  • Progression comes from Odyssey's three distinct skill trees,

  • each holds powerful abilities

  • that can devastate the battlefield,

  • and while I opted to turn Alexios

  • into a killing machine by focusing almost entirely

  • on the warrior tree, I also dabbled in the others

  • enough to pick up archer skills like the head-splitting

  • Predator Shot and the Assassin Mastery

  • that made silent kills more reliable.

  • Every skill I chose felt worthwhile,

  • but thanks to the murderous power of gravity

  • I found the Sparta Kick to be the single-most

  • devastating weapon in my arsenal

  • for nearly half my playthrough.

  • (kick impacts)

  • - Burning

  • - [Narrator] The other pillar of combat is naval warfare,

  • which is the best its ever been in Assassin's Creed.

  • Your ship has excellent options to buff out arrow damage,

  • or ramming damage or durability.

  • You can also subdue nearly any enemy to become a lieutenant

  • who augments your ship for a

  • smart sub-layer of optimization.

  • Gliding across the glassy-teal Aegean headlong

  • into an armada of pirates, Spartans, Athenians

  • or even a helpless merchant vessel is something I relish,

  • even after so much time dominating Greece's waters.

  • (Upbeat string music)

  • - Now I need more obsidian, if you can bring me some,

  • Mystios, my finest blades shall be yours.

  • - [Narrator] While side missions and combat are abundant,

  • and fun, eventually you're gonna need

  • to move Odyssey's story forward.

  • It's enjoyable, with genuine moments of bare emotion

  • that made me feel for those involved.

  • Its straightforward family drama is elevated

  • by the lack of the tired Assassins versus Templars

  • soap opera, with enough twists and memorable

  • side-characters to keep me invested.

  • At the same time, it's padded out with meaningless errands

  • that make getting to those strong character moments

  • a painstaking gauntlet.

  • Often times, the payoff of a major character reveal

  • had been dulled because I had to spend six hours

  • chasing my tail through half the Greek world to reach it.

  • And even after completing the main story,

  • there's still so much left to uncover

  • that I'm nearly as overwhelmed with where to go

  • and what to do next as I was when I started.

  • Whether I'm hunting down the remnants

  • of the sinister Cult of Cosmos, tracking down relics

  • that push the totally superficial present day story forward,

  • fighting mythological monsters or hunting

  • the great beasts of Greek legend,

  • there's a staggering amount of content

  • still left to discover.

  • (upbeat string music)

  • - You.

  • You destroyed the Athenian blockade.

  • - They were in my way.

  • - [Narrator] Assassin's Creed Odyssey is

  • a resounding achievement in world building,

  • environment and engaging gameplay with

  • occasional problems throughout.

  • Its incredible recreation of Ancient Greece

  • is something I'll want to go back to

  • long after I've finished its main story,

  • and its excellent systems mesh together

  • in a way that's hard to beat.

  • While there are definite rough edges,

  • Odyssey sets a new bar for Assassin's Creed games

  • and holds its own in the eternal debate

  • over the best open-world role-playing games ever.

  • For more on Assassin's Creed Odyssey,

  • watch us take down an Athenian camp

  • or check out why the Spartan Kick is so devastating.

  • And for everything else, keep it right here on IGN.

  • (sword striking)

(groans)

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it