Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – Hands On

We here at Gaming Instincts were able to get our hands on a full-fledged demo for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey at E3 2018. We spent quite a bit of time prowling Ancient Greece, and we were able to come together and gather our thoughts and opinions on the next installment of the Assassins Creed franchise. This is Gaming Instincts hands-on impressions of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

Odyssey’s mechanics is almost identical to that of Assassin’s Creed Origins. The shift in control  from previous Assassin’s Creed titles is still very noticeable when playing Odyssey. Ships controls and combat are relatively the same with no many changes to set itself apart. Combat is still challenging and you have the potential to die many times before you complete your goal. Special attacks can be assigned to face button now, which is something you would not do in Origins. To use these special attacks one must fill up their adrenaline meter. If you’ve played Assassins Creed Origins you have an idea of what to expect.

What sets this title apart from all other Assassins Creed games is that you are able to craft the story to make it your own through dialogue choices. It almost reminds us of Mass Effect in a way, and while there are many games out there that feature dialogue choices Mass Effect may just be the best at it. Dialogue choices can determine how a quest will end and how your story will unfold. It can also influence you relationships with certain characters.

Players will get the choice of playing as one of two characters. Alexios and Kassandra, male and female. Whoever you choose will be locked in as your protagonist and you won’t be able to switch after. Whoever you decide to choice won’t affect the games story, the two are identical in a way when it comes to storyline and move-sets. There only difference is well ones male and ones female.

Relationships are also a new addition to the franchise. Players will have the option to romance certain characters throughout the story. Gender also doesn’t matter when it comes to romance either as both playable characters can romance anyone.

Customization is a little better than Origins in our opinion, similar to Assassin’s Creed Unity. Each limb has its own armor slot. Something we really looked forward to was conquest battles which is a 150 vs 150 battle between two factions. Depending on the players stance in the world there could be some powerful opponents on the other side.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has ditched the hidden blade and replaced it with a spear. The Spear of Leonidas to be exact, which is a powerful artifact. Naval combat is also back with a system similar to Assassin’s Creed Rogue and Black Flag. Players can customize their ship and recruit crew members.  You can also board ships and take on legendary ships much like in Assassins Creed Black Flag.

Eagle vision is the same as it was in Assassin’s Creed Origins. You are able to see through the eyes of your pet eagle Ikaros. While we were only able to explore a small portion of land mass in our hands on demo we were assured that Assassins Creed Odyssey will have the largest map ever in an Assassin’s Creed game. With various environments like open seas, snowy mountains and forests.

The seas are treacherous to swim in as sharks fill the waters below, be careful not to fall off your ship. You can actually knock enemies off of their ship and watch them be eaten by sharks in the water. Players can also expect to fight mythical creatures from greek mythology similar to how Origins handled egyptian mythology.

Overall Assassins Creed Odyssey is shaping up to be a very good title. It plays like Assassin’s Creed Origins but with enough changes to make it unique. We can definitely tell Ubisoft put more effort into the story with this installment. The dialogue choices make the players feel more involved in the story. While it may not be the traditional Assassins Creed game we all know, it’s shaping up to be something that could bring those traditional fans back to the series.