Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Critical Consensus
Reviewers praise Ubisoft's latest as a series high, thanks to an engaging world and the completed shift to an RPG structure
[some excerpts; full article at link below]
"It's not just in the Greek tragedy-inspired story, the vast, vast map or the sheer number of hours you're going to sink into it. It's the journey. The journey from one Greek island to another, with dolphins and whales cresting the waves alongside your boat. It's about the journey across the stunning Grecian landscape, ranging from forests bearing autumnal hues, to the majestic white marble buildings nestled comfortably in the cities, and absolutely everything in between.
This is Ubisoft's greatest departure from the series formula to date. Building on the open-world structure of last year's Origins, Odyssey adds a dialogue system, romances, multiple endings and even more RPG mechanics. In fact,
Twinfinite's Zhiqing Wan says it "barely even feels like an Assassin's Creed game" and stands up just as well as a "really strong, standalone historical fiction video game."
Eurogamer's Tom Phillips notes that even the franchise's traditional focus on historical events has "shifted effortlessly into a place where godlike powers and mythical artefacts are now a major part of its everyday parlance".
"The Assassin's Creed franchise has always been very self-serious, even with the more laid-back assassins like Ezio and Jacob Frye," Wan observes. "With Odyssey, however, Ubisoft isn't afraid to sprinkle a little humor into virtually every aspect of the game.
Williams adds: "When Assassin's Creed Odyssey is on point, you can tell that Ubisoft was looking at CD Projekt Red's The Witcher for inspiration. What you do in the quests isn't particularly novel, but the folks you meet are.
Billcliffe also draws this comparison, reiterating that side quests are more likely to throw up "quirky stories with fun and memorable characters" than the "filler from older [AC] games". Improved combat and a rewarding loot system help engage players with these additional missions, but even without these mechanics, there is a lot of praise for the accompanying stories Ubisoft is trying to tell.
Additionally, the introduction of choice - not just in how you tackle each situation but even the dialogue and ways you interact with characters - has been praised as a game-changer for the often heavily scripted Assassin's Creed series.
Wan warns that Odyssey's quest choices "might seem tacked on and very straightforward at first glance" but this improved over the course of the game: "I got to see more possible combinations and permutations of different scenarios that could've played out instead of the one I got. The game's branches get pretty staggering later on, and Ubisoft definitely did an excellent job with those story deviations on their first go."
With a metacritic score of 85, it's no surprise that most reviews for Ubisoft's epic are glowing. Shifting a typically action-centric series further into RPG territory was a gamble but, critically at least, it appears to have paid off.
"After 70 hours I've only just finished the main storyline and I still have plenty to see in Odyssey's Greece, and it's a joy to keep on exploring. No-one's made an open-world RPG with this much depth and brilliance since The Witcher 3. This really is the ultimate Creed."
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-10-03-assassins-creed-odyssey-critical-consensus
Some high praise.