Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a 2018 action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft. Serving as the eleventh major installment in the franchise, Odyssey takes the RPG foundation laid by Origins and pushes it to an unprecedented, massive scale. It is chronologically the earliest game in the series, set nearly four centuries before the founding of the Hidden Ones in Origins, and marks the franchise’s full transformation into a sprawling, dialogue-heavy RPG in the vein of The Witcher 3 or Mass Effect.

The game is set in 431 BC during the Peloponnesian War, a massive, bloody conflict between the city-states of Athens and Sparta. In a franchise first, players choose between two playable protagonists: the siblings Alexios or Kassandra. Regardless of the choice, the protagonist operates as a “misthios” (mercenary) who was exiled from Sparta as a child and raised on the island of Kephallonia. Armed with the broken Spear of Leonidas—a powerful First Civilization artifact—the misthios is drawn into the continental war. Along their journey to reunite their fractured family, they must hunt down the Cult of Kosmos, a shadowy organization manipulating the war from behind the scenes, and uncover the truth about their bloodline’s connection to the ancient Isu.

Gameplay

Odyssey leans heavily into its RPG mechanics, offering players significantly more agency in shaping the narrative and their character’s playstyle than any previous Assassin’s Creed title.

Key gameplay mechanics include:

• Player Choice and Dialogue Trees: For the first time, players engage in branching dialogue options. These choices have tangible consequences, determining the fate of side characters, unlocking romance options, and ultimately leading to one of several different endings for the main family storyline.
• Overhauled Combat and Abilities: The combat builds on the hitbox system of Origins but removes shields entirely, forcing players to rely on parrying and dodging. The Spear of Leonidas grants supernatural abilities. Players map active skills—such as a devastating “Spartan Kick,” a shield-breaker attack, or the ability to shoot through walls—to the controller’s face buttons, fueled by an adrenaline meter.
• The Cultist System: Hunting the Cult of Kosmos is a massive, non-linear web. Players must find clues scattered across the world, assassinate lower-ranking cultists, and slowly unmask the high-ranking leaders pulling the strings.
• Mercenary System: Replacing the traditional “notoriety” system, Odyssey features a dynamic hierarchy of AI mercenaries. If the player commits crimes, bounties are placed on their head, and high-level, named mercenaries will actively hunt them across the map. Defeating them allows the player to climb the mercenary ranks.
• Naval Combat Returns: Because the map encompasses the Aegean Sea and its countless islands, full naval combat returns. Players captain a trireme named the Adrestia, upgrading its hull, ram, and arrow volleys, and recruiting lieutenants (including defeated enemies and mercenaries) to boost the ship’s stats.
• Conquest Battles: The world is dynamically split between Athenian and Spartan control. Players can weaken a region by killing leaders and burning supplies, eventually triggering a massive, 300-man battlefield clash where they choose to fight for either the defending or invading army.

Development and Legacy

Developed primarily by Ubisoft Quebec (the studio behind Syndicate), Odyssey was designed to fully embrace the mythology and epic scale of ancient Greece. Because the game is set centuries before the formal Assassin Brotherhood existed, the developers had the freedom to lean heavily into the fantastical elements of the Isu (First Civilization) lore, allowing players to fight mythological beasts like the Minotaur, the Cyclops, and Medusa.

The modern-day storyline continues to follow Layla Hassan, who discovers the Spear of Leonidas and uses it to explore the misthios’ memories in her search for the lost city of Atlantis.

Released in October 2018, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was a massive critical and commercial hit. Reviewers praised the breathtakingly beautiful and staggeringly large recreation of ancient Greece, the highly engaging combat abilities, and the sheer volume of content. Kassandra, in particular, was widely celebrated as one of the best protagonists in the franchise’s history, thanks to a charismatic performance by voice actress Melissanthi Mahut.

However, the game also sparked significant debate within the fanbase. Traditionalists argued that by removing the Hidden Blade, the Assassin Brotherhood, and social stealth, the game had strayed too far from the core identity of the franchise, acting more like a fantasy RPG wearing the Assassin’s Creed name. Despite this philosophical divide, Odyssey was nominated for Game of the Year at the 2018 Game Awards and stands as one of the most successful and expansive entries in Ubisoft’s catalog.

Key Features:

• Choose Your Hero — Play the entire massive campaign as either Alexios or Kassandra, fully voiced and heavily customizable mercenaries.
• Shape Your Destiny — Make impactful narrative choices through deep dialogue trees that alter the course of quests and determine your final ending.
• Mythological Combat — Wield the Spear of Leonidas to unleash superhuman abilities, battling human armies and legendary mythological monsters.
• Epic Naval Exploration — Sail the stunning Aegean Sea, commanding the Adrestia in fast-paced naval combat and exploring uncharted islands.
• Dynamic War System — Shift the balance of power in the Peloponnesian War by participating in massive, chaotic Conquest Battles between Athens and Sparta.

Release Platforms:

• PlayStation 4 — October 5, 2018
• Xbox One — October 5, 2018
• Microsoft Windows (PC) — October 5, 2018
• Nintendo Switch (Cloud Version) — October 5, 2018 (Japan) / November 18, 2021 (Global)
• Google Stadia — November 19, 2019