Game Insider Game Insider We Happy Few Cover Issue | Page 20

Prior to its official reveal, Assassin's Creed
Odyssey was leaked back in May, with the
culprit being the French site Jeuxvideo, who
apparently received a keychain containing the
name Assassin's Creed Odyssey on it. Thereafter,
Ubisoft made it official and the rest is history,
and speaking of history, this time around Ubisoft
take us to ancient Greece.
Hammering Ubisoft with a wealth of
questions, Assassin's Creed Odyssey plans to
focus more emphasis on role-playing elements
than previous games in the series. After
Assassin's Creed Origin, how is this possible?
Well, AC: Odyssey will contain dialogue options,
branching quests, and multiple endings. Set in
431 BCE, four hundred years prior to the events
of Assassin's Creed Origins. AC: Odyssey
recounts the secret fictional history of the
Peloponnesian War, The player will be able to
choose the gender of the main character from
the start, adopting the role of Alexios or
Kassandra. The player will also have the ability to
develop romantic relationships with NPC's of
both genders, regardless whether they choose
to play as Alexios or Kassandra.
AC: Odyssey will feature a notoriety system
(ala GTA) in which mercenaries will chase after
the player if they commit crimes like killing or
stealing from non-playable characters. Both
Alexios and Kassandra start the game as a
mercenary and a descendant of the Spartan king
Leonidas I. For more clarification on Leonidas I,
this is the same Leonidas depicted from the epic
movie drama '300' who lead 300 Spartan
warriors against the massive armies of King
Xerxes. Alexios and Kassandra inherit his broken
spear, which is forged into a blade to become a
weapon that grants the player special abilities in
combat.
AC: Odyssey uses a skill tree system allowing
players to unlock new abilities. The three skill
trees include "hunter", which improves player
character's archery, "warrior" which puts
emphasis on combat, and "assassin" which
focuses on stealth. This replaces the system used
in Origins, which granted the player a series of
passive abilities.
The hitbox combat system which was also
introduced in Origins makes a return with some
considerable enhancements, which grant players
access to four different special skills when the
ability bar fills up. These skills include calling a
rain of arrows and a poweful kick to knock
opponents off-balance. The game also features
a gear system in which each piece of armor the
player wears has different statistics and provides
a range of advantages. These can be equipped
and upgraded individually.
Because fans have bee fervent about the
return of ship combat, Assassin's Creed Odyssey
also features the return of naval combat, with
the players having access to Hellenistic-era
warships to explore the Aegean Sea. The conflict
between Athens and Sparta is represented
through a "War System" which enables players
to take contracts from mercenaries and
participate in different large-scale battles
against hostile factions. The war system can
change a faction's influence over a region, which
will alter both the gameplay and story.