Review: Assassin's Creed Odyssey

As time goes on, I have come to contemplate upgrading my Assassin's Creed tattoo, and each generation of Assassin's Creed games furthers my love for this series. Eleven years this series has been going, admittedly with its ups and downs, but Ubisoft have come out swinging with a fresh take on their series. Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
Set in 431 BCE, you play as Alexios or Kassandra; a mercenary on the run from their past actions. Given an assignment from a client to kill the Wolf of Sparta, their father, the mercenary sets out from their home to explore the world outside their tiny island, and uncovers a plot that threatens not only his life, but every life in ancient Greece. 

It's no secret that Odyssey is heavily based on it's predecessor, Origins, in base of gameplay. But in spite of that, the developers have taken the formula and increased upon it greatly; combat still involves minimalistic controls, but has the addition of controllable upgrading with a proper upgrade tree. Players can upgrade what path they chose to follow, that being, Hunter, Warrior or Assassin. Upgrade limit is currently capped to 50 and you can't deselect whatever ability you choose, so there is some limitations but otherwise it implies to the sense of choice, but we'll talk about that later. bows make a return, as well as customisable weaponry, however lacking true choice; there aren't any different colour schemes outside different classes (Same armor, higher level. EG: common to legendary), and naturally, being a level based system means unless you can track down materials for your upgrades, you're stuck with no other choice but to play with the better equipment. Granted, the massive majority of Legendary equipment is by far the best looking, but sometimes event the Epic or Common clothing looks better. That being said, the true element of the gameplay is the choice, and yes, it will affect how your overall story ends. Minor choices will have world affects to specific areas of the map, while things you say or do in game may affect how your missions turn out. Too slow to escape a camp with a prisoner? Well he's dead and your next mission just got way harder. Kill the man who tried to kill you for money? Now people think the rumours about you are true. Decide to drink that concoction? You and your enemy are sick now.
While some of the bigger choices amount to nothing (Which I'll get into in the next paragraph), a lot of them will amount to what happens in your world around you, and how your story ends.

Finally the game also features so damn much to do. Conquest Battles between Sparta and Athens will happen frequently and you can take place in the battles to decide the winner. However, they will consistently fall out and have to be redone, and there is no overall winner. So be warned now; if you were like me and thought you'd be able to bring an end to the Paloponnesian War, this will never happen. You can side with Athens for the duration of the Conquest Battles, but your story will ultimately side with the Spartans. Granted, by the end of the game you see a little of the Peace of Nicias, but nothing more. Dozens of side missions (although I only found half as much interesting or fully cinematic), the return of ship combat, and just as many places to explore, dive, loot, the gameplay does not get tiring even after 70 hours. 
What does get tiring, is the grind.
Many of the main quests are level locked and impossible to play unless you reach these levels, and there's two main ways to get there; grind, or use boosters.
If you've ever used Ubisoft Club, there is a 2 hour booster you can get for simply getting a Ubisoft Club achievement. I was able to go up three levels thanks to it, but for the rest, you have to pay $15 for a permanent booster. I have not purchased it, but the fact that I want to play a second playthrough as the opposite character but don't want to grind and rather buy the booster shows why it's there, and that is not a very good thing to have for an RPG you want people to replay.
But enough about that, moving on.

Storyline is fairly well written and delivered. So much focus has been on Kassandra as the protagonist that most people have forgotten about Alexios, and I personally liked him as my character. Admittedly some of his lines seemed a little off, but I would put it down to rusty editing than anything else. Michael Antonakos does a wonderful job and Melissanthi Mahout has sass for days which the fandom has fallen in love with. The rest of the cast go above and beyond to help create a world that feels truly lived in.
The modern setting is honestly disappointing this time around. All the modern day scenes and gameplay can be boiled down to no more than half an hour, with even less story than ever before. The fandom hasn't enjoyed the modern day setting for quite some time now (six years to be precise, hint hint), but here it almost seems...lazy. Like Ubisoft needed to check off a box. New characters aren't explained, new settings aren't explored, new information isn't given and all of it has been gutted for the comics. If I have to go outside the game for my information, that is not a good thing. This can also be applied to the historical facts, which has been removed entirely. The game does its best to point out specific historic locations, but gives little to no information on them or noteworthy people. 

Sound effects are wonderfully mastered and the musical scores are just as good, albeit a little repetitive in combat (and admittedly, hearing small alterations to Ezio's Family in each new game is getting a little tiresome). Finally graphics is downright beautiful, especially the ocean. Waves and splashes look utterly enticing and incredible, character models look great, and the world from battlegrounds to peaceful forests look amazing. 

If I haven't been clear in this review, I will be here; for the first time reviewing Assassin's Creed games, I am heavily conflicted. I love this game, and even now only a few hours after finishing want to go back and start it again. There is plenty of replayability in this game, and many of it's elements hold it up, but in a fan and reviewer's perspective, there's enough here to hold it down as well.
With a bit more polishing, a few more interesting side missions, and a heavier choice aspect outside the main story, this game would score almost perfectly. In the end, although my criticism are small and mostly few, they do weigh the game down just enough to avoid this.
Please don't get me wrong; Odyssey is a massive improvement on Origins, and I would absolutely recommend this game.

Odyssey has a little bit of everything from the previous games, improves them and adds a whole lot more new. After over 70 hours playing the game, I can honestly say there is something here for every casual or hardcore gamer.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey: 8/10