Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Is All About Increasing Player Choice
The Assassin’s Creed series received a much needed upgrade with last year’s Egypt-set Origins, but the next entry is looking to present an even greater step-up in many respects. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey not only brings its signature parkour assassination elements to the realm of ancient Greece, but the game will notably give players a means to play as two different characters; male Alexios, or female Kassandra.
With this major change comes a myriad of other improvements, and as game director Scott Phillips explains to GamingBolt, they all play into the idea of increased player choice. “I think we have made huge improvements on that by focusing on choice, by giving players choice, by giving players options, and how they complete quests, how they interact with quest givers, how they role-play with the characters,” the director said.
Phillips talked a bit about combat and progression and how they both offer more avenues to deliver assassination in intuitive ways. For starters, 30 new combat abilities have been introduced as well as “multiple” fresh weapons and gear categories, allowing for an even greater variation in play styles.
Also confirmed were 50 levels of progression, wherein players go the RPG route of gaining experience points through completion of quests and discovering new locations. “As you get more experience points you get more levels, and those levels give you access to more abilities,” Phillips said. “And those abilities change the way you play the game. So it’s constantly progressing.”
Exploring the realm of ancient Greece may present a task in and of itself, as the map is the biggest ever built in the entire Assassin’s Creed series. Filling the contents of this expanded space are a bevy of different biomes such as mountain peaks, islands, and even lava volcanoes. In addition to the content this setting presents, players will also have access to a large amount of open ocean, offering up plenty in terms of sailing and, of course, naval combat.
There’s a lot of area to explore on the land and on the water. It’s a huge map filled with tons of content, places to explore, people to discover, stories to experience, and quest as well.”
The game director’s biggest touted revolution came to the storytelling aspect of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, which introduces impact-carrying dialogue options that alter how the world’s characters and story react to player character. For example, random stealing and killing will earn a bad reputation while projecting positive aspirations will earn a good response from the game.
So you’re choosing constantly whether you want to role-play as a good guy or bad guy or someone in the middle. Do you want to lie, cheat, steal or kill? All this will act as feedback to the world.”
The setting itself predates Origins by 400 years, taking place in 431 BC, a time of both intense war, but also a great representative era of Greek science, art, and writing. While not going too much into detail, Phillips also teased a stronger emphasis on the modern day side of the Assassin’s Creed story, building upon the Assassin / Templar feud of ideals from previous games.
Yes, we do have a present day, and we’re continuing that sort of philosophical ‘order versus chaos,’ structure that’s always been there in Assassin’s Creed. And there’s a lot of other stuff for fans.”
Lastly, Phillips spoke about the release of Odyssey and what we can expect when the game eventually makes its way to PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Foremost he cited the experience as far and away the “prettiest Assassin’s Creed ever” and the team is shooting for a “comfortable” frame rate for the multi-platform final product. When asked about the possibility of next-generation releases, Phillips believes “connected features” will be important moving forward, especially as gamers begin to utilize online multiplayer much more often.
The share button and those sorts of things will be more, and more important. That’s why things like photo mode are coming back for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. We want to engage with the community and we hope that the platforms continue to allow that.”
What do you think? Are you excited by the extended emphasis on player choice in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, or are you not a fan of how complex the games are getting? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more from the realm of Ubisoft, check out these next few news stories:
Eric Hall2712 Posts
Phone-browsing Wikipedia in one hand and clutching his trusty controller in the other, the legendary Eric Hall spreads his wealth of knowledge as a writer for Don't Feed the Gamers. Be sure to catch his biweekly "Throwback Thursday" segment for a nostalgic look at trivia from the past.
