- Come and get it

- [Brandin] Ironically, for a game set in Ancient Greece,

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is anything but Spartan.

This epic scale action role-playing game shines

as a grand adventure through a magnificent,

beautiful open-world on a scale we've rarely seen.

With so few compromises between quantity and quality,

Odyssey vaults over its predecessors to become

the most impressive game in the history of the series.

(string music)

Assassin's Creed Odyssey begins more than 2400 years ago,

at the onset of the Peloponnesian War.

This was a decades long struggle

between Athens and Sparta for dominion

over the Ancient Greek world.

And after an astonishing 60 plus hours

of galloping, sailing and slicing through

that historical-fiction sandbox,

it's easy to see why it was worth fighting so hard over.

Odyssey's world is the biggest

and most vibrantly colorful of the series,

and though much of its playground is blanketed

in the fickle blue waters of the Aegean Sea,

its playable acreage is only rivaled

by its sheer jaw-dropping beauty.

But, as with virtually all grand-scale game worlds,

flaws are just under the surface.

The immersion is occasionally broken by draw distance,

textures that sometimes arrive late to the party,

or getting terminally stuck on geometry.

Or, maybe a lootable item will become unreachable,

or your tame beast becomes untamed when you die and reload.

(bear roars)

The bugs are annoying, sure, but this is still

one of the best open worlds I've ever explored.

(string music)

- [Narrator] For the first time in an Assassin's Creed game,

we get a choice of whether to play exclusively

as a man or a woman.

Now, they're effectively the same character,

though Cassandra's voice acting is more consistent

than that of her brother Alexios,

and accents throughout Odyssey are hit-or-miss,

usually falling somewhere between good

and outright scenery chewing.

- Is that a yes?

Did he say it?

- He sure did boss.

- [Narrator] But the facial animation

of the marquee characters is superb,

and you can sense the subtle disgust

or confusion on the face of Alexios

or Cassandra without them having to say a word.

Alexios and Cassandra are easily

the most flexible characters in any Assassin's Creed game.

As a mercenary, my Alexios was free

to be whoever I decided he should be.

A merc with a conscience, a one track mind horn dog,

- So, blood does pulse in those veins.

- It roars.

- [Narrator] Or a ruthless, murdering psychopath,

there are no wrong answers, but there

are definitely consequences.

- I'd never make an arrangement with you.

- You're wasting my time.

- You need to die!

- [Narrator] Most dialogue decisions usually don't

carry much meaning outside of whether

your character is an upstanding person

or a total dick.

- Take this and get out of my sight.

- Do you think we're farmers that can be bought for beans?

Take your money and stick it up your...

- [Narrator] But, some of those choices do affect

the greater world around you.

Varied side-missions become available according

to your deeds and some side-characters could live or die,

all the way through to the multiple possible endings.

I never felt like I screwed myself

out of something I wanted to do, but I had the freedom

to be who I wanted to be.

I was often too lazy or self-assured

to hide my murderous ways, which put me at odds

with Odyssey's new notoriety system.

I initially found the procedurally generated mercenaries

who were sicced on me to be little more

than loot pinatas, but when they started

to show up in force to complicate matters

while I was in the middle of sieging a fort,

they earned some respect.

I appreciate the chaotic X-factor they bring

to Odyssey, and rising through their ranks

to gain the attention of their legendary warriors

is a fun meta-game in and of itself.

(daggers slicing)

- Similarly, the new nations struggle system

allows you to help the war effort for

either faction in each region.

By destroying supplies, pillaging war chests

or deposing a national leader,

you'll trigger a conquest battle.

While these huge melee or naval battles

are thoroughly excellent and reward some good loot,

they ultimately don't mean much.

No matter who you side with, or who wins,

the war machine keeps turning.

(combat)

- [Narrator] Odyssey continues what

Origin's started last year,

moving combat to a free-flowing dance

of light and heavy attacks.

The weapons are swords, daggers, axes, maces and staves,

all of which behave just differently enough

for meaningful nuance.

In the heat of battle it's an easy to grasp system

of slashes and skills, and I'm still

picking fights just for the joy of it.

There's a staggering amount of weapons and armor

to find, upgrade and engrave with powerful perks.

It's great that you can make a favorite piece

of low-level legendary gear useful in the late game,

if you pump enough resources into it.

But, even though I didn't always have

the crafting materials or currency needed

to upgrade my old reliable helmet to my current level,

a constant stream of new, viable gear continued to pour in.

Progression comes from Odyssey's three distinct skill trees,

each holds powerful abilities

that can devastate the battlefield,

and while I opted to turn Alexios

into a killing machine by focusing almost entirely

on the warrior tree, I also dabbled in the others

enough to pick up archer skills like the head-splitting

Predator Shot and the Assassin Mastery

that made silent kills more reliable.

Every skill I chose felt worthwhile,

but thanks to the murderous power of gravity

I found the Sparta Kick to be the single-most

devastating weapon in my arsenal

for nearly half my playthrough.

(kick impacts)

- Burning

- [Narrator] The other pillar of combat is naval warfare,

which is the best its ever been in Assassin's Creed.

Your ship has excellent options to buff out arrow damage,

or ramming damage or durability.

You can also subdue nearly any enemy to become a lieutenant

who augments your ship for a

smart sub-layer of optimization.

Gliding across the glassy-teal Aegean headlong

into an armada of pirates, Spartans, Athenians

or even a helpless merchant vessel is something I relish,

even after so much time dominating Greece's waters.

(Upbeat string music)

- Now I need more obsidian, if you can bring me some,

Mystios, my finest blades shall be yours.

- [Narrator] While side missions and combat are abundant,

and fun, eventually you're gonna need

to move Odyssey's story forward.

It's enjoyable, with genuine moments of bare emotion

that made me feel for those involved.

Its straightforward family drama is elevated

by the lack of the tired Assassins versus Templars

soap opera, with enough twists and memorable

side-characters to keep me invested.

At the same time, it's padded out with meaningless errands

that make getting to those strong character moments

a painstaking gauntlet.

Often times, the payoff of a major character reveal

had been dulled because I had to spend six hours

chasing my tail through half the Greek world to reach it.

And even after completing the main story,

there's still so much left to uncover

that I'm nearly as overwhelmed with where to go

and what to do next as I was when I started.

Whether I'm hunting down the remnants

of the sinister Cult of Cosmos, tracking down relics

that push the totally superficial present day story forward,

fighting mythological monsters or hunting

the great beasts of Greek legend,

there's a staggering amount of content

still left to discover.

(upbeat string music)

- You.

You destroyed the Athenian blockade.

- They were in my way.

- [Narrator] Assassin's Creed Odyssey is

a resounding achievement in world building,

environment and engaging gameplay with

occasional problems throughout.

Its incredible recreation of Ancient Greece

is something I'll want to go back to

long after I've finished its main story,

and its excellent systems mesh together

in a way that's hard to beat.

While there are definite rough edges,

Odyssey sets a new bar for Assassin's Creed games

and holds its own in the eternal debate

over the best open-world role-playing games ever.

For more on Assassin's Creed Odyssey,

watch us take down an Athenian camp

or check out why the Spartan Kick is so devastating.

And for everything else, keep it right here on IGN.

(sword striking)