Ways Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Is an Origins Reskin
Traversal
In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, traversing around the world is more or less exactly the same as it was in Assassin’s Creed Origins. Plain and simple. You still go into stealth-mode by hiding in tall grass, up above the enemy on a building, or just below them on a ledge, among other ways. You will parkour the same way, meaning you can climb up virtually everything just as you could in Origins. On top of that, it feels exactly like it did. If you dressed up Bayek as a Spartan warrior, I’d bet money that nobody could tell the difference. If parkour isn’t your thing, your options are still the same as they were in Origins: take a boat, ride a horse, or fast travel.
Fortunately, as those who have played Origins will know, that’s great news. All of that stuff felt great in Ancient Egypt. Sure, like in most video games, your character (Bayek) got stuck on walls occasionally or jumped in a direction you didn’t want him to, but at the end of the day, it was the best traversal has ever felt in the franchise. Because of that, it makes sense that Odyssey would simply pick up the traversal of Origins and drop it into Ancient Greece. Don’t fix something if it ain’t broke.
Ways Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Is an Origins Reskin
User Interface
If you ignore the locations on the map above, or the avatar of either Kassandra or Alexios that will be dominating your screen in the menus, it’d be damn near impossible to determine if what you were looking at was Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or Origins. You still move the selection circle around the screen as if it were a mouse — something Origins picked up from Bungie’s Destiny — and the options for that circle are still virtually the same. The quest screen is still divided by main quests and side quests. The inventory still displays the equipped items you have on your person.
The idea that the UI is virtually the same in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey as it was in Origins translates to the screen you see while actually playing the game as well. You’ll see your weapons in squares at the bottom of the screen, which sit right beside your yellow adrenaline, err, abilities bar that charges as you defeat enemies. Simply put, if you enjoyed the UI in Origins, you’ll love the UI in Odyssey, and that’s because it’s the same. If you’re someone like me, though, someone who hates the mouse-like cursor movement that is for some reason popular in video games these days, then you’ll be stuck to endure yet another entry. Here’s hoping to Assassin’s Creed Rome, or Vikings, or Japan or whatever is next to break away from the pack (please do Vikings, Ubisoft).
Ways Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Is an Origins Reskin
Combat
Assassin’s Creed Origins saw a drastically-different combat system implemented into the franchise. Gone were the insta-kills, mash-the-counter-button fights of the prior titles and in was a more advanced and strategic form of combat. Instead of holding down the counter button until the fight was over, you had to strategically plan your counter to land at the exact time it’s needed. Instead fo a single button to kill enemies, you had to rely on light attacks, heavy attacks, blocks and more just to finish off one enemy.
This change of combat was a breath of fresh air for a series that had already received nine iterations. It made you think about each fight. It forced you to work even harder to complete a combat zone stealthily because, if you failed, you couldn’t button-mash your way out of the ensuing fight.
In steps Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. For better or worse, the combat system of Origins has been dropped into Odyssey. Sure, the weapons and armor are themed for Ancient Greece now, but at the end of the day, Kassandra and Alexios’ fights will feel nearly identical to Bayek’s. The animations are different, as are the finishers and abilities available to use, but you’re still pressing this button to attack, these buttons to parry, and that button to dodge.
Reasons That Still Make it Worth Buying
Dialogue Choices
Despite everything that might make Assassin’s Creed Odyssey a reskin of Origins, it still brings a few fresh ideas to the table that warrant a purchase. The most fresh of those is the introduction of dialogue choices. Before playing the game, dialogue choices seemed like a tacked-on feature of the game, but after seven hours with the game, it’s clear that Ubisoft has implemented a fully-fledged dialogue system, akin to something you’d find in a Bethesda game, into their marquee franchise. Sure, some of these choices are quick and easy, and matter very little, but some of the choices have extremely drastic consequences.
In one instance, I chose to rescue a group of townsfolk sick with a quick-spreading and deadly illness from being killed by a town authority. At the time, the choice seemed easy, but hours later, I would learn that choice was very narrow-minded. Yes, I did want to save this group of people, but at what cost was a question I never thought to ask. When I later returned to the town these sick people called home, virtually everyone around me was dead — they all died of the sickness the group I saved had. Dialogue choices truly matter in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and finding out what each decision ends with is a great reason to pick up the game next month.
Reasons That Still Make it Worth Buying
Naval Combat
Weigh-hay and up she rises, early in the morning! What will we do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning? Put ’em in the scuppers with a hose pipe on him, early in the morning! Any Assassin’s Creed Black Flag veteran knows what that was: the best sea shanty, “Drunken Sailor.” Ladies and gentlemen, shanties are back and that’s because naval combat and seafaring are back in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
While it’s not exactly the same as Black Flag — instead of cannons, your ship will be equipped with a crew that shoots arrows and throws spears — for the most part, the naval combat and general seafaring of Odyssey is exactly how you remember it feeling in the fourth (but really the sixth) entry in the series. Since we said goodbye to Black Flag, we’ve been begging for the ability to sail the high seas to return to Assassin’s Creed as a full-fledged system and now, it’s back. The team behind Odyssey knew exactly what they were doing. You know it. I know it. A return to the seas is all we needed to say yes to the money we’re going to have to shell out to play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
Reasons That Still Make it Worth Buying
Combat Abilities
In Assassin’s Creed Origins, defeating enemies granted Bayek adrenaline to fill his yellow adrenaline bar at the bottom of the screen. In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, that yellow bar is still situated at the bottom of the screen, but now it’s broken up into segments. That’s because each of these segments can be used to power one of Kassandra or Alexios’ abilities, and these abilities are game-changing.
Not only are they extremely fun (looking at you, Spartan Kick), but they dramatically change the way you can approach a combat encounter. If I’m fighting an enemy that has a few levels on me, I can map my healing ability to an ability button to provide an extra boost of health I’ll undoubtedly need. On top of that, if I need to readjust all of my abilities, I can do so for a small in-game fee, allowing me to re-stat my character based on how I need him or her to perform. This kind of customization has never been present in an Assassin’s Creed game before and it’s a tantalizing feature that my seven-hour demo, which you can read all about here, likely only scratched the surface of.
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