Alongside my various streams and videos I’ve recently taken Odyssey back up, and in the past few weeks I’ve managed to put another 40+ hours into it. I can’t tear myself away and I have no doubt this is going to end up being in my top 5 games of this generation, I’m here to tell you why you can’t miss it and why Alexios is the best protagonist this series has ever had, and should be spoken about alongside the likes of Kratos and Nathan Drake. Odyssey is one of few games I’d give a 10/10, after completing the main story (DLC to follow) I need to write something about it – despite this game being covered to death. There will be some spoilers but…..well this is an old game now.
Odyssey shows us how good something can be when a developer decides to try something new, in origins they tested out this formula and in odyssey they’ve nailed it. I truly am blown away by the scope of this game, I’m 70 hours in and there are still areas of the map I haven’t been to/explored. Not only is the gameplay perfect, the world beautiful and the missions varied but the game adds new enemy systems in forms of the mercenaries and cultists that tie this game together exceptionally well. If you haven’t yet gotten round to this game stop what you’re doing and go and purchase it immediately, especially as this is the perfect game to stave off some of that lockdown boredom – and it always seems to go in and out the sales.
Let’s start by talking about my main man, Alexios (you can choose to also play as Kassandra, which apparently is the canon story). If ‘sexy rugged man’ was in the dictionary, there would be a picture of this absolute specimen, I’ve taken to calling him A-sexy-os. Alexios was all but betrayed by the spartans as a child and is on a journey to find his family and unravel the mystery of his youth, this story basically tying into the cultists who want to take over ancient Greece and in turn destroy your family. What this game manages to do so well is keep Alexios grounded and realistic whilst being able to take on every opponent, even mythical ones – these are better left as a surprise. I suppose the idea is that Alexios is a kind of demi god amongst men, although this is never actually explicitly said it’s what I wanted to believe – and that’s something it does extremely well, it lets you live your own story in Ancient Greece despite there being a story path laid out in front of you. You’re always given big story choices on what to say, who to romance and who to kill; you’re even given the constant choice of siding with the Spartans or Athenians and it’s really down to your loyalty and who will give the better reward. Saying all this the thing I truly loved is I created MY Alexios, a mercenary through and through who killed and fucked his way across the country but will also do what it takes to get his family back. It was amazing to feel that was a true RPG where I decided how the main character would act and what he would say – never doing a job for free and deciding where my own morals stood.
Next up we have the WORLD, and my god is it a world and a half. As mentioned above there are still areas I haven’t been to after up hours and nor do I feel like I’ve constantly gone to the same location (I do think I’ll be ‘forced’ to visit the areas in the DLC). This is one of few games where I constantly stop just to take in the view and take a few photos, I am genuinely in awe of the vast landscapes and oceans laid out before me. What I find insane is the fact that I can explore every area I find, every inch of ocean is swimmable and not once have I been restricted whilst playing – although travelling by ship is my preferred method (lol). There’s also a huge variation of terrain, all of which is climbable; and even this seems to be a lot smoother than previous entries to the series. There are huge mountain ranges, oceans as mentioned, villages, cities, fields, forests; need i go on? Basically you won’t get bored of this fantastic world and all it has to offer. Making this world even more realistic are the NPCs and missions/quests. These are as varied as the terrain you’re exploring, you’ll find yourself assassinating evil commanders (surprise, surprise), hunting legendary animals, taking down ships in naval battles and much, much, much more. As if that wasn’t enough you’re always accompanied by your horse and eagle, both of which you’re constantly interacting with and creating more of a bond with.
This is only half of the reason why this game is a 10/10 and is one of the best game’s of the generation, to find out the other half come back in 2 weeks (hint it involves cultists).