Assassin’s Creed Odyssey took the RPG reinvention that Origins began and cranked every dial to maximum. The map is larger, the RPG systems are deeper, the story branches more aggressively, and the sheer volume of content is staggering. Set during the Peloponnesian War in ancient Greece, Odyssey gave players the choice between two protagonists, Alexios and Kassandra, and unleashed them into an island-hopping adventure that could easily consume over a hundred hours.
The community response has been passionate and divided. Players who embraced the RPG direction found their ideal Assassin’s Creed here, a sprawling epic with meaningful choices and a world that felt limitless. Those who missed the focused stealth gameplay and grounded storytelling of earlier entries saw Odyssey as the point where the series lost itself entirely. Both camps have valid arguments, and where you fall largely depends on what you want from an Assassin’s Creed game.
Ancient Greece as the Ultimate Playground
The recreation of ancient Greece is breathtaking. Sailing between islands, climbing the statue of Zeus at Olympia, exploring the ruins of Knossos, and walking through Athens during its golden age, the historical tourism aspect of Odyssey is the best the series has ever offered. The variety of environments, from volcanic islands to lush forests to arid clifftops, prevents the world from feeling homogeneous despite its enormous size.
Kassandra (widely considered the superior choice by the community) is a charismatic and compelling protagonist. Her performance brings humor, warmth, and intensity to a character navigating family drama, ancient conspiracies, and mythological encounters. The dialogue choice system lets players shape her personality to some degree, and while not every branch feels meaningful, the major story decisions carry real weight and lead to meaningfully different outcomes.
Naval combat returns in full force, and sailing across the Aegean Sea remains one of the game’s greatest pleasures. Managing your ship, recruiting lieutenants, and engaging in naval battles captures the freedom and adventure that Black Flag fans loved, now set in one of history’s most famous maritime regions. The exploration loop of spotting a distant island, sailing to it, and discovering what waits there is deeply satisfying.
The Conquest Battle system and mercenary hierarchy add dynamic layers to the world. The ongoing war between Athens and Sparta plays out across every region, and players can influence which side controls territory through their actions. Being hunted by mercenaries who escalate in difficulty creates tension and memorable encounters that emerge from the game’s systems rather than scripted events.
When Bigger Isn’t Always Better
The map is simply too large. What sounds like a selling point becomes a genuine problem when you realize how much of the content is repetitive. Forts, camps, caves, and outposts follow similar templates, and by the twentieth hour of clearing them, the excitement of discovery has faded considerably. The game would have benefited from being half its size with twice the variety.
The disconnect from Assassin’s Creed’s identity is hard to ignore. Odyssey is set centuries before the Brotherhood exists, the hidden blade is absent, and the gameplay leans so heavily into RPG territory that stealth often feels like an afterthought. Level-gated enemies who survive hidden blade attacks from behind undermine the core fantasy. For longtime fans of the series, Odyssey sometimes feels like a different franchise wearing an Assassin’s Creed costume.
Microtransactions and experience boosters cast a shadow over the game’s pacing. The leveling curve feels deliberately elongated to nudge players toward purchasing XP boosters, creating an uncomfortable tension between the game’s design and its monetization. Whether this is intentional design or just unfortunate pacing is debated, but the presence of paid solutions to a pacing problem feels calculated.
The story’s quality is inconsistent across its massive length. The main family storyline is compelling, but many side quests are forgettable filler, and the Cult of Kosmos assassination targets range from interesting mini-stories to perfunctory checklist items. The mythological DLC content divides opinion further, with some loving the fantastical elements and others feeling they don’t belong.
A Crossroads for the Franchise
Odyssey represents a pivotal moment for Assassin’s Creed. It’s the game that pushed the RPG experiment to its logical extreme and forced both players and Ubisoft to reckon with what the series is supposed to be. The sheer ambition is admirable, and on a purely quantitative level, there’s more high-quality content here than in almost any other open world game. But quantity and quality exist in tension throughout, and the game’s insistence on giving you everything means it sometimes struggles to make any of it feel truly special.
Should You Play Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey?
RPG fans who want a massive world to lose themselves in for weeks will find Odyssey enormously satisfying. History enthusiasts will love the ancient Greek setting, and anyone who prefers Kassandra’s confident personality to the typically brooding assassin archetype will appreciate the character work. Skip it if you value tight, focused game design over sprawling ambition, or if the stealth-first approach of the original games is what drew you to the series. Odyssey asks for a huge time commitment, so make sure you’re ready for the journey.
The Verdict on Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Odyssey is a spectacular open world RPG wrapped in an increasingly tenuous Assassin’s Creed framework. Ancient Greece is gorgeous and vast, Kassandra is a fantastic protagonist, and the naval exploration captures real adventure. But the bloated content, aggressive monetization, and departure from series identity prevent it from being the definitive entry it could have been. It’s a great game that happens to be a questionable Assassin’s Creed, and your enjoyment depends heavily on which of those identities matters more to you.