4/5 ★ – Lori_Pont's review of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey.

This chapter in the Assassins saga takes us into the vast setting of classical Greece, where Kassandra or Alexios (the two protagonists of the story) must embark on an odyssey to try to restore balance in the Hellenic world, discover who is behind the chaos unleashed by the Peloponnesian War, and conduct a personal quest that will lead to the discovery of a mysterious and hidden city. At the beginning of the game, you are asked to choose which protagonist to use for the story (whether Kassandra or Alexios, in fact), a choice that is incontrovertible and will serve to shape the rest of the tale. The story begins on the island of Kefalonia, the place where your character (in my personal case, Kassandra) was adopted and raised. After a few hours of tutorial, the girl, a mercenary, is asked to leave the island to go to Megara and fight alongside Sparta against Athens for Megaris. Here there’s the opportunity to experience sailing on the open sea with our own ship, the Adrestia, try out some naval battles, and, once in Megaris, the battle of conquest. These correspond to clashes between the two armies of Sparta and Athens fighting over a specific Greek region. Beginning with the visit to Megaris, the real Odyssey begins, the main plot of the video game, which will take Kassandra to the oracle of Delphi, where she will discover that behind the great mechanisms that govern Greece there is one that operates in the dark: the Cult of Cosmos. This is a cult whose goal is total control of the Hellenic world and influence in diplomatic relations. Here, Kassandra's secondary objective becomes to reveal and kill every member of the Cult. The two main plots lead Kassandra first to Athens, then Sparta, and later throughout much of Greece to complete all the missions necessary to conclude her personal Odyssey and the defeat of the Cult of Cosmos. Bright sides of the video game: - The map. Greece is wonderful, faithfully recreated with unparalleled artistic, architectural and natural care. In addition, the setting in the 5th century B.C. allows the inclusion of numerous historical and emblematic places and monuments of the period (such as the Agorà in Athens, the statue of Zeus in Olympia, and the ruins of the palace of Knossos in Crete), as well as the appearance of various historical figures from the classical Greek period (some examples, Herodotos, Socrates and Pericles). - The combat system. Along with parkour and stealth, combat is enriched with heavy and special attacks, four for the bow and four for the main weapon (to which four more can be added with skill upgrades). In addition, the ultra attack (a very heavy attack) can be unlocked. - The main plot is divided into three main subplots that are not necessarily preparatory (i.e. the Odyssey, the Cult of Cosmos, and the Mysterious City). All the main subplots take us more or less all over Greece, both mainland and islands. - Battles of conquest. To activate a battle of conquest, you, with your character, must reduce the strength of the nation you wish to conquer by killing soldiers, looting the nation's treasury, destroying forts and war or food supplies, and assassinating the nation's leader. Once you reach the 'vulnerable' level, battle will be available, in which you can side with either Athens or Sparta, to attack or to defend. It is possible to wage a conquest battle for all regions (except Kefalonia, which is neutral), and also for all islands (except the Volcanic Islands, which are also neutral), while for Attika and Lakonia it is possible but rather difficult, as these two regions belong to Athens and Sparta respectively. In the case of a conquest battle for an island, this will take place as a naval battle. Conquest battles are available at any time in the game. They are simple, fast, they give XP give money and armour. In addition, the appearance of the battle is random and can occur in any region and island, which means that you can also present yourself to one of the two commanders to decide whether to fight for Sparta or Athens. The matter is more complex if the intention to start a battle comes from us and the nation's strength is at its maximum (i.e. 'fortified'), in which case it will take quite a few minutes to bring the level down (the highest damage is done by assassinating the nation's leader, looting the nation's treasure and killing polemarchs). - Ship. Also upgradable like the skills, and to which decorations can be added such as the bow insignia, and lieutenants (for a maximum of four), these functional for battles. The ship also serves as a quick trip, wherever it is on the map. In addition, at each ship dock you can directly summon the Adrestia, and within a few seconds you can depart from there with it. - Naval battles. Very entertaining, they give XP, opportunities to loot treasure, weapons and armour. - The variety of side and additional missions. - The naval docks as fast travel. When you arrive at a port with your ship, you can dock it, and this also serves as a fast travel for Kassandra (and there is no synchronisation, unlike the classic fast travel points). The quick trip to a naval dock works even if there is no Adrestia docked there, which means that if you want to move to a naval dock where there is no Adrestia you can do so. Dark sides: - The vastness of the open world. Here the map is too immense, and it is an element that, the more you go with the plot, the more you abuse fast travels. If the map had to be so vast, why not reduce it a little and add the Hellespont and Minor Asia? Also, in some places on the map, the naval dock is attached to a classic fast travel point, with the next fast travel kilometres away. - The levelling system. The higher you raise Kassandra's overall, the higher the enemies' overall, throughout the map. I would have preferred an approach more similar to Origins where each region has its own dedicated and functional overall for what it offers for main and side quests. Plus, it doesn't make sense because if you take a look at the map at the start of the game, you'll see that the regions actually have specific overalls, which then change whenever Kassandra gains extra levels. If in Origins the overall stopped at 40, here it goes even further, stopping at level 100. The main story is completed around level 50. Wasn't it simpler to opt for this choice? - The cost for weapon and armour upgrades. In addition to the character overall, the overall of weapons (here only one wielded weapon and one bow are available) and armour (consisting of five separate pieces, head, belly, arms, waist and legs) are also raised. The higher you level up, the more the cost to upgrade rises (obviously), but here blacksmiths cost infinitely too much, not least because in addition to drachmaes you also pay with materials (leather, iron and wood). At a certain point in the story, you will realise that there is no need to use blacksmiths to upgrade (unless in specific cases) and that it is much more worthwhile to save materials and drachmaes for ship upgrades. At a certain point in the game it will become convenient to use blacksmiths exclusively to sell or dismantle common and special weapons and armour. - Engravings. These are spells similar to God of War's amulets, which serve to increase the odds of damage and health recovery in combat, and can be assigned to both weapons and armour. Not only do they cost a lot (both in drachmaes and materials), but also the replacement of weapons and armour is so fast that you will spend more time looking for blacksmiths to engrave them than actually using them in action.