Assassin’s Creed has always been one of the highest praised game series over the years.  Before Origins, however, most people would tell you that they were getting a bit stale and that the developers weren’t really putting their hearts into it anymore.  With a new installment coming out every year, it’s not the least bit surprising that the quality would lapse.  Then Ubisoft decides to take a chance and move the series in a new direction and take an extra year to make the game as good as it can be.  A great choice considering how well the game was received.

Origins was released in 2017 and was much more like an RPG than it was before.  It was brand new, fresh, and truly wonderful.  Now, thanks to E3 we know a bit about the next installment called Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.  Several months ago, I wrote an article on this very topic after hearing a rumour that the next game was going to take place in Ancient Greece.  As it turns out all of my research didn’t go to waste as this is indeed where we will be heading.

The fact that Odyssey is coming out this year has raised some concerns.  Origins greatly benefitted from the extra year to get everything right and some have been worried that deciding not to do that could lead to Odyssey being sub-par.  Though normally that is a fear I would share, from what I have understood, Origins was originally going to have you travel to Greece as well.  If that is, in fact, the case, then much of the work on Greece would have already been done by the time the idea was scrapped.  Ubisoft most likely realised that both Greece and Egypt could have been delved into more than was originally thought.

One rather exciting thing that we learned at E3 is when Odyssey is actually going to be set.  We saw in the trailers that Hippocrates is going to be one of the recognisable historical figures.  Being the Father of Modern Medicine and all, I’m hoping he can heal me after I ungracefully fall off a building. Between him, Socrates (Sokrates?) and the Peloponnesian War we can say the year is right around 431 BC.  Putting Odyssey as the earliest game in the series yet.

Speaking of war, in this Assassin’s Creed, we will actually be fighting in the war. Meaning proper large scale battles. Evidently, this will be a large aspect of the game, and you can choose how much you want to fight.  You will have to participate in some for story purposes, but those who enjoy them can choose to get involved in more.  What I’m excited about is are the historical figures that will be showing up during the battles that will, of course, have to be murdered with my giant spear.  If you think I won’t be pretending I’m Oberyn Martell, you clearly don’t know me at all.

Odyssey is offering something completely different this time around with conversation options.  This means that not everyone will need to be murdered. If you have choices you may be able to talk your way out of a fight, like a hero, or scare them into giving you what you need, or just straight up murdering them when all else fails. But with great choices, comes great romance options. Because yes, you can romance a whole selection of people throughout the game.  It gives the feeling of Assassin’s Creed meets Mass Effect which sounds like the greatest thing which has ever existed.

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty excited about jumping into this new Assassin’s Creed RPG (ACRPG if you will) that Odyssey is offering.  I have been a fan of the series for a long time and, though all of these changes feel strange, they are breathing new life into the series and giving us a reason to replay the story and try to get all the different endings.  Which means I will probably be playing this game for the rest of my life.

We can each start our own, individual Grecian journey on 5 October of this year on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.