As a long time fan of this series, it pains me to see that the Assassin’s Creed series has detoured from the original narrative that captivated so many of us in the first place. I picked up Odyssey after playing the fantastic game that was Assassin’s Creed Origins, expecting and hoping the quality of the story continues on, only to realize that upon playing the game, nothing makes any sense in regards to how the world of Assassin’s Creed was built in the first place.
Look, I’m not demanding that they continue the whole Desmond plot anymore. For those of you that may or may not know, they concluded that plot in their own comic series, it’s worth the read. I’m referring to the rules that was clearly established within the world of Assassin’s Creed and how Odyssey throws all that out the window. You see it all starts when you look at the Animus, a virtual reality machine rediscovered, developed, and sold by Abstergo Industries.
It allows the user to read a subject’s genetic memory, and project it onto an external screen in three dimensions. Basically, you can relive the memories of your ancestor. Now taking this central device that it intricate to the narrative to the world of Assassin’s Creed and how it’s built, please explain to me how one can “make choices” in a memory that’s already being made in the past?
Last time I checked, the animus plays the memories of a person in the past, therefore the past is already recorded and it’s up to the player to make sure they follow the past person’s actions, otherwise it would be desynchronisation. That was the whole stick of the plot. So tell me, how will our modern day heroine Layla Hassan find the spear of the Spartan king Leonidas I, if she’s going around making decisions that the Assassin Kassandra or Alexios (I don’t even know anymore) who’s memory she’s entering never actually made?
Like, the moment Ubisoft introduced this mechanic into the story of the game, which includes multiple endings, I just couldn’t see Odyssey as a continuation of an already pretty messed-up narrative.
From the moment the game gave you the option of picking between Alexios and Kassandra, it never sat right with me. Like, there’s talk that Kassandra is the canonical Assassin in this story. If that’s the case, just make her the damm main character. Once you start to think about it, this game feels less and less canon and more like…a filler, that’s kinda canon if you chose the right character. I’ll be honest, this game feels like it’s pandering to a certain groups of people instead of just telling the amazing stories we all have come to appreciate, even if it’s all over the place.
If Ubisoft had just come out and plainly said that this is a reboot or even better, a side game to the franchise, then you wouldn’t be reading this blog right now (unless I missed something). Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is an amazing game that perfectly recaptures the feel of ancient Greek, with great gameplay mechanics and an amazing, beautiful world….all as long as you take the Assassin’s Creed name out of the game.
