‘Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey’ boasts two main characters, ship-to-ship combat

By Jayce Wagner June 11, 2018

Assassin's Creed Odyssey review — Image used with permission by copyright holder

At its E3 2018 event, publisher Ubisoft showed off its latest and greatest, including a sneak peek at the upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. During the show, Ubisoft not only ran a detailed gameplay preview, but provided some on-stage commentary detailing exactly what players can expect from this Ancient Greece-set action role-playing game.

“Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is more than an adventure — it’s truly a role-playing journey. You will explore, on land and sea, one of the most iconic periods in human history,” said Jonathan Dumont, creative director at Ubisoft Montreal.

When the title of the game leaked earlier this year, we suspected it’d be set in Ancient Greece, following on the heels of the previous game, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and sticking with the “Ancient World” theme it established. It’s important to point out that, as Kotaku reports, this game actually precedes Origins by about four centuries, taking place during the Peloponnesian War.

On the surface, the gameplay appears very similar, with a few shared icons, UI elements, and menus left over from Origins. That’s not a bad thing, but Odyssey clearly boasts a number of improvements over Origins, most notably the choice players are given right at the beginning.

“We’ve continued to transform AC into an epic RPG experience, shaped by your actions and choices. The first choice you’ll make at the start of the game is to choose your character: Alexios, or Kassandra,” Dumont saidd.

That’s right, in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, you’ll be able to choose to play as one of two Spartan warriors, Alexios or Kassandra. In addition, Odyssey appears to borrow heavily from one of the most popular entries in the Assassin’s Creed series: Black Flag.

Since the game is set in Ancient Greece, it only makes sense that you’d spend a large portion of your time at sea, captaining a war ship in the glittering waters of the Aegean Sea. From what we can see in the trailer, it’s clear that ship-to-ship combat is a big part of Odyssey, with significant portions of the game taking place amid the picturesque islands of Ancient Greece.

For a closer look at the game, check out our hands-on preview.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

A staff writer for the Computing section, Jayce covers a little bit of everything -- hardware, gaming, and occasionally VR.

Gaming

Assassin’s Creed Mirage: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more

Assassin's Creed Mirage Basim

It's time to ready your hidden blades once again, assassins, because a brand new entry in the Assassin's Creed series is upon us. All the leaks and rumors have turned out to be true, and the next installment in the franchise has been officially revealed as Assassin's Creed Mirage. This franchise has undergone some major changes in recent entries, and the next game seems poised to shake things up yet again.

First officially revealed during a Ubisoft Forward in September 2022, Assassin's Creed Mirage will be the next mainline game in the series after 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla. While each game typically only has smaller, less prominent ties to one another (at least after the series moved on from the Desmond arc), this game bucks the trend in that regard. From plot to gameplay changes and more, here's everything we know about Assassin's Creed Mirage, an upcoming PlayStation 5 game we have our eye on.
Release date

Gaming

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is coming out earlier than expected

Basim leaps at an enemy in Assassin's Creed Mirage.

Ubisoft revealed that Assassin's Creed Mirage will now release on October 5, a week earlier than originally intended.

Assassin's Creed Mirage is supposed to be a back-to-basics entry for Ubisoft's long-running action-adventure series. It was announced in 2022 and got an October 12 release date during the PlayStation Showcase in May. Now, just two months before the game was set to release, Ubisoft announced that it has moved the release of Assassin's Creed Mirage up by one week to October 5. This coincides with a tweet announcing that the game had "gone gold," which essentially means that development of the game is complete and Ubisoft's focus can turn to post-launch support.
https://twitter.com/Ubisoft/status/1691121970098700288
Delays are very common in this industry, and Ubisoft especially is no stranger to them; Skull & Bones is a prime example. That's why Assassin's Creed Mirage joins a rare group of games that actually come out earlier than originally expected. In 2022, we saw Xenoblade Chronicles 3 moved from September to July, while this year, Baldur's Gate 3's PC launch moved up from August 31 to August 3, which ended up being a much better release window for the game.
Although Ubisoft did not specifically state the reason for moving Assassin's Creed Mirage up, it wouldn't be surprising if the company wanted to give the game more space and attention ahead of other games coming out this October, like Forza Motorsport, Alan Wake 2, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Regardless, it's going to kick off one of the busiest months for game releases in 2023.
Assassin's Creed Mirage will launch for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 5.

Gaming

Assassin’s Creed Mirage gameplay trailer shows a return to franchise roots

Assassin's Creed Mirage picture

Ubisoft showed off three new Assassin’s Creed games -- Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, Assassin’s Creed: Codename Jade, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage -- at the June 2023 Ubisoft Forward event.

Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR will release on Meta Quest 2, and players can play as three characters: Ezio, Cassandra, and Connor. Players can block, parry, counterattack, and duel with enemies in VR. There are also a variety of different weapons to choose from, such as hidden blades, swords, tomahawks, bows, crossbows, and throwing knives. The game will also feature comfort settings, like peripheral vision blocking and teleportation to mitigate nausea, vertigo, and fear of heights. It will release sometime during holiday 2023.