Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the most recent installment of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series, and it doesn’t disappoint. Odyssey takes place during the Peloponnesian War, in which the city-states Athens and Sparta fought for control of Greece around 400 BC. In Odyssey, users play as a misthios (Greek word for mercenary), and can choose to fight for Athens and/or Sparta.

Ubisoft never fails to capture the beauty of ancient civilizations in AC games, as is the case with AC Odyssey. Odyssey perfectly encapsulates the ancient Greek world, with a beautiful open landscape to explore, in which players can roam the vast forests hunting animals, observe the magnificent cities, dive deep underwater in search of treasure, and travel through the great seas on ships. The massive map offers players endless opportunities to explore the intricacies and details of the ancient Greek world. Furthermore, Odyssey integrates classic Greek historical figures like King Leonidas, Socrates, and Herodotus into the plot, much to the appreciation of fans of Greek history.

The plot of Odyssey is really interesting and engaging as well. The beginning cutscenes perfectly set up the setting and tone of the story, depicting “your” childhood. Throughout the story, you are in search for your family and fighting against the “Cult,” a terrorist group set on prolonging the Peloponnesian War and harming civilians. Odyssey does a good job of developing the characters and revealing plot components slowly, keeping players engaged. In addition, there are numerous interesting and refreshing side quests for players to explore.

Another great aspect of AC Odyssey is the freedom of choice players experience, a major component that separates Odyssey from previous AC games. For the first time, players are able to choose to play as a male or female character. Throughout the story, players are constantly faced with multiple decisions to make, which can be small everyday dialogue choices, or major decisions that impacts the plot of the story. This gives players a sense of agency in which they can decide how the story unfolds. In addition, players can personalize their gameplay style as a hunter, assassin, and/or warrior by choosing different abilities to unlock. The abilities players choose determines how they fight against enemies, and ultimately how they play the game.

On the other hand, Odyssey does have a couple flaws. Odyssey is the farthest away from a true Assassin’s Creed game, with the setting taking place before the actual origin of the assassin’s creed, which began with the first Assassin’s Creed game, situated in Ancient Egypt around 40 BC. Although new and refreshing, Odyssey should not be titled an Assassin’s Creed game because the actual creed is nonexistent. In addition, while there seems to be endless opportunities to explore the map, the gameplay can get very repetitive. The side quests are just slight variations from each other, and the objectives of missions are very similar to each other. There are also minor flaws like inconsistent voice acting for certain characters.

In conclusion, I would give Assassin’s Creed Odyssey 8/10 stars. Though not perfect, Odyssey offers players the freedom to explore the great Greek world while captivating them with a compelling storyline.