Action-adventure franchise Assassin’s Creed is one of the most prominent series in gaming right now. With 11 main titles released on consoles and further content spanning across various other media, there has been a lot that has gone on to building this long-standing franchise.
It comes as no surprise that gamers far and wide have spent a lot of time becoming familiar with the series. With the addition of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey,fans of the games will be familiar with what to expect from an Assassin’s Creed title.
Sometimes the details can really speak volumes about a game, and there is certainly a lot to spot for those that have spent more time in the franchise. Here are 10 things only players of previous Assassin’s Creed games would have noticed in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.
10 No Hidden Blade
This is admittedly a big one: the iconic Assassin weapon, the hidden blade, isn’t used by the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. Instead, the player character relies on their family heirloom: the spear of Leonidas.
As unfortunate as it is to admit, the absence of the hidden blade does make sense: the Assassins haven’t been established yet and the Misthios is more of a proto-assassin figure. While the protagonist’s lack of this iconic weapon does make playing an Assassin’s Creed game feel less… Assassin’s Creed-y, it’s worth noting that the Legacy of the First Blade DLC does see the player character interacting with Darius, the first recorded wielder of a hidden blade.
9 A New Notoriety System
The notoriety system was a way for Assassins to impact how easy they were to spot; if you weren’t being stealthy, there were consequences. Of course, throughout a lot of the earlier games, there were ways to reduce notoriety as well: by paying off the right people, ripping down wanted posters, or assassinating certain enemies. These activities felt very familiar and expected to come with the Assassin’s Creed experience.
Odyssey, however, uses a different system which instead functions sort of like notoriety in a game like Grand Theft Auto; the higher your notoriety becomes, the more likely it is that stronger enemies come after you. It’s good motivation to not try anything too outstanding; resetting it can be incredibly challenging after the fact.
8 Dialogue Options
Assassin’s Creed is usually a game that has a path and storyline for you to follow. What’s different about Odyssey is that for the first time in the series players can feel like they have some sense of agency by deciding how the character responds to certain situations.
It’s not intrusive to the point where every line the protagonist speaks requires a choice, but every so often and at several key moments throughout the campaign, the protagonist can impact how the game progresses in certain aspects. It’s certainly an interesting concept and kind of makes us wonder what kind of dialogue options we would have seen had this feature been around during the Ezio trilogy.
7 A Personalized Ride
In most Assassin’s Creed games land mounts aren’t given a second thought. It’s interesting, then, that in Odyssey you’re able to pick your mount, and after you do, the Misthios even gives them a name: Phobos, the Greek personification of fear.
This small detail is, again, kind of interesting because this hasn’t really been seen before. A mount was just a method for players to traverse land more quickly. It still remains unclear why our mount in Odyssey has a name but out of all the horses and other mounts across the series this one’s uniqueness certainly stands out.
6 All Kinds Of Headgear
This one is another subtle yet noteworthy detail. If the hidden blade is the trademark Assassin weapon, then the hood is the trademark part of the Assassin outfit. With a new armor system that allows the Misthios to equip different items in different slots, however, there are loads of options when it comes to headgear.
If you’re a purist there are certainly headpieces that are styled as hoods available. More notably, there are several other styled headpieces as well and if getting the best level on your armor is the priority players may find themselves ditching the hood in favor of a bulky horned helmet instead. That doesn’t quite scream “Assassin” to us, but to each their own.
5 Fun With The Mythology
Some details that players will notice are completely different from other games; others are just what veteran players would expect. It definitely takes a veteran of the series to know that Ubisoft isn’t afraid to take some liberties with the details of the settings that the Assassin’s Creed games take place in, be that Colonial America, London during the industrial revolution, or Ancient Egypt.
Of course with Ancient Greece you get exactly what you’d expect. Greek mythology is tried and true and really just doesn’t get boring. With just a bit of exploring, players may find themselves squaring off against the Minotaur, dodging the earth-shaking blows of Brontes the Cyclops, or even traveling to the lost city of Atlantis. It’s certainly cool having history as your playground but what’s the point if you can’t have a little bit of fun with it too?
4 Easter Eggs
Did you spot the Korok in your travels through ancient Greece? How about the scene straight out of the movie Black Panther? Or perhaps the Rabbid figure in the modern-day portion?
Easter eggs are nothing new in the world of video games, but if you haven’t played other games in the series you may not quite know what to look for or where to look. If that is the case, don’t feel bad; you’re not missing out on anything imperative to the game, but if you do find them it’s fun to be able to say “Hey! I know what that is!”
3 The Isu
Assassin’s Creed fans are likely very familiar with this aspect of any Assassin’s Creed game. The Isu, The First Civ, Those Who Came Before; that race of super-advanced humanoids that are somehow tied to the eternal struggle between the Assassins and Templars that overarches every game. Yes, even this one, despite the fact that the Assassins and Templars didn’t really exist yet.
The Isu seem are always a part of the main narrative, sometimes frustratingly so, and Odyssey is no different. How big of a part? Well, the main character’s weapon of choice, the spear of Leonidas, is, in fact, an Isu artifact. Surprised? I didn’t think so.
2 A Mostly Unchanged Weapons System
Assassin’s Creed players know that each game usually sees some degree of retouching to the weapons system be that due to a change in the game engine or something new making more sense than something old. In Odyssey, however, things remain mostly unchanged from Origins.
Multiple slots allow you to carry multiple weapons and swap between them in order to develop a unique combat playstyle. There isn’t too much to complain about with this difference, though. It’s definitely an improvement from the early days when open combat was only about timing your counters properly.
1 The Creed
“Nothing is true; everything is permitted.” Fans of the series will recognize this phrase as the maxim of the literal assassin’s creed. In this particular game the creed isn’t mentioned, and with good reason: it doesn’t exist.
Still, if this game were about just running around Ancient Greece, killing cultists, and wooing the locals at every opportunity it wouldn’t make much sense to brand Odyssey as an Assassin’s Creed game.
Instead, the creed is reflected subtly throughout the game: as the game progresses one can see how the Misthios’ decision influences those around them, and how the choices of their actions have lasting consequences. While it may not be that the creed is spoken outright in the game it’s certainly present in a subtle way that only players of the previous games are likely to catch.
NEXT: Assassin’s Creed: 5 Reasons Odyssey Is Better Than Origins (& 5 Ways Origins Is Superior)
