Reviews

Malaka, souring high like Icarus

tl:dr - A staggeringly vast and beautiful open-world ARPG game. Featuring some of the best combat, quests, and characterizations that I have played in a while. "Tell me where they are, or I'll shove my spear so far down your throat you'll be shitting iron at the gates of Hades!" Kassandra/Alexios, Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Bought on a whim after liking the art style and setting, 'Assassin's Creed: Odyssey' really grabbed me by the nuts from the get-go. It was when the opening title screen appeared after I had already been playing for nearly 4 hours that I knew I was in it for the long run. This ridiculously large and lavish action role-playing game was only just beginning, and I was loving every single second of it. I initially started the game playing as Alexios, the male hero of the story. But I quickly got tired of the voice acting, with him seemingly unable to do anything but shout at people. So, a quick restart later and I was following Kassandra on her journey through the, faithfully recreated, but a little smaller, Greek islands. The landscapes change depending on where about you are on the map. The height of the mountain or the city you are visiting have an effect on vista and even after nearly 100 hours in the game it never really gets boring. The main quest line takes you on a journey of self-discovery, telling you more about your family and their history. While the side quests help to fill in some gaps, get you more loot or just act as a little bit of light-hearted distraction. Along the way, you will get to meet a lot of NPC characters, some of which seem more fleshed out than others with decent backstories and quests. With actual relationships with these characters forming over a few hours. Yes, the quests do get a little samey and combat can become a bit repetitive, but nothing stops being fun. You continually want to explore, to find new mythical creatures to slay or to upgrade your hero's various abilities. This game can just go on and on, much like this review! So, what could I say to summarise? This Assassin's Creed game is easy to pick up and put down. A casual arcadey take on what used to be a stealth-em-up open-world. Think of this as the Forza Horizon to the Forza Motorsports! Kill your foes in open combat, or slay them from the shadows, it's your choice with zero repercussions.