Before I started the Last of Us on PC, I actually jumped into AC Odyssey on Steam Deck and PC. I logged 14hrs in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, before I realized I could have completed the Last of Us in that same time. Now that’s I’ve finished that game, I’m back into Odyssey.
A Long Assassin’s Creed Mixes Well with Steam Deck
Using similar steps from when I setup AC Origins on Steam Deck, I did the same for AC Odyssey. Using that same list of Uplay launch codes, I found the one to use for this game is: uplay://launch/5059/0 . I’m still playing via Ubisoft Connect Plus, so my code is 5059 while the steam version of the game code would be: 5092 .
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is so long, it’s worth setting up on the Steam Deck. All those hours of gameplay are easier to get through with this flexibility. After some shader compilation stutters loading areas for the first time, It runs really well for me.
I prefer playing it on my OLED gaming monitor, but I can’t be at my PC all the time.
This is Sparta!
Right from the start, it was Spartans! I was looking forward to dealing with Spartans and Athenians. After the Egyptian theme of Assassin’s Creed Origin and Viking theme of AC Valhalla, I was excited to dig into Greece. Classic locations from Greek mythology are on the menu and that was my favorite subject of any history course.
In game, I’ve already visited Athens, the Parthenon, the Oracle of Delphi, and dozens of other iconic locations. The new location and theme is a great change from the previous two I played (technically this AC Odyssey released in between those two). It is still a very familiar game.
Plenty of the gameplay is familiar to both of those other games, but look actually reminded me a lot of AC Black Flag. Sure there’s plenty of Greek architecture, but the scenery around it could easily be part of a new Black Flag. That’s not bad, though.
I love the flowing water over falls, clear blue beach water and excellent vistas. The beautiful pillars of buildings with ornate statues of concrete and metal are great match with the island theme. Assassin’s Creed really nails these visuals.
Familiar Assassin’s Creed Gameplay with New Features
All the ship gameplay also reminds me a lot of AC Black Flag. Sometimes it’s fun to play pirate and board other ships to take resources. There’s also something that adds to journeys to new islands when the crew begins to dock the ship. The map is huge with a ton of water, but fast travel helps keep sea travel from becoming tedious.
There’s other familiar elements from previous games like the infamous eagle’s nest sync points. There are plenty of similar mission types (fetch this, kill them, travel somewhere, etc.), but there’s some unique elements this game has. Some of those are both interesting an annoying.
AC Odyssey Picking Sides
The Nation Status game mechanic is interesting, but so far seems optional aside from the introduction missions. I mostly avoid it. Lowering a Nation’s status is possible with missions to kill troops, steal from the treasury or burn supplies. Doing so leaves the leader of the Nation vulnerable to attack. When the status is low enough, the conquest mission unlocks to either battle for Sparta or Athenians in a military battle.
Rewards are money and gear, but just feels like extra busy work and mostly not crucial to the story so far. I found that those adventures also introduced the bounty system. When I’d kill enough enemies or steal enough loot, someone would put a bounty on my head. I’d either have a chance to pay off the bounty or kill the person that initiated it.
The more bad things I did, the more mercenaries would come after me. It’s a great way to balance the mayhem I cause and helps incentivize stealthier approaches. Bounty hunters showing up in the middle of an important mission was quite annoying.
I resorted to often seeking out and killing the person that held the bounty on my head. Even that became a time sink, so I mostly just pay the bounty now. It’s much easier now that my drachmae (Greek Money in AC Odyssey) is pretty high. I know this will save me hours of otherwise extra game time.
Great Side Missions Hidden Amongst Too Many Others
Speaking of time sinks, there are a ton of side missions, activities and other things to eat up the hours. There’s actually too many side missions. I’d skip them, but there are plenty of interesting ones mixed in there. For example, I helped some adopted kid find his inheritance through a series of missions. Things took a weird turn in the end.
I found out I killed his mother and screwed his father based on my dialogue choices. It’s these strange multipart missions that tempt me to not skip side missions. I’ll only do the actually story related side missions (yellow/black icons), but skip the random ones (gray/black). I do hope they trim back the side missions in future installments to focus on fewer, more interesting and fun ones.
I typically try to knock out a bunch of side missions before I move onto main story content. It helps to accelerate strengthening my character and keeps the second half of a game more interesting by only focusing on main story missions.
Like other Assassin’s Creed games, AC Odyssey has a kill list. This time around it’s the Cult of Kosmos with their clay Greek masks. I do enjoy uncovering evidence of each members identity before I eventually take them down. Most of the main and side missions tie into uncovering more members of the group. I like how it’s a side dish to the main course.
AC Odyssey Main Story
From the Spartan introductions, it’s apparent the story revolves around a Spartan brother and sister. It’s a convenient way for the developers to give a choice between playing Kassandra or Alexios. The way I understand it, Kassandra is pretty much the canonical hero, so I chose her. Having heard both voice actors, she also seems more interesting.
Along the way, it’s a nice that the game touches a historical events around this fictional story. Assassin’s Creed games are great at some light history lessons that are fun. It’s also a nice touch that characters loop in Greek words as a quick and fun language lesson. I’ll never forget that Misthios is a mercenary since they say it to Kassandra a lot (since she is one). There’s also Mater (mother), Pater (father), Malakas (you can look that up), and more.
After the nice nod to the Spartans from 300, the story started a bit slow for my taste. The beginning mercenary missions with Kassandra’s adoptive father, Marcos, serve as bit of a boring tutorial. Thankfully, things picked up after setting sail for adventures with ship captain Barnabas.
The quest for to find Kassandra’s lost family is picking up and I’m looking forward to see what’s next.