3. Side Quests
Origins might have had its share of side quests, but Odyssey takes them to a whole new level. This time around, you’ll notice an improvement in the narrative depth of the secondary activities scattered around the game world, and they offer some of the best narrative moments you’ll experience. They are also not nearly as fetch-questy as they are in many games (although fetching still happens at times); you’ll find yourself investigating crime scenes, solving puzzles, and lots of other fun challenges.
You’ll be surprised by how some of the side quests in Odyssey start off sounding forgettable – an NPC needs you to help them – but slowly become much more and in fact, soon reveal themselves to be essential to the main quest. You might even get to see a supernatural being or a famous figure from Greek mythology. As they were in Origins, side quests in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey are marked by exclamation points on the map. Some will only appear after a certain time, so keep looking for them as you play the main quest. Trust me, you’ll be glad you took the time to check them out.
4. Mercenaries
A big new addition to Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is the Mercenary System. It’s clearly inspired by Middle Earth: Shadow of War. Commit enough illegal acts in Odyssey – like stealing from civilians – and your Bounty will increase, drawing the attention of Mercenaries who will hunt you down. You can kill the Mercenary but that will only cause them to be replaced by another one. It’s a cool element of the game that makes you think twice about what you do in Odyssey, and gives you a powerful foe to face-off against to test your growing skills – something I loved about the Phylakes in Origins.
Plus, one of the best parts of fighting – and killing – the mercenaries is that they drop some sweet loot. A dead mercenary is like a bursting pinata, showering you with Epic or Legendary weapons or armor, plus a ton of XP and crafting materials. They might get a bit tough to deal with at times, but overcoming these powerful challengers makes it all worth it. However, one piece of advice: DO NOT get cocky and try to take one down who is above your level, or you’ll be souvlaki on a stick before you can say Opa!
5. Naval Combat is Back
Only appearing briefly and in a limited form in Origins, sailing and ship combat are back in a big way with Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, and that is very good news. Navigate the treacherous waters of Ancient Greece in your trireme, the Adrestia, engaging in combat with pirates and other nasty ocean-going threats as your grizzled crew of sailors sings along. Alexios or Kassandra are the Captain of the ship, and work to slowly build their naval might to make themselves a force to be reckoned with.
There is a deep RPG element to the ship-based part of Odyssey, as you recruit NPC Lieutenants to serve as your crew by either persuading them or defeating them in combat. There are lots of aspects of the ship to upgrade, such as the hull, ammo type, attack options and more. And maybe most importantly, there are huge loot rewards for achieving naval victories, such as generous drops of supplies and crafting materials that dwarf anything you can acquire on land. It’s simply stunning that Ubisoft has managed to squeeze what is essentially an entire Black Flag game into Assassin’s Creed Odyssey as a secondary game element.
Put all of these 5 things together, and it’s obvious that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a huge step up from Origins. The look and basic gameplay might seem the same, especially at first, but Odyssey will gradually make it clear that it has tons more content and depth to go along with its truly epic main story length. Oh, and we haven’t even mentioned the fact that it looks simply stunning, meaning that if you do nothing else, just ride around on your horse and take in those gorgeous sunsets and Mediterranean coastal vistas – that’s one Odyssey that never gets old.