AC Odyssey is a RPG developed and published by Ubisoft. It's completely different from earlier installment of AC games - since it ditches the stealth based mechanics and adopts the concept of an open-world .

Starting with the narrative set in the modern day, the game follows characters named Layla Hassan and her friend Victoria, who with the help of assassins, manage to find DNA of 2 "Misthios". Using the DNA of one of the misthios, they activate the "ANIMUS", in-order to find the location of the Staff of Hermes - there by kick starting the odyssey in Greece.

The game's historical story is set in Greece, a few hundred years before the events of Assassin's Creed Origins which was set in Egypt. AC odyssey time-line occurs during Peloponnesian War, which was fought between Sparta and Athens. The player takes on the role of a young misthios and can chose between Kassandra or Alexios. AC odyssey tells us the "greek tragedy" of the protagonist and how the character continues with his "journey" to find and mend his fractured family. .

PROS:
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- A visual masterpiece - The visual depiction of Greece in its full glory is unbelievable. Greece is split into multiple regions and each region looks breathtaking. The level of accuracy, attention to detail is second to none. I have spent countless hours, in awe, navigation through various areas just for the sake of exploration.

- Memorable Characters - Apart from the protagonist, there is a huge array of supporting cast, which are seen through out the game. Players encounter prominent personas, including Alkibiades, Brasidas, Kleon, Herodotos, Hippokrates, Plato, Pythagoras, Sokrates and many others. Not to mention the countless love interests protagonist has in this game. It looks like ubisoft wanted to get a step further than EA when it came to romantic interests.

- Combat - AC odyssey combat is different from its predecessors. It features an in-depth combat mechanic - which comprises of 3 major trees. Hunter (Ranged), Warrior (Melee) and Assassin (Stealth). There is another additional option named "Mastery" which is available to the player after a certain level. Mastery will help the player sharpen hunter, warrior & assassin skill trees further by increasing their stats. Players can build their characters the way they want. Last but definitely not least, NAVAL COMBAT, which is brings an additional dimension in combat.

- Weapons and Armor - AC Odyssey presents the user with insane amount of weapons and armor. The user has the option of collecting armor sets (which is bit of a grind) that boosts stats of the player in an unique way or mix n match with armor pieces. Weapons, like Armor, are divided into four types of rarity - Common, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. This is a very broad topic to discuss and also depends on the play-style of the individual.

- Mythology - Greek mythology started as purely academic for me but I fell in love with the legends and the complex stories . The stories of Hercules, Troilus and Cressida, Hector, Ajax, Odysseus, Jason, Theseus, Paris, Agamemnon and many other larger than life characters, their amazing journeys,kept me hooked. Not to mention gods, their power struggle and their complex stories. I am not a greek history or mythology expert, my point of view is purely from a person who used to love these stories/characters as a kid and how the game reminded me that they are more than just stories and I was able to connect with it.

- Mercenary tree - Ubisoft has introduced something which can be related to "Nemesis" system in Middle earth Shadow of mordor. There will be mercenaries out to hunt the player, based on the notoriety the player has caused on a specific region. The more notoriety the player has created, the higher the bounty that will be placed on the player. Once the bounty is placed/accepted, the mercenary starts to track down the player. A maximum of five mercenaries can hunt a player at any time. Some of the best weapons in this game can be obtained from these mercenaries.

- Story - Greek mythology, with amazing characters, family conflict and many more aspects are wonderfully inter-woven and presented as a complete package. Not to mention, great side stories, which makes the game even more interesting. Player choice is worth the mention - as the story becomes distinctly different based on the choices that the player makes throughout the game. The story tends to get deviating at times, but at its core, it is an extremely competent narrative which is better than most of its predecessors - IMO.

- Open world - The open world which contains stunning Greek landscape, ranging from forests with predators/animals, to the caves, temples and tombs the player can explore, to the majestic white marble buildings in cities, finding artifacts and everything in between. The journey from one city to another, with dolphins and whales the player can view while travelling on sea - is amazing.An open world like no other. See it to believe it.

NEUTRAL:
-------
- Story creator - Story Creator Mode is a utility that allows an user to create customized missions. This mode allows you to select characters, tasks, areas & items that will be part of your mission. In addition, you can write your own dialogues to make your quests unique. I didn't use this feature at all, so i do not have an opinion on this.

NOT SO GOOD:
-----------
- This game is long, i mean very very long and it took me 211 hours to finish the game - along with all DLC's and side quests. Ubisoft wanted this game to be "never ending" and I , for one, am not at all complaining. But there is a good chance that some people may find this a little frustrating or off-putting - since it can tend to get repetitive.

- "Siege / conquest battles" or battle in general will fail to provide any sort of challenge and will tend to "look" the same - when the player reaches a certain level - even at extreme difficulty. Plus, the player becomes a "demi-god" who deals insane levels of damage, at some point of time in the game, which makes most battles trivial. These things can be a bit off-putting to many players.

CONS:
----
- One of the things which bothered me is that the game doesnt "conclude" on completing the vanilla variant of the game. The "real" ending can only be accomplished by playing a dlc called "The Fate of Atlantis" - which the user needs to buy additionally. This should not have been the case and Ubisoft has a set a very bad trend by making the user pay more so as to finish the game.

-Micro transactions - Micro transaction shop uses Helix Credits, which are bought with real-world cash or Ubisoft Club points - to obtain many gear sets(which are not available in game) and cosmetics (especially skins).Ubisoft also introduces a way to "help players save time" - a pay to win method of gaining experience quickly, since the game is bit of a grind. Let me be honest in saying most of the resources needed to upgrade/progress are available in-game and you would need to grind to get it. The grind not impossible or even extreme, but is one hell of a grind nonetheless. The grind can get to some players and ubisoft providing this "optional" method of quickening player experience can entice a lot of players into buying them. It looks like they created this "problem" to sell you the solution. A horrible practice IMO - Malaka.

CONCLUSION:
-----------
Is this the best AC game? It's subjective. I have only played AC1 and the exceptional AC Black Flag - which puts me in the casual category. Personally, for me, AC Odyssey is a tie with Black Flag. A beautifully crafted Greek world, great story,amazing open world, with countless hours of fun, with un-forgetable characters, mixed with greek mythos - in-short an exceptional RPG experience, despite the "Not so good" & "Cons" mentioned above. To the AC casuals like me, I would say, go for it and you will have an unforgettable experience.

AC Odyssey is a RPG developed and published by Ubisoft. It's completely different from earlier installment of AC games - since it ditches the stealth based mechanics and adopts the concept of an open-world . Starting with the narrative set in the modern day, the game follows characters named Layla Hassan and her friend Victoria, who with the help of assassins, manage to find DNA of 2 "Misthios". Using the DNA of one of the misthios, they activate the "ANIMUS", in-order to find the location of the Staff of Hermes - there by kick starting the odyssey in Greece. The game's historical story is set in Greece, a few hundred years before the events of Assassin's Creed Origins which was set in Egypt. AC odyssey time-line occurs during Peloponnesian War, which was fought between Sparta and Athens. The player takes on the role of a young misthios and can chose between Kassandra or Alexios. AC odyssey tells us the "greek tragedy" of the protagonist and how the character continues with his "journey" to find and mend his fractured family. . PROS: ----- - A visual masterpiece - The visual depiction of Greece in its full glory is unbelievable. Greece is split into multiple regions and each region looks breathtaking. The level of accuracy, attention to detail is second to none. I have spent countless hours, in awe, navigation through various areas just for the sake of exploration. - Memorable Characters - Apart from the protagonist, there is a huge array of supporting cast, which are seen through out the game. Players encounter prominent personas, including Alkibiades, Brasidas, Kleon, Herodotos, Hippokrates, Plato, Pythagoras, Sokrates and many others. Not to mention the countless love interests protagonist has in this game. It looks like ubisoft wanted to get a step further than EA when it came to romantic interests. - Combat - AC odyssey combat is different from its predecessors. It features an in-depth combat mechanic - which comprises of 3 major trees. Hunter (Ranged), Warrior (Melee) and Assassin (Stealth). There is another additional option named "Mastery" which is available to the player after a certain level. Mastery will help the player sharpen hunter, warrior & assassin skill trees further by increasing their stats. Players can build their characters the way they want. Last but definitely not least, NAVAL COMBAT, which is brings an additional dimension in combat. - Weapons and Armor - AC Odyssey presents the user with insane amount of weapons and armor. The user has the option of collecting armor sets (which is bit of a grind) that boosts stats of the player in an unique way or mix n match with armor pieces. Weapons, like Armor, are divided into four types of rarity - Common, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. This is a very broad topic to discuss and also depends on the play-style of the individual. - Mythology - Greek mythology started as purely academic for me but I fell in love with the legends and the complex stories . The stories of Hercules, Troilus and Cressida, Hector, Ajax, Odysseus, Jason, Theseus, Paris, Agamemnon and many other larger than life characters, their amazing journeys,kept me hooked. Not to mention gods, their power struggle and their complex stories. I am not a greek history or mythology expert, my point of view is purely from a person who used to love these stories/characters as a kid and how the game reminded me that they are more than just stories and I was able to connect with it. - Mercenary tree - Ubisoft has introduced something which can be related to "Nemesis" system in Middle earth Shadow of mordor. There will be mercenaries out to hunt the player, based on the notoriety the player has caused on a specific region. The more notoriety the player has created, the higher the bounty that will be placed on the player. Once the bounty is placed/accepted, the mercenary starts to track down the player. A maximum of five mercenaries can hunt a player at any time. Some of the best weapons in this game can be obtained from these mercenaries. - Story - Greek mythology, with amazing characters, family conflict and many more aspects are wonderfully inter-woven and presented as a complete package. Not to mention, great side stories, which makes the game even more interesting. Player choice is worth the mention - as the story becomes distinctly different based on the choices that the player makes throughout the game. The story tends to get deviating at times, but at its core, it is an extremely competent narrative which is better than most of its predecessors - IMO. - Open world - The open world which contains stunning Greek landscape, ranging from forests with predators/animals, to the caves, temples and tombs the player can explore, to the majestic white marble buildings in cities, finding artifacts and everything in between. The journey from one city to another, with dolphins and whales the player can view while travelling on sea - is amazing.An open world like no other. See it to believe it. NEUTRAL: ------- - Story creator - Story Creator Mode is a utility that allows an user to create customized missions. This mode allows you to select characters, tasks, areas & items that will be part of your mission. In addition, you can write your own dialogues to make your quests unique. I didn't use this feature at all, so i do not have an opinion on this. NOT SO GOOD: ----------- - This game is long, i mean very very long and it took me 211 hours to finish the game - along with all DLC's and side quests. Ubisoft wanted this game to be "never ending" and I , for one, am not at all complaining. But there is a good chance that some people may find this a little frustrating or off-putting - since it can tend to get repetitive. - "Siege / conquest battles" or battle in general will fail to provide any sort of challenge and will tend to "look" the same - when the player reaches a certain level - even at extreme difficulty. Plus, the player becomes a "demi-god" who deals insane levels of damage, at some point of time in the game, which makes most battles trivial. These things can be a bit off-putting to many players. CONS: ---- - One of the things which bothered me is that the game doesnt "conclude" on completing the vanilla variant of the game. The "real" ending can only be accomplished by playing a dlc called "The Fate of Atlantis" - which the user needs to buy additionally. This should not have been the case and Ubisoft has a set a very bad trend by making the user pay more so as to finish the game. -Micro transactions - Micro transaction shop uses Helix Credits, which are bought with real-world cash or Ubisoft Club points - to obtain many gear sets(which are not available in game) and cosmetics (especially skins).Ubisoft also introduces a way to "help players save time" - a pay to win method of gaining experience quickly, since the game is bit of a grind. Let me be honest in saying most of the resources needed to upgrade/progress are available in-game and you would need to grind to get it. The grind not impossible or even extreme, but is one hell of a grind nonetheless. The grind can get to some players and ubisoft providing this "optional" method of quickening player experience can entice a lot of players into buying them. It looks like they created this "problem" to sell you the solution. A horrible practice IMO - Malaka. CONCLUSION: ----------- Is this the best AC game? It's subjective. I have only played AC1 and the exceptional AC Black Flag - which puts me in the casual category. Personally, for me, AC Odyssey is a tie with Black Flag. A beautifully crafted Greek world, great story,amazing open world, with countless hours of fun, with un-forgetable characters, mixed with greek mythos - in-short an exceptional RPG experience, despite the "Not so good" & "Cons" mentioned above. To the AC casuals like me, I would say, go for it and you will have an unforgettable experience.