Assassinâs Creed has always had an unusual relationship with history. Itâs integral to the series and every game has been rich in historical detail, whether itâs the little facts about landmarks or characters, or the famous faces that youâll meet as an assassin. It's never been accurate, but it usually feels authentic. But the more the series has progressed, the more itâs started to feel like the Disneyland of history, throwing in celebrities with wild abandon, turning its cities into places where every historical figure of the age seems to reside.
With Odyssey, Ubisoft is taking a different approach.
âI remember working on Syndicate and you almost have a day-by-day account of what everybody did,â Marc-Alexis CĂ´tĂŠ, senior producer on Assassinâs Creed Odyssey told VG24/7. âAnd obviously you donât have that in 400BC.â
While the some of history of Ancient Greece is well documented, Ubisoft is going far back, covering a time where we have to rely on people like occasional liar and father of history, Herodotus. In many cases, heâs the only primary source that we have, and he wasnât beyond spinning yarns and injecting mythology into his entertaining Histories. It sounds like Ubisoft is taking his lead.
âIf [mythological creatures] werenât there itâd be very very sad, so rest assured that they are,â CĂ´tĂŠ said. âTheyâre really an intricate part of this world that we have created and have perfect explanations that will carry on in the history of the franchise as well.â
And while plenty of historical figures will be making an appearance, the dearth of information we have that details what they were like as people has given Ubisoft free rein to create original characters. Let it be known, however, that thereâs only one version of Socrates that Iâll accept.
This isnât really out of the blue, of course. The pieces of Eden and the First Civilisation have always crammed fantasy into Ubisoftâs historical epics, while Origins similarly dabbled in mythology and relied less on caricatures of historical figures. In Odyssey, however, it's taken further and, according to CĂ´tĂŠ, allows Ubisoft to give more agency to players.
âWeâve always used the excuse, âHistory is written that way, so thatâs the way it should happenâ,â CĂ´tĂŠ said. âWhile we have found many other explanations for many other things through the power of the Animus, a game is not a movieâthe minute you push up on a thumbstick youâve made a decision to move left or right. We shouldnât hide behind the excuse that thatâs the way history happenedâyouâre making decisions every second youâre playing a game.â
Those decisions are more apparent this time because Odyssey really leans into its RPG elements. Players will build their version of Alexios or Kassandra not just by killing things, levelling up and unlocking new weapons, but through conversations and branching dialogue, defining themselves and building relationships with other characters.
It wonât be long until weâll be able to see if this shift pays off. Assassinâs Creed Odyssey is due out on October 5.