Assassin's Creed® Odyssey

# Verdict

Era context: Ubisoft used AnvilNext 2.0 to push the Assassin's Creed IP to RPG peak

When Ubisoft Quebec shipped Odyssey in 2018, the Assassin's Creed series had already weathered 2017's Origins "RPG transformation." Odyssey picked up Origins's RPG path and pushed it to the extreme — open-world expansion to 130 square kilometers (largest in the series), dual-protagonist option (Alexios or Kassandra sharing the same story), 9 ending branches, mythological creature bosses, the mercenary dynamic system. This was Ubisoft's most ambitious IP reshaping in 2018 — completely transforming a 10-year-old IP from "linear action stealth" to "100-hour RPG epic."

Eight years later, Odyssey has cumulative sales above 15 million copies, Metacritic aggregate scores of PC 83 / PlayStation 84 / Xbox 84, OpenCritic Mighty rating, Steam reviews above 165,000 with "Very Positive" status. Polygon scored a perfect 10, IGN scored 9.2 high, China's 3DM gave extreme praise. The unifying takeaway: Ubisoft used the richest gameplay systems plus the most expansive ancient Greek map plus the boldest dual-protagonist branching endings to completely redefine the Assassin's Creed IP boundaries.

The historical significance runs deeper through Odyssey's foundational role in the Assassin's Creed IP's "RPG transformation" — 2017 Origins opened RPG transformation, 2018 Odyssey pushed RPG to the extreme, 2020 Valhalla inherited and refined RPG. This "RPG Trilogy" has cumulative sales exceeding 50 million copies — Ubisoft's most commercially influential open-world product line of the late 2010s. Odyssey within the trilogy is the "richest in gameplay, most ambitious, most controversial," widely regarded as "the peak of RPG-style Assassin's Creed."

Who should buy it

Group one — open-world RPG enthusiasts. If you have played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon Zero Dawn, or Elden Ring and concluded that "100-hour investment plus rich gameplay systems plus multi-branching narrative is the highest pursuit of open-world RPG," Odyssey is mandatory. 130 square kilometers of ancient Greek map plus 9 endings plus 84 mercenaries plus 42 Cult of Kosmos members — gameplay breadth far exceeds most contemporary RPGs.

Group two — ancient Greek mythology and history lovers. If you have read The Iliad, The Odyssey, or Histories (by Herodotus), or are familiar with ancient Greek civilization, Odyssey's research precision will impress you — Greek university history department professors participated in map design; Athens's Acropolis, Olympia, Delphi, Crete, and Santorini are all rendered to authentic historical specifications. Mythological creature boss fights (Cyclops, Minotaur, Medusa, Sphinx) let you "play through a Greek mythology textbook."

Group three — long-term-investment players. If your player personality enjoys "one game accompanies you for half a year," Odyssey Ultimate Edition plus both DLCs plus 200+ explorable locations plus 9 ending replays can pull you in for 200+ hours. This is one of the rare AAA open-world RPGs outside the indie era that delivers "200 hours of single-purchase content."

Group four — Assassin's Creed RPG transformation enthusiasts. If you accept the IP shifting from "linear action stealth" to "100-hour RPG epic," Odyssey is the RPG Trilogy's peak — richer than Origins, more branching than Valhalla, larger in scale and ambition than any prior Assassin's Creed.

Who should not buy it

Group one — casual players who hate level grinding walls. Odyssey's core rhythm requires players to "grind side quests, strongholds, and bandit camps to accumulate XP and equipment level" before pushing the main story. Mid-to-late main story progression demands 5-10 hours of grinding. If you expect Ghost of Tsushima's "no-grinding fluid main story" design, Odyssey will feel dragged.

Group two — microtransaction-averse players. Odyssey's Helix Store lets players spend real currency on level acceleration, skill acceleration, equipment direct purchase. The community believes Ubisoft "deliberately made the game grind-heavy" to drive microtransaction consumption. If you are sensitive to microtransactions, Odyssey's commercialization strategy may pull you out.

Group three — old-school players wanting only linear stealth assassin gameplay. Odyssey has completely abandoned "linear action stealth" Assassin's Creed traditional gameplay. If you miss 2007 original or 2009 Assassin's Creed II's "rooftop stealth plus classic assassination missions," Odyssey will disappoint you — it is 100% open-world RPG now.

Group four — players who dislike mythological-tone settings. Odyssey's worldbuilding orbits Greek mythology's creatures (Cyclops, Minotaur, Medusa, Sphinx), plus The Fate of Atlantis DLC swings the story entirely into the mythological world. If you only enjoy "authentic history" tone, you may find this "semi-mythological" setting unfit.

Recommended editions and discount thresholds

First choice — Steam Ultimate Edition. China region 388 yuan, seasonal discounts to 60-80 yuan, includes base game plus both DLCs plus extra outfit packs. This is Odyssey's most complete experience path in 2026 — 200-250 hours of main story plus DLC plus side quests, under 80 yuan for Ubisoft's RPG transformation peak.

Second choice — PlayStation and Xbox Ultimate Edition. After the next-gen patch, PS5 and Xbox Series X run automatic 4K 60 fps plus SSD loading times below 3 seconds, the most comfortable modern-console onboarding path for non-PC players. Downside: no mod support, graphics ceiling below PC's ray tracing plus DLSS.

Third choice — Steam Deck. Verified rating, 1280x800 at 30 fps stable, battery life 3-4 hours. Stable to play after the 2024 patch, the most comfortable mobile onboarding path for non-PC players.

The version to drift away from is Switch cloud — runs through Switch's cloud gaming service, hit by 50-100 millisecond audio-video sync issues from network latency. Experience clearly inferior to other consoles. Unless you only own Switch, pick another platform.

Overall, the 2026 best Odyssey experience path is Steam plus PC plus ray tracing and DLSS patch plus a seasonal sale Ultimate Edition, under 80 yuan for Ubisoft's RPG-style Assassin's Creed peak. The series later released 2023's Assassin's Creed Mirage to return to "linear stealth assassin gameplay," but Odyssey remains the benchmark for the "RPG-style Assassin's Creed" subgenre, Ubisoft's representative work that 8 years on the studio has yet to surpass its own RPG peak.