Of all the Assassin’s Creed games, Odyssey is the most aptly named. It's a roleplaying game of mythic proportions, a world so vast and intricately detailed I feel lost in it all. This isn’t just Ubisoft’s usual style of open world draped over the Aegean Sea, either. There’s still that familiar scattering of icons that covers each of its 30ish zones, but Odyssey’s various activities weave into a satisfying web of interlocking systems. Previous Assassin's Creed games were full of mundane activities that existed merely to check them off a list, but nearly every pursuit in Odyssey folds back into its overarching quest in some way. Many of Odyssey's zones could host a smaller RPG on their own, but together they form an incomparably large world full of things to do.

Odyssey sheds so much of what Assassin’s Creed is known for to fully embrace the core concepts of a roleplaying game—and it's all the better for it. Even though the story doesn't live up to its initial premise, the additional layer of choice, breathtaking scenery, and colorful sidequests make Odyssey not only the best Assassin's Creed to date, but one of the best RPGs since The Witcher 3.

Choice and consequence 

Unlike previous Assassin's Creeds, dialogue options now let me influence major and minor quests—sometimes with horrific consequences. I refused to intervene when a priest wanted to put a plagued family to death, incited more than one rebellion, and even spared a shamed general from what should have been a very satisfying dish of stone-cold revenge. And, yes, I've also bumped uglies with quite a few willing characters.

These frequently wonderful side quests are spread out over a world that is almost incomprehensibly large for a singleplayer RPG. Normally size doesn't matter, but the sheer scale of Odyssey's ancient Greece is to its benefit, especially because each area feels so distinct and detailed. It's a vast world that I want to explore, and each zone has a subtle aesthetic that makes it unique, from the arid badlands of Crete to the verdant plains of Arkadia. This isn't just Ubisoft's biggest game ever, it's also it's most beautiful.

The new 'exploration' mode makes exploring that world a lot more immersive. Enabled by default, this turns off most of the quest markers and instead provides me with vague directions to objectives, like saying it's located north of the agora in Athens, leaving me to suss out the exact location on my own. Sometimes that's as simple as using my eagle, Ikaros, to scout out the location from above, but other times it means speaking with characters or taking on extra quests to get more information. When I failed several subquests to discern the location of an assassination target, I had no choice but to ride around Boetia using my own faculties to find his campsite. If you have the patience for it, it's a system that makes exploring more involved and satisfying.

If there's one casualty of Odyssey's massive world, though, it's the main story. No matter which of two siblings you pick, Kassandra or Alexios, there's a lot of heart in their journey to reunite their family. True to Assassin's Creed, Odyssey tries to tell a story that sees Kassandra rub elbows with all of the biggest names in ancient Greece, but the end result is a story that has charm but often feels disjointed and confusing. It simply tries to do too much, whisking you from the backwater island of Kephalonnia to heights of Athenian society and then to audiences with Spartan Kings.

This frantic pacing doesn't leave much time to really know or appreciate these characters, and the reasons I was pulled from one area to the next sometimes felt paper thin. It's still an enjoyable tale, but The Witcher 3 this is not. That's pretty standard for Assassin's Creed, but having agency in the story has done wonders for making me more attached to Kassandra’s journey. Even if certain revelations left me confused or rolling my eyes, I felt invested in what was happening.

One thing worth mentioning is that Odyssey's story features some pretty stiff level gaps that have to be overcome by diverting time to complete side quests and other activities. I didn't mind it, since all of those experiences are fun, but it will be annoying to anyone who wants to just focus on the main quest.

I don't really mind that the story doesn't always work because Odyssey is an RPG that thrives thanks to its diverse and excellent activities. Black Flag’s ship combat makes a return as a central feature, though it's slightly simplified to be less of a grind. I love the feeling of boarding the Adrestia and sailing the open waters, cleaving pirate triremes in half or pulling alongside to battle them hand to hand. 

Then there’s the new Mercenary system, which is inspired by Origin’s Phylakes but, again, is bigger and better. Instead of just 10 ultra-tough enemies wandering the world trying to skewer me, there are 39 partially-procedural mercenaries who wander about and, if I cause too much trouble, will try to collect the bounty on my head. These mercenaries remind me of Shadow of Mordor’s nemesis system, albeit without personalities that evolve with each encounter I have with them. But they do have distinct looks and a way of showing up when I’m already vulnerable, like Skiron, "The Crazy Lover," who had a sixth sense for sabotaging my stealthy infiltrations and getting me killed until I put an arrow through his weiner. Now he's just Skiron, The Crazy.

Odyssey retains the same MMO-style leveling system of Origins, meaning enemies who outrank me by even a few levels will be practically invincible no matter how well I fight. That’s still annoying—especially when I want to take on a new story quest but discover its level is beyond mine—but in the case of mercenaries I like how it establishes a food chain. When I saw Exekias the Legend, a level 50 merc, roaming around Delphi with his pet bear, I felt like I bumped into a celebrity.

The mercenary pecking order is just one of half a dozen secondary progression systems in Odyssey. It might sound like feature bloat, as if Ubisoft's open world games needed even more things to do, but each of these systems overlaps and influences the others in a way that makes Odyssey a lively and dynamic world. 

Tides of war 

Across most of the zones, for example, Spartan and Athenian armies clash for control of territory. When one faction controls a zone, I can destabilize its grip on the region by killing soldiers, or burning and stealing supplies found in their heavily-guarded camps. When a faction’s control of a region is all but lost, a Conquest Battle opens up and I can enlist to fight on either side in exchange for powerful gear.

In these set-piece battles, hundreds of soldiers take the field at once in an all-out fray to see which side is the last standing. It's a serious challenge made even more brutal if the opposing faction enlists a mercenary to ambush me. It’s in these moments that Odyssey’s combat system really shines. It’s functionally the same system from Origins, which means it can sometimes feel a little mushy and unresponsive, but new abilities that slot into an action bar give me so many cool tools to use in combat that it doesn't get on my nerves nearly as much. 

Normal attacks build generous amounts of adrenaline, which can then be spent unleashing any one of these four abilities, like the Spartan Kick. It’s an even cooler Fus-Ro-Dah from Skyrim as Kassandra launches a foe backwards with a detonative kick. There's some clever combinations too, like using Rain of Destruction with explosive arrows to unleash an Ancient Grecian carpet bombing. Even if the combat system could still be more responsive, I like that Odyssey embraces combat over stealth more than any other Assassin’s Creed, because these new abilities make me feel like a god of war.

My favorite punching bag are the Cult of Kosmos, the conspirators who tore my family apart. . It's a lot of leg work hunting down these 44 cultists across Odyssey's big map, but it's a testament to how well Odyssey's systems talk to each other that this is one of the best parts of the game. Many cultists are unmasked as part of the main story, but the rest require scouring the world for clues to their identity. Sometimes I might have to complete an out of the way sidequest, while others require reading stolen letters to deduce their location.

One cultist was hiding in a bear den in Malis, which required setting out to explore the countryside using my eagle, Ikaros, to try and spot likely locations. Another required weakening Athenian control over a pair of islands to draw them into a naval Conquest battle. Others might be easier to actually find but then require a stealthy infiltration into a labyrinthian fort full of guards.

Fans of older Assassin's Creed games can rest easy knowing that stealth is still big part of Odyssey. Sneaking into heavily guarded forts and estates is how I’ve spent a good half of my time, but the system remains largely unchanged from previous games. I still use my eagle to mark enemies and various objectives, and there’s still that familiar tension of trying to slink through an enemy camp unseen.

My only problem with stealth is that it too often reveals how dumb and inconsistent Odyssey’s AI is. More than once I’ve had guards get stuck on objects while patrolling or have had to sit back and watch as they run around in a panic seemingly caused by nothing. And nothing ruins the immersion of a leisurely horse ride through Athens like civilians desperately diving out of the way like they just dodged an incoming train. So while Odyssey is easily the best Assassin’s Creed I have ever played, and a damn good RPG to boot, there's still some fundamental parts that could've been improved.

When I look back on all the fun I’ve had, these complaints feel minor. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is enormous and beautiful, and it effortlessly ties action, stealth, sailing, faction control systems, mercenaries, and cultist hunting together into one cohesive game that, even after 50 hours, I want to keep playing. Odyssey is a lot more than just another Assassin’s Creed, it’s an RPG of unparalleled scale supplemented by satisfyingly layered and deep progression systems that each play their part in bringing ancient Greece to life. 

Despite being another entry in Ubisoft's nearly annual series, Assassin's Creed Odyssey has enough new systems and stuff to confuse new and veteran players. The big open world is open enough that I accidentally wandered into a few situations before the game had explained how to handle them. To help you avoid the same issue, here's eight general Assassin's Creed Odyssey tips that I wish I'd known from the beginning of my Odyssey.

1 Choose Exploration mode instead of Guided mode

In Origins, the rash of unsightly, overlapping map icons had been reduced by quite a bit, and in Odyssey it's gone entirely. Instead, the game offers you a choice right at the beginning: do you want to play in "Exploration" mode or "Guided" mode? Guided mode is the Assassin's Creed maps as you've always known them, while Exploration strips away almost every icon, leaving a beautiful, clear map suitable for famous map activities like navigation. Instead, map icons are replaced with directions: the bandit camp is on the eastern coast of Kephallonia; the Spartan fortress is north of Mount Geranaia.

To be honest, unraveling these clues isn't hard. Sometimes there's only one unknown location, marked with a question mark, on the entire eastern coast. This mystery isn't exactly the Murder on the Orient Express, is what I'm saying. Still, when icons appear on a rotating compass in a game, I tend to get tunnel vision and spend more time eyeballing the compass than the beautiful handcrafted world around me. All I needed was a little bit of an excuse to keep my brain plugged into the physical world to get really lost in it.

That said, the world of ancient Greece is big—really big. Every mode of transportation has some sort of auto-run feature that really comes in handy. On horseback or on foot, pressing Z will get your character running so you can take your hands off the keyboard, while Space Bar does the same thing for boats. Horses in particular are good for this: hold Z for a moment and then press E, and your horse will auto-follow roads to navigate straight to a map marker.

Though I wouldn't recommend leaving the game unattended while on foot, having the horse drive or setting sail to an island a few thousand meters away gives you a break just long enough to go get a cup of coffee.

2 Upgrade your favorite weapons and armor

Weapons and armor play a huge role in character growth in Odyssey. There are a bunch of different weapon types—including swords, axes, staffs, spears, and daggers—and they all handle a bit differently and have different special attacks. Thankfully, I found that I was pretty much free to pick whatever I thought looked cool, since all of the weapons seem to be equally effective. Heavy maces are huge and slow, for example, but they kill Athenians every bit as dead as a dagger.

In fact, one of the really liberating things about gear in Odyssey is that it's almost absurdly customizable and upgradable. I keenly remember equipping some polka-dotted jester's monstrosity in the Witcher 3 just because it had the best armor stats I could afford at the time. Odyssey avoids that shame by offering an unlimited (though expensive in in-game resources) ability to upgrade any piece of gear to the current player level. Have a favorite sword you've been using since level 10, but it just can't cut it (har har) now that you're at level 15? Pay a blacksmith and boom, your favorite sword is now a level 15 sword.

One thing to keep in mind is that when collecting sets of Legendary Armor the whole set will automatically upgrade to the level of the last piece you collected. For example, I first collected four out of five pieces at the Snake set between levels 15 to 25, but the final piece I collected was at level 27. This automatically upgraded the entire Snake set to level 27, letting me save my precious materials for something else.

Gear isn't purely cosmetic, though. Odyssey has a huge system of engravings that add buffs and bonuses to gear: +10% warrior damage, +5% damage to Spartans, and so on. Common items can only hold a couple of engravings, but rare or legendary loot can hold many more. Legendary loot is definitely the best stuff to use, but I'm thankful that I never have to give up my awesome legendary gear after a few levels. Just upgrade it!

3 Use Sparta Kick to punt high-level enemies off anything tall

Unlike Origins, the world of Odyssey mostly matches the current player level. With a few exceptions, every wolf, bandit, and archer I kill is at my level, plus or minus one or two. This makes the difficulty curve a bit flat. Sometimes, though, an enemy will have an Elite modifier or a poisoned axe or some damn thing that can really make it hard to kill them. I'll cut and stab them all I want, but my individual attacks just don't do much damage. The best thing to do here: kick 'em off a cliff.

One of the first abilities I unlocked was the Sparta Kick, a "legendary kick" that flings enemies backward. Most importantly, the Sparta Kick is incredibly satisfying to use. It's like a Fus Ro Dah force shout from Skyrim, except applied with a boot to the face. Once, I was in a pitched battle in a marble quarry when a high-level, elite Spartan commander came crashing down on me. Desperate, I ran up the workers' scaffolding, teetering dangerously over the chasm of the open quarry pit. When the commander climbed up to kill me, I kicked him off. Sword: 300 damage. Kick: 600 damage. Falling several hundred feet to his death: 20,000 damage.

No matter how good an enemy is, you can always manage to land at least one lucky kick. Make it a strong one and point it toward a cliff.

4 Commit crimes to get a bounty, then level up the mercenary ranks 

The main character is a misthios, a mercenary class widely employed across Greece. Any time someone commits a crime (and let's be honest here, that "someone" is usually you), a cash bounty can be put on your head and a mercenary dispatched to collect it. Being hunted by a merc is thrilling, and some of them have a real talent for charging into the middle of your business while you're trying to be sneaky.

There's a pecking order ranking all the mercenaries of the world, and leveling up that order comes with all kinds of nice bonuses. Here's the trick: killing mercenaries ranked above you is the only way to climb the ladder, but mercenaries' identities are a secret. To knock off the merc above you, you have to first find out who she is.

It would be too easy if you could just commit some crime and then kill the bounty hunter who comes for you, so it doesn't work that way—Mercs who come after you for a bounty are typically ranked below you. That said, you find clues to identify mercs randomly through the loot system, and I had the most consistent success with finding clues when I was killing lower-ranked mercenaries who came to collect my head.

So: do some crimes, kill the bounty hunters, and figure who sits on top of you on the ladder. Then take them out. You are an assassin, after all, and this is your creed, or whatever.

5 Stay neutral in the war to get the best loot 

Odyssey takes place during the Peloponnesian War, when Athens and Sparta were super, duper mad at each other and were really very rude about it. The war engulfs all of Greece, and you can join in that battle in every region you visit.

To trigger a battle, you have to upset the balance of power by taking out the region's national leader. Doing this looks a lot like killing a warlord in Shadow of Mordor: the leader is heavily guarded and very wealthy, and a toe-to-toe fight is going to be impossible. Instead, you have to soften him up by killing his lieutenants, stealing his money, and burning his army's supplies. When you cause enough chaos, the invading faction, whether its Sparta or Athens, will start a battle.

There are two sides to every battle, as my mother always told me, and you're free to join the attacking or defending side. The only difference is that the attackers will have a much tougher battle and much better loot awarded for success. It doesn't matter which side you pick, though—even if you've been assassinating Athenians all day long to stir up trouble, you can offer the Athenians help in the battle you helped cause in order to profit.

6 Use fire for extra damage 

Everything burns. There's a really aggressive fire system at play in Odyssey, and adding fire to your attacks is a wise move. Not only does it add burning damage that stacks up over time, but it's also good crowd control. Some enemies break and run when they're hit with fire, so if you're in the middle of a big fight, lighting everyone on fire can thin out the mob a bit.

Hitting someone with a flaming sword, while cool, won't automatically set them on fire. There's a fire buildup stat that is different from enemy to enemy, and might even depend on what kinds of armor they're wearing—I'm still testing this hypothesis. It takes a few hits of flame to really set someone burning. If you want to get the most out of your fiery attacks, look for engravings or bonuses that increase "fire buildup." The higher your fire buildup stat is, the faster you'll set your targets on fire.

This also goes for ship-to-ship combat. A volley of flaming arrows looks amazing (especially at night), but it won't catch a ship on fire right away. You'll have to send a few shots of flaming arrows or javelins over before the fire catches hold. When it does, a ship can't move or attack until the fire's out, so it's a very effective weapon on the high seas. Again, look for bonuses to your ship's fire buildup stat if you want to be a pirate pyromaniac.

7 Use Ikaros to scout and spot enemies 

Your pet eagle in Odyssey is named Ikaros, and using him as a scout will be familiar to anyone who played Origins. Send Ikaros up and look through his eyes to mark enemies, spot treasure chests, alarm fires, trapped animals, prisoners, etc. Having a real-time map of a camp makes it a lot easier to sneak in, for one thing. For another, spotting enemies in advance can let you know if any of them have bonuses or abilities that would be helpful for your crew. 

Recruiting for your crew is a traditional process—and by "traditional" I mean that you knock people out and kidnap them, forcing them to work for you. (Aw, just how my ancestors used to do it.) Your ship can support up to four lieutenants, special leader characters who give your ship stat bonuses and join you in battle during boardings. Use Ikaros to take a good look at enemy captains and commanders. They'll usually have some sort of command bonus applicable to your ship, and more importantly, they're likely to be real bastards in a fight. If you spot a good candidate with Ikaros, you can make plans to take them alive.

Ikaros's spotting is also useful in underground caverns and tombs, but you can't use him underground. Instead, use him before you enter the cave and have him fly over the top of the mountain. He can still spot things underground (he's quite an eagle), and the map markers will help you find your way to piles of loot in the confusing maze underground.

8 Photo mode is better now

Photo mode is now a staple of the Assassin's Creed games, but Odyssey has refined the mode in a lot of ways. Basically, you can take a picture anytime, anywhere: just hit F3 and the action will freeze. You can adjust, rotate, move around, zoom, and tilt. You can also tinker with photography-nerd details like saturation, exposure, and add noise filters. It's everything you need to fully Instagram your murderous summer spent backpacking across Greece. The kids at school are going to be so jealous when you get back.

Beyond taking the photos, which is effortless, photo mode is still kind of opaque. What if, for example, you're a hardworking games journalist writing on a deadline, and all of your best screenshots were taken with photo mode? Where, you may be screaming, are those damn photos? They're in your computer's My Documents folder. Go to My Documents > Assassin's Creed Odyssey > Photos to find them.

You can also enjoy photos other players have taken by clicking on photo icons on your map—though this is a mixed bag. Some people, frankly, are terrible photographers and their weirdly saturated photo of the back of someone's head isn't really worth your time. Others might be so struck by the beauty of [spoiler redacted] that they snap some shots in photo mode, thereby ruining your surprise of [spoiler redacted].

If you don't want to see other people's photos, you can now turn them off in your map. Hit F3 from the map screen to toggle through seeing no photos, all photos, only your photos, or only your friends' photos.