Leo Holman 
One of the big leaks before E3 last week was the next installment in the one of Ubisoft’s flagship series, Assassins Creed: Odyssey. Many were surprised that we would be getting another game so soon. Assassins Creed: Origins hasn’t even been out for a year yet after all. Regardless, Assassins Creed: Odyssey was confirmed and showed off to great fanfare.
Arguably the biggest reveal(besides the heavy focus on RPG elements) was that Odyssey would be set years before Origins. The first question that fans of the series would ask would be “What the hell?”. Origins is the story of how the Brotherhood of Assassins was formed, if the next game is hundreds of years before this (Age of the Spartans vs Ptolemaic Egypt) then what will this even be about?
Twinfinite sat down with one of the narrative leads for Odyssey and asked her the core question that had been raised about its place in the overall story of Assassin’s Creed:
A lot of people are concerned that Origins is establishing the brotherhood. We knew that we were going to be before that (Origins) so when we were creating Odyssey, we looked at the significant points from the lore and how are we going to expand on it and make it relevant for players today. One of the things that very much ties to the lore is our connection to First Civilisation. Our game is very much a historical game but we also have the science fiction elements put in there.
Those who have been enjoying the series since the first iteration will know that the First Civilisation has been intrinsically tied into the lore from the outset. Despite the fact that they would play a much larger role in the saga of Ezio, Warren Vidic actually references the First Civilisation, or Isu, in the very first game. They go on to say:
I don’t want to spoil how much the First Civilisation is connected with our game, but I can tell you that we as the protagonists – whoever you chose to play: Alexios of Cassandra – they are the descendant of King Leonidas and they have the blood of the First Civilization flowing through their veins. They are connected to the First Civilization; they’re a descendant of the first civilization, so that’s a big connection. The spear itself you wield is a (Leonidas’ Spear) is a Civilization artifact, so we’ll be exploring that.
But one of the things I found super exciting about how we were going to connect this game to the wider lore was the fact that something that is present throughout all of the AC games is this ideology of freedom versus order, because this is the foundation of the Templars and Assassins we know today – so where did that come from and how are we exploring that? What was really exciting for us was to be able to explore those ideologies, how they fit in our setting of ancient Greece and how they tie to our story. I think people will get excited about that
This is a VERY thoughtful answer, and explains a lot about the focus the developer has placed on remaining faithful to the lore that has been laid out in previous titles. This should at least help to put people’s minds at ease. I still think that I will be missing the focus on the Brotherhood, if it’s not really gonna be there but I am still very much looking forward to the game.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey releases in October for Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC
