Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse's new trailer prominently features six alternate versions of the Spider-Men/Spider-Women that make up the vast web of the Spider-Verse. However, there are brief snippets of other notable Spidey timelines and stories, including an Easter egg to 2018's Marvel's Spider-Man.
If you pause the trailer at 1:39, you'll see display cases for certain spider suits in the background. Over Aunt May's shoulder, you'll spy the Advanced Suit that Peter Parker wears in Marvel's Spider-Man, marked with its trademark white spider design. It comes as no huge surprise to see a reference to Marvel's Spider-Man in the upcoming Into the Spider-Verse movie, as Insomniac's Spider-Man--confirmed to be a part of Earth 1048--is recruited by Superior Spider-Man to participate in Spider-Verse's sequel story, Spider-Geddon.
Into the Spider-Verse's previous trailer already showcased one of the Peter Parkers (probably Earth 616, but it hasn't been confirmed) as well as Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man from Earth 1610, and Gwen Stacy's Spider-Ghost, the Spider-Woman of Earth-65. This new trailer introduced three more spiders: Earth-14512's SP//dr, Earth-90214's Spider-Man Noir, and Earth-8311's Spider-Ham.
SP//dr is the superhero codename for Peni Parker, a nine-year-old girl who lets a radioactive spider bite her so she can bond with a spider-like mech suit her deceased father used to pilot, a responsibility her Uncle Ben and Aunt May inform her that only she can do. Spider-Man Noir is another Peter Parker, but from an alternate universe where the present day is 1933 during the Great Depression. Spider-Ham is the alias of Peter Porker, a spider who's bitten by his adoptive Aunt May Porker, a pig, after she's accidentally irradiated. He transforms into a pig as well, but discovers he retains all the abilities he had as a spider.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sees Miles Morales meeting several of the spiders from alternative dimensions, including Peter Parker who offers to train the fledgling Spider-Man. The web-slingers of the Spider-Verse must band together to stop their clashing dimensions from destroying Miles' reality, as well as return the members of their respective rogues gallery to the correct universes. The movie debuts in U.S. theaters on December 14.
The Assassin's Creed series has always been known for its extensive storyline and dense lore and mythology. The latest entry Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a prequel to the franchise, but it's useful to learn about key characters and events from past games. To help get you up to speed on all the important happenings in the Assassin's Creed universe, here's a recap of everything you need to know before jumping into Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Be wary, there are major spoilers ahead.
Our recap goes over the major events of each game (sorry, no Assassin's Creed comics and books), filling in the back story of the Assassins and Templars, the Pieces of Eden, the Isu, and everything else you may have forgotten about. Odyssey is another great place to dive in even for newcomers, but you might have a fuller appreciation if you're caught up on everything that has happened thus far.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey released on October 5 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. As an interesting aside, the game was also available to play on Google Chrome on launch day thanks to a new test the search giant is conducting to measure the strength of its game streaming technology. However, Google will only be choosing a select few users from those who sign up via its official website.
For Assassin's Creed Odyssey guides, be sure to check out our feature highlighting tips you should know before starting. We'll be posting more features and guides in the next coming days. And if you're curious about our thoughts on the game, be sure to read our Assassin's Creed Odyssey review. GameSpot editor Alessandro Fillari said in his review: "While its large-scale campaign--clocking in at over 50 hours--can occasionally be tiresome, and some features don't quite make the impact they should, Assassin's Creed Odyssey makes great strides in its massive and dynamic world, and it's a joy to venture out and leave your mark on its ever-changing setting."
Those Who Came Before
In the beginning, Earth was inhabited by the Isu, an ancient species of advanced humanoids. They possessed precognitive abilities and were gifted scientists; they also had incredibly long lifespans, though they were not immortal. Their immense power and intelligence lead them to create the human race, whom they designed in their image to be a capable, but docile, workforce. But in order to ensure that humanity remained subservient to their rule, the Isu created several powerful devices--later known to humanity as Pieces of Eden--to enslave their minds.
Rebellion And War
When the Isu created humanity, they designed them to be born with a chemical neurotransmitter in their brains that made them susceptible to the Pieces of Eden. However, over time interbreeding between humans and Isu lead to the creation of a hybrid race, who were immune to the effects of the mind-controlling devices of their benefactors. This resulted in an uprising by two hybrids, Adam and Eve, who stole a Piece of Eden known as the Apple to wage war against the Isu.
While the Isu were technologically superior to humans, the ensuing war took a toll on them as they were heavily outnumbered; a result of the Isu having produced so many humans to work for them. After a decade's worth of fighting, the conflict came to an abrupt end due to a massive solar flare that devastated the Earth, resulting in heavy losses on both sides. This event became known as the Toba Catastrophe.
Last Ditch Effort
During the war, there were three Isu scientists--Minerva, Juno, and Jupiter--who were actually aware of the solar flare that would hit Earth. They endeavored to prevent it by researching six different solutions; however, none adequately provided what was needed. Eventually Minerva created a seventh solution known as the Eye, a device capable of allowing them to manipulate the patterns and equations of existence. With its power, the Isu could deploy a planetary magnetic shield that would deflect the incoming disaster.
In the midst of the experiments, Juno developed a deep hatred for humans. She made plans to take over the world and enslave humanity in the solar flare's aftermath. However, Minerva and Jupiter caught wind of this and imprisoned her consciousness. But before Juno could be sealed away, she tampered with the pattern of the Eye, so that it would release her from prison upon its activation. Minerva discovered this and decided that instead of letting Juno get her way, it would be best to destroy the device and let the solar flare occur.
Messages To The Next Generation
Before the solar flare arrived to Earth, Minerva crafted a second Eye to relay messages to future generations of humanity in hopes of giving them the knowledge needed to prevent an inevitable second catastrophe. These messages were locked away in vaults hidden throughout the planet.
Despite these attempts to help the future of humanity, Juno's evil ambitions persisted. In her imprisonment, she managed to fix the first Eye and used it to commune with future generations in hopes of swaying them towards accomplishing her goals.
Reconciliation and The Fall of the Isu
The impact of the solar flare flipped the polarity of Earth's magnetic field and exposed it to the Sun's deadly radiation. While both the Isu and humanity survived the disaster, their numbers began to dwindle. As a result, both species made peace and worked together to rebuild the world.
Several Isu took steps to influence the human race, endeavoring to spread their knowledge. Some of these attempts would manifest themselves in superstitions and religious myths passed through the ages across different cultures. Despite their best efforts to preserve their ways, the Isu eventually went extinct. Humanity continued to thrive through the centuries ahead, slowly forgetting the existence of the Isu as they split off into new civilizations and cultures.
The Assassins And The Templars: A Battle of Ideology
As the centuries passed, humans began to discover several Pieces of Eden, which had survived the destruction of the Toba Catastrophe. The power the artifacts stirred debate towards how to use them for humanity's benefit. There were many who sought to fulfill humanity's true potential and decided it would be best to use the artifacts to create a utopia. While there were others who stood against their use, opting to give humanity complete freedom where all could live according to their own will. These two beliefs eventually manifested into two respective organizations, the Templars and the Assassins, who went on to wage a covert war spanning most of human history.
Enter Desmond Miles
A key player in the Assassin-Templar conflict was a man named Desmond Miles. A modern day Assassin, Desmond was wary of his organization's tenets and lifestyle growing up. At age 16, he fled home and moved to New York City to work as a bartender. However, he could not escape his origins, and was kidnapped by the Templars, who had at this point masked their activities under the guise of a company called Abstergo.
The unwilling Assassin was taken to one of Abstergo's laboratories where he was used as a test subject in the Animus, a device that could read the memories of a person's ancestors through the genetic memory encoded in their DNA. Leading the research experiment was a scientist named Warren Vidic and his assistant, Lucy Stillman. Their goal was to discover the locations of the Pieces of Eden.
Assassin's Creed -- Destiny
Desmond was made to relive the genetic memory of his ancestor, Altair Ibn-La'Ahad--a member of the Assassin order during the Third Crusade. By exploring Altair's memories, Vidic was able to discover the locations of numerous Pieces of Eden. After finding this out, Abstergo executives ordered Desmond's execution, as he had outlived his usefulness; however, Lucy revealed to Desmond that she was an undercover agent of the Assassins, and promised his safety.
Assassin's Creed II -- Becoming an Assassin and a Message From Minerva
Lucy busted Desmond out his cell and the two escaped from the Abstergo laboratory. Arriving at one of the Assassins' hideouts, Desmond and Lucy met with fellow members of the order, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. Their new goal was to train Desmond to be an Assassin using the Bleeding Effect, a symptom induced by prolonged exposure to the Animus that allowed a person to inherit abilities from their ancestors.
Desmond returned to the Animus to experience the memories of Ezio Auditore, an Assassin who lived through the Italian Renaissance. As the group pushed further into the Italian Assassin's memories, they discovered his encounter with one of Minerva's messages, which warned of the impending catastrophe and recounted the story of the war between the Isu and humanity. But what shocked Desmond was Minerva revealing that she was actually talking to him through Ezio. Following this revelation, Desmond was pulled from the Animus, as the Templars discovered their location. Despite an altercation with Vidic and his goons, the group managed to escape.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood -- Finding the Apple
The group fled north and set up shop at Monteriggioni, the former headquarters of the Italian Brotherhood during the 14th century. Once again Desmond used the Animus to dive into Ezio's memories in hopes of discovering information that could help the Assassins. However, the Bleeding Effect soon began to take a toll on him, as he began to experience more hallucinations. Regardless, Desmond pushed through it and learned that Ezio hid an Apple of Eden under the Colosseum in Rome.
At the Colosseum, the group discovered a path leading to an underground chamber where the Apple was held. A hologram of Juno appeared before them to reveal the existence of the Isu's secret vaults. Desmond then grabbed the Apple from its pedestal, but in doing so, the artifact activated, allowing Juno to take control of him and kill Lucy. The shock of the ordeal caused Desmond to fall into a coma.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations -- Escape From the Black Room
After the events of Lucy's murder, William Miles--Desmond's father and the de facto leader of the Assassins--dispatched several Assassins to retrieve the group from the Colosseum vault. Desmond was put back into the Animus to stabilize his condition. He awakened to find himself inside the Black Room, a safe mode built into the Animus' programming. There he met a visual construct of Clay Kaczmarek, a man who used the Animus prior to him during Vidic's experiments. Kaczmarek informed Desmond that he needed to keep reliving his ancestors' memories in order to awaken from his coma.
Desmond experienced not only the later years of Ezio's life, but Altair's as well. His journey through the memories of both his ancestors allowed him to discover a message from Jupiter, who revealed the location of the Grand Temple, which housed all of the research conducted to prevent the first solar flare. After having discovered this, Desmond awakened from his coma, with Shaun, Rebecca, and his father standing beside him.
Assassin's Creed III -- Finding the Grand Temple Key
The group travelled to the Grand Temple where they once again set up the Animus. Entering the Grand Temple triggered Desmond's Bleeding Effect, which revealed that a key was required to unlock its innermost chambers. Instead of reliving the memories of Ezio, Desmond dove into the memories of Haytham Kenway, an 18th-century Templar who once had possession of the key. However, he learned that it was actually Haytham's illegitimate son, an Assassin named Ratonhnhaké:ton aka Connor Kenway, who would later come into possession of it during the American Revolution.
As Desmond searched through Connor's memories, he occasionally took breaks to embark on missions to obtain batteries to power the Animus. However, the arrival of the second solar flare rapidly approached, and with no leads on the Grand Temple key's current location, the situation grew desperate. In an effort to maximize productivity, Desmond focused on reliving Connor's memories, while William retrieved a new battery from a museum in Cairo.
However, Vidic intercepted William and sent a video message to the group explaining that William would only be set free in exchange for the Apple of Eden. Desmond complied and traveled to the Abstergo facility where his father was being held, but instead of handing over the Apple, he used it to kill Vidic and his henchmen.
Assassin's Creed III (Cont.) -- Saving the World
Desmond returned to the Animus and learned that the Grand Temple key was hidden in a grave in Massachusetts. Using the key to open the gate to the Grand Temple's inner chamber, Desmond and the group entered only to be greeted by Juno, who revealed that they could save the world using the Eye. However, Minerva appeared and urged Desmond not to activate the device, explaining Juno's schemes to enslave humanity. She insisted that while the device would save the world from the solar flare, it would also kill Desmond and allow Juno to complete her quest to rule over Earth.
Despite Minerva's warnings, Desmond stated that if Juno was released, there could still be a slim chance that humanity could stop her. With his mind made up, Desmond activated the Eye, thus sacrificing himself to protect the planet and freeing Juno from imprisonment.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag -- Infiltrating Abstergo Entertainment
With the death of Desmond, Shaun, Rebecca, and William continued the fight against the Templars. However, William eventually stepped down as leader of the Assassins in order to go on a self-imposed exile.
Shaun and Rebecca then went undercover as low-level employees at Abstergo, who had managed to create a new version of the Animus that could let people relive the genetic memories of anyone's DNA, as long as the DNA was harvested. With this new tech--which was created using Desmond's DNA--the Templars formed Abstergo Entertainment, a branch of the company that created consumer products using Animus technology. However, Abstergo Entertainment was a front for the Templars to locate and acquire new Pieces of Eden.
The Assassins had an informant in the company, named John Standish, who began helping an unnamed Abstergo Entertainment employee (your player character) hack into the company's databases. The employee gradually fed the archived information to the Assassins.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Cont.) -- The Sage
Juno remained adamant towards advancing her schemes of world domination. However, she could do little without a physical body to transfer her consciousness into. Luckily, Juno had set a plan in motion prior to her imprisonment: she had managed to manipulate the human genetic code, creating a hidden trigger that would alter the genetic makeup of an individual, imbuing them with the memories and appearance of her husband. The experiment caused Juno's husband to be repeatedly reincarnated in human form for millennia. These reincarnations would be known as Sages.
Unbeknownst to everyone, John Standish was actually a Sage and plotted to transfer Juno's consciousness into the body of the unnamed Abstergo Entertainment employee. However, the plan failed and Abstergo security guards gunned down John.
Assassin's Creed Unity -- The Initiates
As a means of fighting the Templars, the Assassins enlisted the help of players using Abstergo Entertainment's gaming products. Those convinced to join were known as Initiates. With the help of an unnamed Initiate, an Assassin operative named Bishop managed to secure the location of an Apple of Eden via the memories of French Revolution era Assassin, Arno Dorian.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate -- Juno's Next Plan
The Templars began using John Standish's DNA to create an Isu from scratch, aiming to explore the genetic memories encoded in its DNA using the Animus. But in order to achieve this, they needed a Piece of Eden known as the Shroud; one was known to be hidden somewhere in London. The Assassins caught wind of this and once again enlisted the help of an unnamed Initiate.
By reliving the memories of Assassin twins, Jacob and Evie Frye, the Initiate discovered that the Shroud was located underneath Buckingham Palace. Shaun and Rebecca were dispatched to retrieve it, but were attacked by the Templars, who successfully escape with the Shroud. It was then revealed that Juno had secretly orchestrated the scheme from the beginning, manipulating the Templars into creating a new vessel for her to implant her consciousness.
Assassin's Creed Origins -- The Next Generation: Layla the Abstergo Researcher
Sometime after the events of Syndicate, Layla Hassan--a researcher at Abstergo's Historical Research Division--is tasked with finding and retrieving a mysterious artifact in Egypt. This inevitably leads her to finding the tomb containing the mummies of ancient Assassins Bayek and Aya. In hopes of finding information to secure her a position in the company's Animus Project, Layla decides to relive both Bayek's and Aya's memories using her Animus--going outside the jurisdiction of her responsibilities in the company. She secludes herself in a cave in the middle of a desert in Egypt.
Layla was inevitably attacked during her time spent reliving Bayek's and Aya's memories. Her best friend and radio support Deanna was also ambushed in the process; though, her fate remains unknown.
Layla continued to experience the memories of Bayek and Aya, learning the history of the Assassin brotherhood's origins in the process. Upon awakening from the Animus, she is met by none other than William Miles, whom asks her to work for the Assassins instead. Given how Abstergo enforcers attempted to attack Layla for not checking in, she ultimately accepts William's offer. However, she stops short of actually joining them as a member.
Assassin's Creed Origins (Cont.) -- Bayek and the Formation of the Brotherhood
As mentioned, Layla lives out the memories of Bayek, who is a respected Medjay in charge of protecting the Siwan Oasis during the Ptolemaic era of Egypt's history in 49 BCE. The Egyptian sheriff's life is turned upside down when he and his young son, Khemu, are abducted by a group of five masked men. The masked men force Bayek to use a golden orb to open a secret Vault. Khemu helps Bayek escape, but during the struggle to kill one of the masked men, Bayek accidentally stabs Khemu in the chest, killing him.
This leads Bayek and his wife Aya on a quest for vengeance. They figure out that the ones who orchestrated Bayek's kidnapping were a part of a much larger organization known as the Order of the Ancients. Bayek fights to take each one of its members down. Meanwhile, Aya assists in killing members of the Order while also working alongside Cleopatra on a separate venture to secure the Egyptian throne from Ptolemy XIII. Bayek eventually becomes involved in this pursuit by becoming Cleopatra's Medjay in order to further root out the Order's followers.
However, things go south when Cleopatra cuts ties with Bayek and Aya, instead allying with Julius Caesar and the Order. Realizing their mistake in supporting Cleopatra, Bayek and Aya gather their allies to form a brotherhood to counter the Order and defend the free will of the common people. The two eventually discover that the leader of the Order and the one who was behind Khemu's murder was Caesar's lieutenant, Flavius. Bayek then confronts and assassinates him, finally obtaining the vengeance he and Aya have longed for.
Upon returning from killing Flavius, Bayek discovers that Aya plans to head to Rome to assassinate Caesar and Lucius Septimius--the final remaining member of the Order. It's at this point that Bayek and Aya decide to part ways but swear to work together to protect the world from the shadows. After sharing a heartfelt goodbye, Bayek drops the eagle's skull charm, which was once part of a necklace he made for Khemu, into the sand. It leaves an impression that ends up becoming the symbol of their new Brotherhood.
Looking Ahead: Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Unlike Origins, the direction of the upcoming Assassin's Creed Odyssey's isn't as clear. It takes place even further back during the Peloponnesian War in 431 BCE and follows the adventures of either Alexios or Kassandra, siblings and former Spartans-turned-mercenaries. Layla returns as the present-day protagonist and is continuing her adventures. She starts the game having discovered the Spear of Leonidas, a legendary weapon that also happens to be an Isu weapon. With the DNA traces left on it, she is able to see the memories of either Alexios or Kassandra using the Animus.
The question as to why Layla is going so far back in history remains unclear. She works for the Assassins now so it's possible this latest venture roots from their own goals and ambitions. There's a variety of possible theories, but we're personally thinking that this new story might have to do with the origins of the Templars and the Isu.
It's worth noting that the Juno plotline described in many of the past games was dropped in Origins, but we're curious whether or not it'll show up once more in some form in Odyssey. Seeing as the game is likely to deal a bit more heavily with the Isu given the presence of the Spear of Leonidas, there's a slight chance that we could hear more.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey further develops the RPG-stylings of its predecessor. Not only is the game's world much larger than ever before, but there's a wealth of new mechanics and systems added to mix things up. A territory system has you aligning yourself with the competing powers of the Peloponnesian War to carve out the land. Dialogue choices give you more freedom to guide the direction of your journey in subtle yet meaningful ways. And this is all in addition to a slew of improvements that have been made to Origin's pre-existing systems.
If you're a returning Assassin's Creed player or a newcomer entirely, much of the new features and mechanics may confuse you. To help you wrap your head over all the new systems in Odyssey, we've gathered 11 useful tips that should help you become the best spartan mercenary/proto-Assassin you can be!
Assassin's Odyssey is out now for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. As an interesting aside, the game will also be available to play on Google Chrome thanks to a new test the search giant is conducting to measure the strength of its game streaming technology. However, Google will only be choosing a select few users from those who sign up via its official website.
For more Assassin's Creed Odyssey guides, check out our guide highlighting the best skills you can unlock, as well as our recap of the franchise's story so far. If you're curious about our thoughts on the game, be sure to read our Assassin's Creed Odyssey review. GameSpot editor Alessandro Fillari said in his review: "While its large-scale campaign--clocking in at over 50 hours--can occasionally be tiresome, and some features don't quite make the impact they should, Assassin's Creed Odyssey makes great strides in its massive and dynamic world, and it's a joy to venture out and leave your mark on its ever-changing setting."
In the meantime, got any handy beginner's tips you don't see here? Let us know in the comments below.
Play Exploration Mode
This isn't so much a tip as a strong recommendation. One of the most meaningful features added into Odyssey is Exploration Mode, a navigation option that strips away markers and quest objectives, forcing you to rely on your investigative and observation skills instead. The mode offers a more challenging experience that's well worth the effort.
What Are The Best Side Quests?
Odyssey has some great side quests that offer stories that range from tense and serious, to funny and light-hearted. Some even tie back into the main narrative. With so much content in Odyssey you might be wondering which side quests are worth your time. You'll find two types of quests in the world.
First are quests indicated on the map by these gold and black diamonds. These are the major side quests that are the most involved and in our experience are always worth your time.
The other kinds of quests are much smaller, usually consisting of a simple task. You can find these on the map with white and black diamond markers or at Message/Bounty Boards. The quality of these quests vary with some being fun small objectives like defending a philosopher, and others being noticeably lame, like this one where you just need to walk a couple hundred meters and talk to an NPC to complete it. If you're the kind of person who isn't interested in doing everything possible and just wants to see the good stuff, we recommend avoiding these smaller quests completely and only doing the major side quests with the gold and black markers.
Finding And Upgrading Weapons And Armor
Weapons and armor play an even greater role in Odyssey, allowing you to customize your look. There are several ways to get awesome new gear. Completing major side quests is a pretty straightforward option, and the quest menu even shows what reward you will earn. Mercenaries are another great way to earn loot. You can check the mercenaries menu to see a detailed description of the loot each has, and then track the one you want to find. This is the most reliable way to search for something specific. There are also conquest battles, which reward you with a random piece of Epic loot.
If you find a piece of armor that has stats you like or just looks cool, you can always upgrade it at a blacksmith, bringing it up to your current level. This is an awesome way to ensure Legendary gear you get early on remains viable in the late game. You can enhance gear further with engravings, which give you bonuses like increased damage against certain enemy types or boosts to specific abilities.
Don't Forget Engravings
The best way to find engravings are from the puzzle tablets that contain riddles on them similar to Origins' Papyrus puzzles. Following the clues to the treasure rewards you with a new engraving. Engravings can be upgraded by completing an associated goal or challenge so keep an eye on those to maximize their potential. Engravings aren't just one-time use items either so don't worry about saving one for later, and just put it on. You can also swap engravings whenever you want, but it will cost you a small fee.
Sell Your Stuff And Break It Down
If you're the sort of person who likes to pick up everything that comes your way, you're liable to start stockpiling weapons and armor really quickly. Don't hold on to that stuff! Make sure to break it down for resources in the inventory menu or to visit merchants to sell them for a reasonable profit. You never want to be hoarding items, as you'll need the money and resources from selling or dismantling to better your current loadout and ship.
You'll also accumulate a bunch of items that serve no purpose other than to be sold at a shop. Make sure to offload these under the option of "Sell All Trade Goods" in the Sell menu.
Get These Abilities!
Unlike Origins, Odyssey allows you acquire and swap abilities. You get a skill tree for Hunter, Warrior, and Assassin, and you start with eight slots to equip abilities--four for ranged attacks, and four for melee attacks.
If you're looking for some suggestions, we've got them. Shield enemies can be a real pain in a large fight so pick up Shield Breaker, which lets you rip their shields off and hit them with it for damage. If you want to take care of captains or enemies with large health bars quickly, get Hero Strike, which uses the damage statistic normally used for assassin attacks.
If you prefer the stealthy approach, Rush Assassination lets you break the laws of physics by throwing your spear and then basically teleporting next to the target. You can also chain this attack, making it a handy way to take out a base in a quiet and efficient manner. Critical Assassination is also key as it lets you deal more damage, allowing you to assassinate high-level enemies. Finally you should get Spartan Kick, which is perfect for knocking enemies off cliffs or walls and is also just really fun.
You Can Restat At Any Time
Being able to respec at any time is a useful new feature that lets you experiment with different character builds. So if at any moment you think you've dumped too many points into one category over another, simply hold down the left stick in the skills menu to reallocate all the points you've earned thus far.
How To Get Materials
Collecting resources and materials is a major component of Odyssey. You need them to upgrade your equipment and ship. Thankfully it's not much of a headache to collect these resources. For starters, you always want to dismantle unused equipment for materials. You also have the option to sell equipment to vendors, but the resources are much more valuable than the money, which you'll still earn in other ways You'll find common resources like wood in forests and iron in caves, but you if you really need more, vendors will also sell them. A hot tip is to always loot War Supplies before you burn them in an enemy camp. These carry large quantities of materials and you don't want to miss out on them.
Earn Loot With Conquest Battles
As a mercenary, you are a soldier for hire in the war between Sparta and Athens and can use this to your advantage. Every region is controlled by one of the two factions. You'll first need to lower the occupying nation's grip by burning War Supplies, pillaging nation chests, killing their soldiers, and assassinating their leader. Once you've lowered the meter enough, a conquest battle becomes available. You can fight for either side by visiting their camp. Yes, you can side with the army whose supplies you just spent the last few hours burning down--I guess they're a forgiving bunch. Siding with the defending army presents you one piece of Epic gear, while siding with the invading army nets you two pieces of Epic gear, but the battle will be tougher. In our experience it's always worth siding with the invading army for that extra loot.
When participating in the battle itself, always keep an eye out on the two meters up top and make sure you're staying ahead. It's best to ignore the basic soldiers and focus on the captains and hero units who show up since eliminating them is the quickest way to win. Because of how easily multiple soldiers can overwhelm you, it's a good idea to pick abilities that deal damage to multiple enemies at once, such as Rain of Destruction.
Our final tip is not to wait too long to start the conquest battle once it's available, as the opportunity can be lost if you wait too long. Thankfully, you can repeat this process in a region as many times as you want, keeping the war going forever and your inventory filled with loot.
Quick-Save And Manual Saves Are Your Friend
If you're a traditional Assassin's Creed player, chances are you might not notice there are a manual and quick-save options in Odyssey. Given the more pivotal choices you'll have to make as the game progresses, you may want to backpedal a few times. Fortunately, the game is not too brutal when it comes to autosaves, but make sure to utilize this feature in order to give yourself a proper backup plan when events go south on account of a horrible decision you made.
A Moment Of Meditation
Like Origins, you can advance time of day by simply holding the map button. Previously this was an ability you had to acquire via the skill tree, but you're given it early on this time around without having to spend a skill point; though, the game doesn't make a big show of it so you might even notice it's there. Regardless, advancing time is handy when you want to attack camps at night since the majority of guards tend to sleep, making it easier for you to sneak about.
Although nothing is planned for Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Ubisoft is once more exploring the possibility of adding multiplayer to the series. After 2010, several of the mainline Assassin's Creed games supported some form of a multiplayer mode, but the feature was cut after 2014's Assassin's Creed Unity.
In an interview with Game Informer, Ubisoft chief creative officer Serge Hascoet said, "We have many technologies, so it's case by case, but Assassin's Creed has no multiplayer mode, and that is very important for the social aspect of gaming, so we are looking for that."
Hascoet didn't share what form Assassin's Creed's future multiplayer might take, but he doesn't want to just copy what others are doing. "Now, everybody is talking about battle royale, but we think there are 15 different companies making those games, and like mobile, only two will be successful," Hascoet said. "Many will be killed along the way; I don't know which ones will survive. I am working with my team on what's next. It's important to understand why games like Fortnite are so successful, but it's not so we can copy it. It's to do something else, but with the same disruptive approach. So, we have plenty of ideas. We are testing a lot of ideas internally, and maybe only one will go to market. "
In Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Revelations, III, and IV: Black Flag, Ubisoft implemented a multiplayer mode where you had to disguise yourself as an NPC while also trying to hunt down and kill other players. In Assassin's Creed Unity, Ubisoft changed multiplayer to be less competitive and more cooperative. You and up to three other players could tackle different side stories with your own custom Assassins, and also take on much larger Heists where completing the mission objective without being spotted would net your team massive in-game monetary rewards. Ubisoft cut multiplayer from Assassin's Creed Rogue, Syndicate, and Origins, and there are currently no plans to implement any multiplayer features in Odyssey.
Odyssey will be the last Assassin's Creed game for a while, as Ubisoft is not releasing another entry in the franchise in 2019. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is one of the largest games in the series to date, and we're loving it. In our Assassin's Creed Odyssey review, editor Alessandro Fillari gave the game an 8/10, writing, "While its large-scale campaign--clocking in at over 50 hours--can occasionally be tiresome, and some features don't quite make the impact they should, Odyssey makes great strides in its massive and dynamic world, and it's a joy to venture out and leave your mark on its ever-changing setting."
By Anonymous on Oct 09, 2018 12:07 am We got our hands on Fallout 76 and brought to you nearly 20 minutes of some of the opening moments that transpire as you wake up and leave your vault at the request of the Overseer.
While there have been many, many attempts to translate the tabletop roleplaying experience to the PC and console, more often than not it hasn't quite worked out. One of the biggest struggles in transitioning a traditional tabletop RPG into the quicker, imminently more binge-able video game form is incorporating a complex ruleset faithfully. Hypothetically speaking, with the right combo of spells and skills, a tabletop campaign can get utterly bizarre, with players collaborating to do things like using effectively unlimited ammunition to shoot through a mountain. These kinds of solutions are impossible in video games, where destructible environments and the difficulty of coding different possibilities necessarily limits the ways you can interact with the game. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a partial exception to that rule, but it often fumbles with the execution.
Just about everything has been wholesale imported from the Pathfinder tabletop games; nearly all the mechanics, spells, skills, etc. make their way in, and so does a massive chunk of the lore and mythology. That's all well and good, particularly because Kingmaker offers plenty of options to help customize the difficulty and effectively put you in the role of Game Master. There are more than a dozen options for adjusting everything from damage scaling for foes--a handicap that makes you more resistant to harm in tougher fights--to how the AI will manage your (eventual) kingdom.
Given that this is a hefty choose-your-own-everything adventure, your character is a blank slate. You can pick from many of the basic races--as well as the godlike aasimar--and a fair few of the basic classes, skills and abilities from the tabletop edition. Your companions are initially pulled from a crowd of heroes you meet in the game's opening, but it expands soon after with any number of additional friends and allies to bring along the way. For the most part, these serve as means to an end. Your allies are as much a part of the experience as your own character is, both in terms of party composition and roleplaying in the narrative.
This is reinforced by one of the few concessions the tabletop game doesn't make, but the game does: party-wide skill checks. Passing obstacles in the tabletop Pathfinder, for instance, can often separate the party, as those that don't have a skill like acrobatics won't be able to maneuver through a thicket. Instead, in Kingmaker, the party completes these tasks as a team. It behooves you, then, to really spread out your abilities and party to maximize coverage of options over making sure everyone has the same basic setup with slightly different modifications down the line.
Such concessions transition well into group cohesion in combat, as well. With such a diverse set of specializations, party management is exceptionally important--especially because of the intense base difficulty. By default, Kingmaker follows the rules of tabletop perhaps too closely; it's a system where simple combat with a few foes can take 30 minutes to an hour (or more), all compressed into a few seconds on-screen. That can be taxing as it requires tremendous familiarity with each classes' traits as well as the acuity to know how to pull them together.
Were everyone sitting around the table, each would have a couple minutes to look over their spells, consider all manner of responses, and then execute the plan on their next turn. In Kingmaker, though, combat largely happens in real time. Sure, you have a pause button and can quickly look over your characters to devise tactics mid-battle, but this absolutely grinds combat down and really hits the pacing of the game in the worst way.
Perhaps a bit more troubling is the fact that within Pathfinder's ruleset, many monsters and creatures require very specific tools to kill. Swarms of small creatures like rats, for instance, can't be effectively fought with a sword and shield. Sometimes Kingmaker warns you, but other times it simply expects you to know how to handle the problem. Rust monsters, skeletons, ghosts, and so on all have specific tools that you need to understand and be able to use with relative ease. That's made easier by having a diverse party, but then you have to take far more time aside to learn the ins and outs of your band of characters than a traditional tabletop player.
This tension--between what Kingmaker is trying to be and what that looks like in practice--is at the heart of many of its missteps. With more than a dozen references and resources to draw upon, quite a few things have slipped through the cracks, causing issues of balance throughout. There's the distinct impression that Pathfinder's convoluted rulesets have led to oversights in how damage gets calculated by the game in this or that room, or whether you'll face a much higher spell failure chance when squaring against a boss.
There have patches since release, and many of the adjustments definitely work. A slightly modified Story Mode (the name of one of the difficulty presets) is a solid entry point for many. Still, the rules and procedures can be labyrinthine--and that's even with tooltips that explain proper nouns and the requisite in-game encyclopedia to explain everything else.
For those willing to take on the challenge, however, what lies beneath the brusque exterior is a welcome return to involved roleplaying. The voice acting is spotty, and writing can be a bit cliché at times, but the game doesn't shy away from its subtitle. In relatively short order, you earn your barony and have the ability to build it out however you choose--hiring advisers and upgrading facilities to help you along the adventure. Kingmaker's campaign cuts much closer to long-term tabletop campaigns and gives you a stable home base from which to plan your next outing. And, not to belabor the point, but most of your mini-adventures will definitely require prep.
These outings also constitute the bulk of your questing play and a good chunk of the ongoing narrative--an interconnected web of relationships and allegiances that lends itself to plenty of political intrigue and exciting adventures. Unearthing the mysteries of not only your "employers" but also the shifting factions of the Stolen Lands and how that plays into the world at large is definitely an extraordinary and rewarding endeavor.
For those willing to take on the challenge, what lies beneath the brusque exterior is a welcome return to involved roleplaying.
The interaction between the ruling bit of play and the rest of it is great. Having each of these systems--roleplaying, combat, adventuring, and what's essentially SimCity-lite--feed into and influence one another yields an experience that is as broad as it is deep. Your level of investment and engagement with each is largely up to you, but each of them matters and will require attentiveness to get the best results. But the opportunities it yields are exceptional. Having your roleplaying choices and character story and alignment all play into how you rule and who accompanies you on your trek is amazing. Working towards getting a well-crafted set of gear for your party after carefully maneuvering through hours of quests and adventures, all for the glory of besting a big bad using all the skills and abilities you've given your team, are high points of the adventure.
All-told, Kingmaker isn't a stellar outing, hampered by a litany of small issues, balancing, and the gargantuan knowledge base you'll need to play most effectively. But, for those with the patience, the rewards are well worth the investment.
Ever since the reveal, it's been difficult to get a sense of what Fallout 76 is all about. While the concept of an online Fallout experience is enticing, it also comes into conflict with the series' typical brand of role-playing. Though Fallout 76 does lessen those traditionally single-player details to a noticeable degree, it offers up an alluring opportunity to explore uncharted, irradiated territory with others.
With the pivot to multiplayer, Fallout 76 focuses a lot more on exploration and survival in West Virginia's Appalachia, with all its regional oddities and newfound horrors coming in large doses. Recently, we played three hours of the game ahead of the game's upcoming October beta, and spoke with developers from Bethesda Game Studios about the particular challenges of making a different kind of Fallout.
Set only 25 years after the bombs dropped--making it the earliest game in the series' timeline--Fallout 76 gives itself plenty of distance from previous games to show off the freshly devastated wilderness. In traditional fashion, you leave the safe confines of the Vault to venture out into the wasteland--bringing with you a sense of determination, and also the naïveté that can come from living in somewhat comfortable isolation. After a quick introduction, you create your character, get accustomed to the new controls and systems, and venture out to the surface. However, what sets this game apart from the others is that you're one of many survivors. And once you're outside, it's every Vault Dweller for themselves.
During the first hour, I got my bearings by taking a tour around the immediate area, even joining a group to take in all the sights. Fallout 76 has the familiar RPG mechanics and sense of exploration that the series is known for, but it also has more of an amusement park vibe--with several key attractions and locales clearly highlighted on the map, such as The Greenbrier Resort and the Top of the World ski-slope. While exploring Fallout's take on West Virginia, which is several times larger than the Commonwealth of Fallout 4, I got the feeling that I was sort of experiencing the greatest hits of all things Fallout. First came the familiar weapons and armor found from previous games, then came the feral ghouls, the Super Mutants, and references to the Brotherhood of Steel and Enclave.
Still, the new location in West Virginia feels totally different from Fallout 4's Capital Wasteland and the Mojave from New Vegas, which quickly introduces its own brand of locales and strange monsters that reside there. Along with weird monsters like enlarged ticks, three-headed possums, and even Mole Men, there are other monsters that reference West Virginian urban legends. This includes the headless, hulking Grafton Monster and the enigmatic Mothman, the latter of which is revered by the hostile cabal of Scorched, heavily irradiated humans who eventually evolve into ghouls of sound mind.
For the most part, combat and general movement handle similarly to Fallout 4. However, the new mechanics and survival systems at play felt somewhat overwhelming to get a handle during our introduction. In 76, much of the tutorial happens in a trial by fire scenario in the open world, where you'll have to follow the early moments of the quests closely in order to learn the new mechanics, all while fighting off enemies and scavenging resources. While I appreciated the quick pace at which players are whisked out of the vault, picking up some meager supplies along the way, I felt that the on-boarding process could be a bit more detailed--it made me feel mostly unprepared as I was scrambling to find any weapon I could get my hands on.
With the new online focus, some returning mechanics have seen some changes. For instance, Fallout's iconic V.A.T.S.--allowing you to target enemies and fire off precisely-aimed shots--now operates in real-time. It acts more like a real-time lock-on--with your weapon's hit-rate adjusting depending on the enemy's movement or their surroundings. This style of V.A.T.S. definitely took some getting used to. Mostly to the fact that enemies move around often, and combined with the awkward focus of the V.A.T.S. camera, it was jarring to actually use it during a fight. Because of this, I mostly stuck with standard aiming and shooting, which felt more reliable during engagements. While you can upgrade V.A.T.S. with perks to make it more effective, it feels more like an option that should be used sparingly.
Fallout 76's survival mechanics take many cues from Fallout 4's more challenging Survival mode. In addition to keeping your character well fed on a regular basis, you'll also have to avoid ailments and diseases--such as contracting the oddly named but still troubling Rad Worms. Some enemies and locations even carry specific diseases, which create added risks to watch out for when exploring. These illnesses range from diseases that sap your maximum health, action points, and the general damage resistances for your character, to even increasing your susceptibility to radiation.
With a large emphasis on survival, nearly every item and resource you can get your hands on feels much more valuable. Nothing really lasts too long in Fallout 76--even the buffs from Bobbleheads and skill magazines only last a short time--so every tool you have will inevitably be discarded for something new. As you're scavenging through the open world, you'll find junk items, scraps, and crafting plans that can be turned into new gear and building materials for your constructions. Some of these materials can create bizarre weapons like the Heated Pitchfork or Ski-Sword--a single ski sharpened to form a blade. But over time, weapons and armor will eventually need to be repaired or broken down into materials for other items. Moreover, cooking and chem stations now have a greater importance, allowing you to prepare meals and craft support items.
Character growth is still the core part of Fallout 76, and it offers an impressive amount of variety and flexibility. After leveling up, you can place points into the familiar categories of the SPECIAL system, each of which boost areas of your character's raw stats. Eventually, you'll acquire a pack of Perk Cards that can offer special buffs in their assigned categories. For example, the Gladiator perk card is a Strength card which increases damage with melee weapons, while Lead Belly can decrease the radiation from drinking contaminated water. The more points you have in a category, the more Perk Cards you can potentially slot in, giving you a whole suite of added buffs. At any time, you can swap out your set of Perk Cards to readjust your character, to better prepare for different challenges.
In keeping with the game's focus on pioneering, the building mechanics from Fallout 4 also return. Now known as the C.A.M.P. system, you have in your possession a mobile construction device that allows you create a building at any time--provided that it doesn't overlap with existing structures. You have free rein to construct whatever you like, whether that be subtle safe-houses for you to stash supplies, or even larger mega-structures that house turrets and a dedicated place to relax. If you ever want to pack up and move elsewhere, you can save your structure as a blueprint and dismantle it. This can come in handy if your chosen spot becomes too popular with other players.
The biggest point of contention with Fallout 76's online nature is its lack of NPCs and slimmed down story, now serve to highlight the focus on moment-to-moment engagements with enemies and other players. This lack of traditional interactions and storytelling felt more noticeable the deeper we dove into the world. While you're certainly free to play solo and avoid other players--and we definitely took the opportunity to strike out on our own, leading to those familiar moments of solitude and wanderlust, you'll always be a potential target within the online world.
Having said that, I couldn't help but feel intrigued by the re-focus here. Lore and smaller doses of story are still in surprisingly ample supply, but told passively through the environment and journals scattered about. While there are no active NPC characters to find--with exception to roaming robots that can offer trades and intel--you'll eventually stumble across the bodies of long-dead survivors who have had a notable presence in the world. In their possession are special holotapes known Survivor Stories, detailing the last moments of their lives in the irradiated wilderness.
These stories told some interesting tales for the characters in Appalachia, which had some poignant and heartfelt moments to them--which was reassuring given the fragmented nature of the storytelling in 76. Speaking with design director Emil Paglliarulo, he elaborated on their refocus to make Fallout more about engaging with others players.
"We started off with the premise where the only other people you see are the ones that came from the vault," he said. "We've also never had the opportunity to do a game that's set twenty-five years after the bombs fell, it's always been two-hundred something years after. Now, we have the stories of the people that survived the initial war, and we've never been able to tell those stories before. Of course without NPCs or no dialog trees--which was a huge adjustment for our quest designers, as they were used to doing it a certain way--and now the lore-heavy stuff comes from holo-tapes, which now has its own tab in the Pip-Boy. That's been really interesting for us. And what ended up happening is that we ended up having a much more lonely story than in Fallout 4. All of these people that you do [learn about] are dead already, and it's almost like a weird ghost story. We didn't expect that."
Whether you want to play solo or within a group, player interaction is a big part of the game. Encountering another person after rounding the corner or reaching the end of a dungeon creates some genuinely tense feelings--not knowing what intentions the other player in front of you has. To communicate with others, Fallout 76 features a variety of in-game emotes to use and proximity based voice-chat. During our session, however, we used Xbox Live's party chat client to stay in constant communication with our group--which won't be the case for most players online.
When playing in groups, communication is important, and the emotes and proximity chat are a great way to get your point across. This is especially vital when grouping up for some of the more active quests that task you with overcoming some bizarre obstacles, such as finding the keys to an armory in a makeshift town built out of a destroyed aircraft, or finding out a mob of "unruly golfer feral ghouls" at a ritzy resort that's still maintained by protectotrons. This can lead to some humorous and equally tense moments where players are scrambling to rely on their team's special skills to progress further.
Once you reach level 5, Fallout 76's PvP systems open up. When you encounter another player that's over level 5, you can fire your weapon at them to let them know of your intentions. If they return fire, then you'll both engage in a duel, with the loser dropping their current haul of junk items--no caps or gear is lost after a defeat. When shooting at a player that hasn't engaged in response, all damage will be cut in half, which gives them enough time to react. It's possible to kill another player who is not into the idea of fighting, and appropriately enough, this backhanded approach will mark you as a murderer, painting a massive target on your back for all players in the world to see.
Our group of level 5 explorers tried to take down a level-58 player in power armor in similar fashion, but it didn't go over well at all as he easily decimated the group with a high-powered Tesla Rifle. While damage calculations scale for enemies, allowing low-level players to potentially take out monsters several levels ahead of them, it does not for PvP engagements. However, if you wish to avoid PvP, or if a player is bugging you too much, you can block them or fast-travel to safety fairly easily. So far, the system in place is a thoughtful way to overcome the potential harassment that can often spring up with this type of game.
To cap off our hands-on time, the developers launched a nuke, which obliterates specific areas of the map. We all had front row seats to the explosion, and then proceeded to jump into the ensuing fallout--with its heavy radiation promptly killing us off one-by-one. As one of the larger end-game goals in Fallout 76, activating a nuke can lead to new events in the irradiated areas, revealing rare materials and dangerous enemies to fight. It also highlights the more dynamic nature of Fallout 76, with many of its narrative touches informed by the player's decisions in the world.
The scale of Fallout 76 seemed impressive based on the first few hours. The location of West Virginia--and all its oddities--was exciting to dive into, which felt refreshing after coming off of Fallout 4's Commonwealth. However, much like previous Fallout games, there were a number of odd bugs and large frame-rate dips that occurred throughout. This was especially noticeable during larger fire fights against large groups of enemies, which brought overall performance down to a slog. The developers we spoke to, however, assured us that the performance will be improved in time for its November 14 launch.
76 certainly isn't like other Fallout games. After our three hours, I got the impression that Bethesda is taking a risky approach with the series in regards to its lore and its core gameplay. With its heavy focus on survival gameplay and the online experience, I suspect that this largely experimental take on Fallout will become a rather polarizing entry. Though the mechanics were somewhat overwhelming to get a handle of, I can't deny that I enjoyed exploring the large map and engaging in the mysterious, post-apocalyptic take on West Virginia. Fallout 76 looks like it can flourish in the long-term, and I'm interested in what can come about after many hours in its off-kilter and ever-changing setting.
By Anonymous on Oct 08, 2018 11:55 pm Like fireworks in the sky players gather around to see an incredible sight. A nuke falling down and creating a spectacular explosion that is as eerie as it is fascinating.
By Anonymous on Oct 08, 2018 11:54 pm Jean-Luc and Alessandro went to West Virginia to play Fallout 76 and tell you what its like to play a Bethesda game with other people.
For a triple-A game, PS4's Spider-Man has one of the highest platinum trophy completion rates ever. As of writing this article, it's sitting at 10.2%, so about one in ten players who pick up the game are grabbing every trophy for it.
At first glance, this might not seem all that impressive. Game Informer, for example, points out that there are games with much higher rates, like Undertale, which sits at 21.4%. However, when compared to PS4's other big name exclusives, it's apparent that Spider-Man has a pretty high completion rate. According to Twinfinite, after Spider-Man, the next major PS4 exclusive with the highest platinum trophy completion rate is Horizon Zero Dawn at 6.9%. It's followed by 2018's God of War at 5.5%, Until Dawn at 2.9%, and Persona 5 at 2.4%.
It certainly helps that Spider-Man, despite its size, is a relatively easy game to 100% complete. The game has no trophies tied to playing the game on a certain difficulty or completing a level in a specific way. Arguably, the four hardest trophies in the game are tied to Taskmaster's challenges--Short Fuse, Spy Hunter, Fists of Fury, and Ninja--that have you get at least Spectacular (two out of three stars) in one Bomb, Drone, Combat, and Stealth challenge respectfully. You don't actually need to get a perfect Ultimate rating in any of the challenges to grab Spider-Man's platinum, though. I Heart Manhattan--which is earned by completing every district in the game--will probably take you the longest to do, but since most of that requirement is tied to finding collectibles and responding to crimes, it's not all that hard.
Spider-Man is exclusively available for PS4. The game is scheduled to get three DLC expansions before the end of 2018. The first, titled The Heist, releases on October 23 and focuses on Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat. Insomniac is also working on giving Spider-Man a New Game Plus mode that will allow you to replay through the entire game with all of Spidey's abilities, skills, and gadgets that you unlocked in a previous save.
By Anonymous on Oct 08, 2018 11:47 pm Find out what shows, originals, and films are coming to the streaming platform in October as we list our top recommendations, including Daredevil season 3, Castlevania season 2, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina!
The soft reboot that was Assassin's Creed Origins introduced a new approach to the series' brand of stealth-action gameplay, along with an expansive and vibrant open world with many dynamic systems at work. In this year's follow-up, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, developer Ubisoft Quebec builds upon its predecessor's pillars, and in the process shows greater confidence in the series' new direction.
Set in Ancient Greece, Odyssey predates the previous game by several centuries. During the Peloponnesian War in 431 BCE, you take on the role of either Alexios or Kassandra, siblings and former Spartans-turned-mercenaries. In keeping with series tradition, Odyssey features parallel storylines, with the main narrative taking place in the distant past and the overarching plot set in the present day. After pivotal moments dealing with political intrigue and wartime conflict in Greece, you'll jump back to the modern day to continue the story of Layla Hassan, introduced in Origins, who's working to uncover the secrets of the first civilization. Throughout your travels in Ancient Greece you'll uncover lost tombs, engage in naval warfare on the high seas, and assassinate the key members of a shadowy conspiracy seeking control of the known world.
In your trek through the Greek mainland and the islands of the Mediterranean sea, you come across diverse locales that showcase lush environments that pay tribute to the old gods, while rubbing shoulders with the many historical figures of the era looking to make their impression in Greek society. The amount of detail packed into each location is impressive, tied together by an active and dynamic ecosystem where local wildlife and civilians keep their territory. But as you dive further, you'll see the many hardships and realities of life in Ancient Greece firsthand, including the horrors of slavery and the ever-present war between the military-driven Spartans and the bureaucratic Athenian army.
Featuring a map that's more than double the size of the previous game, Odyssey is built to be explored and has incidental content to reward your wanderlust. You get the sense that your actions will have a lasting impact wherever you go, and Odyssey offers up a wealth of content that fuels your growth at a steady pace. Though the issue of level-gating comes up occasionally, preventing you from actively exploring any region as you wish, you can take a break from the main story and dive into the breadth of side content at your leisure. Several side quests offer a surprising amount of depth and heart and feature some of Odyssey's more standout moments.
Throughout the main story and in side-quests, you'll make several key decisions that affect the game's narrative and your character's journey. While many of the choices you make are largely inconsequential and result only in slightly different endings for quests, the fateful decisions that do matter can lead to drastic turns of events, with some storylines and characters meeting their end prematurely. In moments you'd least expect, you'll see the payoff for decisions made early on in the story, for better or worse. With nine different possible outcomes at the main story's conclusion, there's a surprisingly large amount of cause and effect that can make the narrative feel all your own.
The different protagonists also offer up some of Odyssey's most endearing and entertaining moments. Despite the grim nature of the game, jokes and fun gags often break the tension, even during serious events. Though both Kassandra and Alexios share the same dialogue and story beats, their differing personalities, gender, and points of view offer unique flavor, making them stand apart--with some scenes and questlines feeling more appropriate with a particular character.
The Photo Mode in Assassin's Creed Odyssey allows you to capture some of the game's most breathtaking views.
Romancing side characters is also possible in Odyssey. While some of these scenes can be amusing, they're mostly just bizarre shows of affection that have no real purpose. These scenes almost always result in a shallow aside during the conversation, with the characters slinking off-screen before returning to the conversation without skipping a beat. Most often, these awkward romance opportunities appear immediately after (or during) otherwise harrowing events. Aside from seeing some additional scenes with certain characters, there's really no benefit to engaging in romance at all. The inclusion of these scenes feels cheap and can sully otherwise interesting conversations.
As you unravel more of the world and advance in the main story, new gameplay mechanics and side opportunities will reveal themselves, adding even greater incentive to explore. When the conspiracy that threatens Greece makes itself known, you'll be able to keep track of the major players through a large interconnected web in the game's menu, showing their connections to other targets and how to find the intel to track them down. But in one of Odyssey's more involved quests, you'll encounter several mythological beasts hidden within the world, offering up some of the game's most inventive and memorable encounters, where brute force isn't always the answer.
The world in Ancient Greece feels much more reactive compared to previous Assassin's Creed games, and you get the sense that your actions will have a lasting impact wherever you go. When you start causing too much trouble, you'll attract the attention of rival mercenaries looking to collect a bounty. Similar to Shadow of War's Nemesis system, though not as sophisticated, Odyssey presents a seemingly endless set of antagonists with their own backstories, strengths, and potential loot. If you find yourself with a bounty on your head, mercenaries are often quick to appear--leading to some annoying encounters where they arrive at the worst possible time, even during some story missions. If the heat from the encroaching mercenaries feels too much, you can lay low long enough for the bounty to clear, assassinate another wanted criminal, or pay off your own bounty in the game menu.
With nine different possible outcomes at the main story's conclusion, there's a surprisingly large amount of cause and effect that can make the narrative feel all your own.
One of Odyssey's more clever features is the new Exploration Mode. With this optional mode enabled, you're challenged to use your observation and deduction skills to find your next target, without the support of icons or waypoints. By engaging with quest-givers and friendly NPCs, you'll learn details about your surroundings and slowly piece together your next steps. Exploration Mode heightens the pride that comes from solving puzzles, and this makes each step of your investigations feel all the more rewarding.
When it comes to combat, Odyssey keeps up with the recent trend to incorporate stat-based mechanics into its core gameplay. Compared to previous games, there's now a greater focus on allowing you to customize your character to approach the challenges ahead. You can also build your character to specialize in stealth, long-range, or melee combat, and you're able to respec at any time. If you want to build your character as a powerful Spartan warrior wielding a legendary spear and use your Spartan Kick to boot enemies off cliffs, you can, but you are also free to stick with the traditional Assassin archetype.
This opens a lot of opportunities to experiment with special moves and gear, the latter of which can also be customized with special perks that offer unique bonuses. Odyssey no longer features the shields introduced in Origins, and as a result, combat flows at a brisker pace. By placing the emphasis more on dodging and parrying incoming blows from enemies, fighting feels more involved and dynamic. While there are times where Odyssey can run right into the awkwardness of its RPG mechanics clashing with the action gameplay--such as being unable to assassinate enemies outright due to being under-leveled--it makes up for it by giving players the options to avoid such clumsy engagements.
Your ship, The Adrestia, can be upgraded to deal greater damage and move faster while out on the open waters.
Naval combat and sailing make a return in Odyssey, opening up exploration on the high seas. As you build up resources and find new members to join your crew, you can customize and upgrade your ship, The Adrestia, to take on more daring challenges. Much like in Black Flag and Rogue, seafaring offers up some of the more exciting and visually pleasing moments of the game, finding lost sunken ruins in the oceans depths or facing off against increasingly aggressive rival ships. Over the course of your travels, you'll be able to recruit new lieutenants to add buffs to your ship, giving you more of a fighting chance against the sea's greater threats.
The scope of Odyssey is enormous, and for the most part, it's presented well. But some of the new innovations that seek to fit within the scale of the world, however, feel somewhat lost in the grand scheme of the game. With the ongoing war between the Spartan and Athenian army, you can choose to take part in the conflict and dismantle a faction's influence in a region. In these Conquest battles, you'll pick a side and cripple an army's hold by assassinating their leaders and taking their resources--culminating in a large-scale battle against their forces.
While this is a solid way of gaining resources and improving your standing with a faction, the mechanics and implementation into Odyssey's general systems make it feel half-baked at best and pointless at worst. In some of the more bizarre cases, the game and its narrative don't seem to take Conquest seriously, especially when the main story has you helping a particular faction, despite the side content in the area actively hurting them. This in turn can create a jarring and noticeable feeling of dissonance throughout your adventures. The game often struggles to make sense of the actual war gameplay within the context of its core narrative, which is disappointing.
When looking at Odyssey in the bigger picture, it can often feel like too much game for its own good. There are numerous moments where the loop of exploring, completing missions, and traveling can slow the pace significantly. This is exacerbated by the expansive map, which can sometimes feel excessively big and a chore to travel through. There are also some notable bugs and hitches that crop up throughout, including those that prevent progress in missions to outright crash the game. Several times throughout my journey, progression was somewhat exhausting, which made some of the more impactful and exciting moments in the story feel like a drag.
Despite this, Assassin's Creed Odyssey's ambition is admirable, which is reflected in its rich attention to detail for the era and its approach to handling the multi-faceted narrative with strong protagonists at the lead. While its large-scale campaign--clocking in at over 50 hours--can occasionally be tiresome, and some features don't quite make the impact they should, Odyssey makes great strides in its massive and dynamic world, and it's a joy to venture out and leave your mark on its ever-changing setting.
Anyone who's played a Mario Party game in the past 20 years has a good idea of what to expect from Switch's Super Mario Party, but Nintendo's latest offers a few new modes that each add their own creative spin on the tried-and-true formula. In many ways, Super Mario Party feels smaller than previous games in the series, but added layers of strategy and clever, fun minigames help keep it lively and fresh.
The fierce competitive nature of the series' earliest titles is back, as Super Mario Party ditches Mario Party 9 and 10's cooperative car mechanic and once again pits players against each other in a race for Stars. The overall goal in Super Mario Party is to earn five Gems, which you get after completing each of the game's five major offline modes: Mario Party, Partner Party, Challenge Road, River Survival, and Sound Stage.
Mario Party mode features the series' classic formula of bite-sized games interspersed between rounds of board game hijinks. Your character is still placed on a board with three others where you'll all race after Toadette and her collection of Stars. The biggest change is the introduction of character dice blocks; while previous Mario Party games utilized virtual 10-sided dice, now every character has two dice blocks, one six-sided and the other unique to them, and you have to decide which one to use each turn. The six-sided die rolls a one through six, while each character die comes with its own set of strengths and weaknesses.
For example, Mario's has a number three on three of its sides, while the remaining three sides are one, five, and six. In comparison, the devilish gambler Wario has a special die where two of the sides cause him to lose two coins, but the other four sides are sixes. For the first time in a Mario Party game, your choice of character is more than just aesthetic, and figuring out the best time to use a specific dice block adds a level of strategy to what's typically been an act of randomness.
Each of the game's four boards requires slight tweaks to your strategy for reaching the Star, but they're all small, and most don't take advantage of their unique makeups. Whomp's Domino Ruins, for example, features Whomps who will block your path down certain shortcuts. The board only has two Whomps, though, so you don't encounter them very often, and even when you do, the board is small enough that taking the long way around won't put you at much of a disadvantage. Super Mario Party's four boards don't feel distinct, so your strategy for each one won't be all that different. And since there are only four boards in total to pick from, Mario Party mode grows stale fairly quickly.
There are a total of 80 minigames in Super Mario Party, putting it just behind Mario Party 6, 7, and 9 in terms of quantity. Of the 80 minigames, nearly half rely on the motion control or rumble features in the Switch's Joy-Cons. Don't fret; both the motion and rumble features work surprisingly well, and it makes for some of the most cleverly designed games in the Mario Party series. For example, in Fiddler on the Hoof, you and three others race horses, and making a pulling back motion with the Joy-Con to simulate whipping the reins increases your score if you move with the beat of the song that's playing. In Nut Cases, you and a partner need to outwit the other team by claiming the five boxes that have the most walnuts inside them. You get an idea as to a box's contents by picking it up and measuring the severity of your Joy-Con's vibration. As Super Mario Party only supports motion control with a single Joy-Con, you won't be able to play the game in handheld mode or with a Pro Controller.
Partner Party mode is Super Mario Party's reimagining of Mario Party 6's Team Battle mode. The rules are similar to Mario Party mode, but there are more paths around the board, and you need to actually land on Toadette's spot to get a Star instead of just collecting it while passing by. The minor obstacles from Mario Party mode become trickier to get past in Partner Party because you need to remain mindful of both you and your partner. Paying to move Whomp out of the way might get you to the Star more quickly, but doing so could trap other players, including your teammate. There's the possibility of winning the next minigame and earning enough coin to buy an item to free them, but that's no guarantee. This type of consideration and amount of forethought simply doesn't exist in Mario Party mode.
Two of the other major modes, River Survival and Sound Stage, are new to the Mario Party franchise. The former has you working together with three others to survive a trip down a dangerous river while playing Co-op minigames, while the latter is an energetic dance competition where you solely play Rhythm minigames. Both River Survival and Sound Stage offer fun, albeit brief, alternatives to the staple Mario Party formula. The Co-op and Rhythm minigames are also some of the best in the Mario Party series, especially the Rhythm ones like Fiddler on the Hoof, that have you actually standing up and moving around to match the groove of the game's characters. Both Co-op and Rhythm minigames lack the heated competition of other head-to-head minigames, but they do pump up a room.
Super Mario Party's final major mode, Challenge Road, is the closest the game has to a single-player campaign, but it only opens up once you've unlocked all 80 minigames. The mode has you play through every single minigame with specific handicaps placed on you to make each one harder. For example, a racing minigame might challenge you to get first place without running into any of the track's hazards. This mode comes very close to giving Super Mario Party just the amount of challenge the game would need to increase its longevity, but unfortunately it buckles. If you fail at a challenge three times, the game asks you if you'd like to just skip it. You can always come back and beat the challenge later if you want, but the mode never punishes you for skipping any of the minigames. As long as you get to the end of the road, regardless if you skipped a dozen challenges to get there, you'll still earn one of the five Gems you need.
Super Mario Party also has several smaller modes and features that aren't tied to earning the Super Star title. In Mariothon, you compete in five minigames where outlasting your opponents in time-based games earns you extra points on the tournament ladder. There's an online version of Mariothon too, and you can either play in a private lobby with your friends or compete on a worldwide stage and fight to climb up in the rankings. We had no connectivity issues when playing online, but the private lobby did load faster. Square Off is also a minigame-based tournament, but after each win, you're allowed to claim a territory space. Owning the pieces of territory on either side of another player's territory nets you their space too, and the game continues until every space is filled. The winner is whoever owns the most spaces at the end of the match. Both modes give you a goal to strive for while playing minigames, which creates extra levels of competition amongst a group of friends.
The new Partner Party, River Survival, and Sound Stage modes add enjoyable alternatives to Mario Party mode--which at least returns to its competitive roots.
There's also Toad's Rec Room, where you can play unique games that change based on how you position your Switch, and a Stickers room, where you can cover a wall in a mural of stickers you've collected. Both seem tacked on to Super Mario Party; the former to justify putting the game on a console that can be played on a horizontal plane, in kickstand mode, or in a dock, and the latter to give you a reason to go out and buy some Amiibos to scan and get special stickers that aren't earnable within the game. Although the option of changing perspectives in Toad's Rec Room--such as looking at a baseball field from a bird's eye, laid-back, or pitcher's view--is an interesting gimmick, none of the games are really made better by adjusting how you look at them. The Stickers room is not worth getting invested in at all.
Everything about Super Mario Party feels smaller in comparison to previous titles in the series. Both Mario Party and Partner Party mode play on small boards, and certain modes, like Challenge Road, have clear tier points to make it easy to play through in small chunks. So it's all the more puzzling that you can't actually play Super Mario Party on the go in handheld mode. Given you need a seperate Joy-Con to perform the motion-based actions in the game, it makes sense, but it's still odd to see a game on Switch that actively prevents you from making use of the console's portability.
Most of Super Mario Party's varied assortment of 80 minigames are fun, especially if you've got a full group of four players, as the NPCs aren't smart or skilled enough to pose much of a challenge until you unlock Master difficulty. The new Partner Party, River Survival, and Sound Stage modes add enjoyable alternatives to Mario Party mode--which at least returns to its competitive roots. And even if the unique character dice blocks don't shake up Super Mario Party's four boards enough to give Mario Party mode some longevity, they implement small moments of strategy into a series that has for too long solely relied on randomness to determine a winner.
Editor's note: This was originally a review in progress. Now that the game has launched, we have updated and finalized this review to reflect our experience with the online functionality.
By Anonymous on Oct 08, 2018 11:08 pm Doctor Who is back, with Jodie Whittaker in the hot seat. We break down the first episode of series 11, The Woman Who Fell To Earth, and take a look at some hidden easter eggs from the show's big return!
The hype surrounding Red Dead Redemption 2 continues to grow as its PS4 and Xbox One release date gets closer, and now the game's protagonist, Arthur Morgan, is getting a shout out from an unlikely corner of the Wild West. Techland Games, which developed Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, has published a video with the game's main characters Silas Greaves addressing Morgan.
"The Old West is full of legends. And you, Arthur Morgan, soon will be one of the greatest, I'm sure," Greaves says in the video above. "Because legends, you know, never die. They change to come back stronger than ever."
It's unclear what the bigger meaning of Call of Juarez: Gunslinger's video is, as no new Call of Juarez game has been announced and the video appears to piggyback on the hype of Red Dead Redemption 2. Before the video was released, the tease began on Call of Juarez: Gunslinger's Facebook page, which hadn't been updated in over five years. The game's Facebook page added a banner of Silas Greaves with the tagline "Legends never die." Another image on the page showed Greaves standing over the same canyon seen in the video with the quote, "I haven't been here in many years. Name's Silas Greaves."
We got our hands on Fallout 76 and brought to you nearly 20 minutes of some of the opening moments that transpire as you wake up and leave your vault at the request of the Overseer.
Like fireworks in the sky players gather around to see an incredible sight. A nuke falling down and creating a spectacular explosion that is as eerie as it is fascinating.
Jean-Luc and Alessandro went to West Virginia to play Fallout 76 and tell you what its like to play a Bethesda game with other people.
Find out what shows, originals, and films are coming to the streaming platform in October as we list our top recommendations, including Daredevil season 3, Castlevania season 2, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina!
Doctor Who is back, with Jodie Whittaker in the hot seat. We break down the first episode of series 11, The Woman Who Fell To Earth, and take a look at some hidden easter eggs from the show's big return!
No comments:
Post a Comment