Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is one of the best games Ubisoft has ever put out and one of the strongest games to come out in 2018. Players get to play as Kassandra or Alexios, a mercenary from the nation of Sparta before their family was torn apart.
While the game came out years ago, Odyssey is still worth diving into. However, players who haven’t played the game should check these tips out first. They’ll make the first playthrough far more enjoyable in general. Experienced players might find a bit less, but it’s still worth a look.
Updated October 20, 2022, by Daniel Furn: While attention is turning towards Assassin's Creed Mirage, a host of new players will be playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey for the first time due to its recent addition to Game Pass and Playstation Plus Extra. Since Assassin's Creed Odyssey was surprisingly still receiving a few updates years after release, we've got some new tips for those entering Ubisoft's expansive recreation of Ancient Greece for the first time.
14 Exploration Mode
If you'd rather not feel overwhelmed by Ubisoft's famously busy maps and HUDs, it's worth noting that you can select Exploration Mode from the get-go. A new feature for the franchise, Exploration Mode removes markers and quest objectives from the screen, meaning you'll have to find these points of interest the old-fashioned way - looking around, investigating, and exploring the open world.
This option won't be for everyone as it will extend an already long game. Still, Exploration Mode can be a very rewarding experience for those who wish to get more immersed in this Ancient Greece RPG and are sick of endlessly chasing objective icons.
13 Legendary Equipment
This game has several tiers of equipment: common, rare, epic, and legendary. While playing, players will swap tiers often, as a rare will occasionally be better than an epic. But the legendaries all build toward individual sets, which offer special bonuses when used at once.
With pieces scattered on islands everywhere, players rarely find all the pieces in order—and never will they all be the same level. A level 8 piece now will match with a level 15, a level 22, and eventually level 33. Upgrading them will cost more than anyone’s willing to give up, so here’s a trick: by equipping them all, then equipping the last (highest leveled) equipment found, all of them will become the highest level.
12 Free Ubisoft Club Rewards
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As part of the transition to Ubisoft Connect, all Ubisoft Club Rewards for older titles are free - including Assassin's Creed Odyssey. This means you can get a bunch of powerful loot for free, including Assassin's Creed Syndicate's Evie as an Adrestia Lieutenant or the Medjay Crew Theme from Assassin's Creed Origins.
The Ubisoft Club Rewards also include a few Epic Adrestia Designs, a couple of Rare weapons, and the Mycenaean Armor Set. For someone just starting the game, this will be a welcome stat boost - but for anyone who finds this a bit too overpowered for the game's beginning, they can be stored in the Adrestia until you're ready.
You can access your Ubisoft Club Rewards from the main menu on the tab that says Ubisoft Connect.
11 Dismantle Unused Equipment
As noted above, you can store unused equipment in the Adrestia if your pockets start getting full, but it is highly recommended that you dismantle most of your spare loot. Gear will quickly become superfluous as you level up, and you'll be short of resources more than anything else in the game - the Adrestia will soon eat up all your wood supplies, never mind upgrading your gear.
While you can sell your equipment to stores, only Epic and above is worth the price, as you'll quickly gain more money. Rare and common loot should be dismantled for every precious resource you can acquire - or you'll soon be drowning in armor with no way to upgrade them.
10 Know What Missions Do
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is a very long game, but some people make it longer by taking on quests they don’t have to. If the game has become slow, remember that the quests on notice boards are usually pointless. Anything without a golden exclamation point is a randomly generated quest and can be ignored in favor of side quests with actual stories. This won’t impede story progression, and the game’s side quests should be plenty to maintain levels.
Some of the best Assassin's Creed Odyssey side quests tie into the main story and even have you fighting mythological monsters - so make sure to prioritize quests with gold and black diamonds over the randomly generated white and black diamond quests.
9 Recruit
Powerful opponents? No need to kill them. After attaining the Adrestia, players can instead knock out their enemies. This can be done by simply sneaking up on them and choosing to knock them out rather than kill them.
There are many ways to achieve this, but typically it’ll involve knocking someone out by sneaking up on them or smacking them with a knock-out arrow. Afterward, press the left stick to recruit them as normal. There's no limit to how much you can do this; if the crew gets full, they can be dismissed later.
8 Spartan Kick
The Misthios is a spartan, and this is Greece. There’s no way one of the first abilities wouldn’t be a spartan kick. Inspired by 300, the Spartan Kick can be used to distance enemies or simply because it’s hilarious. But there’s one other ability it’s particularly great with.
Using the Spartan Kick on enemies in front of a cliff is almost a guaranteed kill, as they’ll also have to take the fall damage. This will come in handy against boss characters while being surrounded by enemies. Additionally, it's worth equipping a few of the right abilities alongside the iconic Spartan Kick. The Shield Breaker works against any enemy in the game with a shield, for example, which is a lot.
7 Killing People Doesn't Work All The Time
In Odyssey, assassinations aren’t instant kills. If the player’s level is even or too far behind the enemy’s level, the best stealth kill will only take some of their life off—you’ll have to fight them for the rest. Even players who only played Origins will find this hard to cope with.
Building up stealth kills will require a very specific investment in the Assassin skill tree to do the same kind of assassinations as the ones in older games.
6 Adjust Your Level Scales
In Origins, every area had a specific level range; a starting area might begin at level 4 and go to level 8, which means no enemy will ever be weaker than level four. Once you level up to level 9, the enemies stop keeping pace with you. It’s a great way to keep things competitive and give a sense of accomplishment if players return to older areas.
Odyssey handles it a little differently. Every area has a 'range,' but once you hit the upper end, enemies will continue to keep up with you. In the menu, players can adjust the scaling to keep the feel of enemies behind them, at least up to four levels behind them.
5 Collect All The Wood
For those who go around looting and completing a bunch of quests, they’ll have everything they need to upgrade their favorite weapon while keeping their ship as powerful as possible.
But no matter what, there’s one set of resources you won’t have enough of: wood. Wood is used in almost everything, with the ship's construction will take up most of it. If players want a shot at maxing out their ship, the best way to go about it is to buy wood at every available opportunity and find a bunch of wood in conquests and sailing.
One of the best ways to get wood is from War Supplies. While you will be tasked with burning War Supplies, the game does not tell you that you can loot the supplies first, which will gift you a smorgasbord of great resources.
4 Romance Who You Want
Have no fear, any players that really wants to get into BioWare-type games. You can play this game without worrying about who you can and can’t romance. Most games lock you into a single romance scenario, but with Odyssey, there are over a dozen partners. With very small exceptions, the player can romance whomever they want whenever.
You can even invite the people you romance onto the ship, though unfortunately, things never get super awkward for it.
3 Never Be Afraid To Re-spec
Don’t like how the character is playing? Not to worry, you can re-spec your character whenever you want. This will allow the player to try multiple different play styles to suit them. Prefer assassinations? Go back and fill out the skill tree. Like archery? Master the Hunter style. Want a mix of everything? That’s possible too. The cost will go up as the main character gains points, but this won’t ever be unmanageable.
2 Take On Conquest Battles
Odyssey’s newest mechanic is conquest battles. As the player completes objectives—fighting certain politically powerful individuals, clearing out key camps, and so forth—either Athens or Sparta will weaken in terms of power. Weaken too much, and a battle will occur over who should control that area. As a mercenary, the player can fight for either side, but it doesn’t matter—participate in these whenever possible. The amount of stuff each conquest battle gives the player will make it easy to upgrade or gain new stuff.
While it doesn't make a huge difference which side you fight for, you'll get an extra piece of Epic Gear for siding with the invading army, though you will have a tougher fight - so bear that in mind when choosing your allegiance.
1 Save Often
With the addition of dialogue selection, there are more potential outcomes and differing cutscenes than ever before - including a grand total of nine different endings. If you're the type of gamer who wishes to see all the different interactions or just wants to replay some of the coolest parts of the game, it's worth making use of the many manual save slots so you can easily hop back and forth.
You'll thank yourself later - there are a few pivotal decisions you'll have to make down the road, so it's nice to have a backup plan if everything turns out terrible because of your choice.