I am a big fan of Assassin's Creed. I was when the combat system was still defined as repetitive, when Altair fell at every climb for small bugs, or when Florence was not known to gamers for Ezio Auditore. Origins has rewritten the rules of the game a bit (and this is not liked by many), but the line taken by Ubisoft to revive the fortunes of a saga so full of titles seems the right one. In fact, a new teaser of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, chapter that will be set in Greece. Knowing the potential of an Assassin's Creed and a little history, some interesting theories spring to mind.
The development studio that is working on it, together with Ubisoft annecy, is that of Assassin's Creed Unity. The fear that hovers in the air, however, is the much-hated annual cadence, which once was about to destroy the saga and now, barring miracles, could do the same again.
Let's start with a premise: the subtitle has never been unimportant. From Black Flag, each Assassin's Creed has always distinguished its soul thanks to the subtitle. Unity, Syndicate, Arrogant, Revelations, Brotherhood are some of the subtitles that, each time, distinguished the great peculiarity that separated that chapter from the previous (or subsequent) ones. Origins, above all, he narrated the birth of the Creed. L'odyssey place after the title, therefore, has a high weight, not only by moving everything to Greece, but by linking the saga to possible interesting historical periods. Of course they are conflicting theories, but if they were verified, what could we find in front of us?
Overlooking for a moment the gameplay mechanics, which bode well for something new, thanks also to the voice that runs on the dialogues with the NPC, now more and more dynamic and less robotic, there are many expectations, especially for the setting.
First of all, let's start with some features that emerged from the recent leaked (and therefore unconfirmed) information: it seems that from this Assassin's Creed we will be able to choose the sex of our character and, as happens in many games now, choose whether to undertake love affairs with other characters. It also seems that the choice of gender will affect the story, to the point that it will be necessary to play it twice to unlock everything. The setting that emerged from the leaks settles around 340 BC and the protagonist should be a Spartan, descendant of King Leonidas.
If we look closely, with Odyssey the choice of the authors could fall on multiple possibilities: in the first, we have the chance to show Homer in the continuum of the saga and, therefore, his talent as a writer, or to show Ulysses and the mythology that permeates his world. Both, however, find little response, given that Assassin's Creed is a saga known for its historical veracity and, counting that Homer's books were written around the eighth century BC and are set between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries BC, the rumors set Odyssey much further on and thus ruin this theory. All this therefore leads (and I add unfortunately) to set aside the ideas that flash in our minds such as the Trojan War, in favor of more recent things, such as the Battle of Thermopylae. Adding meat to the fire (and confusing) is the fact that this chapter is rumored to be a direct sequel to Origins, and then see Bayek as the protagonist. To add meat to the fire, remember that the creed was born around the first century BC, and setting the game earlier provides a lack of it. Unfortunately we are not all-seeing, and therefore to sum up, we just have to take these rumors, combine them and see what scenarios await us.
Assassin's Creed meets Ulysses
No creed, Greek mythology
This remains for me the most interesting theory but, at the same time, the least possible. Live the story of Ulysses in the shoes of one of his companions, perhaps throwing ourselves into battles against mythical beasts, it would be fantastic. Sure, it would move the hand to something more fantasy, but it would allow players to experience fantastic stories. Weird to play without a fraternity, but Black Flag and Origins have taught us that it can be done. Also we could find a comparison between the Roman and Greek versions of the gods we saw in the first chapters, perhaps discovering the story of Minerva and the whole plot of Desmond's story.
The locations could be those of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
This is Assassin's Creed!
I believe ante-litteram, return of Darius
The war between Greek e Persians it could be an excellent park for a chapter of the saga: an era of betrayal, wars, conflicts and sieges, ideal for Assassin's Creed. This era was also mentioned in older Assassin's Creed. Darius the Great, after losing at the Battle of Marathon, planned a siege for three years but, during a revolt in Egypt (does that tell you anything?) He fell ill and died shortly after, leaving Xerxes to reign.
We have seen Xerxes in 300, and we saw the kick of the teaser, identical to that of Leonidas. We also know that Xerxes will be killed by a murderer by name Darius, first user of the Hidden Blade (as seen in Assassin's Creed II).
In this way then, the game could be set up until the siege of Byzantium in 477 BC, aiming to make us play an ante-litteram creed, perhaps already existing but still without those dogmas created (or taken up) by Bayek. On the other hand, the same protagonist of Origins does not create the brotherhood from scratch, and this suggests that the origins we lived are none other than those of form, while a group of assassins already existed in previous eras (also because if we go back to to the inhabitants of Eden, we go far back).
The locations could be the Aegean sea, including naval battles. As of now, this seems like the most realistic and truthful theory, although it would rank before Origins.
Bayek's journey
Greece during the Roman days
If we cross out everything we've said so far, and just take the fact that we're going to check again Bayek (goodbye character with choice of sex), then we could live there Greece to the giorni Romans, leaving Origins as the opening chapter of everything. If we go to follow the rumors they were talking about Origins like the first chapter of a trilogy, then it is easy to see the connection Greece in the Roman era and, finally, Roma.
The idea of seeing the Greek peninsula while it was the province of Achea, under the first emperor Augustus, is not so bad. On the other hand, also the ending of Assassin's Creed Origins shows Aya going right to Rome, so the possibilities increase. In Origins we also saw Caesar, and if Augustus were in this, the theory about the Ancient Rome trilogy would be confirmed, going against that of Ancient Greece.
And you, do you have any theories? While we wait the E3 to discover this arcane, we remind you that little is known about the gameplay but that, as soon as something is revealed, we at Resources4Gaming will be ready to tell you about it. See you at E3 2018 Live Streaming, on our Twitch and Facebook channels!
