Our first look at the Ancient Greek world of Assassin's Creed Odyssey is set on Mykenos and Delos, a pair of small but strategically important islands in the Aegean Sea. Mykenos is where the majority of the action in the E3 demo happens, as our mercenary (Kassandra, in our playthrough) is summoned to the island to assist a rebellion against a local strongman named Podarkes – who, conveniently, is also a member of the Cult of Kosmos, a shadowy conspiracy that hunts Kassandra's family. Getting started means tracking down either Kyra, the rebellion's leader, or Thaletas, a Spartan commander who's also been summoned to assist her. The order in which you find them leads to slightly different cutscenes, but the events are the same: Kyra will tell you about Podarkes' oppression, and you'll assist Thaletas and his Spartans in fighting off an attack from Athenian troops.
From there, Kyra and Thaletas each suggest a different strategy: Kyra wants you to sneak around and destroy the Athenians' supplies on Delos, while Thaletas wants you to take to the sea and sink their ships. It's up to you to decide which plan to follow, and your decision affects how each leader views you in the short term – although once you've picked a side, you can still follow both plans.
Your choice can also affect your chances if you're interested in pursuing a romance with Kyra and/or Thaletas (love, like a lot of things in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, operates without regard to gender). One successful quest will lead to others with that character, and if you complete them while also keeping an eye out for gifts and choosing heart-marked dialogue options, you'll open up a series of one-on-one quests with them that can create a bond – as well as potential consequences when the job's done and it's time to move on.
Available quests are marked on your map, but once you've started one, Assassin's Creed Odyssey does something interesting: it doesn't give you map markers to direct you to your next goal. Instead, you'll get directions that say things along the lines of "south of the market and west of the temple" or "at the western camp in the Hills of Artemis." You'll still get an alert to scout from the air with your eagle, Ikaros, and pinpoint your objective when you're close to it, but getting there feels more organic than just heading toward a marked search area, and it pushes you to grow more familiar with the world as you explore.
You also don't need to follow every quest to reach your objective, whether it's related or not. Once you've established yourself with your allies and gotten the lay of the land on Myekenos, for example, you have a central goal – kill Podarkes – which you can tackle at any time. Podarkes is surrounded by a lot of tough security, though, so while you can cut to the chase, you'll have an easier time of it if you first take on missions, infiltrate military camps, and destroy or steal any assets or treasures that might be helpful to Podarkes and his Athenian allies. This depletes the Nation Power they hold over Mykenos, and if you do enough damage, Podarkes might even get kicked out of his palace with only a few bodyguards, at which point you can saunter up and kill him in the streets.
The approach of having a central goal you can complete at any time means that the missions leading up to it are largely optional, although that doesn't mean they're missable or detached from the story. You can, for example, learn quite a bit about Mykenos and the people you're working with, including some startling revelations about Kyra (which you can choose to announce to her followers or tell her in secret, with consequences for each).
You can also join your Spartan allies in a full-on Conquest Battle against the Athenians on the beach, a new type of challenge that can shift the balance of power in a region, and which can bring together as many as 300 combatants at once (as well as any mercenaries who wander in to challenge you). As the melee erupts around you, you'll fight your way through soldiers until their marked captains appear on the field; defeat them, and you'll be able to challenge the other side's tough-as-nails hero, whose defeat will devastate the other side and effectively hand victory to your allies.
Meanwhile, if you need some extra cash, you can take a break from pursuing your objectives and accept a mission from one of the game's many job boards, which offer brief, focused tasks, like sinking a specific pirate ship or retrieving a stolen item. There's plenty to do in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and you can try it for yourself at E3 2018 by visiting us in South Hall at booth #1623. Assassin's Creed Odyssey will launch on October 5th for PS4, Xbox One, and PC; stay tuned for more updates.
