Assassin’s Creed: Odysseyand Living in Myth

acquire up , I was obsessed with Greek mythology . I was that annoying kid “ um actually”-ingHerculesin the dramaturgy , frustrated that a Disney movie did n’t make its star the bastard boy of Zeus who remove his married woman and children in a craze . “ He ’s shout Heracles . ” I ’ve long been fascinated with these caption and the complex stories they wind . But I always treated them as just that : story . Assassin ’s Creed : Odyssey reminded me how they ’re more than fiction .

Assassin ’s Creed : Odysseyhas been out for a few workweek now , and I ’ve been wreak it off and on . ( After all , I had to finishSpider - Manfirst , and that stupid Rhino / Scorpion joint chief engagement sustain kicking my ass . ) As I ’ve journeyed further into the globe of Odyssey , the latest installment in a serial I ’ve adore since the very start , I obtain myself care less about the gameplay , quests , and roleplaying elements ( though those are all splendid ) , and more about how it represents faith .

I am not an expert in Greek account or mythology , I ’m verbalize simply as a buff of the Greek myth as stories , attend back at them as fictional relics of a bygone era . view of those myths and rituals may have influenced later religion — in the sheath of Greek / Roman mythology , paving the wave for Judaism and Christianity — but in this metre , we mainly do by them as tales , not stories work up within a opinion organization . Reading them , specially when I was a kidskin , I hear them as no dissimilar than a comic book or young grownup novel . It ’s why something like Assassin ’s Creed : Odyssey was so impactful . It brought the faith behind the myths to animation for me .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

In the cosmos of Odyssey ( as well as its predecessor , Assassins Creed : Origin ) , the gods are n’t just figure in tales , they ’re part of the existence . It ’s one matter to learn the level of Athena , Theseus , and Medusa on the varlet , it ’s another to feel them all around you , reflected in the thoughts , action mechanism , and beliefs of everyone you meet . Everywhere you go , you expire by random NPC hosting larger-than-life debates about the nature of Hera ’s vengeance , sacrificing goats to Zeus on communion table , or visiting a spring purportedly blessed by Iris , the goddess of the rainbow , in social club to cure their diseases . And do n’t get me started on the island give to Dionysus . Those folks love to political party . I ’ve drop hour in the secret plan just roaming around from island to island , watching these figurer - generated persona populate in a world that I ’ve sleep with seeing come to animation .

For instance , at one point I was sailing the open ocean trying to get to some random island when I move over an submersed temple dedicate to Amphitrite . I had to discontinue the ship , go submersed , and explore the shark - infested depths ; Amphitrite , the wife of Poseidon , was one of my favorite nymphs in Grecian mythology . I even dressed up as her for Halloween one yr as a teenager . I always admired how she ran away after Poseidon said he wanted to marry her , not wanting to deal with his bullshit . Of of course , she needs lost , as most victim of the gods did , but I prize her effort . The synagogue may not have hold much fruit — aside from finding a fizgig that drains almost all of your health — but I did n’t regret diving under the sea for one second . It was one of the game ’s many tributes to the story I love , while also reflecting the citizenry who brought them to life .

That ’s because it ’s not just the environment that makes Odyssey great , it ’s also about how you interact with it . Odyssey is more of a roleplay experience than previous Assassins Creed games , and you could choose to be spiritually pious or more sceptical in conversations with NPCs . I ( as Kassandra ) go the route of pious , because I love Greek mythology and I found it made me feel more connected to others . By embrace the graven image and their pauperism , Kassandra similarly embraced the the great unwashed around her .

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In one charge , you ’re at the Olympics buying sacrificial meat for your devout shipmate , because that ’s totallyhow they did thingsback then . In another , you ’re hunting jumbo brute to gain the favour of a priestess of Artemis . The beasts are rumored to be mythologic , like the famedNemean Liononce murder by Heracles , but it ’s never confirmed . Still , Kassandra treats them as gifts from the god . This cut through with how ancient Greeks themselves supposedlyviewed their own mythology , recognizing that some tales about the god ’ subjugation were n’t substantial , but ratherallegoriesdesigned to help them in their everyday life .

Assassin ’s Creed : Odyssey could have easy gone the path of mythology fan service — and in one big room it does , which I ’ll describe below — but for the most part , the game does a cracking line at have the cosmos ’s religion sense material . That ’s mainly because it has one thing involve to make any belief system feel plausible : doubtfulness . Faith is complex and requires dedicate yourself to something you do n’t know to be dead genuine , sometimes mixed with allegorical tales you sleep with to be off-key . The character within the secret plan may believe in the divinity that advanced society has come in to accept as fabulous being , but there ’s also room within the game ’s populace itself for human curiosity and introspection .

The best deterrent example demand aseries of questson Pephka . In the secret plan , this island had become a shrine to the Minotaur , Zeus ’ half - adult male , half - bull son of a bitch offspring . This pass over with the common practice session of the period , when metropolis - states would adoptpatron godsor Hero . As you journey through the island of Pephka , doing a series of pursuance so that you’re able to “ fight ” the Minotaur and gather honour and resplendence , it becomes clear that it ’s a scam to get money from fat adventurer . There ’s a little boy who takes you on a “ Mino - tour ” of the best Minotaur attractions , only to show you garbage and then seek to rob you . When involve about it , he fundamentally replies : “ Come on , you do n’t believe all this crap , do you ? ” It was an interesting comment , showing the fragility of the human experience , and how in moments of organized religion there ’s still room for dubiousness .

Starship Test 9

That enounce , there is actually a Minotaur in Assassin ’s Creed : Odyssey . Apparently , the Greeks were right on the money with their belief system of rules — at least in the world of Assassin ’s Creed . In the plot , “ Those Who Came Before ” create a bunch of mythic brute to guard their cute mind controlling gem against anyone who would use them for evil . I understand that ’s a lot of word soup for people who have n’t make for any of the games , but all you necessitate to know is that the universe of Assassin ’s Creed has an ancient race of ace people called theIsuthat create man , and the games pull in them out whenever something needs conjuring trick to make sense .

These beasts seem to clash against the game ’s otherwise thrifty symmetricalness of myth and religion , by formalise the Greeks ’ feeling system with concrete proof . The game Lord haveacknowledgedthis and absolve it by take note that Kassandra is much a mythical being herself . But it ’s also in line with the ancient Greeks themselves , who knew many of their own stories were n’t real but loved them anyway . By make them real , Ubisoft made us believers too . Besides , it ’s still a TV game involving ancient being who invented magic thinker control balls , so I realise some affair can be engage with a grain of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks . Every biz is allow a minute of sport — in this case , some fabulous sports fan service that seem coolheaded and is awesome to act . arrive on , who does n’t want to outwit up a giant cyclops ?

A video secret plan with a glowing - eyed Minotaur might not be entirelyhistorically precise , but I feel Odyssey does something that ’s hard to find in video game nowadays . It combines myth and religious belief in a way of life that aid you have-to doe with to citizenry who are long gone , but whose tale will never truly buy the farm . If you ’re someone like me who loves Greek mythology and wants to experience the world they came from , I emphatically urge pick up Assassin ’s Creed : Odyssey .

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