Among many other things that the Assassins’ Creed franchise tried with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was choice-driven narrative. In their never-ending quest of transforming into a bona fide RPG, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey decided to implement multiple dialogues and action options which result in branching gameplay and ultimately in multiple endings in the game.
But this article is not about how well, or how badly this mechanic is implemented in the game. Instead, this is about how a player is introduced to the mechanic.
As soon as the game starts, and you get control of your main playable character in the game (AFTER you have decided to play with either Kassandra or Alexios), Assassin’s Creed offers you a choice. You are attacked by a few loan sharks, and once you have defeated them you are offered a choice of either finishing them off or saving them. IN THE FIRST 15 MINUTES OF THE GAME.
If you kill them, nothing drastic happens, and you go on along your merry way to explore the huge island which is only the Tutorial mind you.
But if you don’t kill them.
And decide to spare their life instead, not long after the same motley group of Misthios will try attacking you again. IN THE NEXT 10-15 MINUTES OF YOU MAKING THAT CHOICE.
So, if you are like 80% of the gamers out there, who will pick a character; play for an hour with it, and then start a new game with the other character, chances are you would have picked different choices in both of your 2 separate playthroughs. And now you would know how the choices system works in the game, how it can affect your gameplay and how you need to be careful of the choices that you need to make in the future.
Unlike most other games, which has long convoluted repercussions of the choices that you made and don’t show themselves until after at least 60% of the game is finished. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey implements and executes an entire branch of choice in the first hour of the game, introducing and explaining the mechanic to you.
I know its not a technological marvel, or a mind-blowing implementation, but I enjoyed this simple introduction to a new mechanic. The game didn’t take me for a complete idiot and hand-held me through a choice driven tutorial, and neither did it assume that I play RPG games for a living (which I kind of do) and just subtly introduced me to a new thing that I can expect from this massive RPG.
Gameplay Diaries is an editorial column at IndianNoob, where our various editors discuss the small quirks of the games they have been playing.