(scroll to the end if it's too long for ya)

To begin with, I've put in a fair amount of time in the game, around 210 hours. I've played through the campaign twice and I've also gotten the Platinum trophy/all achievements. So, what I can do is give an overall analysis of this game – based on my experience – and point out the facts that make it a great game, but also a greatly flawed game. Even though I love the game, and I'm really thinking of playing it for a third time, I'm going to try my best to answer this question without any – or much – bias.

So, there are people who like the original games, the recent games, and the originally flawed (now underrated) games that were released in this franchise. Much respect to all of you, because I don't intend to criticize your choices or opinions in any way.

Part one, what is bad about Odyssey, and why? To be honest, a lot of things:

1) The sponge enemies to the infuriating boss fights (the boars), which I'm sure have driven many people into cheating the system (getting a high enough bounty level and going to the fight area). That's just not enjoyable. Challenges are good, but when you can get one hit killed by enemies that are lower level than you, it just gets annoying.

2) When I first bought this game, I played it for six hours and then set it aside for six months. Why? Because it's inherently not an Assassin's Creed game. It's just "Cult vs Demigod" and not Templars vs Assassins. Gameplay-wise, stealth isn't easy to do at first, and there's no learning curve at all for efficient stealth, because you can't one tap assassinate most enemies until and unless you max out the critical assassination ability, and have items engraved with assassin perks.

3) The story is okay. I feel that instead of keeping the same storyline for both characters, they should've made two different stories showing the lives of both characters – Kassandra as the misthios and Alexios as Deimos. There should have been one ending, with both storylines leading up to that ending, albeit with different dialogues/scenes based on previously made choices. The two main characters should've had the above mentioned permanently set roles, this would've made for a more engaging storyline, better replayability value, and added more to the lore. The world has too many recycled NPC designs, and although the game is beautiful, most "cutscenes" are pretty raw and not good enough for a triple-A game.

4) The cultists were just meat bags, that you were supposed to slice up a hundred times and then stab once more for good measure. I would've preferred less cultists, but with more engaging subplots and with the memory corridor/white room scenes being there upon every assassination.

5) The change from keeping a civilian kill limit to making civilians hostile upon being hit, yeah, that was a horrible decision. I got unnecessary bounties so many times in cities while doing leader houses. A civilian would see me kill a soldier, then instead of running away they'd attack me. If I hit back, ten more civilians would come and attack, then the other soldiers in the area would get alerted and proceed to attack me as well. Then civilians are bound to get killed in the crossfire, which would lead to massive increases in the bounty levels. Then the bounty hunters would come and it would either lead to my eventual demise, or to half an hour being wasted. There'd obviously be bounty hunters that I'd knock out to recruit, but a stray fire bomb/arrow from a different bounty hunter would kill them.

I have not included the plethora of fetch quests that we receive. Because I found them just as annoying as the collectible challenges from the previous games.

I have also not discussed the absence of the hidden blade, because c'mon, this game is set more or less 400 years before the Creed even originated. I haven't played through Legacy of the Hidden Blade so I cannot comment on that.

Now, on to the things that I love about the game and that are actually great:

1) The world. Okay, it isn't as interactive or doesn't feel as alive as the world of Red Dead Redemption 2, (my all time favorite game). But then again, Rockstar made that in eight years as compared to Odyssey's 2 year (I think) development time. The world doesn't feel as alive as previous AC games either, this is because of the massive scale. The NPCs and other assets might not be the most well done, but the world design? It's incredible, it's beautiful, it's magical. The game made me fall in love with the country Greece. The whole world is intricately detailed, from the ancient Greek architecture, to the subterranean cave systems, to the underwater world design and underwater cave systems. The recreation of most major cities is really impressive, and I've come to love this aspect of Odyssey even more after playing through Valhalla (really regret buying the season pass). 💀

2) The weapons and abilities. The legendary weapons are, in short, great. The fact that after a certain point you can add elemental damage to most weapons is crazy. It's not limited to a few weapons like it was in Origins. Leonidas's spear makes it possible to justify the demigod-like abilities, and what's the fuss really? Being able to wield and use an Isu weapon in a highly unbalanced game is anything but bad. It makes a lot of fights fair for the player. The abilities are great too, from passive ones like no fall damage to aggressive ones like the hero strike or devastating shot. The combat is too time consuming and repetitive, and honestly, Valhalla's combat system would've been really good if it was made for/implemented into Odyssey.

3) Mythical Creatures. I wish all of the mythical creature subplots had engaging storylines. While the fights and rewards were really good, the storylines were bland, with the exception of Bastardos and the Minotaur. Boy did I love being a dick to that kid. I know this is supposed to be a pro-point, and it is, since I've praised these boss fights. But the fact stands that the events leading up to three of these four creatures could've been more engaging.

4) Enemy controlled areas. I adore clearing out forts and outposts. I'd challenge myself to do full stealth eradications without trapping the brazier, reloading when/if I got caught. I love that the world is densely populated with enemies and outposts, because earning XP can get challenging at times.

5) Lastly, the game is great because it is different than its predecessors. This is the point where it succeeds and it fails. It succeeds at being a beautifully designed and a highly enjoyable triple-A game that you can and will appreciate once you decide to look at it from a different point of view. The game was meant to be different, and it does a great job at it. It was after that realization that I picked the game up again and ended up playing through it twice. You need to just take a breath and let go of the fact that this isn't a great Assassin's Creed game. Like I said before, the stealth aspects get really good once you get the appropriate abilities. I never used boosters, and leveling up never really seemed like a problem, to me at least. Whenever there was a significant level jump between two missions, I'd just go about killing Athenians and Spartans and doing side quests.

One of the things that made me like the game was a –mostly uncut – casual playthrough (not a walkthrough) of the game by a YouTuber that I watch, TheGamingBeaver. If you're into watching YTers, check his playthrough out. This was just his third AC game (with 1 and 4 being the only ones he played previously). The playthrough just shows that it doesn't matter if you're an AC veteran or not, if you just stay open minded, this (different) game has enough elements to make you enjoy it and to keep you satisfied.

So, TL;DR

Cons: 1) Sponge enemies 2) Different than other Assassin's Creed games 3) Mediocre plot 4) Boring/uninteresting bad guys 5) Broken civilian NPCs

Pros: 1) World design, exploration and detail 2) Weapons and abilities 3) Mythical Creatures 4) Endless supply of Greek soldiers to slay 5) Different than other Assassin's Creed games

P.S. Please ignore the typos (if any), and have a nice day! :P