Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Reversible Boxart Lets You Choose Your Hero
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is far from the first Assassin’s Creed game to let you play as a woman, but it’s the first to let you pick whether you want to display a male or female hero exclusively on the cover. While Assassin’s Creed Syndicate allowed you play as Evie Frye for practically the whole game, and Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation and Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China both starred women playable characters exclusively, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is definitely stepping onto brave, new ground by being the first Assassin’s Creed featuring an interchangeable female and male protagonist to let you pick who is on the box. It also takes place in Ancient Greece, which is a cooler fact about the game.
Of course, if you’re buying the digital version, this doesn’t really matter, and you’ll just have to deal with whatever boxart Ubisoft goes with on there. Maybe you’ll get two separate themes if you go digital, so you don’t feel left out. According to previews, Odyssey is the first Assassin’s Creed where player agency will be a significant factor. Instead of controlling a character with a pre-determined life living out pre-determined events, you’ll be able to have more of an effect on the world around you. This means conversations and relationships with characters will involve more dialog choices than ever before and romantic options will come into play for the first time in the series.
I personally just throw the box on my shelf once I get the disc out, so I guess this reversible box art isn’t really aimed at me. Instead, the small demographic of people that like to set the box directly in their eyesight when playing games will likely love this. Honestly, I’m not sure what the hubbub is about. You’d think this was the first time Ubisoft put a woman in the game, but really this is just the latest in a line of female protagonists when it comes to the Assassin’s Creed series.
All I hope is that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a good game. I was happy with Assassin’s Creed Origins and thought Bayek was a deep character, and it was a pleasure to see his story and engage with his culture through his eyes. Hopefully, this new emphasis on player agency doesn’t depreciate the need to tell a good story. It doesn’t really matter who you play as, male or female if the new narrative decisions break the series tradition of having heroes with fleshed-out histories and strong personalities.