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Updated: Assasssin's Creed Odyssey: Legacy of the First Blade and the Illusion of Choice
By Kasaix • 5 years ago


Update at the end of the article


A spoiler warning goes out to those who partake of Assassins and their Creeds. This article will be discussing the firestorm surrounding the ending of the new DLC chapter that dropped recently. For context, I am an avid fan of the Assassin's Creed series. Despite my reservations about Odyssey's huge change over the standard AC formula, and some persist, I enjoyed my time and sunk 160+ hours into it, and look forward to New Game + dropping so I can do it over again.


In Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Legacy of the First Blade, players were introduced to Darius, a proto-Assassin, and their child. Darius' child's name and gender is determined by who players chose to explore Greece with. If they chose Kassandra, Darius has a son named Natakas. If they chose to kill everything in sight with Alexios, Darius has a daughter named Neema. This rose some eyebrows. It's an obvious hint of romance. Choice would have been letting us choose Darius' kid's gender in some manner. But wait! Ubisoft hyped player choice and freedom before the game even began. Assassin's Creed Odyssey creative director Jonathan Dumont said so himself:


“We’re not forcing you to do something you don’t want to do. So if you’re somebody who’s asexual, you don’t have to engage in something like this. It’s not forced. It’s very much your choice. If you’re playing Alexios and you want to romance Soleus, go for it. You do you, man. It was always important for me and my team to make sure that options were available for whoever wanted to pursue it.”


So we're good, right? Yeah, not so much. Poor writing, and it can't be anything other than poor writing if you need to force player action to get to a story point any other way, saw the player's character settling down with Darius' kid, breaking off from the misthios life, and having a child. This unlocks the "Growing Up" trophy/achievement. Here's where the trouble comes from.


What if a player was choosing to romance only female characters as Kassandra, or male characters as Alexios? What if they were romancing no one? Tough luck, says Ubisoft. During episodes 1 and 2 of Legacy of the First Blade, players can rebuke Darius' kid multiple times, or just act friendly. The ending is still the same. Even if you told Natakas/Neema to pound sand, Kassandra/Alexios ends up weepy holding a letter "At least there's wine", and Natakas/Neema shows up and they reconcile. What part of "No" don't they get? "No" is a whole sentence, people. 


So if you played it gay, bi, or asexual, Ubisoft decided the ending for you. So much for "write your own Odyssey". They responded to this controversy that decided "Growing Up" means being a heterosexual parent.


Their first response:


"We strive to give players choice whenever possible in Odyssey and apologise to those surprised by the events in this episode. Without spoiling it, you will engage in an important relationship as part of a set story. The motivation behind this relationship is yours to explore in game and will be reflected in your character's story arc. There is one episode left in Legacy of the First Blade which will tie your character's actions together."


And the second:


"We don't want to reveal too much right now, but we have always tried to keep the story inclusive of people of all sexual orientations, and players will be able to choose their motivations behind this particular narrative depending on their sexual preferences. Assassin's Creed Odyssey was developed by people of all sexual orientations, backgrounds, genders and beliefs, and we have tried to reflect that within the game."


That ending part gets me every time. "I can't be racist, I have a black friend." just doesn't fly. I would also like to hear what these LGBT employees have to say for themselves, because I doubt they thought it was okay. Also, to translate PR speak to english: "We had this pre-conceived plotline in mind and didn't think at all about the reaction that would come about from erasing player agency and choice. Also, you should play the final episode because it'll totally tie together in a satisfying way, honest."

This whole ending flies in face of player choice, even unintentionally, is harmful to the LGBT+ community, that "Growing Up" means embracing a heterosexual lifestyle and settling down with a child. Even straight people can "grow up" without having a kid or ever settling down. Some people just don't want to get married have a quiet life, regardless of their sexual orientation.


The Assassin's Creed subreddit is littered with angry fans over this mess. One girl, herself a lesbian, expressed true heartache and related personal experiences as to why this was so harmful before asking mods to delete her post due to it being shared around and her safety being called into question. Another post sums it up nicely


Episode 2 has made one thing exceptionally clear: Ubisoft has lied (yes, I know, an overly dramatic word to use here but that's reality!) to everyone's face when they promised giving us the chance to write our own Odyssey. Ubisoft used the credit players gave them, many of them buying the game to express themselves in the playable character, only to turn it right on them and shove an inevitable life decision that we never asked for down our throats. What we, the players, want for our Eagle Bearer's life doesn't matter. And the words frustrating or disappointing don't even do justice to what I feel about the situation.


A new hashtag even popped up on twitter so fans could vent their frustrations: #NotMyKassandra


Some have pointed out that this could be written off as what Myrrine and Pythagoras did: had a child to keep the bloodline going, but given the romance clearly evident at the end, and how unhealthy Myrrine and Pythagoras' union was, this rings as hollow as Ubisoft's reponse. Choices were supposed to matter in this game, but one of the biggest life choices someone can make was made for us. 


An update after this article was written and before it went live. Jonathan Dumont released a statement on the official AC subreddit, which you can read it HERE. A copy was also posted to the official Ubisoft forums, which you can read HERE. To sum it up, they wanted to go for a choice, but not a choice. Romance or not, but there will be a baby. To preserve the bloodline. That may have been the intent, but it did not come off that way, because no matter what, the player character is still in love with Darius' kid. Essentially, the illusion of choice. 


Update: The firestorm of controversy proved too much, and Ubisoft has heeded demands to update the DLC episode. Make no mistake, this was an issue of their own making, but it is a pleasant surprise that they would make changes, after insisting they wouldn't. Dumont went on record saying that there would be no changes to the DLC episode, but they changed their minds. In a post on the Ubisoft forums and a post on the official AC subreddit, changes will be made to reflect what romance options players have chosen. The "utilitarian" path will be expressed more clearly. So, a baby will happen, but not one born out of love, if the player so chooses. Well, it's a step in the right direction, and I applaud Ubisoft for taking it.