The October 5 release date for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is rapidly approaching, which means publisher Ubisoft is working harder than ever to ensure that everybody knows about it. The game’s latest marketing effort is a zany new live action trailer which conveys just how much freedom of choice Odyssey players will have while paying homage to a classic Danny Boyle film.
The trailer, which is titled “Choose Life,” shows Odyssey protagonist Alexios (who also recently starred in an Amazon Echo Alexa parody trailer) getting into all sorts of trouble across the Greek countryside. The narrator makes cheeky references to modern day comforts, contrivances, and crimes while the trailer’s footage juxtaposes those narrations with Odyssey’s historical counterparts.
As the trailer’s footage shows, Odyssey will put a heavy emphasis on player choice, mirroring a talking point that Ubisoft has already played up several times before. In fact, player choice is such a prominent part of Odyssey’s design philosophy that even Ubisoft itself considers the game to be more of an RPG than a straight action game, a noticeable deviation from earlier games in the Assassin’s Creed series.
Granted, while the trailer mostly shows Alexios partaking in less-than-noble activities, that’s just one of many paths players will be able to take. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will also allow players to take a more subtle approach if they prefer (though the game’s melee combat system looks too cool to ignore completely) and of course Alexios won’t be the only potential protagonist. When players boot Odyssey up for the first time, they’ll be able to choose either Alexios or his female counterpart Kassandra as the game’s main hero (or antihero as the trailer teases).
Also, if the Choose Life trailer’s progression and narration style seem familiar, that’s because it borrows heavily from the iconic Danny Boyle film Trainspotting, complete with the use of the Iggy Pop song “Lust for Life.” Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will be available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC once October 5 arrives.