A genuine article

The appeal of the Assassin’s Creed series has always been as much about the pull of its historical tourism as its story, parkour, stealthy stabbing or, in the case of more recent entries, its RPG elements. Ubisoft is forever tinkering with the framework of its most famous series: climbing isn’t so important these days, but combat is more of a focal point than ever. Yet what sets

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (p42) apart, both from its predecessors and the games with which it’ll compete this autumn, is its setting. A vision of Ancient Greece, informed by close study of the classics, is quite the proposition.

No one expects Odyssey to be a truly accurate representation of the period, of course, but a veneer of authenticity goes a long way. And indeed, it probably goes as far as we need it to. The developers of Hitman

2 (p38) briefly considered having the NPCs in Agent 47’s latest globetrotting murder tour speak in their mother tongues. That would have done wonders for a sense of immersion, but made for a much less enjoyable game. Instead, they will speak English, but with a local accent – an improvement on its predecessor’s Americanisms.

Admittedly, when we’re a professional demon hunter, dispatching Satan’s hordes back from whence they came using a series of switchable mechanical arms, authenticity is the last thing on our minds. Yet it’s nonetheless odd to hear Capcom insist that Devil May

Cry 5 (p34) isn’t set in London, despite the architecture and street furniture suggesting otherwise. You need a little reality to ground your fantasy, we suppose.

One game this month has the potential to be truly authentic, but Seed (p50) will only be as lifelike as its players want it to be. Klang Games knows that giving people all the power in this shared-world society builder is a recipe for chaos, but is choosing to embrace it. Fair enough, really. That’s pretty much how we’re going about our lives these days, too.