Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey hands-on — The first hours of a massive island-hopping game

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey debuts on October 5 on the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. I had a chance to play the first four hours or so of it — the first full chapter in a very long game — at a Ubisoft event last week in San Francisco. During that time, I only made it to three relatively minor islands in the Greek Isles. That gave me a taste of how massive the world of Odyssey will be.

The prelude for Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, the latest title in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series coming on October 5, begins at the Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas tried to hold off an invading army of Persians. The battle, made famous in the film 300, takes place 49 years before the events of Odyssey.