Combat is at the center of much of the gameplay in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption II. This article compares the combat systems in both games. It’s the third in a series that previously covered graphics and performance. An article on general gameplay is in the works.
Combat in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Combat in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is varied and complex offering a variety of strategic approaches combined with tactical choices that can change moment by moment as an encounter plays out. It’s engaging and fun.
Overall strategy is shaped by how the player distributes points in the game’s three ability trees: Hunter (ranged), Warrior (melee) and Assassin (stealth). All three approaches are viable, but I expect most builds will focus on Assassin and one of the others while the third is less well developed and mainly used in specific situations. Cheap respect costs encourage experimentation with different skill combinations. Hunter and Warrior/Assassin skill loadouts are limited to four skills each in the early game which adds a layer of strategic depth to each encounter.
There are six types of melee weapons that differ in range, speed and damage. Bows are generic with only cosmetic differences. Stealth attacks are carried out with Leonides’ Spear, Odyssey’s version of Assassin’s Creed’s iconic Hidden Blade. Melee weapons and bows can be upgraded to higher levels and buffed as desired with Odyssey’s rich engraving system. There’s also a lengthy upgrade process for Leonides’ Spear that’s tied into the game’s main storyline.
The Assassin tree feels overpowered playing with combat set to “Hard”. This isn’t helped by enemy NPC’s dim awareness of their surroundings. It’s too easy to sneak up behind them for stealth kills. Melee is very well developed with a variety of skills in the Warrior tree that provide different tactical options as opportunities arise during the course of an encounter. The Hunter tree gives access to different types of arrows and a variety of specialized attacks such as shots that do area of effect damage or hit multiple targets at once. I began Odyssey with a ranged-plus-stealth build in mind but quickly swapped ranged for melee when I discovered how much fun hand-to-hand combat is.
Odyssey also has a naval combat system that’s an entirely different ballgame. Enemy ships can be rammed for massive damage or attacked with long-range arrows and short-range javelins. Fire can be added to the arrow and javelin attacks for increased damge. Enemy ships can be boarded and taken with melee combat. If you board a ship, you can loot it’s treasure if you have time before it sinks.
Crafting materials can be used to upgrade many aspects of your ship’s offense and defense. Lieutenants provide additional buffs for your ship and join the combat as NPCs if you board an enemy vessel. You recruit lieutenants by knocking them out without killing them during land-based combat.
Naval combat is all about maneuvering to ram or position your ship for ranged attacks while preventing the enemy from doing the same. Battles usually pit you against more than one ship which can easily lead to confusion and disaster when you lose track of where the enemies are.
Naval combat isn’t as varied as it’s land-based cousin, but it has an entirely different feel. It’s a refreshing change that I found challenging and enjoyable once I became familiar with it.
Combat in Red Dead Redemption II
Combat in Red Dead Redemption II is focused on guns as the game is essentially a cover-based shooter. Stealth attacks and fistfights are useful in certain situations, but your character is gunning people down most of the time. There are five types of guns (plus knives and bows) and strategy boils down to which one to use in which situation.
Guns can be customized with upgrades that increase damage, accuracy, range, rate of fire or reload speed. Weapons that are used more often will gain in familiarity which can result in boosts to accuracy, damage or range. Guns will also degrade if they aren’t cleaned and oiled regularly. Gunplay can be further modified with different types of ammunition that can be crafted or bought.
If you’ve played Red Dead Redemption or any of the Grand Theft Auto games since GTA4, RDR2’s shooter mechanics will be familiar. Combat difficulty largely depends on how you use aim assist. Free aim is difficult when you’re on your feet and virtually impossible when you’re on horseback unless you have good hand-eye coordination and handle a game controller well. There are several parameters that let you fine tune aim assist to find the sweet spots where gunfights are either challenging or so easy they become mindless pop-and-drop exercises.
RDR2 also has a Dead Eye system that slows time so you can set up multiple shots and execute them all at once. This can either be a lot of fun or an easy-mode cop-out depending on how you look at it. Dead Eye is resource intensive and relying on it heavily requires both a constant supply and a degree of comfort with RDR2’s awkward UI. If you’ve taken the time to tune aim assist so gunplay remains challenging, Dead Eye adds an effective tactical option if used judiciously.
Fist fighting is fairly basic. You can punch, block, grapple and throw your opponent. Some encounters are based on fist fights, but most of the time combat is decided by gunplay.
Conclusion
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey presents more strategic options and more tactical choices than Red Dead Redemption II. With Odyssey you can experiment with different builds and different loadouts within each build; with RDR2 you can choose which gun to use.
Ranged combat is more fully developed in RDR2. Melee and stealth are not only much more complex in Odyssey, they’re viable alternatives to ranged combat in most cases.
Both games offer different types of combat encounters. RDR2 has one-on-one gunslinger duels, pitched gun battles and robbery scenarios. Many of these play out differently which adds variety to the game. For example, robbing a bank and carrying out an attack on a rival outlaw’s camp are two very different combat experiences.
Odyssey offers one-one-one encounters with mythical monsters. It also has a tiered mercenary system that may play out one-on-one, but often turns into one-on-many because the mercenaries have a tendency to hunt you down when you’re in the midst of a larger fight. These larger battles usually take the form of wiping out an enemy camp or fort which are basically the same thing played out on different scales. Odyssey also has the naval combat game.
I found Odyssey’s combat much more engaging, challenging and enjoyable than RDR2’s. I’m not skilled enough to rely completely on free aim in RDR2 and fiddling around with the aim assist mechanic in order to find a sweet spot that balances challenge with fun wasn’t fun. Moreover, gunfights became routine because of RDR2’s strategic and tactical limitations. If combat gets stale in Odyssey, the game’s easy respec system lets you reboot the entire combat experience. RDR2 has nothing like this.
I’m not arguing that combat is “better” in Odyssey than RDR2. I’m simply saying that I find it more enjoyable. For me, combat in Odyssey remained challenging long after combat in RDR2 became a chore. Your mileage may vary, and I think it’s a good thing if it does. Different players enjoy different things and having outstanding games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption II that satisfy different desires is a good thing for everyone.
Additional articles in the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey vs. Red Dead Redemption II series include
- ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’ Vs. ‘Red Dead Redemption 2′: A Graphics Comparison
- ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’ Vs. ‘Red Dead Redemption 2′: A Performance Comparison
If you’re interested in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, here are some articles you might enjoy.
- The Xbox One X Shines In A Console Comparison For ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’
- Quick Tip: How To Adjust The HDR Settings In ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’
- Here’s What’s New For ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’ In November
- Loot And Recruit: A Guide To Mercenaries in ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’
- Quick Tip: How To Make And Use Special Arrows In ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’
- ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s Ambitious Plan To Keep Players Engaged For Months After Launch
And for Red Dead Redemption II,
- ‘Red Dead Redemption II’ Has A Deadly Bug That’s Easy To Trigger: Here’s How To Avoid It
- How Does ‘Red Dead Redemption II’ Look And Play On A 1080p Screen?
- A New Visualization Technique Clearly Illustrates ‘Red Dead Redemption II’s HDR Failure
- ‘Red Dead Redemption II’s HDR Problem And What You Can Do To Fix It [Updated]
- The Xbox One X Reaches New Heights In ‘Red Dead Redemption II’ Console Comparison
- An Employee Provides A Detailed Account Of Overtime Practices At Rockstar Games
