Bringing history back to life is one of the core staples of the Assassin's Creed series. In Assassin's Creed Odyssey, players are transported to the time of the Ancient Greeks. Controlling either Alexios or Kassandra, players must navigate the tumultuous politics of the Peloponnesian War.
After hacking and slashing one's way through the conflict between Athens and Sparta, perhaps players are thirsty for more? Luckily, a New Game Plus mode awaits those who are willing to test their skills again in new and challenging ways. However, it's not a bad idea to know what players are getting into first before restarting this epic adventure in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
Updated September 26, 2021 by Mark Hospodar: Exploring Ancient Greece in the midst of a bitter war is a dangerous endeavor. But for those players who have already emerged triumphant, there's always something more to see and do in Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Starting a New Game Plus playthrough is an excellent way to reexperience all the intrigue and action of Greece. For the uninitiated, however, there are a few details about New Game Plus to keep in mind. Fortunately, with the right knowledge and preparation in hand, conquering New Game Plus can be just as exciting and rewarding as the first playthrough.
How To Unlock New Game Plus
Assassin's Creed Odyssey follows a pretty standard formula when it comes to unlocking the New Game Plus mode. Quite simply, the player needs to complete all the main story missions first before New Game Plus becomes available. Nine Chapters comprise the main campaign of Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
Once the game registers a complete playthrough of the story, starting the new game mode is easy. Simply navigate to the main menu and select "New Game Plus." Save files that are eligible for this new playthrough are marked by a silver star icon.
What Carries Over To New Game Plus?
New Game Plus mode allows the player to import a wide variety of skills and items. After all, it wouldn't be very fun or enticing if the player was forced to start from scratch. Here is a complete rundown on all the things that carry over to a New Game Plus playthrough:
- Character Level
- Mastery Level
- Weapons & Armor - Both Equipped and Stored
- Unlocked Abilities
- Ship Upgrades & Aesthetics
- Money & Resources
- Lieutenants Acquired From the Store and Ubisoft Club
Obviously, the player character will be well-equipped to once again meet all the challenges the game has to offer. Nevertheless, there are a few instances where a player's progress is reset entirely. These are examples of things that DO NOT carry over into New Game Plus:
- Map Progression
- Points of Interest
- Lieutenants (Except Those Mentioned Above)
- Cultist Progression
It goes without saying that all quests, whether primary or secondary, are also reset. Chests that were opened in the original playthrough are restocked as well. Exploration of the map will also have to be restarted from the very beginning.
Can You Play As A New Character?
The short answer? Yes. Assassin's Creed Odyssey gives the player the opportunity to experience the game as either one of two characters. The choice is between two siblings: Alexios or Kassandra. The good news is that New Game Plus does allow the player to swap for the other sibling.
Playing the game from a different perspective adds to its replayability. Certain interactions between the protagonist and other characters are different depending on whether Alexios or Kassandra is chosen.
Does Playing As A New Character Reset My Gear & Abilities?
No, it doesn't. Players lose nothing if they decide to swap out the protagonist for New Game Plus. Any gear that one sibling acquired will be placed in the other's inventory. In addition, controlling a new character opens up the possibility of experimenting with different playstyles, offering more opportunities to experience the game in different ways.
Legendary Gear & New Game Plus
Legendary gear, like all other items in the player's possession, will carry over to the new playthrough. However, reacquiring Legendary gear works a bit differently in New Game Plus. Alexios/Kassandra won't obtain additional copies of the weapon or armor in question. Instead, the item is upgraded to reflect the player's current level, becoming more powerful in the process.
This is actually quite useful, as this eliminates the need to spend money and resources to upgrade this gear. In fact, a viable strategy is to wait until the player character reaches a significantly high level in New Game Plus. Then, start re-collecting all the Legendary gear by defeating the Cultists to capitalize on all the free upgrades. It's also worth mentioning that obtaining the last piece of Legendary gear from a Cult rescales ALL the pieces in that collection to the player's current level.
When Should You Start New Game Plus?
It's already been established that completing the main story is the only requirement to unlocking New Game Plus. However, there is so much more to see and do in Ancient Greece besides the main questline. Some players may be unsure when is the optimal time to start a New Game Plus playthrough.
There really is no right or wrong answer here. Players can jump in immediately after completing the main game. One useful piece of advice, however, is to rack up as many Ability Points as possible in the first playthrough. That way, players will have even more points to work with as they complete the game all over again on the second run. Completing The Fate of Atlantis DLC on the first go-around is also recommended for the very same reason.
The Difficulty Of New Game Plus
One of the common features of a New Game Plus playthrough is an increased difficulty level. After all, being able to keep all of one's weapons and abilities would make the game too easy if enemies also remained unchanged. Assassin's Creed Odyssey applies a variation of this rule regarding New Game Plus.
When starting a New Game Plus playthrough, the game's difficulty is increased by 1 Level. For example, completing the original playthrough on Hard Mode will increase the difficulty in New Game Plus to Nightmare Mode. As such, players can expect more of a challenge on their second go-around while experiencing New Game Plus.
Enemy Scaling
It's also worth pointing out how enemy scaling works in New Game Plus. By default, the enemy scaling option is enabled when starting a new playthrough in New Game Plus. By and large, this means that the levels of the game's enemies will always be more or less comparable to that of the protagonist.
Furthermore, enemy scaling can actually be disabled if the player so chooses. It's a simple matter of navigating to the "Gameplay" options menu and turning off the feature. There are also a few customizable options related to level-scaling with which the player can experiment. More on that can be found here.
Beware Of Nightmare Difficulty
Nightmare Difficulty in Assassin's Creed Odyssey isn't for the faint of heart. In this particular mode, enemy level scaling is disabled, so be prepared to encounter much stronger enemies. These foes deal more damage and can take as good as they get.
Generally speaking, it's not a bad idea to prioritize stealth over pure combat in this mode. In addition to being tougher, foes are also more numerous, so thinning the herd from the shadows is ideal. Be diligent about collecting Ability Points before starting a Nightmare run on New Game Plus.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey is currently available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and Xbox One