Ubisoft’s Gods and Monsters is a ‘lighthearted’ game narrated by Homer

Image credit: Ubisoft (Image credit: Ubisoft)

Ubisoft has started releasing some more details about its upcoming mythological adventure, Gods and Monsters. 

First announced at E3 2019, the game is currently being developed by the team behind Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. At the time of its announcement, we didn’t get too much information on the game (though there was a tone-setting trailer) but now Creative Director Jonathan Dumont and Senior Producer Marc-Alexis Côté are ready to speak in an interview on the official Ubisoft site.

Narrated by Homer to his grandchildren, the game’s story will follow a fully customisable hero called Fenyx, who is on a journey to save the gods of Olympus from Typhon and his mythological monsters. 

Telling Tales

When you’re not limited by history, you can start to do some weird and wonderful things with your heroes and according to Jonathan Dumont, Gods and Monsters will take the special abilities designed for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and “put it on steroids for Gods and Monsters.”

“When you’re fighting and you trigger your abilities, you’re going to wreck the enemies you’re facing. You can expect fast-paced combat that takes place on the ground and the air. For example, if you’re fighting a cyclops, you may have to double jump to reach his head and hit him in the eye to blind him, so then you can fight him on the ground. We also have aerial enemies like harpies.”

The game won’t just have abilities, Dumont has promised that magical mythological items like the Boots of Hermes will appear in the game. The Boots of Hermes will allow players to double-jump and explore new places. According to Dumont “there are plenty of items like that, but we’re saving them for future surprises.”

While the game will be dealing with myth rather than fact, senior producer Marc-Alexis Côté has said that the team is still taking the same “rigorous historical approach” as it has with the Assassin’s Creed games. 

This means experts in mythology have been brought in to advise and to “ensure that we can retell them in a way that is interesting and profound for our players.”

Even with this kind of rigour, Ubisoft is hoping that Gods and Monsters will be a “lighthearted” game with a story that has humour. It’s this and the game’s bright and colourful art style (which gives off some serious Fable vibes) that the team is hoping will help it stand out from other open-world adventure games. Even its own. 

Gods and Monsters will  launch on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and Google Stadia on February 25 2020.

Emma Boyle

Emma Boyle is TechRadar’s ex-Gaming Editor, and is now a content developer and freelance journalist. She has written for magazines and websites including T3, Stuff and The Independent. Emma currently works as a Content Developer in Edinburgh.