An Odyssey: Echoes of War

Let me preface by saying this: I completely support the author of this game, and hope they continue to make more. I'll detail my issues and thoughts below, but if the game is on sale, I wouldn't recommend against trying it out. It's about three or so short hours of playtime, and you could easily go through a second run if you wanted. I did not, but there are reasons for that. (Mainly the ending, which I feel like happened quickly, and with little input from me--but maybe I chose the wrong choice? Maybe it was my fault lmao, and that's totally cool, I just felt like it happened so quickly that I didn't quite understand how in an instant all of it occurred) Pros: super cool old rules of hospitality, timely names, familiar faces, some hard-hitting decisions and truths throughout (I really loved the siren interaction, that was cool) Cons: I felt often that I was cornered into making certain decisions. I understand the story is inspired/based off the original text, but I was lowkey hoping I'd have more flexibility to change the narrative. That's on me for expecting that! One such scene of me being forced into something was the cyclops moment, where I told my crew not to steal anything, and that we were leaving. The cyclops comes, we talk, he gets drunk, and all of a sudden the crew AND me start ransacking his place when I already made it clear that I didn't want to do that. It... was frustrating to say the least. I know it goes this way more or less in the original story, but if so, why present me with the choice of saying I don't want to steal only to show that choice didn't matter mere moments later? There are a few circumstances I felt had a similar outcome like this, that left me frustrated and feeling like I wasn't really making any meaningful choices other than if I was being a heroic bully or a depressed saint. Let me be clear: I loved moments in this, specifically the character Circe was awesome, and the sirens were interesting to see. This writer for sure can craft a story, but I feel like they were just a bit boxed in with this. I look forward to seeing what they create next, but for now, I'd say give this one a pass unless it's on sale.

[h1]作者是ftm。[/h1] Most of the stat checks happen in the first two chapters, which means it is really hard to change the story later on. [h1]Your early choices pretty much lock in your whole path. [/h1] Although the whole story tries to break traditional epic stories and add female character for players, the overall story still sticks to a male-centered narrative. Characters like Circe and Polyxena still fall into the usual roles like mysterious witch or seductive girl. They feel more like decorations than real people with their own paths. Even though I can choose to play as a woman, the whole story still follow the usual male hero's adventure. [h1]I cannot really connect with it bcs it still feels like a man's story.[/h1] [h1]Meanwhile, There are also toooooooo many conversations about sexual relationships.[/h1] It gets boring when the dialogue keeps going on and on about love, jealousy, and different women, which makes me feel like I am reading a soap opera.

Stats are misleading. With high sword fighting, I choose to use my sword to free my crew member from the giant but I fail because my swift stat is not high enough? With a high born leader stat I choose to get my crew to work together to shovel the sheep dung but I fail because my humility stat is low? With the Amazon queen, even tho I have high sword fighting, I fail because my strength stat isn't high enough? The scenarios and choices are what I would call landmines. While a choice may be worded as if it favors a certain stat build, you're thrown constant curve balls for having low stats in other areas that aren't even hinted at. Furthermore the game is built where you can really only build up 2 main stats in each area so it requires a lot of meta-gaming knowledge to succeed and that I can not abide.

It's difficult to give this a "recommended" vs "not recommended" review, since there are very good things and very bad things about it. The main positives I would list would be the excellent writing and above average character development (for a COG game). However, that's not enough to elevate this to "recommended" for me because the stats are completely broken. For one thing, they don't appear to raise or lower very much after the first few choice, at least not the leadership/strength/speed/etc. ones. I guess those are locked in after the prologue? They certainly were in my game, anyway. I guess there's a way to make this work. But here's the way to NOT make it work: make the stat checks so ludicrously difficult to anticipate and also to pass that you keep failing at everything. Oh, and it's not enough to just be good at one or two things and then just keep relying on those skills, you have to be good at everything because there are lots of multiple checks. Remember how your skills literally never increase after the prologue though? And once you've failed, the "you fail" text is as humiliating as humanly possible. There's no "good try but you just can't do it" here, it's "You fail so hard that you're too ashamed to even give out your name, your crew looks at you with pity and scorn, and then a seagull craps on your head." No thanks.

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 516: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (9/10) Whelp. [i]An Odyssey: Echoes of War[/i] actually made me so depressed I need to take a couple days away from anything dark or serious. I lowkey let out a little tear at the ending I got. Just a little one, mind you. Written by Natalia Theodoridou, you play as *gasp* long suffering Odysseus, that kingly man as he attempts to sail home. However, this Odysseus is not the one by Homer; nope, you can play as Odyssesa or use another name entirely. Just know you'll be reliving his experiences in [i]The Odyssey[/i] but with a light modern polish. I was curious how Theodoridou would handle a linear story in a format known for its emphasis on player choice, but somehow they meld the two perfectly. In this short game, I've encountered the most beautiful, melancholy reflections on war, loss, love, glory—passages that seem plucked from Homer's [i]Odyssey[/i] itself. I've always loved [i]The Odyssey[/i] when I was studying it back in college. Yes, the battles were bloodthirsty and brilliant, but Homer's epic, I once argued, could be read as anti-war in its vivid, unflinching descriptions of death and destruction, or even the sympathy extended toward enemy soldiers who. were once are sons, husbands, and fathers. Theodoridou focuses more on the echoes of war, indeed. They aren't interested in the clamor of battle; they’re interested in what war leaves behind, what it steals, what it warps inside you long after the battlefield is gone. The branching and choices are impressive for a smaller work, but I'll be thinking of the writing for a while. (And thank you to the staff for giving me a free copy! Or not, because I felt physically ill when I finished reading.) [b][h2]Pros:[/h2][/b] ✅ The writing as a whole is stunning. Can a work be a Greek retelling without Homeric epithets? Of course not, which is why Theodoridou leans fully into Homeric texture—rosy-fingered dawn, the wine-dark sea, the old rules of hospital and supplication, invocations to the Muse—yet never feels like they're merely copying. The prose is weathered and aching, almost tired in the way a war veteran is tired. As your battered little ship floats merrily along, you'll have deep conversations with your crewmates on what you've left behind or what you're looking forward. There's a strange tenderness, almost, in the writing. A sadness, a melancholy, for something you lost, or for something you never had. ✅ Mechanically, it’s linear but allows freedom. The stats—Born Leader, Silver Tongued, Fast as a Torrent, Strong as a Storm, plus your inventory, plus your chosen weapon, PLUS your divine parent—create a strong backbone, and your choices come up again and again in the narrative. Yes, you get to talk to your divine parent (Zeus, in my case). YES, they will help you on your quest. I also loved how Theodoridou keeps the main plot points of the original—Polyphemus the Cyclops, Scylla and Charybdis, the Sirens, the Land of the Lotus-Eaters—but allows you to choose how you react and act. You can talk to the Sirens. You don't have to kill Polyphemus. You can even abandon Ithaca all together. ✅ Choices matter in a distinctly ancient-Greek way. You choose how your hero relates to the gods and to fate, and that choice shadows everything: your guilt, your victories, your longing for home. Sometimes, small decisions beget enormous accidents. Sometimes, the world goes awry for seemingly no reason. Sometimes all the pretty things are broken. Ah, I almost forgot how petty the Greek gods can be. I will never talk ♥♥♥♥ about Greek tragic heros again. There is a character the gods expect you to play, and fighting this usually ends badly. Sometimes you do everything right and still lose. I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be good, and brave, and just, and loyal. I tried to do no harm, yet I ended up hurting people anyway. How many people have died by my hands alone? How could I hurt Calypso and Polyxena so deeply, whose only crime was loving me more than I could spare? (I'm in my feels, leave me alone, dawg.) ✅ It’s deeply, exuberantly LGBT in a way that feels mythic rather than modern: you can play as Odysseus himself or rebuild the legend as a woman, a nonbinary hero, or something in between, and the game lets you tailor how you present. You can choose your genitalia, no matter your gender, and how you can present. Husbands having husbands are casually referenced. Penelope can be a woman, a man, or nonbinary. You can be monogamous, polyamorous (!), or wandering in heart as much as in body. It’s strange at first—gender flipped Homeric epics aren’t exactly in the standard curriculum I read—but the strangeness fits. The ancient world was always weirder than we pretend. (I also loved how Telemachus still exists as your "real" son even if you played as a lesbian. The gods literally delivered him straight to your doorstep. Real tbh.) ✅ The endings. They will ask some hard questions. MAJOR STORY SPOILERS but: [spoiler] Who do you love more: your son or your wife? If you could bring back one from the dead, who would you choose? Is it worth it, when they come back as a shadow of themselves, if they mutter at night and dream of an underworld of no laughter or life?[/spoiler]. I got everything I wanted. [spoiler] I ended up a god. My wife and son are safe, sheltered by my sacrifice; my son is a wise king. My loyal dog still breathed at my feet. The people adored me. But why do I feel so lonely? I thought divinity would be a blessing. Instead it felt like exile. Immortality stretched out before me like the endless sea, and I realized too late that I had traded my humanity for the illusion of protection. They would wither away in the end. I would remain. It was one of those endings that hits so hard you want to start over immediately—not because the game failed, but because it succeeded too well. I found myself wishing I could sail home as a mortal, lie on Ithaca’s shores as a man, and die as a man. [/spoiler]The game nails that ancient truth: immortality is a curse disguised as a gift. [b][h2]Cons:[/h2][/b] 🟥 Polyamorous romance (!) is gorgeous but slightly underdeveloped. The relationship between Calypso and Polyxena is heartfelt and compelling, but Calypso arrives a little too late in the narrative for me to connect with her. 🟥 Ending felt a bit rushed. While the journey itself is rich and immersive, the final chapters wrap up quickly relative to the depth of earlier choices. I wished I could have a moment more with Penelope and Telemachus. Like, dude, [spoiler] I turned into a ♥♥♥♥♥♥' god for you[/spoiler]. Can't you say "I love you?" 🟥 Not beginner-friendly. The game assumes some familiarity with classical Greek literature and can be challenging if you haven’t studied the myths or Homer's style. Still, I'm bummed by the fact that [i]An Odyssey: Echoes of War[/i] only has 13 reviews—and a Mixed review! [hr] If you enjoyed this review, please check out my curator page to find more: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45814768-Verdict-Play-or-Pass/]Verdict: Play or Pass. [/url] Also, please leave a like and visit [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Indie_Gems]IndieGems[/url] and our YouTube channel for more reviews like this one. [/hr]

A decent game, if one knows the ways of the works of the ancient Greeks. Sometimes, small decisions beget enormous accidents. Sometimes, the world goes awry for seemingly no reason, or your actions are not your own. Sometimes all the pretty things are broken. This is the way of ancient Greek plays; the gods are petty, things go wrong, and everything is a mess. There is a character the gods expect you to play, and fighting this usually ends badly. If one keeps this in mind, the game is good. If one hasn't had to study works in a language a thousand years dead, however, it may be a challenge.

喜欢古典史诗但受不了里面扑面而来的男味的有福了！ 手机玩的，一周目大约6h。 文笔很美，可以作为一个女性成为《奥德赛》中的主角，女性友好，对原作Circe、Penelope、Siren等女性角色的改写都非常舒适。 但是它短了，后半部分有些草率了，属性数值也有点迷惑（似乎在开头选择后就很少变化了）。

I don't usually play CYOA/Text adventure games, but the premise of this game was too good to pass up. The game's writing is excellent, and the protagonist's development over the course of the game is very well done. This is one of the few CYOA stories I've seen where the narrative itself is actually gripping. Moreover, the number and variety of endings is quite impressive. Contrary to some of the other reviews, I felt that the player has a lot of freedom in this game to do what they want to do. I will say this in part seems heavily dependent on the choices you make, and I could see how some endings (particularly the worse ones) feel more constrictive. The author is also clearly very knowledgable about the ancient world and Greek mythology. The game is more than just a retelling of the Odyssey; it also brings in features from other Greek myths and Greek tragedy. For those player's who have a good knowledge of the Classical world, these intertexts are a really nice touch. That said, the game isn't easy, and it will throw some curveballs at you at times. When playing the game, you need to be prepared to not succeed at everything. Some players might get frustrated by this, so it's good to be aware before going in.

If you play this as an rpg, you'll probably be disappointed. But as a Choose Your Own Adventure Novel, it's phenomenal! Now, granted, I came into this a pretty big fan of ancient greek myth already, and I don't know how much fun it'd be with less background knowledge, but I just came of my third play-through and had a fantastic time - actually, a lot more fun than the previous two. The second play-through was arguably the least fun: I mostly did it to get new achievments, was focused on trying to win as many challenges as possible and utterly failed. The thing is, it's really hard to figure out what stats influence what "roll". I don't want to get into spoilers, but for some scenarios I made the same choice every time and still can't figure out why sometimes it fails and sometimes it succeeds. There are also some choices that ended in success multiple times, but had the details changed, so playing the game multiple times actually makes it seem a lot more in-depth than it appears on first play-through. In the first play-through I honestly assumed I was playing as Odysseus and made my choices in early game (such as picking my weapon) purely based on that, and surprisingly, it was my most successful play-through too. But the third, and by far the most fun, was when I got invested in a particular story line early in-game and then just went from there. The story telling is really strong, so if you're playing to get emotionally invested rather than cleverly beat the game, it honestly is great. If you're here without any knowledge of greek myth, looking to beat the game as efficiently as possible, or honestly even understand the mechanics, this is probably not the game for you. But if you're here to enjoy a good story? Absolutely recommend! Edit: I feel like I should also note this is a fairly short game. Since I could skip reading a lot of text on my 2nd and 3rd play through, all three together only take me up to 4.3h of play time -- I think the first play through took a total of 2h, or maybe 3h.

神与人，怪物与英雄之间的探讨，外加一个经典的忒修斯之船