Ubisoft has used Assassin’s Creed Odyssey‘s February patch to attempt to rectify the controversial choices made in the previous episode of the game’s major story DLC, Shadow Heritage. The first episode of the DLC ended with the game’s protagonist entering into a heterosexual relationship, resulting in marriage and a child, regardless of whether or not the player had chosen to play the game as a gay man or lesbian woman.
The decision to ignore player sexuality agency caused a massive backlash against Ubisoft in January when the DLC first launched. Many argued that by having the game override the player’s choice to play Alexios or Kassandra as homosexual or bisexual, it was engaging in the erasure of sexuality and breaking the game’s pre-established rules of play. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey had previously been lauded by the LGBTQ community for its progressive inclusion of choice, even going so far as to net the game a nomination at the GLAAD Media Awards, an annual celebration of progressive media.
The passionate response to the DLC caused Ubisoft to issue an official apology, stating that in future updates it would directly address player concerns. Today’s February update has seemingly made good on that promise as the patch alters the ending of the DLC episode to better allow players agency. The game now gives players the option to engage in a strictly platonic relationship with the previously mentioned parent of your eventual child. Cutscenes and dialogue options have also been tweaked to better suit this new option, but exactly how these changes will impact the overarching narrative of the DLC remains to be seen.
The patch has also updated the name of the controversially named “Growing Up” trophy or achievement which popped upon discovering your protagonist had a child. It has been renamed “Blood of Leonidas” and Ubisoft has officially apologized for any offense the name caused, stating that it was never its intention to make players feel as though their choice to play as a homosexual was in any way less valid than the heterosexual option.
