In 430 BC, Athens was destroyed by a plague. An estimated 100,000 people died from the disease, which historian Thucydides has documented in detail — the disease himself but lucky to survive. No one knows exactly what the disease is, but many theories suggest that Ebola, typhoid fever and smallpox are among the sources of outbreaks. Symptoms included vomiting, sneezing, a violent cough and the appearance of pustules on the body, and the victims included the city's beloved leader, Pericles. In this deadly plague, none of the Athenians were spared, and the whole city fell into chaos.
In chapter 5 of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, players can experience the Plague of Athens first-hand. Athens was one of the most active and bustling places in the game, full of citizens, soldiers, and merchants. Walking down the street, you will hear the sounds of children frolicking, the barking of chickens and dogs, and the chatter of people. But when Kassandra/Alexius returns to Athens again during the mission of "Abandoned By The Gods," the scene in the city feels like a filter. The streets were lifeless, and the bodies of some plague sufferers were scattered haphazardly everywhere.
Recently, when a player in the United Kingdom replayed this chapter, he was deeply touched by the plague scene in the game. "As I wander the empty streets of Athens, I can't help but think back to the scene in March 2019 – when the UK entered its first national lockdown – and I was equally disturbed by the city's dead silence. I live in Yorkshire, which is usually crowded with tourists, but now even the Shambles, which are famous for their crowds, are uninhabited. I've always loved that the Assassin's Creed series allows players to relive history and experience these events for themselves, but the game is a bit too realistic. When Kassandra left Athens, I was also very happy to travel to other parts of Greece. ”
The artists of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey gave everything a morbid, unsaturated look by adding a thick color grading to the graphics. The sound of rain and the eerie silence of the streets and alleys only add to a sense of hopeless desolation. Occasionally, Athenian citizens were seen in the streets insulting the gods, holding their heads in their hands, or lying in a pile of corpses waiting to die. This is a vivid portrayal of a dark period in Greek history. Many historians believe that the epidemic eventually led to the defeat of Athens by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War.