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Assassin's Creed Odyssey has so many animals that it's a real Noah's Ark. My faithful eagle Ikaros is always at my side, ready to shoot down and hit my enemies or hang out a bit on my gloved hand. Throughout the game, I met dogs, wolves, ibex, elk, bears, lions, etc., and once I gained some ability, I was able to tame a lot . It is difficult to walk for more than a minute or two in an undeveloped area without meeting a beast, and even when they try to kill me, they are always welcome. They do not want to say the least harm, they just try to survive in a cruel and carefree world that would reduce them just as quickly to food or soft leather. Ubisoft has gone to great lengths to create a credible and rich wildlife ecosystem again. Yet they have somehow forgotten a crucial thing. I can not pet all of these critters.
My character can. If I leave Kassandra near a tamed animal long enough, she reaches out and caresses it. If I do nothing at all, Ikaros will land on his hand and the two will recognize each other with tenderness. There are hugs throughout this game, and yet I, the player, the one who should be in control and who wants feel this control, I am completely separated from the process of caresses. It's like when you're in a zoo and you see an employee living in the otter habitat that plays with them and runs his hand through his soft fur. Zoos can be terrible because they trap animals, but also because I can not pet otters. Odyssey of animal belief is a giant digital zoo that does not let me touch anything and does not even have the decency to have otters.
It would be enough to press a single button. Simply pressing the X or A button to pet an animal would help me feel directly connected to this intimate relationship between animal and master. I'd even accept a shoulder button, a bumper or even that big flat in the middle of the PlayStation 4 controller. This tactile sensation is essential to interact with a game – pressing buttons gives assassinations a tangible weight, both morally and physically, elsewhere in the world. Odyssey– and the absence of a pet button creates a distance that momentarily threatens my ability to actually inhabit this world. Simply seeing my character lovingly caresses his sweet animal friends is not enough – I have to press a button myself so that it really resonates.
The button dedicated to pets is also almost a standard video game at this stage. Do not blame me for waiting, blame the industry, which has allowed us to press a button to pamper hairy critters in so many games in recent years. At this point, if I see some kind of creature moving towards me, be it a bird, a reptile, an ungulate or a cetacean, I expect to be able to give him a loving slap on the head as often as I wish. Maybe even a hug. Murder is hard and lonely work, most of which is spent in magical bushes that make Kassandra totally invisible. After a long day of stealth and killing, I have to relax by pressing a button so that a character on the screen touches another character on the screen that looks like an animal.
To watch Kassandra caress an animal without being able to trigger it myself is not a failed half-failure. It's a cruel taunt, a vicious punishment, the fruit and water that Tantalus will always see but never taste. When Kassandra's hands slide over Ikaros's smooth, supple head, I want it to be my hand. You can do better than that, Ubisoft.
Garrett Martin edits PasteComedy and games sections. He is on Twitter @grmartin.
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