If you have played SMITE in the last few weeks, you have probably noticed the relatively new button on the main screen, the small ship icon that takes you to the “Odyssey”. But what exactly is it all about?
At first glance, it is clear that it is likely not referring to the voyages of Odysseus, although the entire concept is of course inspired by that. This refers to the “journey” to the SMITE World Championship in January 2015. Each week, the journey progresses further and a new item is unlocked, which can then be purchased in the game for jewels. This may seem like a very prolonged marketing campaign, since content that you also have to pay for is released over twenty weeks, but it serves another purpose: Every item from the Odyssey increases the prize pool for the World Championship, and after just a few weeks, the prize money already amounts to a whopping $800,000!
And to encourage purchases, each item also comes with a treasure chest for free – it can contain just about anything, some examples include a voice pack, a special skin for a deity, a special guardian skin, or an account booster that increases your favor gain for a few days.
The biggest highlights of the Odyssey are undoubtedly the “Run.exe” skin for Mercury and the “Pixel-Buster” skin for Freya – each costs 600 jewels, which is around 8 euros. Whether the gimmicks are important enough for someone to pay such an amount is something everyone must decide for themselves – however, those who own a majority of all Odyssey items receive (in addition to the chests) more nice perks, such as exclusive frames on the loading screen.
SMITE is a free-to-play MOBA with a mythological background, which comes very close to the MMO gameplay feeling due to its third-person perspective and the telegraph system. Interested? Then it’s best to read our review of SMITE.
