The reveal of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will be music to the eyes of those that enjoyed Origins. The next title in the franchise marks in an even greater shift toward RPG mechanics and continues in the same vein as that acclaimed title. But the history buffs will have noted that Odyssey’s Spartan Greek setting predates Origin’s Ptolemaic Egypt by several hundred years. So how does a game set before the origins of the entire Assassin’s brotherhood make sense in the context of AC lore? We asked that very question to one of Ubisoft’s narrative leads, and here’s what we were told:

“A lot of people are concerned that Origins is establishing the brotherhood. We knew that we were going to be before that (Origins) so when we were creating Odyssey, we looked at the significant points from the lore and how are we going to expand on it and make it relevant for players today. One of the things that very much ties to the lore is our connection to First Civilization. Our game is very much a historical game but we also have the science fiction elements put in there. I don’t want to spoil how much the First Civilization is connected with our game, but I can tell you that we as the protagonists – whoever you chose to play: Alexios of Cassandra – they are the descendant of King Leonidas and they have the blood of the First Civilization flowing through their veins. They are connected to the First Civilization; they’re a descendant of the first civilization, so that’s a big connection. The spear itself you wield is a (Leonidas’ Spear) is a Civilization artifact, so we’ll be exploring that.

But one of the things I found super exciting about how we were going to connect this game to the wider lore was the fact that something that is present throughout all of the AC games is this ideology of freedom versus order, because this is the foundation of the Templars and Assassins we know today —so where did that come from and how are we exploring that? What was really exciting for us was to be able to explore those ideologies, how they fit in our setting of ancient Greece and how they tie to our story. I think people will get excited about that.”

You can check out our full interview here in which we talk further about gameplay and narrative features, as well as showcase some extended gameplay footage.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey launches later this year, Oct. 5.