When Assassin’s Creed Origins launched last year, one of the biggest departures it made from the “traditional” Assassin’s Creed template was putting a greater emphasis on direct combat encounters in which the player could use various weapon types and skills to overcome their adversaries. That emphasis on direct combat will naturally carry over to this year’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey since players will be controlling a Spartan warrior, but with Odyssey Ubisoft also wants players to have more control over the specific combat maneuvers they utilize.

Speaking in a recent interview with GameSpot, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey creative director Jonathan Dumont explained how, as they play through Odyssey and earn ability points, players will be able to unlock new abilities and skills from several different skill trees such as ‘Warrior,’ ‘Hunter,’ and ‘Assassin.’ Any skills and abilities unlocked in this manner can be freely mapped to various input commands, essentially allowing players to create their own personal combat styles that can emphasis direct melee combat, guerrilla-style ranged attacks, stealth takedowns, or any combination of the three:

“We were looking at it more from a customization perspective instead of trying to enforce a certain way to play the game or unlock things in a certain order. Invest the points where you want them but map them like you want them and create your own playstyle. Because Assassin’s Creed has been around over 10 years now, and we all play different. Some people just want to play stealth and others might want combat, so we want to make sure that your playstyle is the right playstyle for you and that the game allows you to play that way.”

Given this increased focus on allowing players to play their way, it’s not surprising that, later on in the interview, Dumont also talks about the development team’s desire to make Odyssey feel more like a traditional RPG experience complete with branching dialogue trees, lore-infusing side missions, and even the ability to romance certain NPC’s.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft has pledged to support Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for quite a while, even to the point where it won’t be releasing a new Assassin’s Creed game next year. However, it has also been confirmed that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey won’t be receiving any sort of multiplayer battle royale experience, no matter how much some fans may want one.