Assassin's Creed Origins and Odyssey Discovery Tours are free for everyone

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Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey are games about killing people in ancient Egypt and Greece, respectively. But Ubisoft didn't waste those historical settings on simple mass murder: It also released "Discovery Tour" modes for each that enables players to explore and learn about them, without all the ugliness and bloodshed. After all, you're not going to learn much about Zeus' abduction of Europa while you're busy sliding a dagger between some Templar flunkie's ribs, am I right?

The Discovery Tours are included free with each of their respective games, naturally, and are also available as standalone purchases for $20 each. Right now, though, you can get both of them for free on Uplay. They're hefty downloads—the Origins Discovery Tour is 42GB, while Odyssey is 50GB—but each allows free roaming through their sprawling game worlds, solo or with the assistance of digital "tour guides." Odyssey also features extra game-like elements including unlockable avatars and mounts, and optional quizzes to test your knowledge.

"The idea is to be able to share the entire world, without heavy narrative or fight controls that would be a barrier," creative director Jean Guesdon says in the Origins Discovery Tour launch trailer. "We'll just let you enjoy the entire world, but keeping the interactivity of the game, which is, I think, very important for such a tool."

The Assassin's Creed Origins and Odyssey Discovery Tours are free for the taking until May 21. Ubisoft hasn't said yet whether the upcoming Assassin's Creed Valhalla will get a Discovery Tour mode, but I think it's a pretty good bet.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.