AT:O vs. Oathsworn

Here's another early look at what will eventually be another video. After many, many requests I see there's a huge need to talk about both of these games as quite a few people can only back one but cannot tell which would best fit their gaming group.

So here's all the info you (hopefully) need to know to ensure you back with higher confidence. Please note that I've played both several times, but neither fully through so all I can go off of is early game stuff so it could drastically change in the final, full product. Additionally my goal here isn't to say one is better than the other, but instead help you identify which (if not both) are a good fit for your gaming group's tastes. Also note that I will be talking almost strictly about differences, not similarities.

Story

It's important to note that stories can be told very differently from one another. Additionally how you interact with the story can also be quite varied.

As far as story is concerned between the two I liken them to comic books quite often. You have some comic books like Guardians of the Galaxy or Green Lantern that are on a cosmic level. They are dealing with world ending apocalypses on the daily and the stories there are grand and epic in nature. Power levels are extreme across the board. This is Aeon Trespass: Odyssey in a nut shell.

Alternatively you have the more gritty street level comics like Daredevil or Batman. These have much lower power levels and are typically more about personal drama and high personal stakes but low overall scale. This is Oathsworn.

This leads into how the stories express themselves. Odyssey for instance focuses on the journey. Exploring new lands, interacting with new people and balancing global powers. Their description within the stories are wide in scope, but tend to only explain what's pertinent to the story. Very small details are ignored because there simply isn't time with amazing and epic things happening all the time.

Oathsworn is the opposite. It'll describe how people move, how the environment is including textures and movement. With a smaller scale they can take the time to describe the minor details.

Another big part of the story is how players interact with it and again, both have some pretty stark differences. Odyssey is absolutely full of multi-part decision making. You typically only go a few paragraphs before having to make a decision (or 4). Additionally how you navigate the story is based on map movement with a very open ended exploration of the story. Time is still critical based on Progress and Doom tokens but there are not any upfront consequences for exploration.

Oathsworn on the other hand is a bit more tight-night of a story. You move around a city instead of a map but each movement costs you and the goal is to uncover the enemy as quickly as possible. More time often comes at a cost of a loss of extra benefits. This causes the sense of urgency to be much greater in Oathsworn compared to Odyssey. Additionally you are more locked into the story of Oathsworn as you have the specific city to explore, instead of an entire map.

Additionally, Oathsworn gives you less scale but more meat within the story. Much like how open world video games are grand in scope, but the story is spread throughout a larger area, Oathsworn is a more on-rails focused story that makes everything more dense, including the passages. You will have fewer decision points and rarely are they multi tiered with Oathsworn. Instead you will typically visit a location, read the passage and make a single decision, then move onto the next bit of story that leads to your next choice of location.

One last thing to speak about is overall theme. Odyssey is ancient Greek with a small mixture of sci-fi technology and an adventurous feel whereas Oathsworn is low-fantasy based and gritty with an almost grim dark feel.

Oathsworn will have a fully narrated app, and game mechanics that allow the story to be mostly skipped if that fits your game group better.

Game Structure

In Oathsworn you'll go through chapters, doing the story portion which will eventually lead to the combat portion of the game. The split in time investment is about 1/3rd story and 2/3rds combat. The two portions of the chapter are strictly split like this and there is very little upkeep involved.

Odyssey on the other hand is split a pretty solid 50/50 thanks to more fights and other mechanics within the story section such as research and crafting, more on that later.

In Odyssey you can stumble on a fight, or be ambushed and such that adds impromptu attacks in the middle of the story section, which is then picked back up after the fight, sometimes with some changes. The story section comes with more upkeep because of the plentiful decisions, and extra mechanics.

Combat

Actual combat is completely different between the two. In Oathsworn you are on a hex based board and utilize a hand of cards that allow you to attack or do various actions. Each card has a cost in animus as well as a "cooldown" cost that keeps it from your hand for a certain amount of time. The cost is based on animus, a resource you recover every round and the cooldown is manipulated via playing more cards of the same cooldown, or using certain abilities.

Movement is straightforward and is 1 animus per hex moved. Terrain pieces have game significance based on knockbacks, blocking line of sight and some abilities.

Turn order is fairly open and focus is on individual turns with minor party wide strategies such as being positioned for another character to use certain abilities.

Actual combat is used by rolling however many dice you like, with a push your luck mechanic based on the amount chosen vs how much damage is needed. There is no defense roll and this does include exploding dice. Gear plays a passive roll in combat.

Story is not a part of battle phase of Oathsworn.

Odyssey on the other hand is on a square grid. Movement is based on the Titan used and possibly any equipment. Dice are determined based on the titan, it's gear and Kratos table. 

Actions are more straightforward with a certain amount of actions being available.

Terrain is more involved with searchable locations, blocked paths and more.

The Triskelion plays a large role in combat meaning as the battle progresses you become stronger, with a strong ramp up felt. Additionally enemies have a smoother ramp up with no clear stage changes. AI and BP cards are added constantly, instead of shifted all at once from stage to stage.

Focus when battling is about team attacks, with many cooperative moves and assists in attacking. Defense can be estimated, but is unknown until you attack so it is less definite than in Oathsworn with it's constant defense. Gear takes an active roll in combat, granting abilities and situational modifiers.

Story is integrated within the battle phase of Odyssey.

Overall Complexity

Oathsworn is a more streamlined game when it comes to game mechanics. There is less at play at the same time with interaction kept brief, for instance by gaining a combat token based on a story decision. When attacking you typically only have to be concerned with your own turn.

Story decisions are swift and straight forward.

Odyssey on the other hand has many more systems at play at the same time. From random battles to full story parts within battles. Game mechanics often interact with each other and battles often make changes to the story part that comes after. When attacking you must take into account everyone's turn including the enemies current status.

Story decision are more involved and detailed.

Fundamental Differences

As I said, Odyssey has more game mechanics such as researching and crafting, gear evolution, diplomacy and more that are not present in Oathsworn.

Oathsworn has the ally system that allows continue play, even from players that might be downed within the battle.

Upgrades and leveling are also different. In Oathsworn you have an upgrade card that you can pick character upgrades, as well as new cards and gear.

In Odyssey you can get completely new titans, gear, Kratos tables, assistance technologies/understanding, Argo upgrades and more.

Oathsworn is much more solo friendly compared to Odyssey.

Summary

I'm speaking generally and broadly here. Neither description is perfect or 100% right all the time but hopefully these pillars of differences can better help you decide on what you back based on your personal tastes and that of your group.

Hope this helped!