Let’s get one thing out of the way here shall we? I love Assassin’s Creed. As someone who has always had a keen interest in history, I have found each game to be a fascinating exploration of some of history’s most iconic time periods, and I have yet to find a truly bad game. The series has certainly had its ups and downs, and the mixed reception to 2014’s Unity and 2015’s Syndicate led to developer Ubisoft’s decision to put the franchise on hold for a year to rethink how the series should proceed. The result is Assassin’s Creed Origins: a game that manages to capitalise on most of the series’ strengths while also steering it in a new direction.
Story
As the name implies the story details the events leading up to the creation of the Assassin Brotherhood, but it is still a sequel in that it continues the present day narrative. These segments are mercifully brief, because in previous games they had an annoying habit of pulling you out of the action just when things were ramping up. The modern day story is not advanced particularly far, but it does leave it in an interesting position and also helps to explain what some key characters have been up to after the events in previous games.
Of course the real draw of every AC game has been its historical settings and the stories that manage to weave engaging characters, real world events and and the series’ own fiction seamlessly together. The setting for this latest venture is ancient Egypt, specifically the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty (50 BCE to be exact). Our new protagonist is Bayek of Siwa, one of the few remaining Medjay – a group of elite soldiers from the Old Kingdom of Egypt created in service to the Pharaoh. The story follows Bayek as he uncovers the mystery surrounding the Order of the Ancients – a powerful organisation with ulterior motives regarding the fate of Egypt.
What is curiously absent from that synopsis are the words ‘Assassins’ and ‘Templars.’ The rivalry between the two factions, both physical and ideological, has been the driving force behind just about every AC game before this one, and the story is weaker for it. All of the elements are essentially there, mind you: Bayek is for all intents and purposes an Assassin, complete with a hood and his hidden blade, and the Order of the Ancients effectively serve as a precursor to the Templars. The story’s weakness comes from the fact that Bayek’s only real motivation to track down the Order is revenge, and with that comes a certain lack of urgency. After all there isn’t exactly a deadline for revenge, and stopping the Order’s plans becomes something of a secondary, even bonus objective for Bayek. I can appreciate the story for not being formulaic, but it needed to compensate for it by raising the stakes in some way in order to keep the main story relevant. As it stands the story can take backstage to the dozens of other activities you’ll partake in, even more so than in other open world games.
That’s not to say that Bayek is a bad protagonist. His personality is not well established early on as you might expect; rather we get to know him as we see him interact with people and the world around him. As a Medjay, Bayek is seen as something of a hero to the people of Egypt – someone they admire and can call upon in times of need. Bayek’s interactions with the people of Egypt make him seem genuinely kind and sympathetic, and he still knows how to have fun, as evidenced by some of the more unusual side missions you can get caught up in.
The story’s biggest weakness, however, is that it does not fully utilise the setting, and has disappointingly few memorable set pieces. Characters in the story point out the Pharaoh Ptolemy to be a cruel and ineffectual leader, but you only see the man twice in the entire game, and you never witness any of his cruelty first hand. The plot threads involving Cleopatra and Caesar come late in the main story and some of the game’s vast regions have as little as one or two story missions that take place there, which feels like wasted potential. The story is also rather short for a game of this size, which may explain why each story mission raises the level requirements considerably, forcing players to hold off and do side missions before continuing.
The story is at its best when you receive the second set of assassination targets, because it’s at this point that the world really opens up and you are free to track down each target – each of whom is operating in a different region – and their plot threads make the most of the Egyptian setting. Exploring the crypts of the Great Pyramid in Giza and investigating a temple in the old city of Memphis are some of the most enjoyable things I have done in a game in recent memory. After the investigation missions are completed, many targets will appear in the world in real time, as opposed to previous games where they would only be available when doing their respective mission. On the one hand this is great for immersion as you can see your target organically interacting with the world, and this makes them feel far more real than what the brief glimpses of them in cut-scenes could ever manage. On the other hand, it makes every assassination mission blur together with everything else you have been doing, and it is entirely possible that you could stumble across one of your targets while absentmindedly searching an area for a chest. Consequently these missions can feel a little anticlimactic, especially when you consider that they were often the highlights of previous games.
Exploring the crypts of the Great Pyramid in Giza and investigating a temple in the old city of Memphis are some of the most enjoyable things I have done in a game in recent memory.
Origins’ story is enjoyable but it is definitely one of the least memorable the series has produced so far. There is some excellent fan service that ties into the lore of the series (something I particularly appreciated), but I could not help but feel like there were several missed opportunities when I finished it and it lacks the focus that allows the previous games to still stand out in my mind.
Presentation
Assassin’s Creed Origins is one of the best looking games I have ever played, both aesthetically and on a technical level. I often make use of the PS4’s screenshot function, and when I finished the story I opened my library to find over 400 screenshots for me to sort through. This is the biggest Assassin’s Creed game yet, comprising of the entirety of Egypt and even parts of neighbouring Libya. While 2013’s Black Flag may technically have a larger world with its depiction of the Caribbean, it was much less dense – putting miles of open sea between you and your destination. Origins’ world, however, is much denser and discovering new locations is more organic now that viewpoints only help you to see where points of interest are rather than blatantly telling you what you’ll find when you get there.
The various regions you can visit are also delightfully varied. The beauty of having a game set in this particular time period is that we get to see a mix of Egyptian, Greek and Roman influences, and this is reflected in the architecture, clothing and customs of the people you come across. The ornate architecture of Alexandria stands in sharp contrast to the relatively humble structures of most Egyptian villages. The various cities you can visit all have their own stories, which may be that of a particular God that all of the temples are dedicated to, or of the rising tensions between Egyptian and Greek citisens, to name a few. The dense and loud city streets are a nice balance to the game’s quiet wilderness areas too, which includes impressive mountain ranges, vast stretches of open desert, and the lush greenery of the Nile delta. Animals make a return as well, and you’ll find that hippos and crocodiles can give you just as much cause for concern as any number of soldiers.
What is truly impressive though, are all of the little details which have gone into this game. Wandering around in the desert heat at midday will cause hallucinations, sandstorms can sweep through areas blinding you, and citisens carry out their daily routines like farming or making pottery. I even found a temple where I could watch the mummification process being conducted by the priests. Some of these details can affect gameplay too, as some soldiers will go to sleep at night, while others might take a break from guard duty to have lunch – creating opportunities for infiltration.
Gameplay
Gameplay has seen a massive overhaul for Assassin’s Creed Origins. Combat, stealth and free-running have been changed significantly, and several features have been added which have turned Origins into the series’ first true role-playing game.
The first and most prominent addition is a full on levelling system. Unity and Syndicate also had a form of levelling, but in Unity it was dictated by the equipment you wore, and Syndicate’s system required you to spend skill-points at regular intervals to level up. Origins’ system is more like a traditional RPG in that levelling is based on experience gain, either from defeating enemies or from completing quests. Each time you level up you will receive one ability point, but there are other ways of earning them, like exploring tombs to find ancient tablets. The game’s regions have levels associated with them – dictating how strong the enemies found there are and how difficult the missions will be. Enemies that are too high a level for you will have a skull icon instead of a health bar, indicating that you should come back later. The great thing about this system is that it brings challenge back to the series, as you can try to take on enemies that are a few levels higher than you if your skills are up to the task. It also encourages stealth, as catching enemies unaware and eliminating the biggest threats first can make the task of clearing out an enemy camp much more manageable.
The levelling system comes with skills that can be bought with the aforementioned ability points. Skills are split between combat, stealth and miscellaneous abilities like unlocking new tools or opening up new items for purchase in shops. Some skills are far more useful than others though, and I was let down by the conspicuous absence of a double assassination ability for guards in close proximity to one another (something every prior game has had). The closest thing to it is a knife throw ability, but it turns out that a guard may notice his partner getting stabbed two feet away from him (yeah, I was surprised too), and he might run off before you can hit him.
Another prominent feature is the addition of a new loot system based on rarity. Weapons and items in the game come in three forms: common, rare and legendary. It’s a good system that makes outfitting your character with the best gear incredibly fun, but it could use some tweaks. For starters, more loot tiers would be appreciated. The differences between common and rare items are negligible in most ways, save for slightly better stats. Legendary items, on the other hand, all have unique models and even have modifiers, like your sword having a poison effect or every arrow fired from your bow being on fire. Secondly, loot drops are incredibly common, and there is no limit on how many weapons you can carry at a time. This means your inventory frequently gets filled with junk as you don’t know what you are picking up until you already have it, and it also makes choosing which weapons to equip meaningless when you can carry around every weapon in the game at once. You can sell items you don’t need, but they could cut down on the number of items while also increasing the individual value of said items to compensate. It is admittedly a petty complaint but it would help the game’s immersion if you weren’t pausing the game after every combat encounter to sort out your inventory.
Legendary items have unique modifiers, like your sword having a poison effect or every arrow fired from your bow being on fire.
On that note: the new user interface is not great. You can have up to two bows and two melee weapons selected at a time, with an additional slot each for a torch and one tool. You cycle through all this by either tapping or holding the left or right directional buttons on a controller. It tries to be minimalist during gameplay – as evidenced by the lack of a mini-map – but I often forgot which weapon I had equipped until I tried to use it. Being limited to only one active tool slot also meant I rarely used anything other than firebombs (which, by the way, is the only appropriate response to walking into a room full of cobras). Going back to an in-game weapon wheel would solve this issue, and would be no less immersive than pausing all the time.
Combat has seen the biggest change out of all of the returning mechanics, and it’s arguably the best the series has seen since the Ezio trilogy. It now works on a hit-box system, seen in games like the Witcher 3 and Dark Souls. To the uninitiated, that means that the characteristics of the weapon itself, such as its speed, size and range, are factors to consider now. This makes the game’s various weapon categories feel distinct and useful when fighting different enemies. If you are surrounded by a pack of hyenas, for example, it may be better to use the fast but low range dual swords, while using a slow but large club may allow you to break an enemy’s defence while also keeping your distance. Bayek has a shield as well, which can protect him from enemy archers and it can also be used to parry enemy sword attacks. The weapon variety extends to the bows as well, with some bow types being better for stealth, while others are more suited to the heat of a battle. Lastly, Bayek also has an adrenaline meter which fills as he fights; when it’s full Bayek can unleash a devastating attack on enemies that cannot be blocked. This, combined with other combat skills and good enemy variety help to make this the most challenging and rewarding combat system in the series.
Combat has seen the biggest change out of all of the returning mechanics, and it’s arguably the best the series has seen since the Ezio trilogy.
I have two complaints regarding the combat. The first is that the adrenaline attack is the only reliable way of dealing damage to some bosses, making some fights drag on as you dodge around waiting for it to recharge. The second is that Bayek’s dodge is not big enough to effectively move around the battlefield. I found the boss fights against war elephants to be more aggravating than fun because no amount of dodging seemed to put enough distance between me and the big grey tank barrelling towards me. I would recommend taking a leaf out of the Witcher 3’s book to fix this, where combat assigns one button to a short, side-step dodge for smaller attacks and another for a full dodge-roll to avoid larger attacks.
Traversal is also improved. The free-running system is more responsive, but what is even better is that climbing is much more natural than before. Buildings in previous AC games would have an oddly convenient number of cracks or ornaments for you to grab onto as you climb. Based on this mindset, I spent 10 minutes looking for a path of some kind up a cliff-side, only to find that I could scale the cliff itself like a professional climber.
The world itself is packed with tons of side activities which make excellent use of the unique Egyptian setting. Animals can be hunted, enemy convoys can be raided, and these tasks can give you materials that can be used to craft better gear for Bayek, like a larger quiver for more arrows or a stronger breastplate to increase his health. There are dozens of enemy camps to clear, tombs to explore, side missions to complete, and there are even gladiatorial arenas and a hippodrome where you can compete in fights or chariot races respectively. They even managed to include naval gameplay reminiscent of Black Flag, where you control a trireme with a catapult and flaming arrows on the Mediterranean sea.
Stealth is as fun as ever, and clearing out an entire fortress undetected is still one of the most satisfying things imaginable. Some enemies cannot be killed by a stealth attack now, and smart players will learn to clear the immediate area of weaker enemies before getting into a fight – else you risk getting every soldier in a 10 mile radius involved in your once sneaky infiltration (I wish I was exaggerating). A dedicated slow motion ability for aiming your bow would have been useful though, especially when trying to aim on consoles.
Stealth is as fun as ever, and clearing out an entire fortress undetected is still one of the most satisfying things imagineable.
The biggest change to stealth is to your character’s eagle vision. It’s more literal in this game, in that you actually get an eagle companion called Senu who can scout ahead for you. The bird’s eye view helpful in gameplay – letting you mark enemies and useful items – but it has the additional benefit of letting us see the world in all its beauty. The level design is excellent as well. Every camp offered me multiple avenues for stealth, like climbing the outer wall or creeping through the tall grass near the main gate.
Performance
I played Assassin’s Creed Origins on PlayStation 4 just after its release, and its performance is impressive. In my entire play-through I experienced no glitches, save for one time I got caught on the environment, and which was fixed upon fast travelling. I only saw a considerable framerate slowdown three times in my 70 hours of play. This was with the day one patch installed, mind you, and there have been reports of more serious bugs in the game’s original state, but even then it is a much more stable release than Unity was.
Origins‘ minimum requirements on PC are roughly the same as they were for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate in 2015 but the performance ceiling has been raised substantially since then. The game has an extensive graphical settings list for players to prioritise performance over pixels or vice versa. It must be noted though that Origins is reportedly very resource demanding on CPUs in its current form, which is rumoured to be the result of a double DRM system implemented to protect against piracy, though Ubisoft has officially denied these reports.
Origins also has both PS4 Pro and Xbox One X support, though it uses dynamic resolution scaling to achieve 4K rather than actually maintaining a consistent 2160p image. The game is also capped at 30fps on consoles.
Additional Information
- Initial Release Date: 27 October 2017
- Genre: Action Adventure, RPG
- Platform/s: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Reviewed on: PlayStation 4
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Publisher: Ubisoft
- Website: https://assassinscreed.ubisoft.com/game/en-us/home
I also want to point out that this game has been receiving great post launch support from Ubisoft. A special event called “The Trials of the Gods” have allowed players to engage in great boss battles for unique gear. A photo mode has been included, letting people take impressive and creative photos of ancient Egypt. Still to be added is an endless horde mode for the arena battles and “Discovery Tour” – an educational no-combat mode where players can wander the world and find detailed explanations for the things they see in-game. It is a fantastic evolution of the encyclopedia included in previous games.
Two promising DLCs have been confirmed for the game, entitled ‘The Curse of the Pharaoh’ and ‘The Hidden Ones.’ The former will focus on dreamlike sequence where Bayek will be able to confront mythical creatures, while the later will be a story driven DLC set in the Sinai peninsula after the events of the main game.
On the subject of micro-transactions, which have been a hot topic in gaming news this year: Origins does have micro-transactions that allow you to pay real money for some exclusive weapons or outfits, and you can buy “time-saver packs” that give you crafting materials and auto-complete some side activities for you. While the exclusive items are a little disappointing, they are entirely optional and there are still dozens of in-game items which you can get instead. As for the time-saver packs, the game is nicely balanced in terms of progression and it never feels slow enough that you might be tempted to buy one. In my opinion, the more egregious sin would actually be buying one of the things. Why would you pay for a full priced game, only to pay more money to skip some of the content?
Verdict
Assassin’s Creed Origins is an excellent game that improves on almost every aspect of what makes these games great. While its story may be underwhelming at times, it does reach a satisfying conclusion. I have been quite harsh on this game – especially with regards to the gameplay – but none of the things I have mentioned are deal breakers. I really do think that if the next game makes these small improvements to the gameplay, and if it has a story that better utilises the characters and events of its setting, that we could be looking at a 10/10. Until then:
Assassin’s Creed Origins – 8/10
All screenshots taken by M. Taylor on PlayStation 4
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