Four years in the making developers Ubisoft are finally releasing the tenth major installment of the Assassin’s Creed series on PC, PS4 and XboxOne. Assassin’s Creed Origins is set in Ancient Egypt 323 BC – 30 BC during what is known as The Ptolemaic Kingdom – when Cleopatra VII would rise and fall, though whether she does during the plot we play remains to be seen. Played from a third person perspective this is an action-adventure stealth game with quests to complete gaining experience and acquiring new skills. This is our Assassin’s Creed Origins review.
Accompanied by Senu a Bonelli Eagle plus the mount you choose, you will play as Bayek the last Medjay – an Ancient Egypt militia that protected the interest of pharaoh often via valuable areas like capital cities. Think of Bayek being like a sheriff and as him, you have the ability to free roam the open world, fast travel, also partake in side quests while crafting or finding new materials, armor and weapons to equip or upgrade off mobs you kill or valuables you loot.
Assassins Creed Origins releases with new modes including Senu’s “eagle vision” so you can scout as her looking for targets and also highlighting enemy so you can then see them once you return to Bayek. Early 2018 Discovery Mode will become available offering the opportunity to explore Ancient Egypt even more without any combat to hinder you so you can dive deeper into history. Until then, enjoy revised combat mechanics that are hitbox governed introducing opportunities to change weapons accordingly against different enemies as well as discovering that some areas require open combat while others are better engaged in stealth.
Then last but definitely the furthest from least Assassin’s Creed Origins will also introduce Arena style combat where you must successfully defeat wave after wave of enemy triggering a boss fight. Ubisoft is taking us back in time via the latest technologies giving us the opportunity to share why you need to be playing this masterpiece with this, our Assassin’s Creed Origins review.
A KIWI BIRD’S EYE VIEW
Brief history: Ten year veteran of online games, mainly MMORPG’s – endgame raider, PVP-er and more recently economist and creative content challenger. For three years I have also enjoyed adventure, MOBA, survival, turn-based and strategy games. This is my first Assassin’s Creed title which was kindly given to us from Ubisoft. Thank you so much!
I volunteered because I have had an absolute love for Egyptian culture, history, and mythology for as long as I can remember. Only one week ago I realized this was the game I’ve been waiting for.
From the minute you log in, Assassin’s Creed Origins slows your senses with its music, drawing your focus in completely which is an achievement all on its own without even touching anything yet! Every color, font, light, page, sound, and animation lends itself to taking you to a place that seems so familiar yet you’ve never been there. At least not this way.
The UI is seamless to navigate with so many features to fine-tune your game – from field of view to subtitles – without being too overwhelming and although I have never played any other Assassin’s Creed title I have played Watch Dogs then seen and heard enough references, clips or words to know I could expect attention to detail but I did not expect this much.
Ubisoft has raised the bar for the entire industry on how to create such a fine detailed game honoring generations and nations of peoples over thousands of years.
Bayek’s personality is exactly what it needs to be. Stoic, gruff and focused on missions so when you meet Senu, the most beautiful eagle in gaming history you grow even more fond of their bond that has been portrayed so tenderly. When you think you can’t be drawn in anymore the voices and cutscenes add a whole other level of realism. Throughout villages, on the water or heading toward mountains everyone’s voice, every sound lends to the atmosphere all the way down to smallest animations like Bayek flicking water off his hands after he swims. You get such an authentic, awe-inspiring visual idea of how it might have truly been back then. So much so you can almost smell and taste it.
Ability wise of course I headed straight for animal taming after picking up dusk and dawn plus air combat so I can go full “feel like a superhero” mode with my camel! The choices on the ability tree have an exciting amount of strategy every single ability appealing enough to want them all. I have yet to learn if that’s even possible and will keep my fingers crossed we can!
The store is very straightforward, nothing out of the ordinary with the ability to earn everything you need in-game. Even without Discovery Mode activated Assassins Creed Origins is an adventure, travelers and history buff’s dream come true. It ticks all the boxes for those seeking progressively harder treasure hunting adding a fresh buzz to the gaming air on where gaming is headed as an industry and I hope development teams head Ubisoft’s way especially with honoring cultures and picture capturing (photo mode) which I cannot get enough of!
The drawbacks for me are very small. Combat is clunky when more than one mob is pulled which I do often especially when I equip a better weapon. I appreciate target-hunting and can’t believe how much I don’t mind waiting patiently in stealth for takedowns (that’s how stimulating the rest of the game is.) I also forgot all about photo mode until level three, only finding it by accident when I was scouting with Senu. So the visibility of this mode perhaps being on the controls page would be very helpful? Photo mode is just too amazing to not highlight and I may or may not have spent hours getting shots of Senu with her wings out which she only does when landing. She looks so magnificent in this pose so I can’t believe there isn’t a button already so she can do this when you need her to for pictures!
On a little adventure of my own making I “accidentally” ran over villagers with a stolen chariot (first picture) just to see what happens because I was curious if there are consequences and so far there isn’t which is a shame. And this is an Assassins Creed universe thing, but “desynchronization” across my screen when I die pulls me out of my Ancient immersion. It gets an odd pause from me every time. So as I said earlier the reasons Assasin’s Creed Origins is not a clean sweep for review but I have no doubt Discovery Mode would have squashed this tiny dent ten times over if it had been released. Cannot wait!
Assassin’s Creed Origins is a breathtaking sensorial odyssey. It is the MMO I have been waiting for without the MMO part and boy would my heart skip a beat if it were massively multiplayer online. Ubisoft has won a new superfan, I look forward to continuing playing and sharing discoveries of this game via my blog as well as keeping an eye on any future Ubisoft titles. Most of all though I would LOVE to see your photo’s in-game just let us know your name in Assassin’s Creed Origins below or your social media so we can check them out!
Compare to: Assassin’s Creed series, Shadow of Mordor
Note: Our copy was reviewed on PC with a code provided by Ubisoft.
