Assassins Creed Origins A fresh start

Assassin’s Creed Origins takes us back to the beginning of civilisation, to the Egyptian empire. Not only does it present the story of the Assassin’s origin but it’s also a fresh start for the franchise.

While each Assassin’s Creed game is definitely different, up until now it was always confined to the same mould. Assassin’s Creed Origins breaks free from that and moves more towards a traditional RPG experience with everything you’d expect from loot, to exploration and of course giant towers and leaps of faith.

AC Origins does away with the whole memories and sequences in favour of a vast open world at your disposal. It takes a while to fully appreciate the scale of the game and the setting of Egypt provides varying landscapes and constant shift from lush green oasis’ to barren desserts to unexplored pyramids and thriving cities on the banks of the Nile. The open world of course takes the emphasis away from platforming and parkour which is one of the core features of Assassin’s Creed and it feels a bit slower this time around. However, to compensate you can now choose between multiple mounts from camels to war horses as you make your way across Egypt.

Another major overhaul for the franchise with Assassin’s Creed Origins is the new combat system reminiscent of that seen in Dark Souls. Lots of dodging and timing, as opposed to random swings and there is a very clear shift to a lot more open combat compared to previous games where fighting in the open would be very unforgiving. The new combat also opens the door for new weapons from the era with spears, maces, and various swords all available for use. The game even allows you to equip two at a time for a quick swap, and the same applies to the bow with ranged combat playing a big role this time around. The multiple weapons allow you to prepare for multiple situations and play-styles and gathering equipment to upgrade or build a new weapon is sure to keep you occupied for quite a while. While the new weapon slots are great, the rest of your equipment isn’t that expansive with Bracer and Breastplate upgrades requiring simple crafting material while HP and damage is largely dictated by your level.

The story in Assassin’s Creed Origins follows Bayek, who is out seeking revenge against a shadowy group known only as the masked ones. As the story progresses you meet characters like the Pharaoh Ptolemy and Cleopatra as you make your way across all of Egypt. However, the open world design doesn’t restrict you to just the story, with tons of side quests and activities always available; or if you’re adventurous like me you’ll go get into trouble with the guards at an outpost every now and then. The problem, however, comes with the story progression, with each story mission your level requirement to progress increases thereby forcing you to go complete some if not all major side missions in an area just to get on with the story. While most gamers would look forward to a challenge of a higher-level story mission, AC Origins forces you to increase your level by farming XP through side missions making it a much longer experience than it should be.

Most of the changes in the game that have moved away from traditional AC games are definitely welcome, forcing you to grind and level-up is definitely one that breaks the flow of the game and hurts the experience of AC Origins.

Overall, Assassins’ Creed Origins makes for a fine addition to the franchise and opens the doors to many more open world AC games. It does justice to its open world without completely forgetting what makes it an AC game.

Strengths

• Beautifully created world
• New combat is fun
• Pyramid tombs are enjoyable

Weaknesses

• Forced XP grinding for progression
• Story and characters get boring