Review – Assassin’s Creed: Origins

It would be surprising if you hadn’t played or at least heard of the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

There have been many titles released over years and all have been fairly successful.

Assassins Creed: Origins caught my eye early on. Especially after seeing the changes to gameplay and setting.

The prospect of running around in Ancient Egypt was very enticing.

The Egyptian culture and history are just so damn interesting. It seemed as though Ubisoft really enjoyed recreating the world of ancient Egypt as much as I enjoyed exploring it.

This title sees you playing as Bayek. He is a medjay, an elite group trained to be highly skilled warriors.

Over the centuries they have also become keepers of the vault. Anyone who’s played Assassin’s Creed before will know what that is. If you haven’t, then you’ll get the gist as you play.

Havin’ a Giza

In Assassin’s Creed: Origins some of the people get killed while the rest get oppressed. As the respected medjay, they look to you for help. By helping, you’re rewarded with information as a result. Motivated by the loss of someone close, at the hands of the corrupt pharaoh, Bayek must travel the lands. Of course, this means killing all the bastards that have wronged you along the way.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”Origins helps set up all the Assassin’s Creed history” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””][/perfectpullquote]

During the narrative, Assassin’s Creed: Origins has a nice touch of creating coinciding story arcs. One of vengeance and one of saving the oppressed. This is a refreshing theme for the game and helps set up all the Assassin’s Creed history.

Bayek is just one against many. No secret guild of Assassins or a Creed to follow. Bayek is simply the judge, jury and executioner.

There are a lot of nods to the previous games and it sets everything up quite well. Being the origin of it all you can see the basis of things like the Creed itself and where it originates.

The core mechanics have been completely reworked for this title. It now works as a basic RPG with levels and a skill tree. The fighting mechanics have been changed to suit that as well. Enemies will now have health bars and you will see damage numbers when you hit them. There are also modifiers like poison and bleeding to help inflict more damage.

Cry for your Mummy

The core of the fighting has been changed in line with everything else. Bayek can lock onto enemies and can use a light or heavy attack. He can also dodge and/or parry if holding a shield. It took me a while before being comfortable with the new style. Once you’re there though it works really well.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”The landscape and architecture in Origins are absolutely beautiful” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””][/perfectpullquote]

Crafting is always something that’s been present in Assassin’s Creed. In Origins, you can upgrade your armour and hidden blade through the crafting options. This will help increase stats for both offence and defence on Bayek. You can also use a smith to upgrade your weapons.

This does get pricey as you level up but if you manage your items and funds well you won’t have a problem. I made sure I could keep using a certain legendary weapon the whole game and didn’t struggle too much.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”Assassin’s Creed: Origins really felt fulfilling” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””][/perfectpullquote]

The landscape and architecture in Origins are absolutely beautiful. The visuals are really something to be admired. From the river Nile to the pyramids of Giza, it’s pure eye candy. On top of that there is a massive area to explore.

When I first looked at the map and zoomed out I had a moment of dread. Somehow the explorable area still seems somewhat dense. Even the desert which can be barren still has ruins and camps.

You Sly Sphinx

Funnily enough, you don’t see the operator of the Animus for a long while. When you do it’s fairly short. Something that Ubisoft has seemingly tried to draw away from for the last few titles.

A wise decision, especially Desmond was killed off. Besides, we all want to be the badass assassin anyway. The story that is included in the future sections is interesting, but not mind-blowing.

As a whole, Assassin’s Creed: Origins really felt fulfilling. The gameplay was fresh and functional. The visuals and design are vibrant and outstanding. Wildlife is curious and at times incredibly dangerous. The story is satisfying and ties a lot together towards the end.

It will be interesting to see where the Assassin’s Creed franchise from here. There is still room to continue on. For now, this title will keep you busy though. Plenty to explore and tons of collectibles spread out within. It’s certainly not short of content.

Assassin’s Creed: Origins was reviewed on PS4 Pro using a digital download provided to PowerUp! by Ubisoft.