Assassin's Creed Origins Review.
We have had some great games launch over the past few weeks, these would include the likes of South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Destiny 2 and a plethora more. Along with these titles comes another great release, Assassin's Creed Origins.
Developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft, this year's Assassin's Creed title is hands down, along with Assassin's Creed Black Flag, one of the best games in the series. It is the tenth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series and the successor to 2015's Assassin's Creed Syndicate, and is available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
After taking a break for a year, the Ubisoft team have delivered a gem when it comes to the Assassin's Creed series. This time around, Assassin's Creed Origins takes players on a trip to Egypt where they will step into the shoes of Bayek. Born and raised in the lonely and isolated area of Siwa, Bayek is the last representative of the Medjay, a long and ancient line of Protectors in the country. Thanks to his training, he is a keeper of the traditions and beliefs of Ancient Egypt. He has the power to execute justice in his mission to protect those in need.
After losing his child, Bayek leaves his home to hunt and kill everyone responsible for the death of his son. During his quest, he crosses paths with powerful historical figures such as Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIII or Julius Caesar, who are engaged in an epic war for power. While on his own personal journey of revenge, Bayek also walks the path of the Assassins, which will ultimately lead to the creation of the Brotherhood of Assassins.
Assassin's Creed Origins' storyline is a rock solid one at that. It's filled with a number of twists and turns and is ultimately one of the best in the series to-date. It's quite honestly a delight to play; however, it does start off a bit slower than other titles in the series... This allows the tension to build up at sufficient pace and allows the overall storyline to be entertaining from start to finish.
What also adds to this title's fantastic and solid storyline is the top-tier voice cast. Bayek as well as his supporting cast, minor characters included, are voiced in a superb, professional manner. I personally loved listening to characters interact with each other as it sounded and felt so natural. Apart from the voice cast, Assassin's Creed Origins is a beautifully sounding game. Not only can you hear NPCs chatting amongst themselves while you travel through the beautiful and diverse cities, you can also hear the sounds of the wildlife populating certain areas as you explore the wilderness and vast deserts featured within the game.
Speaking of the environment and world, ancient Egypt looks absolutely breath-taking. You can see that the developers had a lot of respect for the architecture in the game as each and every city is beautifully detailed. From scaling pyramids to walking through the Library of Alexandria, Assassin's Creed Origins can simply be described as a love letter to Egypt. The vast deserts and vicious wilderness has also been beautifully crafted and the game-world, as large as it is - is exceptionally well-detailed. When it comes to visuals, Assassin's Creed Origins is definitely one of the best looking games of the year.
While the visuals and voice-acting are the stars of the show... so is the combat. The team over at Ubisoft has completely revamped combat and progression and turned Assassin's Creed Origins into a Role-Playing-Game (RPG). Players will need to level up in order to unlock various skills via the game's skill tree. In addition to this, players will also need to reach a certain level before attempting to take on some of the various main missions and side-quests. There were times where I would attempt to complete missions a few levels higher of that of my own; however, these would almost certainly end up with me dying. While I would not suggest taking on missions four or five levels above that of your own, attempting missions that are two levels above your own are very possible to complete; however, these will be rather challenging none-the-less.
When taking a closer look at combat, you can see that the developers have really refined the combat system; however, at the same time, made it a bit more difficult to master. In past Assassin's Creed titles you could simply parry and execute multiple enemies with ease, but not this time. This time you will need to time your attacks as well as when you block or parry attacks, which makes fights feel a lot tenser. While in a fight with multiple enemies you can lock-on to certain targets, but this can be a little counter-intuitive as the lock-on system seems to be less fluid when compared to other titles.
While combat has indeed improved, so has the weaponry. Much like Destiny 2, players will constantly come across a plethora of new weapons, shields, and bows. Each weapon varies in effect, type, and rarity and searching or purchasing the best type of gear is always at the top of the to-do-list. There is also a crafting system on hand that will allow you to improve the quality of your gear. Much like the Far Cry series, you will need to hunt certain animals in order to obtain the correct pelts and items to craft upgrades.
One of the best additions to Assassin's Creed Origins is the addition of the navy styled battles inspired by Assassin's Creed Black Flag. Sailing through the ocean is another seamless experience that makes Assassin's Creed Origins well-worth playing just for these sections of gameplay alone.
When it comes to movement, the parkour and climbing mechanics are indeed more seamless than ever this time around. The active climbing system is beautifully crafted and really makes life a lot easier when traversing buildings, pyramids, and tombs.
Apart from being an RPG, Assassin's Creed Origins has ditched the Eagle Vision and replaced it with an actual eagle who goes by the name of Senu. Senu can be used to mark enemies, locations, as well as mark various treasures and points of interest. While eagle vision had always been a great feature, using Senu makes Assassin's Creed Origins more unique and innovative than past titles in the series.
While Assassin's Creed Origins is a brilliant title, it does, however, consist of a variety of bugs and glitches. During one mission I was tasked with stealing a horse-drawn cart - which was filled with food - for villagers; however, I was forced to reload the quest a few times as the driver of the cart would just glitch out and run rampant through the city with no final destination. There was also an occasion when I died during this mission and the game would crash. To add to this, I was also forced to reload the mission when the driver would run the carriage off the road into the river. This was frustrating; however, Ubisoft are pretty vigilant when it comes to patching their titles, which means that minor issues such as this will eventually be ironed out.
There were a few rather humorous glitches that I came across as well, which is expected especially in a game of this size, that included a horse on a roof and a goat riding a boat. While these are minor issues, they were funny none-the-less.
Conclusion:
Assassin's Creed Origins is an exceptional title. Not only is it beautiful, but it also improves on a variety of gameplay mechanics that were just not up to scratch in past Assassin's Creed titles. To add to this, the gameplay has been more refined, which results in a much more smoother and well-balanced Assassin's Creed. To add to the accolades, this title is beautiful, large, and just a pure pleasure to play and experience.
Overall, Assassin's Creed is not only a love letter to Egypt, but it is also a love letter to gamers that explains that the team at Ubisoft are determined to improve upon the Assassin's Creed series. Here's hoping to see more RPG action in upcoming Assassin's Creed titles.
By: Darryl Linington
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