Assassin's Creed Origins

The Assassin's Creed franchise is quickly becoming one of the most storied franchises in gaming history, not to mention one of its most interesting case studies. Ubisoft started this series long ago with big promises, big intentions, big plans, and some big ideas that really pushed the industry forward. 

Since then we've received 10+ games in various formats and differing WILDLY in terms of quality, concept, and execution. It was once an annualized series, much to its near demise, and with Origins, Ubisoft decided -- very wisely -- to pump the brakes and take an extra year to polish everything up and attempt to deliver the next evolution of the Assassin's Creed series. 

Get ready for A LOT of screenshots!

This came after the abysmal Assassin's Creed Unity, which is, to date the lowest score I've given a game and the highly-uninteresting (though I heard it was decent) Assassin's Creed Syndicate. It's been two years since Syndicate underwhelmed and it was clear that Ubisoft's greed and lack of innovation in their flagship series had delivered it a significant blow. Gamers largely just didn't care anymore. I myself believed that the series had peaked with Black Flag -- my favorite in the entire series -- and would now be an average/good series that I stopped playing in order to make way for other games. For a larger example than just me: my group of friends and I used to all be excited for AC games and often buy them Day, Week, or Month 1. Even for Origins, only 2 of us have purchased it in an arguably less busy gaming fall/winter than usual.

It seems though, even against negative momentum, that taking a year off was the wisest decision Ubisoft could have made. Origins is the best Assassins Creed ever and that's a pretty big statement, even if recent iterations have been poor. The development team was able to recapture the magic of Black Flag and the sense of exploration and the ease of doing "just one more thing" that open world games like this strive to achieve. Combine that with the series best (and most unique) setting ever -- and one of the best open worlds I've ever played in a game -- and you've got a winning formula. And that's not even mentioning the advancements that this game puts on the series, which are numerous and lasting. 

How many games let you create even something remotely similar to this time period?

Want to read a book? Visit the library!

I'll try my best to keep this review concise, but it's hard when I get to gush about a game, especially one that demonstrates a comeback of sorts. The most significant thing here that builds the game's quality is the open world, which is one I'll remember for some time to come. Egypt and Greece are very unique, gorgeously rendered, and massive. The map is split up into sections, and I haven't even visited all of them yet. Truth be told, it's a bit staggering, especially for how good it looks. Really intricate details aren't necessarily the best (characters still clip certain objects and what not) like they were in Horizon, but the wide open spaces and landscapes and vistas and weather and pretty much everything else are awe-inspiring. The first time I came over the gently curving golden sands in the middle of the desert, with the sun baring down on me, and saw the pyramids erupting over the landscape I had to pause and take a picture (photo mode FTW again!). This is an odd thing to say given that I certainly didn't live during the ancient Egyptian times, but the game unequivocally feels like I'm playing in a living, breathing Egypt. It feels Egyptian and ancient. Similar to the way Black Flag made me feel like a pirate, Origins makes me feel like an ancient warrior. The map is also varied with plenty of underwater, cavernous, desert, forest-filled, and city-based mysterious and missions to find and complete. Places of interest are all on the map so there were often times I would play the game simply to explore, going for two or more hours without even so much of interacting with a quest and instead finding new places and treasures. That magic from Black Flag is back and rampant in Origins. 

And it is here that glory shall be earned!!

Origins protagonist is also a series favorite of mine as he feels like a true hero. Bayek is an Egyptian and he fights for revenge after the death of his son, but he's a good person with a sound moral compass when it comes to doling out justice. The story itself is captivating as it focuses almost all of its time in the past (i.e. Egypt) as opposed to the Assassins Creed norm of having modern day tie ins. Even on that end, this game excels by rarely forcing the player to go back to modern day and even when it does, it's often captivating. Finding ancient technology that is almost supernatural in the realms of Egypt is thrilling, all very similar to the same mysterious that made Horizons: Zero Dawn so fun earlier this year and while the story may be relatively straightforward as it pertains to Bayek's life (remember straightforward doesn't mean boring) the origins of the Assassin's is certainly here and alive. It's also memorable too, which is a common theme for this game. Unlike some of the lesser game's protagonists, I'll remember Bayek along with the likes of Connor, Ezio, and Altair and hold him in a similar regard. 

Bayek be blingin on them Romans

A particular area that Assassin's Creed has often struggled with is gameplay. From the inception of the series, there have been small advancements here and there, but rarely something revolutionary to the CORE gameplay comes along. There have been additions to the gameplay sure via tower defense scenarios, estate monitoring, and other entertaining side/mini games. But by and large the gameplay hasn't changed, for better or worse. Origins represents a dramatic shift in some core areas of gameplay while leaving some untouched. For the most part, the "untouched" elements remain the traversal capabilities. Some would call these boring but I think they get the job done and with little error (not always the case in AC). Bayek is capable and agile and I don't need to press 30 buttons to get him to climb up something -- 1 will do just fine. Combat however has drastically changed for the better. Gone are the days of waiting to counter your enemies, which is basically what AC had become. Instead, combat is much more intuitive and based in strategy, especially early on when you're weak. Timing shield blocks, dodges, strikes, heavy strikes, and kill moves takes skill when more than one enemy is present and I definitely died more than a handful of times in combat during Origins. Though I admit a lot of those deaths came at the expense of soldiers that were far more powerful than me in Origins' new, and greatly appreciated RPG elements. Managing Bayek's skills, weapons, gear, outfit, and level are all new things and it's really the RPG elements that make you realize what AC has been missing all these years. Sure it has some of the same pitfalls of all RPGs -- some areas are impossible at lower levels, not all weapons make a huge impact, etc. -- but by and large it's a natural progression for this series and one that puts Origins at the top of the pedestal. Throughout my time, I did have a few gameplay hiccups, mainly in the largely untouched stealth gameplay that feels like it ever-so-slightly took a step backwards, but as a whole Origins features the best gameplay this series has ever seen.  

Rollin with my homies...

On a technical front, Origins is sight (and sound) to behold. I've already briefly detailed the graphics, but really talking about it doesn't do it much justice. They're remarkable where it counts and while some games seem to have gotten uglier with increased size, Origins is easily the best looking AC since Black Flag. A lot of nature's natural effects are mimicked with great accuracy here; things like heat waves, wave/water undulation, fire spreading, swaying wind, etc. I've had so many moments of awe while playing Origins, some of them the most simple of things. For example, standing in a wheat field, looking onward to the pyramids, the wheat, tan and golden, would sway together in the wind. Eventually after just standing there, Bayek reaches a hand out and runs it through some wheat, seemingly what I would have done if I were standing there too. It was a beautiful moment of something so small. The sound, too, is powerful, if not sparingly used. Sound effects are common and fitting of course -- all things rendered with accuracy and good timing. But specifically the original score, which at times is so mysterious that I truly felt something -- like I was playing in Egypt via an Animus myself (can you tell I'm nerding out yet?). I wish it had been used more, specifically the moments of almost sinister melodies, but man did it give me chills on a few occassions. 

National Geographic should straight up give me an award for this one

Origins has the potential to be a watershed moment for the Assassins Creed series, representing what Assassins Creed II did so many years ago. It's the concept of Assassins Creed very nearly fully realized and packaged in a compelling, historical, and super intriguing bundle. Assuming Ubisoft and Co. can keep momentum on the series, it'll be one of the greatest comebacks ever for a series that I've come to approach with weariness -- never knowing if I'd get a GOTY candidate or a total bust. Origins does almost everything right and very little wrong, pushing the series forward in ways that it needed to be while also staying true to what has made the best games...well...the best. Plus, how many other games let you totally explore ancient Egypt and Greece in all of their glory?

CONS

• Handful of infrequent gameplay hiccups throughout my play. These were mostly during stealth sections
• Stealth overall feels like it took a slight step back and I'd like to see them push their thinking in future iterations to match the changes they brought to combat
• Some missions are extended fetch quests
• Underutilized original music

PROS

• One of the best open worlds I've ever played in a game. It's so intriguing and exciting at nearly every turn that there were times I just spent hours exploring and not even finishing quests. Plus it's HUGE!
• Bayek is a great protagonist and up there with the best of the series. He's sometimes funny, a total badass, and feels like the best hero this game series has ever produced
• Strong storytelling that is doubly intriguing if you're into ancient history (or if you thought you were and surprised by what you found) 
• Overall mission structure is actually quite great. Missions commonly have several objectives that can range in their general approach
• Combat evolution was a much needed and welcomed change
• RPG elements "ditto" to point above and add a lot to the series, specifically when it comes to having high-powered enemies. Some enemies you can't even kill with a single hidden blade strike!
• For a world as big as this, the graphics and visuals are nothing short of jaw-dropping. It's a highly varied world (even if you think it may just be all desert) and it looks painfully accurate to the time period. As you can tell through my screenshots (photo mode!), I've had countless moments of awe
• Great sound editing/design and original score when it's used
• An exciting comeback for a series I had all but written off. A highly unique opportunity to play during this ancient time period and a well-polished game that shows the attention to detail and dedication that this series' bests have had before

Rath's Review Score |

10/10 -- Instant Classic   

    


I had plenty of other screenshots that are shared below. Enjoy!!