Assassin’s Creed: Origins Review – A new beginning of the Assassin’s Creed series

With the aim to bring back a greater experience, Ubisoft took a break from its annual releasing schedule and releases Assassin’s Creed: Origins after 2 years of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Assassin’s Creed: Origins – the tenth major title in the series takes you to Ancient Egypt where you will explore the origins of the Brotherhood of Assassins. We are lucky to be able to enjoy the game on PC, so here is our Assassin’s Creed: Origins review!

Introduction

Featuring the biggest yet most connected map in the series ever, Assassin’s Creed: Origins is an action-adventure stealth game just like the previous titles. However this time there is some refreshing new twist on the game mechanics, more RPG element is added to the gameplay too.

You will take on the role of Bayek who was originally a respected Medjay in charge of protecting the Siwa Oasis but left Siwa Oasis to take on a revenge. The journey leads him traveling across Ancient Egypt and thus involving himself in the conflict between the Order of Ancients, Ptolemy XIII, Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. He is then joined by Aya, who became his wife and together they founded the Assassin Brotherhood.

Gameplay

As I mentioned in the words above, Assassin’s Creed: Origins is having a lot of new elements compared to the previous titles. First of all, the map is bigger than ever which you could explore it all you want seamlessly (no loading screens at all!). Mini-map is no longer existing in Origins, instead a compass bar (similar to Elder Scrolls) is located on the upper screen to point you out in the direction of quests and objects. The “Eagle Vision” for detecting and marking enemies is replaced with “Senu”, an eagle who companies Bayek in his journey.

On the other side, underwater exploration, naval combat and tomb raiding are back again in Assassin’s Creed: Origins. My favourite thing to do in the Assassin’s Creed series – Leap of Faith remains unchanged too (hooray!). You can also tame most of the predators and let them assist you against enemies.

The combat system in Assassin’s Creed: Origins is no longer simple as the previous title – no more counter-attacking and combo on your enemies. Instead, you will need to learn the enemies’ attack pattern, then plan your action according to the situation. Even though you are facing enemies that have a lower level, attacking without planning might lead you to death.

You can perform an attack using weapons or bows, while in defending you can block attacks from the enemies by using the shield or dodging. In addition, there is a new Adrenaline Gauge that builds up energy during combat and gains you the ability to perform an ultimate skill or enter a frenzy (faster, stronger and more resistant to damage).

The game features various equipment in different rarity available, which higher rarity often comes with better attributes (even your mount have a rarity). The mission structure is a bit different too, you can now progress and pick up any mission you like as long as your level hits the required level.

Other than just making you stronger, leveling up grants you abilities points where you can spend them on your skill tree. Completing certain objective will earn you experience points and now, farming up your level and equipment has become important as you would not stand a chance against higher level enemies (even assassination won’t kill a higher level enemy from one blow but their attacks will one-hit murderize you).

Graphics

The graphics in Assassin’s Creed: Origins is absolutely stunning, I could even spend a huge part of my play time soaking in the beautiful sights and taking pictures around (yes there is an interesting photo mode). You will find different creatures in different areas, while the towns and village (even the barren desert) looks all lively.

Pros

First of all, it is no doubt that Assassin’s Creed: Origins is having the best graphics of all Assassin’s Creed titles. Not to mention the huge map and tons of interesting side-missions that will keep you busy (well it is good for farming). Also, the new setting in Ancient Egpyt delivers a good story of Bayek’s life journey.

Cons

The biggest downside of the game is its default keyboard mapping position (aka controls). For example, in the previous title, SHIFT key is used to sprint while SPACE key is used to climb up. In Assassin’s Creed: Origins, ALT key is used for both sprinting and climbing up which old players (like me) will find it unfamiliar. The level system actually limits your potential to complete certain tasks just by using strategy too.

Assassin’s Creed: Origins lived up my expectation especially in the graphics and story settings aspects. The exploitation of the new gameplay mechanisms are not perfect yet, but I could see a bright future of it. It is a game that I would strongly recommend to everyone.

Assassin’s Creed: Origins is available now on Steam (PC) at USD 59.99 (RM219). You can visit their official site for more information.

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