Random Video Game Review - Assassin's Creed Origins

So having had a one year break from the mainstream gaming market, Ubisoft return with a new Assassin's Creed game that itself serves as a prequel to the very first game of the series hence the subtitle Origins. Back in 2011, Ubisoft sent out a survey asking fans what time periods they wanted in future games. Of the list that was given to the fans which consisted of nine time periods, Ubisoft were able to make at least six games based or partially based on those time periods both mainstream and non-mainstream. I have reviewed five of those games already and now we have the sixth which will no doubt explain to us how the war between Assassins and Templars began and more. So grab your hidden blades and let's talk about it:

So as previously mentioned, the game is set in Ancient Egypt during the Ptolemaic period where players control a Medjay called Bayek (voiced by Abubakar Salim) who works to protect his world from the seemingly corrupt Pharaoh which leads him into finding secretive forces who are manipulating the events before him and have him become the first Assassin. There is also a present setting in which Abstergo are continuing to find more information about the Ancient Ones. So a bunch of old things return to the game such as the combat, the collectibles and Eagle vision as well as some new things too. Eagle Vision has changed to having us see things from the perspective of an actual Eagle who is able to basically do surveillance for Bayek so that he can plan his missions. Also keeping in mind that this is set well before the Templar and Assassin battles, you will instead be using weapons that were traditionally used during this time period such as a bow and arrow and swords. Popular things in the series like naval battles, underwater exploration and tomb raiding are back which is great. Plus with viewpoints, there are less things to climb to find them this time which is a good thing for those of us with little time on our hands. Combat is revised to make it a little more challenging, but fluent which gives us long time fans more of a challenge (but don't worry it works well unlike Unity's combat system). Those of us who remember the very first game will remember one Templar battle where you would have to fight a series of waves of enemies before beating a boss and this is once again explored here in arenas which both take part in the main story as well as outside of it too. As for where the game is set, it is a pretty darn beautiful game that presents Egypt during those times well and as with the other games, it educates us well too.

So one thing I will say about this game is that it does make us have to improvise a lot considering that this is set before the wars we see in the other games and from an original standpoint, it works. But anyway the game is up there as being one of the best of the series and even on par with Black Flag. It plays well, its beautifully presented and aside from the occasional technical problems, it performs well. I'd say the only other issue I would have is its title. I mean if it wasn't called Origins no one would know that its actually set before the first game. But as it does say Origins, everybody knows (though it was originally going to be called Empire and that would've kept people guessing, but oh well). But still its another great game in the series and it shows that by having a year's break from the gaming scene, you can make a great game with more time provided and that certainly shows here. 9/10