Date played: December 25th
Platform: PS4
Assassin's Creed Origins was one of my Christmas gifts, so I spent a bit of the day trying it out. I have a long history with this series... I was there when the original broke technical barriers and provided a huge world to explore, teeming with people. It also introduced the now ubiquitous "free-climbing" mechanic. I was there when Assassin's Creed II took open world storytelling to the next level with Ezio's story. I was there when Assassin's Creed III disappointed most of the world (I liked it). I sailed the seas of Black Flag, joining the gaming world in a moment of naval combat enthusiasm. I skipped the bug-ridden, microtransaction infested Unity. I returned to the series with Syndicate a couple of years ago, set in 1800's London.
It's been kind hard to be excited about these games for the last few years. They follow the same formula with minor changes. Syndicate was good, but it was also kind of just, more of the same. It had a few cool ideas, but it didn't really do anything very special, except maybe having two very cool characters.
Ubisoft took their first break from releasing these games every year in 2016, to make some bigger changes to the franchise and come back strong in 2017. So far, Origins seems to prove this was a good gamble.
Origins is set in Egypt in the year 48 BC. I play as Bayek, a warrior who is charged with protecting the Siwa Oasis. The story is kind of unclear at this point, but Bayek is trying to find 5 men and kill them. From the sounds of it, it's starting to look like a revenge tale. Bayek had a wife and son before, that's for sure, and I think they've been killed somehow.
Regardless, the story isn't really the appeal of this game for me so far. The giant, open world of Egypt filled with hundreds of missions, collectibles, shops, cities and fortresses is what I love about this game. There's also a number of major changes to the game's mechanics that a big difference.
The biggest change is combat. This is no longer "Batman" combat, where groups of enemies surround the player and attack taking turns, turning battles in a series of counter attacks. Instead, this feels more like a traditional action game, like God of War or something. Bayek has a shield and a variety of weapons. He can also "lock-on" to enemies and swap targets on the fly. Finally, there's a bow and it allows for some really fun stealth attacks, similar to Horizon. There's a number of different weapons, each with different speeds, range and damage potential, so I'll have to find the weapon I am most comfortable with.
Another fantastic little touch is Bayek's camel! It's just like a horse, yeah, but it's a camel!!! I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Egyptian setting is very refreshing. It's really nice to see the game return to ancient times instead of always getting more and more modern. The architecture, the animals, the cities, the wild open world, it's all executed brilliantly.
It doesn't hurt that this is one of the best looking games on the market. While it's not as beautiful as Horizon or Gran Turismo, it's still one hell of a good looking game, particularly in HDR. HDR is really cool in video games and it makes a big difference in Origins. At one point, I was deep inside a cave and Bayek's silhouette was completely black, contrasted by the light of fires in the distance, burning brightly.
All this, and I haven't even talked about a single mission... The biggest of them all was one of the main story missions, killing the second person on my hit list. To find him, I had to infiltrate the Temple of Aman, a huge facility crawling with enemies. I started by clearing the outskirts of enemies. I tend to favor stealth in these games, so I hide in bushes a lot and I snipe with my bow a low. Close range assassinations are the most satisfying to me though.
I did pretty well, staying out of sight or at least killing the ones that spotted me. However, at some point, I got spotted and just had to fight my way out. I'm still learning how to fight, but I was good enough to survive this one and kill my second target in the process. There's still a lot that escapes me in the game, and systems I don't quite understand, but I'm really loving it so far. I can't wait to get back into the world and explore it all!
Platform: PS4
Assassin's Creed Origins was one of my Christmas gifts, so I spent a bit of the day trying it out. I have a long history with this series... I was there when the original broke technical barriers and provided a huge world to explore, teeming with people. It also introduced the now ubiquitous "free-climbing" mechanic. I was there when Assassin's Creed II took open world storytelling to the next level with Ezio's story. I was there when Assassin's Creed III disappointed most of the world (I liked it). I sailed the seas of Black Flag, joining the gaming world in a moment of naval combat enthusiasm. I skipped the bug-ridden, microtransaction infested Unity. I returned to the series with Syndicate a couple of years ago, set in 1800's London.
It's been kind hard to be excited about these games for the last few years. They follow the same formula with minor changes. Syndicate was good, but it was also kind of just, more of the same. It had a few cool ideas, but it didn't really do anything very special, except maybe having two very cool characters.
Ubisoft took their first break from releasing these games every year in 2016, to make some bigger changes to the franchise and come back strong in 2017. So far, Origins seems to prove this was a good gamble.
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| Assassin's Creed Origins |
Origins is set in Egypt in the year 48 BC. I play as Bayek, a warrior who is charged with protecting the Siwa Oasis. The story is kind of unclear at this point, but Bayek is trying to find 5 men and kill them. From the sounds of it, it's starting to look like a revenge tale. Bayek had a wife and son before, that's for sure, and I think they've been killed somehow.
Regardless, the story isn't really the appeal of this game for me so far. The giant, open world of Egypt filled with hundreds of missions, collectibles, shops, cities and fortresses is what I love about this game. There's also a number of major changes to the game's mechanics that a big difference.
The biggest change is combat. This is no longer "Batman" combat, where groups of enemies surround the player and attack taking turns, turning battles in a series of counter attacks. Instead, this feels more like a traditional action game, like God of War or something. Bayek has a shield and a variety of weapons. He can also "lock-on" to enemies and swap targets on the fly. Finally, there's a bow and it allows for some really fun stealth attacks, similar to Horizon. There's a number of different weapons, each with different speeds, range and damage potential, so I'll have to find the weapon I am most comfortable with.
Another fantastic little touch is Bayek's camel! It's just like a horse, yeah, but it's a camel!!! I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Egyptian setting is very refreshing. It's really nice to see the game return to ancient times instead of always getting more and more modern. The architecture, the animals, the cities, the wild open world, it's all executed brilliantly.
It doesn't hurt that this is one of the best looking games on the market. While it's not as beautiful as Horizon or Gran Turismo, it's still one hell of a good looking game, particularly in HDR. HDR is really cool in video games and it makes a big difference in Origins. At one point, I was deep inside a cave and Bayek's silhouette was completely black, contrasted by the light of fires in the distance, burning brightly.
All this, and I haven't even talked about a single mission... The biggest of them all was one of the main story missions, killing the second person on my hit list. To find him, I had to infiltrate the Temple of Aman, a huge facility crawling with enemies. I started by clearing the outskirts of enemies. I tend to favor stealth in these games, so I hide in bushes a lot and I snipe with my bow a low. Close range assassinations are the most satisfying to me though.
I did pretty well, staying out of sight or at least killing the ones that spotted me. However, at some point, I got spotted and just had to fight my way out. I'm still learning how to fight, but I was good enough to survive this one and kill my second target in the process. There's still a lot that escapes me in the game, and systems I don't quite understand, but I'm really loving it so far. I can't wait to get back into the world and explore it all!
