NEW IN GAMING | 'Assassin's Creed Origins'
'Assassin's Creed Origins' is a single player, open world, action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and the tenth major instalment of the 'Assassin's Creed' series following the release of 'Assassin's Creed Syndicate' in 2015. It uses the AnvilNext 2.0 engine to provide the stunning graphics we have come to expect from the top-selling series.
This instalment takes us back to Ancient Egypt during the Ptolemaic period (think Cleopatra). Like many other games in the series, 'Origins' mixes real world events with a fictional history as it explores the conflict between the Assassins, who fight for peace through liberty, and the Templar Order, who also fight for a peace through the force imposition of order.
Unlike the game's predecessors, 'Origins' is a step above in story, characters, the largely immersive world of Ancient Egypt, reworked gameplay, voice acting, and stunning visuals. In saying this, the technical glitches have proved to stunt the full enjoyment of the game, but this doesn't prevent it from being the best instalment in the series. The new aspects of the gameplay struggle under the weight of its systems and the experience is occasionally inconsistent, but it does hook you in from the very beginning, drawing you back in for more than you could ever imagine in a beyond remarkable setting.
The development of 'Origins' started in 2014 before the release of the games predecessor ('Syndicate') and followed the completion of 'Black Flag'. This instalment was a step away from the yearly release cycle the series has been following, with Ubisoft choosing to delay the release until this year due to a desire to focus on the quality of each of the titles and the opportunity to develop future games on newer engines. Another factor behind this decision was the disappointing 'Syndicate' sales. In comparison, 'Origins' sales were 100% higher in the first ten days of release, compared to that of 'Syndicate', with thirty-five percent being a digital download copy of the game.
After the release of 'Assassin's Creed III' in 2011, Ubisoft found, after conducting a fan survey exploring potential settings for titles, Ancient Egypt was obviously one of the most popular choices with such a rich history and amazing setting. However, at the time, Alex Hutchison, the creative director of 'Assassin's Creed III', set aside these results with the suggestions of feudal Japan and World War III, not considering Ancient Egypt amongst the best choices for the series.
If you have played any of the other games in the series, the world of the game is often large and sprawling, letting the player roam as they wish in the environment. In 'Origins', there is a completely new meaning to this as the map is huge beyond belief, and you can explore locations either on foot, camel, horse, or boat and collect weapons and equipment and complete the plethora of side quests alongside the main storyline.
One of the major differences that sets 'Origins' apart is the change in the eagle vision mode that gives the player the ability to scout an area by highlighting enemies and objects easily. While this remains a smaller part of the game, it has essentially been taken over by a companion in the physical presence of a Bonelli's eagle named Senu. This way, the players are able to take control of the eagle and scout an area in advance, highlighting certain aspects of the area, before returning to the player.
'Origins' also introduces gladiatorial arena based fights where the player fights waves of increasingly-difficult combinations of enemies that finishes in a final boss fight. While this aspect of the game is introduced in the main story of the game, it becomes more of a standalone aspect of the game where you can return to help level up to complete more of a variety of quests.
In essence, 'Origins' is very much like it's original title, that came out ten years ago, and a formula that audiences love to play, a formula that has been dramatically improved since its initial title. 'Origins' is the best variation of the 'Assassin's Creed' franchise yet and is astounding in its gameplay.
'Assassin's Creed Origins' is out now and available on PC, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
