"It's A Video Game!" - Assassin's Creed: Origins

Well, another Assassin’s Creed game is upon us. At first, I thought I would be torn between Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077. Since 2077’s been pushed back to December (seriously, WTH CDPR), I might end up checking that out first. Then again, if it’s anything like how Assassin’s Creed: Unity was when it first shipped, I might wait. Anywho, it’s time to get back on the trail of AssCreed. By the way, if you’re wondering where Syndicate is, keep wondering because I haven’t finished it yet. I’ll touch on that when I actually get around to it. That’ll be a story!

Assassin’s Creed: Origins was released on October 27^th, 2017. After Syndicate, Ubisoft took a much needed year off to craft this new game. My guess is that they knew that the formula was getting stale because Syndicate wasn’t as well-received in 2015. So, they needed to shake it up and add in something new. One look at some of the gameplay and RPG elements can tell you that they were inspired by RPGs like The Witcher 3, a well-received game and great RPG in my opinion. Does Origins come close, or does it fall?

Like with any AC game, it primarily takes place in the past. In this case, we’re in Ancient Egypt around the end of the Ptolemy Era (around 49 BCE). We play as Bayek, an Egyptian Medjay who’s basically a sheriff to all of Egypt. Along for the ride is Aya, his wife and cunning warrior. Their lives are turned upside down when their son, Khemu, is killed by a cult called the Order of Ancients. They both go down the road of revenge slaying members of the Order and trying to protect Cleopatra, the rightful ruler of Egypt. Of course, things go wrong when it’s revealed that the Order’s clutches are everywhere even with those closest to the two. This leads Bayek and Aya to create the first version of the Assassins, The Hidden Ones.

A sad moment between the two lovers.

As for the modern day, we actually get a new protagonist in the form of archeologist Layla Hassan. She works for Abstergo and has created a new version of the Animus that only needs the DNA of the subject. Against Abstergo’s orders, she does her own dig in Egypt for an artifact and finds the bodies of Bayek and Aya. Because of this breach of order, the Templars send mercenaries after Layla and her friend, Deanna. Deanna is killed, but Layla is able to stay alive with the help of the Bleeding Effect. In the end, she ends up meeting a familiar character… who isn’t voiced by John de Lancie this time.

 

PROS

Bayek is probably one of the best, if not the best, protagonists.

This was cool to return to for this overdue retrospective. That was one of the reasons I skipped over Syndicate. A big part of that was the character of Bayek. I can safely say that he’s one of the best past protagonists. While his motives (“I gotta get revenge!”) are familiar, the situation is much different. Unlike most assassins, Bayek was already a skilled warrior, a husband, and a father. Within a year, he loses all but one of those. Even though he can come off as brutal, you do see a lot of dimension to his character.  

I also liked his relationship with Aya who you also get to play with at times. They’re a nice power couple, but you later realize that things aren’t what they were between them because of everything that’s happened. You also see the fact that he was a father play a lot into his character. The story itself is your standard origin story for the Assassins. They go up against a group that is analogous to the Templars in that they want control by any means necessary. You do get a couple of twists and turns here and there especially with some historic figures. The stories for the DLCs were also pretty good and actually pretty interesting especially the Curse of the Pharaohs DLC.

One of the things that makes this game work so well is the area itself. We get thrown into ancient Egypt, an era that is rife for some traveling. Even when I was done with the main story both times, I just had to explore the place and look for small nuggets. You see the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx (which is much smaller in person), and the Library of Alexandria. It’s a vast open world and while you may not find a lot of interesting things, it makes for beautiful scenery to ride in. The music was also pretty mesmerizing and fit the era pretty nicely. Whenever the music for the investigation scenes came on, it got good.

While Aya was used sparingly, she was fun to play.

The gameplay has been pretty much overhauled. While you still have some familiar Assassin-like moves, the combat got revamped into something more RPG-like. You have to whittle down your opponents with a mix of light and heavy attacks. You also get some bow-arrow action too. While it could be a bit tough to kill opponents at first, it does get easier as you get used to it. We see the return of Naval battle sequences during the Aya missions, but it’s only a moment and fine overall. Lastly, the graphics are mostly good. While you may run into a problem here and there, the cutscenes and most of the gameplay’s graphics look good for the PS4. 

CONS

Sad Caesar is sad. I guess he also saw how "meh" the villains were.

While this game was pretty good, it did have some shortcomings. I did think that the Order of Ancients were weak villains. Now, you did get some twists here and there, but overall, they were just dudes to kill in the end. You end up finding the ones who led to Khemu getting killed, and it just feels a little empty. This is one area where Ubisoft still drops the ball. The early AC villains were pretty dang good. As I said above, the story could be a little familiar with Bayek doing the revenge thing. It’s a common trope that seems like it isn’t leaving anytime soon.

Sorry, Layla...

Another area that could’ve used improvement was Aya. While I did like her, she could come off a bit cold at times. I think part of that had to do with the fact that we barely play as her with her missions. We can’t even level her up nor let her use different weapons, and that’s a disappointment. Another disappointment was the modern day stuff. While I’m glad that we now have an actual protagonist similar to Desmond, Layla’s okay. We do get a bit of her backstory and how she fits into the franchise. Unfortunately, that’s about all we get with Layla. This is also one area where the sequel, Odyssey, doesn’t improve on. 

As for the gaming and leveling up, it could get pretty grindy after a while. You a crapton of side missions that weren’t too fulfilling except for a few. You know the drill with some missions. You had to do them in order to level up for certain missions, and that can suck. The graphics in the side missions also had a bit of a downgrade especially with the NPCs. Their features weren’t as detailed as Bayek’s. Even though Origins has these faults, they don’t take away all the good that is within.

……………………………………………

In the end, Assassin’s Creed: Origins was something that Ubisoft needed. Yeah, it’s veers away from the standard AC formula, but I felt that was needed for something like this. It may not be perfect, but it succeeds a lot more than it fails. Also, it’s not every day you get to be a cool black dude in Ancient Egypt. Next time, we go even further into the past as a new, possibly “eh” protagonist takes the stand in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. All I can say is this “THIS IS SPARTA, YOU MALAKA!!!” Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.