Ubisoft seems to be digging a really deep hole right now. Not a grave, but more like a pit where they occasionally take a fat stinky dump and leave it there for people to stare in awe into. Watching as all those excrements accumulate into a large pile when hardened can be mold into a brown clay-like throne which they can sit upon and watch as their slaves, otherwise overworked game developers, be lashed away for their amusement. How could Ubisoft create such a disgusting and yet self-fulfilling position for themselves? Why go to that length to prove you're one of the top multi-million dollar companies in the industry? Simple: relevancy. They were once a company who produced genuinely great games, and now they found an idea that worked and continued to milk it to produce copy pasted clones. Even when a new IP pops from the horizon Ubisoft is there to brand it with their formula. The IP screams in pain as Ubisoft makes sure the symbol is burnt black enough for…. wow, this review got dark really quickly. Ubisoft isn’t a great company, but it sure isn’t the worst company in the game industry. No, that honor goes to Konami. The real question is, “Why is Ubisoft so hated right now?” Well for a couple of reasons. Some of those reasons being really ugly.
One is that they created an open world that worked, but decided to milk it beyond belief. Not much has been done to fix problems within this formula, and design choices that were once fine have now started to get repetitive. It’s a formula that lacks and is unwilling to find creativity. Not only that, but dozens of other developers have taken influence from their ideas in the worst way possible. A lot of modern developers now think if your game is pretty enough it will out mask terrible design choices. Make a giant detailed open world, but either flood it with too much content or barely anything interesting. It gets lazy after a while. A majority of open world titles which are viewed better than Ubisoft’s sandboxes either stray away from the formula to offer complete freedom like Breath of The Wild or Elden Ring, or tackle the formulaic ideas so well that they transcend Ubisoft like Ghost of Tsushima or Horizon Zero Dawn.
The second reason is how awful it is to work for Ubisoft. Recent reports have shown the amount of crunch time that has been happening within the company. Developers working their heads off so that Ubisoft can churn out another bloated open world and release it by a certain date. These workers are required to finish the game within a specific time frame. Then there’s the hatred which floods the company and not much has been done to address these issues. Sexism was a major problem within Ubisoft for the longest time, and the public was outraged by the mass amounts of women quitting their jobs because Ubisoft just didn’t care. They didn’t care how their employees were being treated and felt. “Shut up kid! It’s all about the money now!”
That second reason is really sad to think about, because it shows the state of the world we live in. However, I do have to admit that Ubisoft can be good at times. Despite the corruption within the company there are workers who care about what they do. Still having that drive to make games which dozens of individuals can enjoy for years to come. Appreciating the worlds they create and how far they can push technology. Then there are the times when Ubisoft strays away from what they’d usually do. Releasing small indie projects like Child of Light and Valiant Hearts, helping with the publishing of the two South Park RPGs, and even releasing one of the best 2D platformers ever made, Rayman Legends. They have a lot of haters, but there are still people who play their new open world games. I ask them why and they always provide a similar answer, “Because I grew up playing these games and want to see what happens next.” The negative factors and reality should bring them down, but they maintain that excitement. This positive state is to overlook the problems and just be happy with what there is to be happy about. I don’t like Ubisoft and the actions they have taken, but I do respect some of their hardcore players and fans. They enjoy the games no matter what and try not to conform to majority opinions. Having fun without being put down.
Why did I just give a rant about Ubisoft and their fans? It’s because almost half of my friends grew up playing Assassin’s Creed, their most popular property, and have been begging me to dabble into the franchise at some point. I’ve been avoiding Assassin’s Creed for the longest time. Not because it wasn’t interesting. Remember I love world history and learning more about it. The idea of this secret guild which has spanned across time is great, because not only does it give the developers numerous ideas but different locations and periods to explore and research. It’s not because of Ubisoft’s controversial actions, surprisingly no. It’s not due to the repetitive formula, because at this point I really do not care. The reason I’ve avoided Assassin’s Creed for the longest time was because I just didn’t know where to start and felt overwhelmed by the amount of entries in the series. Do you know how many bloody Assassin’s Creed games have been made over the last fifthteen years? About twelve and that’s excluding the weird spinoffs. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but trust me that’s a lot within fifthteen years. Fifthteen large sandboxes to create, program, design, detail, flood with content, and make sure they work. It feels tiring to just think about it. I swung back and forth between deciding to try the games or not, until one day I finally convinced myself to. I asked close friends what is the best Assassin’s Creed and even did some online research to see which was the highest ranked. Almost all my friends and forums answered Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. The pirate adventure set in the Caribbeans. I was pretty excited. There aren’t that many pirate games out there and I’m a huge fan of high seas travel. Naval combat seemed fun and my friends said it did the most to differentiate itself from the rest of the series. AC4 sounded brilliant, but it didn’t click for me. The opening hours weren’t all too great, the combat didn’t feel good, and there weren’t that many side activities to do besides collect items with not much purpose. It bored me really quickly and soon I dropped the game. Which is a shame, because I can tell there is a lot of amazement Black Flag has on offer.
Black Flag was quickly thrown into the abandoned pile and I felt sad, because a recommendation a ton my close friends gave me didn’t work all too well. A bad taste was left in my mouth and has lingered since then. Assassin’s Creed wasn’t fit for me…. that wasn’t until recently. What inspired me to write this review was one of my best friends. I’ll leave her name anonymous, but if she’s reading this right now I just want to say thank you. For being a good friend and there since world history class. Anyways, she’s a hardcore Assassin’s Creed fan and has played almost every entry. When I asked her to list her most favorite she answered differently from everyone I was listening to up until that point. Assassin’s Creed: Origins, the one set in ancient Egypt and the biggest change the franchise has seen. Origins and later Odyssey and Valhalla have been considered the black sheeps of Assassin’s Creed. Their not terrible games, but what they did for the series was viewed for better or worse. Better, because why they did was a refreshing take that the franchise had needed for a while. Worse, because the changes made didn't appeal to everyone and created new problems. That’s why critics and players are so divided on the recent trilogy, because one side likes it and the other loathes it. Odyssey was actually going to be my first AC, until my friends warned me of all the critical problems and pointed me towards Black Flag. Stepping into Origins was going to be risky as the game itself, but something happened. There was this spark which lit up my heart immediately after exiting the introduction and overtime it grew bigger. “F*ck, I’m enjoying Assassin’s Creed: Origins aren’t I?” Yep, and I’m so glad I am. Assassin’s Creed: Origins is actually kind of brilliant when you sit down to appreciate it. It has a likable setting, story, characters, gameplay, and it’s the most refined Assassin’s Creed to date. I sense the developers putting care into this one, and I care about how it could end up this good. So today I want to talk about Origins and why I’m defending what should be another formulaic entry in the blandest open world franchise.
Story
Now we could start off by discussing the modern day aspect of the story. The part that no one really cares about as it tries to hype up a plot that was already pretty good all by itself. However, it’s needed to enjoy the main story so that’s a relief and luckily it doesn’t make such a huge presence. I’ll address later why I can’t really care about the modern day plot aspect, but right now let’s just say the mood for the main story which is great. Let’s travel back in time to the year 48 BC. Before Jesus Christ came into existence. We see a man by the name Ptolemy XIII crowned to become the next great ruler of Egypt. The crowd cheers as he passes through the streets and all hope he will lead them to a brighter future. A state of peace and prosperity. Sadly that isn’t the case as civil war begins to rise throughout the country. Ptolemy XIII is more focused on expanding his kingdom rather than keeping control. The Roman empire has begun to expand as well and make way towards Egypt. Roman soldiers begin to flood the streets and tyranny is forced onto the people. It’s either they obey the law or be killed for trying to stand up for themselves. Ptolemy XIII and Julius Caesar negotiate over who shall take over Egypt, but from the shadows a secret organization are actually the ones pulling the strings. The Order, a group of masked individuals who are secretly manipulating Ptolemy XIII without him even knowing. Getting him to create corrupt laws that don’t benefit anyone besides themselves. The souls behind these masks are unknown for the time being, but they have big plans for Egypt.
We follow Bayek of Siwa, a former Medjay who now lives peacefully with his wife and son. The Medjay were once the law keepers of Egypt. They served under the Pharaoh, kept peace in the streets, and treated everyone with honor and dignity. It wasn’t until recent events that Bayek revoked his duty to serve the Pharaoh. One day he was out hunting with his son Khemu, but a group of masked individuals appeared and knocked him unconscious. Of course these men were part of The Order, and they believe Bayek has the ability to open an ancient vault containing a powerful relic they could use to control the people. Harness unholy energy that the gods sealed away. Bayek has no idea what is going on and how to open the vault, but then the masked men drag his son into the room. Threatening to kill Khemu if Bayek doesn’t open the vault for them. Khemu begins to panic, but Bayek calms him down and tells him to steal a knife from one of the capturers. This allows Bayek to escape and fight back for a short period of time. Bayek tries to stab the leader of the masked individuals, but is then pushed towards the direction of his son and the blade gets lodged into his throat. His son immediately dies and the masked men knock him out once again. Bayek is left alone with a dead son cradled in his arms. One that cannot peacefully move on.
A year passes and Bayek is on the hunt for the masked individuals who killed his son. He has managed to track down five of them and with the help of his wife Aya, who was also a former Medjay, they assassinated each of them. However, the fifth masked man Bayek kills warns him that they weren’t the ones responsible for the death of his son. There are more powerful members of The Order and they are also the ones trying to control the Pharaoh and manipulate the law. Highly trained soldiers will be sent out to hunt Bayek down, and The Order will be aware of Bayek coming to kill them. Yet, Bayek doesn’t care and he is only angered more by what they state. To hunt the other Order members down, Bayek and Aya team up with Cleopatra who is staging a secret rebellion against her brother, Ptolemy XIII. She gives the last known location of each member, but in return she asks Bayek and Aya to help fight against the Roman empire and properly negotiate with Julius Caesar unlike her brother who is selfishly demanding more territory. The two of them agree and Bayek sets out to hunt the members of the Order while Aya sails overseas to find Roman allies willing to support their cause. Bayek will traverse the lands, fight all kinds of forces, gather evidence, meet unlikely allies and foes, and butcher those responsible for killing his son. He’ll free his son from eternal torment and give him the send off he needs. To reach the afterlife where he can rest in peace and wait for his parents. The duat, the boatman awaits for his passenger.
Among the whispers of ancients. A power cast into their hands.
Consume the fruits of creation. To claim this hallowed land!
Gameplay
Assassin’s Creed: Origins is an open world sandbox, but remember it’s not just any ordinary open world sandbox it’s a Ubisoft open world sandbox! Wait, no that is pretty ordinary when you think about it. If you haven’t played a Ubisoft sandbox before then let me nail down the basics for you. Giant open world, dozens of collectibles, enemy encampments, side quests to level and get new gear, a tower which you must scale to reveal more of the map or points of interest, a skill tree system to unlock new abilities, and possibly a crafting system to forge supplies or grow stronger. These are the staples to the Ubisoft sandbox and nothing has changed since 2007. You kind of see why this formula gets repetitive. It’s not that it doesn’t work, but not much has been done to innovate. That is not to say this type of open world design isn’t fun, because it can be fun if done well. Luckily, Assassin’s Creed: Origins does this type of sandbox really well.
You venture across the world and go towards what you think looks interesting. Walk through a town, dive into a cavern full of treasures, or raid a Roman encampment to hopefully defeat the captain stationed there and unlock a new powerful weapon. What’s different this time around is that Assassin’s Creed has moved towards a more RPG approach. You gain experience points, level up gear to raise your stats, stronger gear will have level requirements, and regions will have level recommendations as they contain more powerful enemies who will trample you easily. This may limit how much the player is able to explore early on, but it does give them an incentive to do side activities they’d normally avoid in other open worlds. Engage with the world, be rewarded for their help, and eventually have what is necessary to actually stand a chance. Progression also feels more satisfying, because not only are you unlocking more of the world to venture across but you feel the strength Bayek gains overtime.
Combat is fairly simple. You have a light attack to unleash combos in quick succession, a heavy attack to break defenses or knock an enemy down, and the ability to dodge which can be used to reposition yourself or dodge through an enemy attack. You also have a bow to pick off enemies from afar, tools like sleep darts and smoke bombs which are useful when used properly, and you have the ability to sneak up on enemies and stealth kill them. You have a wide amount of options on how you handle a situation or kill a group of enemies, but remember Assassin’s Creed has now gone for a more RPG approach. Stronger weapons contain level requirements and you can’t use them until you meet it. I mean you don’t want the player running around with a level 20 spear when they are only at level 10. Plus some of these have status ailments like bleed and burn which kinda break the game early on and feel better as an endgame reward. What I do like are the amount of weapon categories this game offers you.
Black Flag had only dual swords and pistols, but Origins really wants the player to create their own playstyle and seek what fits them best. You have swords, dual daggers, maces, scepters, spears, axes, light bows, hunter bows, warrior bows, sickles, etc. Some weapons are faster and have less wind up time for strong charge attacks, and others are the opposite but make up for it with higher damage output. I always like having one light weapon and one heavy weapon equipped, but I like to see what other players have equipped and the playstyles they formed. One final aspect I’d like to list is your overpowering ability. If you consistently attack an enemy you build up this meter which can be activated to perform an overpower attack. Either hit the enemy really hard, or enter this rage mode to attack enemies with a flurry of blows. It can either be used to end a difficult fight much faster, or eliminate a group of foes when you feel overwhelmed. I like it, because it encourages an aggressive playstyle and fights are all more engaging as players get up close and personal.
When you level up you earn skill points and they can be used to unlock new skills and perks. There are three skill categories and depending on what play style you are aiming you will move into a particular one. Warrior for if you like an aggressive close ranged approach like myself, Huntress for you like long range stealthy approaches like a true assassin, and then Seer which is for your tools and extra skills. You won’t be able to unlock every skill in Origins, because there is a level cap and some skills will require more than one skill point to unlock. It means you won’t be good at everything by the end of your playthrough which is smart, because it gets the player to consider what they want to invest in. Another feature I want to mention is crafting and I know this sounds very hard to believe, but Origins has some of the most streamline crafting I’ve seen in an open world sandbox. More so than Horizon Zero Dawn and you know how much I love the chemistry of that game. A majority of crafting materials are carried by animals or well protected couriers, and they are limited down to simple categories. Soft leather, hard leather, pelts, bronze, cedarwood, etc. The only thing you can craft are equipment upgrades and these act more like stat boosts rather than new tools to your arsenal. Increased melee damage, increased maximum health, carry a larger arrow capacity, longer ranged distance, or deal more damage with a stealth attack.
You could go on a wild goose chase to hunt down the materials you need, but a new addition is Senua your hawk. She can scout areas, pinpoint the location of patrolling enemies, and even pinpoint the creatures containing the most of the material you need. This is actually a great design choice. It means you waste less of your time hunting or running around trying to find the resource you need. Upgrading your gear feels great, because rather than being another useless single use item it’s instead improvements to your character and how strong they are. You don’t need to max out your gear to beat the game, but endgame quests will be much easier if you come in prepared.
Might as well talk about the world itself and what there is to do. The world is flooded with cities, towns, desert plains to roam across, temples, enemy encampments, and you should never run out of things to do as there are always side quests. These quests are very linear in design and follow simple goals. Retrieve an item, kill a certain baddy, or something more special. When it came to designing Origins and its quests the developers took heavy inspiration from The Witcher 3. They wanted each quest to contain a unique plot to go along with, but they also didn’t want any of the quests to last too long so the player wouldn’t be dragged away from the main story. They were there to help the player quickly level up and give them legendary equipment. They aren’t a requirement much like scaling each tower. In previous games you’d have to scale a tower to reveal more of the map and surrounding points of interest, but here the map of a region is instantly revealed when you enter it. The only thing you get from towers is increasing Senua’s perception which is nice. It allows you to pinpoint more enemies from a farther distance, so if you want you could pursue this ability. Towers also act as fast travel points, so if you don’t want to backtrack so much there’s another reason to pursue them. Enemy encampments are these dangerous zones where you can test your stealth and combat skills, but an opportunity to nab some cool new gear. There’s so much else that Origins had. There’s the chariot races, the arenas, the legendary hunters who you can challenge to a fight, and much more. It’s fun to venture through Egypt. Assassin’s Creed: Origins is pretty fun to me and that’s really hard to say because Ubisoft sandboxes are usually really bland. Nothing else to say from here. Hopefully you can hunt down the masked men and claim vengeance for your son.
Thoughts
Assassin’s Creed: Origins is good. It’s great actually and to be honest it’s one of the more enjoyable open world sandbox experiences I had in a long time. Is it a masterpiece? No, because there are several problems that make it severely flawed and there’s still tons of other open worlds I’d recommend over it, but any complaints I have are mostly nitpicks and don’t drag down my love for this game. I had low expectations for Origins due to how it was an Assassin’s Creed, but it ended up succeeding them and impressing me in areas I wasn’t expecting it to do so well in.
The setting is brilliant. Egypt is a brilliant place to explore and I was expecting it to just be wide empty fields of sand, but there was more to it than just that. You can’t walk halfway across the map without seeing a small town or group of workers in the distance. There are always NPCs wandering around the world, soldiers getting ready to pick a fight, animals getting ready to ambush you, or at least something of interest. The town and culture made Egypt feel lively rather than another barren wasteland. I feel like people who are big nerds for ancient Egypt will enjoy the setting more, but I was immersed despite not having much knowledge of the time period. Galloping along a trail to only then stumble upon a cavern. Pulling out my torch and slowly navigating through the claustrophobic tunnels. Watching as the spider webs burn and broken vases flood the hallways. Find a treasure chest at the end to then be ambushed and fight to the death. Coming out to only then see Roman soldiers surrounding. Using my diligent assassin skill to quickly cut them down and emerge victorious with the treasures I’ve plundered. Hopping back onto my stead once again and following the Nile to the next major city. This immersion I had felt was increased by the art direction and detailing of the world. It’s beautiful, gleaming, and majestic to witness.
The story takes a bit to open up, but after the first few hours it really gets interesting. Origins is not only a revenge story, but it’s also a story about political conflict and as the title of the game suggests the origins of the entire franchise storyline. There’s a lot more Roman and Greek involvement than I was expecting which is great for me because I’m a huge fan of Greek and Roman history. Seeing Egypt and Rome stuck in this conflict over who should control the land. Wondering why haven’t one of them pulled the trigger just yet and signal the next big war. There’s even a point in the game where you help steer a Roman ship across raging waters and fight an enemy fleet. A loud drum bang in the middle motivates the men to row harder. The soldiers aboard carry Roman gear and the commander yells at them with ferocity. I could sense the elements of Black Flag that carried over for this battle and how the team was aware of how awesome the naval combat was from that game. Which is convenient, because the team who made Origins worked on Black Flag which makes sense.
Then there’s the story of the main protagonist, Bayek. The rage he has built up within his systems. Channeling it into energy to hunt down each target and carry each assassination out successfully. One staple to the series is that whenever you kill a major target you're dumped into this empty plain of nothing. You see the main character shout at their target and list all the terrible actions they have committed in life. That they deserve to burn in hell for their crimes. Origins does that, but it hits differently this time around. Each of the targets I slayed were terrible, but there were justifications to what they did. They had dreams and goals to better society and make their names known to the public. You even mourder a woman who wants to bring her dead child back to life. Bayek just gets more enraged and violent with each masked individual he hunts down, but by the time he gets to the final one he just can’t do it. He’s been hunting these corrupt bastards down so his son can move onto the afterlife, but that means when the final target is sent away then his son will be sent away. He wants this pain to go away, but the emptiness of his child being dead will still remain in his heart. He needed to learn to move on. To let go and seek a better future. A path that wasn’t flooded with killing and the suffering of others. I really liked this part of the story, because it’s possibly the most proper character development the series will see.
What I don’t like about the story is the real world aspect and how much the writing tries to make it feel important. This side of the story focuses on a woman trying to enter this big corporation project. How she’s collecting DNA from the dead bodies of Bayek and Aya, and plugging them into a machine to relive their memories. Suggesting that we are playing as her who is playing as Bayek. These sections are really lame and uninteresting to me. The idea sounds cool to a lot of people, but I just don’t care. I don’t care about the Animus Project! I don't care about Layla and how she’s spending more than half the game sitting in an electric bathtub. I don’t care about the modern day aspect and I’m pretty sure nobody else does. People play these games to explore past time periods and locations they possibly can’t go to in real life. I’m glad these portions only last a few minutes, because it sucks when I’m dragged out the main story for this!
Let’s summarize my thoughts on the gameplay now. It’s good. That’s right, I think it’s great. Exploration feels great and there was always something for me to stumble upon. Side quests are short, snappy, and never overstay their welcome. A lot of developers pad out their games by increasing the length of side quests, but what they forget is that it’s side content and a lot of average players now tend to focus more on the main objective. However, Origins does a good job encouraging the player to do side activities with rewards they offer in return. Combat is fairly good. I say this because it feels great, but there’s not enough to make it one of the best. All the weapons are fun to use, have satisfying impact, and once you start unlocking some combos you can pull off cool moves. The problem is that enemies don’t really put up much of a challenge and can be cut down easily. I know to balance out enemy hordes the devs have to give them each low health, but another problem is how enemies easily stagger and struggle to recover. Combine that with the amount of damage overpower attacks deal and a lot of fights can end quickly. Bosses on the other hand can be pretty fun, because while they are bullet sponges they have attacks which can cut you down quickly and they recover faster. This is when the combat of Origins really felt brilliant. Basic fights can still be fun though. It’s nice to see how overpowered you can become and how far you’ve gotten as a player. They went for a control scheme similar to Bloodborne or God of War where the attack commands are mapped to the shoulder buttons, so each swing feels like it’s being fired off. The animations and performance is more fluid than Black Flag, because I have to admit Black Flag didn’t have the most responsive combat out there. Yeah, it’s fairly good. A lot could have been done to make it feel great, but overall it’s serviceable.
Time to start listing my complaints with Origins and quite a few of them are big. In previous games the parkour was more complex. Certain surfaces could only be grabbed onto, so when running around the environment you had to put thought into what direction you point the analog stick in. This time they decided to change it by allowing the player to grip onto any surface. Well almost. It’s more like the character will automatically latch onto the surface which they can attach to. This means the player can hold the analog stick forward and Bayek will instantly navigate towards the top. A lot of people have complained the parkour system has been simplified in the worst way possible, but you want to know what other games did this sort of climbing and traversal. Breath of The Wild and some parts of Horizon Forbidden West. Why did they do this? The developer knew how annoying it is to search for the surface that is painted or color coated in such a way. Being restricted to follow a linear path and waste more time following it rather than easily getting to the top. So yeah, I like this traversal more because while it’s more mindless it allows the player to not feel so restricted.
I love Origins progression and how you feel the character grow stronger overtime, but by the end I was kind of getting tired by the amount of grinding. It’s not mandatory and to beat the game you need to be around level 35, but the main story is drawn out sometimes by how you need to stay in touch to stand a chance. It’s an eighteen hour long adventure that was dragged out for an additional seven hours. Origins also has some horrific facial animation. The amount of detailing is great, but the facial animation seems to be all over the place. Sometimes it’s really good and consistent, and other times the character’s face won’t match up to the amount of frustration the voice actors are expressing. There’s also occasional bugs and framerate drops, but not too much to crash the game and make it feel unplayable. Besides that there isn’t much else.
Assassin’s Creed: Origins is great. My time with it was well spent and I believe this a good entry point for anyone looking into the Assassin’s Creed franchise. There’s a ton of content on offer and the story is well paced despite the ending feeling a little anticlimactic. Yet, I loved how they explained the origins of the assassins and why they came into existence. I happily recommend this and while I’d still go for Ghost of Tsushima or Horizon Zero Dawn this ranks third in this style of the open world sandbox. It may have even convinced me to hop back into Black Flag and see what I couldn’t understand the first time. I am willing to defend this game and the last time I wrote something like this was with The Last of- nevermind. Let’s see what I defend next. In the end I am going to give Assassin’s Creed: Origins a 9/10 for excellence at best.
Comments