Review of the game: Assassin’s Creed Origins

Introduction

Ubisoft's timeline is now coming back to us almost two millennia in the past, when old Egypt was ruled by XXXIII. Ptolemejevic dynasty. The first rulers succeeded in elevating Egypt to the position of the most important kingdom in the eastern Mediterranean, but the Ptolemaic state began to weaken only a century after its founding, so that the last rulers, including Cleopatra VII, sought to preserve at least the shadow of the once magnificent kingdom by making strong ties with Rome.

Assassin's Creed Origins offers us to witness the recent end of the Ptolemejevic dynasty because Ubisoft certainly could not allow the return to ancient Egyptian civilization without the appearance of significant historical figures such as Pompeii, Cleopatra VII. and Julius Caesar. So, we return to the forties of the 1st century BC, where we will be forced to fight against Ptolemy XIII. in favor of his sister Cleopatra.

Story

However, this period for Assassin's order has a much greater meaning than the ordinary struggle for the throne and the choice between the two evils. It is about the founding of a company that performs a shadow job in order to serve the light, and its designer is Bayek of Siwe. The first man of the Order of the Assassin wears the sun's eye, the symbol of protection, which represents Medjaya, the protector of ancient Egypt, Pharaoh and his subjects.



The only bright spot in Bayek's tragic story is his wife, Aya. This Egyptian goddess, also got a special place in this story, but unlike her husband, Aya contributed more to Assassin's line than to performing a vengeance on behalf of the late Khamu's son. Although we are allowed to enter her head, the set of skills at her disposal will remain intact, and any association that does not insinuate itself is strictly forbidden. A similar situation awaits you with Layla Hassan, a protagonist in modern times, who, apart from his Egyptian background with Ay and Baycom, shares the loyalty of Assassin.

Although a modern competition between Templar and Assassin did not die for Desmond's life, active participation in the abstraction of Abstergo in Black Flags has thrown me into despair. Luckily, the transition to Layle as a playful character was natural, short and sufficiently rare, and I was not particularly disturbed by the return to the future, but at the same time he did not reveal more than what we know from the first part. But there is a bunch of written material and soundtracks that will highlight some of the events and answer interesting questions, for example, whether Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs share the same universe.

Gameplay

The most interesting sandy adventures I experienced was accompanied by Bayeka and his natural drone Sena, but not when we are fighting his mortal enemies, but when we helped other Egyptians in various jobs. Ubisoft may not have invested the greatest effort to deliver a tense story that would tear us down with claws that would make us feel even when we could not dive into the wonderful world of Assassin's Creed Origins, but instead offered us to experience the history and culture of ancient Egyptian civilization through numerous secondary mission.



Each NPC to which you will provide help will serve as a piece of the puzzle of a huge picture that will tell you more about the life that the ancient Egyptians led two thousand years before us. Some of them will give you a short lecture on balm and religious customs, others will talk about adapting to the Greek style of life and Roman oppressors, and the third will help you to get to know Medjaya from Siwa. However most stories all end up in the same way: save the prisoner, rush or follow someone to the specified location, pick up certain objects, defeat enemies, play Sherlock Holmes.

Considering that Assassin's Creed has turned to the RPG genre, Origins will require you to spend a lot of hours in solving all sorts of tasks to uplift Bayek's skills to fight with his real enemy, but also other opponents who would stand in your way. In short, the main and secondary missions are not the only way to get you to experience points, but you can find them by exploring every corner of the world, especially the secrets of the Egyptian tombs, as well as cleansing the land from Roman soldiers.

Missions & Levels

Each new level will, besides a small health and attack bonus, offer you the ability to choose a new Bayek skill from a tree with three branches: Warrior, Hunter and Seer. By name, you can find out that Warrior will focus on the fight, Hunter on stealth and silent elimination, and Seer to skillfully use a variety of aids that include the domestication of wild beasts. Each mission requires a certain level of experience from you, but it is not necessary to access them only when the game tells you that you have a challenging challenge that is put before you.



However, one level can also mean a lot if you let the soldiers surround you. In fact, it's not a good idea to find yourself surrounded by enemies because they will not wait for their turn to swing with you weapons, and you will not receive any warning to carry out a counterattack. If you add an opponent in the mix, which is somewhat more skillful than Bayeka. In particular, their momentum can take more than a third of your health while you will have to hit them with more arrows in their heads to finally fall to their knees and finish them. Also, it should be noted that the hidden blade is not the ultimate weapon under which each enemy will fall.

Combat

The combat system is far better than hitting one button or left mouse button as it is customary in previous sequences, primarily because such a way of resolving the conflict can only take you to the mummification table. The best approach to worthy opponents is the game of a cat and a mouse, especially if it is a head hunter such as phylakitai soldiers. They are a special type of enemy that needs to be avoided in the wide port because the chances of getting a live head are not going well for your benefit. In any case, in a conflict with a more resistant soldier, you need to be constantly alert, because a poor estimate can cost you 15 minutes of futile tension, nerves, and perhaps gaming accessories.

Therefore, the fight is much more complex and demanding than any Assassin's Creed title so far and is basically pretty good. In most cases, the shield will protect you from the use of cold weapons or arrows. However, the defensive tool does not have to be made of bronze or iron to defend Bayeka from the scroll of archers. Arrows generally respect the laws of physics, more precisely, the path with the meters is gradually decreasing, but there are also so-called predator arrows that do not aim at realism because you control them yourself.



On the other hand, a close fight requires a little more mischief, but once you catch the rhythm, blowing up your opponent will not cause you any significant difficulties. Just swinging with a sword or some other similar object is not at all complex, because you only have two options: a quick and powerful attack. On the one hand, a quick attack by itself does not cause much damage, but it can easily become a combo of several swings.

On the other hand, strong attacks are much slower, but they cause much more damage. However, in order to win, one needs to understand a defensive combat system based on precise time coordination of the movement. Because the shield will not withstand the blow of every enemy, you must be ready to completely avoid contact with someone else's weapon, at the right time, take a counterattack or shield your opponent to a temporary state of infinity.

Last but not least, Bayek is aware of how much trouble each enemy will have and, accordingly, so you can estimate the damage that a particular weapon should inflict on them. Of course, such an approach endangers the sense of immanence when you think you are ready to master the enemy with a hidden blade, but also in general combat because you can easily estimate how many battles an opponent can handle. Also, it should be emphasized that the mere swinging of guns by air until something goes off will not be of any use.



Equipment & eagle Sena

Furthermore, it is important that Bayek is always equipped with arrows because it does not know how to make it alone, and close fight is not always the happiest choice. All weapons and other accessories such as fire bombs, sleeping arrows or those dipped in poison can be changed at any time by pausing the game. The only equipment to which Medjay will spend its own resources is a hidden blade and gloves that contribute to the strength of its impact, a breasted shield that extends its life, and a larger arrow for the arrows and a leather bag for special accessories.

Eagle Sena represents your eyes when purchasing materials such as leather, iron, bronze and cedar wood, some raw materials will be obtained by disassembling old and unneeded equipment, and they are more concealed in royal pyramids and other special places. It should be emphasized that for better bow, shield and weapons you will not need to be overly exaggerated, but there is always the option that a blacksmith, for a certain amount of money, increases the quality of your asset for defense or defense.

I mentioned earlier that Sena is the second pair of Bayek's eyes, which means that they will scan the same enemy, regardless of whether they are hidden behind the stone wall, and will continuously monitor his movements. The thing works as a replacement for eagle vision in earlier Assassin's Creed games, and to what extent it will endanger your playing experience depends on you. Personally, I like Sena to warn me about where the wanderers are wandering, however, I am worried that the mark does not disappear at least when I return to Bayeka.



Among the many small things that make the whole world more meaningful, my favourite is about animations related to the Sena. If you stop for a few seconds, the Sena will land on Bayek's hand, and it will re-enter the air only when you so decide. What is so interesting about this is that Sena will not disappear or be created elsewhere, but the entire animation will flow fluently, but the more important thing is that the same thing will happen when crossing Sena to Bayeka and vice versa. So, when you switch to Sena, it will be exactly where you saw it immediately.

But, whatever it is, its advantage goes back to the fight itself. Namely, Sena will often harass human enemies to make Bayeka ease the job, and more aggressive support will help him catch birds. Also, if you want to investigate from a safe distance what type of danger awaits you on the road, you do not have to worry about invisible walls or, to be more precise, desynchronization because there is no limit set in kilometers that it can fly before it has to be returned to Bayek.

Beauty of Egypt

Since ancient Egypt is not shrouded in tall buildings such as Unity or Syndicate, Assassin's Creed Origins will not force you to climb towers to get the notion of the environment you are in at the moment. However, such sites are valuable for your time if you want a quick look at what a particular location is offering, but also a location that you can return to in a moment. Like other parts of the franchise, Origins will encourage you to carelessly explore the massive representation of ancient Egypt, whether you are riding on a horse or camper, sailing in a boat, or remembering the old unchanged parkour mechanics.

Even if you are not a fan of ancient Egyptian history, you can not deny that the view from Sena's perspective makes the huge area of Lower Egypt visually magical. Likewise, a real treat is waiting for you on land, however, sometimes it will have a bitter taste. The finer spectrum of colors gives a special lively life to the living and non-living nature, therefore it is not too much to say that Origins rightly stands out among other Assassin's Creed games, but also other high-profile titles.



Something about visual audio aspect

However, from time to time, the beauty of ancient Egypt is undermined by technical problems such as the decline in performance and delayed loading of textures, sometimes even during the cutscene. Given that it is a huge world, it's understandable that you will encounter a few glitches, but when you miss a significant part of the image on the screen, then it's already the second pair of sleeves. Similarly, the dialogues and voice acting are well done.

In the end, I would like to highlight several insignificant but yet so valuable details that further complement the experience of ancient Egypt. In particular, the changes of day and night will take place naturally, and its dynamism will be felt both on the NPCs and on the enemies. For example, soldiers on the scouts will watch the laughs, train, eat, and perform, while ordinary Egyptians will enjoy the sun during the day, and the streets will be empty at night. Furthermore, if Bayek calculates and jumps from excessive heights, he will lap around for a while, and his pain could be mentally calm by a slight walk through the tall grass, which will make it lightly smooth.



Then, if you get close enough to the fire, Bayek will stop for a minute, but if he keeps the bow in his hand, it will instantly turn the arrows into fire missiles. One particular detail I noticed by mere coincidence is related to the map view. Specifically, every place on the map has a special audio story that you can listen to if you leave the cursor to stand in any location. Of course, Egypt does not lack any ridiculous situations like that you have a bunch of arrows in front of you, and you have nothing to take, that your suburb is invisible to your enemies, or that your escort suddenly decides to go the other way and get back into trouble.

The game is awesome in mine opinion, anyone who ever played any game similar should try it because you wont regret it.