I chose "I love it", but was torn between that and "like it". I love souls games and while obviously combat in Origins isn't on Souls level, it's pretty alright and a bit similar. I actually do something, rather than the stationary 2-button combat from previous games. Before Origins, It always felt the same since the first game, and when I say stationary you just stay in place, wait for enemies to attack, counter and attack and repeat that process over and over again. No effort is required. (Yes, it's a hyperbole but not by much). Syndicate with its finishers and more flashy animation made things a bit more dynamic but it was still the same system. In Origins I was moving again, dodging, charging, I was no longer standing in one place with a controller in one hand.. Having lots of different types of weapons with different movesets and abilities helped as well. Bow combat was super fun, too. Sniping an enemy from 80m away with a controllable arrow feels great. So overall, yeah I'm a big fan of the combat, it allows more control, and excitement.

I liked it. It's better than the Kung-Fu movie style drek they've had in the past. There's still room for improvement, though. I think it's still too easy when things are working properly and that means that there is never a real incentive to use a lot of the tools. I think I used the sleep darts exactly once to tame an animal for the achievement and that was it. Additionally, if they are going to have so many weapon types, they need to do a better job of giving you a compelling reason to switch things up once in awhile. Otherwise all those weapons just feel superfluous.

The only time I had any real difficulty was when there were bugs like getting stuck on the tiniest of leaves during combat or when the camera fell through the world.

I also don't know if I like or hate the archery. I sorta feel like the "control the arrow" thing was cheesy in a bad way because they didn't lean into the ridiculousness of it enough. As long as it's going to function like the Patriot Arrow from Robin Hood: Men in Tights, then they should use that to mine some humor out of it. If they made the Patriot Arrow plus the chicken arrow from Hot Shots: Part Duex, I'd be sold.

It's not awful but I started playing Origins immediately after finishing Nioh, and boy, did origins combat feel terrible in comparison.

It's okay. I think its far better than any AC combat previously, but it's not mind blowing. I find that the majority of the time, mashing on RB does the job for me. When I run up against a Phylakes then it is sometimes a bit more nuanced and requires a bit more dodging, blocking and parrying etc. I like that some enemy types mix it up in terms of what is needed but it's not all the way there yet. I too played Nioh earlier in the year and yea, that combat is pretty great (they are vastly different games though)

I for one wasn’t a fan nor did I enjoy the simplification of the parkouring controls either. AC was always different in that it had unique combat and movement that actually worked quite well once you got usd to it. In my opinions Origins should have concentrated on expanding the stealth options even further as at its core AC games did attempt to present themselves as sneaking games first and foremost. Being surrounded by several enemies and stylishly countering and chain killing made you not only feel cool but it was very cinematic in a way that constant rolling and blocking just isn’t. It also promoted the above mentioned stealth as you never really wanted to be in full on combat. I mean I didn’t hate the combat in Origins, although on my base PS4 the frame rate would chug often enough where it felt clunkier than it was, but I’m bummed out they’ve chosen this very boilerplate system as their new direction for the franchise. Likewise the leveling is an OK idea but it also meant that I was unable to progress the main story along at my own pace as the game forced me into endless hours of sidequests so that I could reach the level requirements for my main mission, which in turn made the already somewhat poor story feel even more disjointed.

It's okay. I had no issue with just taking a heavy weapon and using it throughout the entire game, sometimes opting for a more faster-paced simple sword. It was kind of repetitive in itself. Honestly, I think what I would have really appreciated, and not for violence sake, but it would a little more gruesomeness. I mean, realistically if you take an axe or what have you and slam it against a guys neck, it's not just going to knock him over. I felt it wasn't as impactful for that reason alone. I thought it was fine, but could use a little more variety in the move set, and I think it being more realistic in how a weapon would kill a person would be more impactful. I did everything in the game, so going from place to place with enemies to kill got kind of repetitive as the game got easier. At first, it was hilarious, making me laugh out loud how guys would detect me and a handful of them brag about how they're going to kill me, then I immediately kill them was goofy. It's not as flashy as previous AC's, but it's better than most of them.

@humanity:

> nor did I enjoy the simplification of the parkouring controls either.

I was playing Syndicate right before Origins, the movement felt the same without having to needlessly hold down R2.

> It also promoted the above mentioned stealth as you never really wanted to be in full on combat.

I thought Origins did this better, I could only comfortably take on a few enemies at once, encouraging a more stealthy approach.

> Likewise the leveling is an OK idea but it also meant that I was unable to progress the main story along at my own pace as the game forced me into endless hours of sidequests so that I could reach the level requirements

Is this that different than Syndicate which had you "liberate zones" before gaining access to missions.

Really? I beat it once through and only missed out on the trinket achievement so I restarted just to get that trophy. This second time I'm blazing through and just killed the Hyena last night, but I've only done about 6-7 side quests (ones that go through trinket rich locations mostly) the entire time and have always been right at or maybe one level below the recommended level for the main story missions.

This could definitely be a problem, but I just haven't honestly seen it being an issue in this particular game.

@mikewhy: I didn't play Syndicate, but I liked the way parkouring worked in Unity whereas I didn't quite like it as much in Origin. I mean it was fine, it just felt really oversimplified to the point where climbing isn't even a tiny bit of a puzzle anymore. The series has been moving in this direction for a while but it's never been THIS easy, although I didn't play Syndicate so I dunno.

Anyway it's all a matter of taste I suppose. I preferred the way the games worked in the past a little more and this isn't necessarily the direction I wanted Assassins Creed to take. Not that there is any suspension of disbelief to be broken here, but it's a bit silly that Bayek is upgrading his hidden blade to some golden looking swiss watch thing where all the other games the blade was this complicated device you just got and used. In the past upgrading your abilities and stuff did feel like it was tied into the narrative a bit more. I am curious where they will go with it, but if anything it seems like Ubisoft is really unifying their catalog as Watch Dogs, Wildlands and now Assassins Creed are reaching some weird point of juxtaposition.

It hovers between ok and good depending on the amount of skills you put in and the difficulty. Early on its pretty trash because you're so weak but late game it's a bit tedious because you're so OP. There was a real nice sweet spot in the middle for most of the game though. I also had a blast with the gladiator arena. I also loved how every weapon felt different but it could have used a bit more variety in the perks.