Quick Look: Assassin's Creed Origins

Currently a few hours into this, and it may be my favorite Assassin’s Creed to date, which is saying a lot as I love the series probably more than I really should.

The setting and characters seem fine, and Egypt is mostly a pretty underused historical setting. Those are things you would expect from an AC game though. The things it does new are where it really shines. The combat seems a lot better than the chain countering fest of previous games and loot is always a welcome addition as well. The traversal though, is SO good. Apparently Link was this guy’s climbing instructor because you can climb basically anything now. You aren’t confined to obvious handholds and it’s super impressive for a such a good looking game to manage that kind of freedom as well.

For me, this may be the first game to challenge Horizon for my GOTY if it keeps going at this pace. Some of the meta story stuff, which I usually love, is falling a bit flat but hopefully that shapes up more later.

I checked out of this series when Ubisoft announced it would be a yearly franchise. It clearly just sucked the life out of the whole thing.

I'm also crazy and like the first game the best but hey.

Also remember that AC:Brotherhood multiplayer? That was pretty cool.

I'm also bummed this isn't set way further back when the pyramids were newer/being built. Probably gonna wait a while to pick this one up.

I haven't enjoyed an Assasin's Creed game since 2 and this quick look did little to make me want to play this one :(

Totally agree.

As usual, Ubisoft are masters of creating detailed, beautiful worlds and then failing to fill them with much interesting to do. Or at least, they fill them with much the same busywork that was in the previous AC games. That said I'm glad there is a "tourist" mode in AC Origins and I wish more games did that. I'm so far behind on the Assassin's Creed series I might get to this one in five years.

Right? The loot system and the quest having level requirements and tracking is all pretty much the same or similar to the Witcher so I'm not sure why he keeps jumping to Destiny.

The main actor is both black and not American.

Why is Abby's microphone so loud and why does the video quality look worse than usual? edit: apparently the video quality only looks bad on the Youtube version.

As for the game, sad to see that still looks like another generic Ubisoft game. I guess they'll never make another Assassin's Creed game as good as the first two.

Also, game developers, can we please stop with the loot nonsense and MMO/action-RPG mechanics on every single videogame? Thanks!

The voice acting is terrible. Ubisoft needs to hire better talent.

This doesnt look very good at all.

I actually assumed that Origins meant it was in an older era of Egypt than the relatively well trodden roman era. It was incredibly disappointing to me when I found out it wasn't. It makes sense, I suppose, since we know way, way more about Cleopatra's time than of the old or middle kingdoms but it's still a bummer.

I want a game where I'm playing as one of the Sea Peoples fucking up bronze age Mediterranean civilizations.

@doncabesa: me too its the best game ever

You can ride a camel? Sold.

Man Vinny asks way too many fucking questions during Quick Looks

I've been playing this game and maybe Alex is juggling too many games but there is a block and parry for combat that I don't think I saw him use. Also there is a ton of stealth in the game if that's how you choose to play so I'm sure it will cater to old AC fans as well.

Problem is I don't think it "sounds like it could be right" at all.

I love different accents, but I've always greatly disliked most of the voice work in the Assassin's Creed series. Always felt like they just don't give a shit about it and that's really sad because it ruins immersion for me.

The accents in the first game are a complete nonsensical mishmash (Altair was American, fellow assassins had thick Arabic accents, master was Spanish or something, etc.), but at least they sounded nice. The rest of the voice work in the series just seems consistently bad all around and this only exacerbates and highlights the poor writing. If your gonna give us terrible dialog then at lest have Michael Ironside or Keith David read it! Rather have that than a whole made up regional accent that sounds like crap.

Combat seems bad

wow...that combat was...awful, lol. I assume Alex was just in a funk. I assume you actually can block and parry but I never saw one.

"I saw most times I didn't need to." - as he proceeds to almost die every encounter :|

exactly what I was thinking lol

Oh my, this looks terrible.

I'm enjoying this game much more than Breath of the Wild so far. I can understand why people are so down on this series after so many lackluster entries but I'm having so much fun with this one. I encourage people to go into it with an open mind, since it plays much differently but in a way that suits its setting. The combat, stealth and just about everything is so enjoyable. I'm really hooked on it and love the leveling/gear which adds a lot to exploring and side-quests. Maybe it will get old after a while but right now it's awesome! My only complaint is the story which is clumsily handled so far (I'm about 8 hours in). Maybe the story will get better but right now it's hard to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing but I'm at least enjoying it! BotW, in contrast, got very tiresome for me with everything feeling exactly the same after a short while. The varied locations, gear and side-quests have kept that from happening to me so far. I also am blown away by how the world interacts with gameplay. Having crocodiles randomly attack your enemies and destroy their boat is so neat! Never been much of a fan of the series but this one is on another level.

@sammo21: agree, by about level 10 you've got enough skills to be proficient in battle. The combat is fun but shouldn't take several hours to get enjoyable. They made the same mistake as witcher 3.

My ancestor!

I think the visible damage and xp numbers are a mistake. It doesn't fit at all with the AC look and feel.

@hassun: I know loot is the new thing to hate but every RPG-ish looking game just being a standard action adventure with no gear or stat progression sounds boring as all hell.

Not that this game really handles it well. Or rather, it having colour-coded loot is completely pointless since it hands you out top-tier stuff non-stop.

Yea, that surprised me, but most games make that an option, so maybe you can turn it off?

I'm REALLY tired of this fake mouse cursor fuckery that so many console games seem to be in love with. It actively makes any menu you're trying to use slower with a controller.

I'd rather them PLEASE STOP making these games, and make some new ip.

what are you saying, Diablo would be way better with no loot or progression.

@mikemcn: You can.

Based on the QL, I'd say Mad Max still has the prettiest deserts. Damn, that game has some gorgeous sunsets.

Not a fan of RPG elements.

And the name for this "new" subgenre is "single player mumurpeger".

Just unnecessary cruelty from Abby at 04:27.

Wish it was more different. Like the damage numbers flying off enemies & colourcoding weapons is new i guess, but gear with different attributes has been in the game for a long time already.

I wish they listened more to the map clutter criticism. Given that the map is still filled to the brim with side quests of a similar quality doesn't really show a willingness to address it. On one hand, good on them for noticing you saved a dude from a fortress before you start a mission. On the other hand, why is that prisoner even spawned into the world before the sidequest is triggered? Why not make it a real one of a kind mission where you have to get a cannon in place, shoot a hole in the walls and extract the prisoner? Or where you have to disguise yourself as a prison guard to infiltrate the fortress. Just make the sidemissions memorable instead of being able to stumble on them and not go much deeper than kill 5 enemies or press X at prisoner.

It's time for Ubisoft to let that 'Assassins Creed' eagle fly the nest or those chickens will eventually come home to roost.

Im sure they have enough creative talent to come up with some new IP's instead of milking the dead horse.

I am 100% with Vinny let me play with my blades while loading. I want to run around looking like a crazy man! LET ME HAVE IT!

Hey so does the audio from the game actually sound like that? Duders sound fine but the game dialogue sounds like straight trash, quality-wise.

I wish that Eagle drone would float a little while zooming/focusing, really jarring for it going full speed to a complete stop. Stuck with me since the E3 reveal.

boy, this is trying reeeaaallllyyy hard to be the Witcher 3

@justinaquarius: Great. All games should take more from W3 and less from Free to play.

Combat looks really bad, characters look jank, and the visuals look like there is some dull overlay over the whole thing clamping the overall color/light depth... it's weird.

Very underwhelming for all the talk I hear about it.