Get ready to hop back into the animus with the 10th installment of the Assassin's Creed franchise, "Assassin's Creed: Origins." It is an action-adventure stealth game, and the longest AC game in development due to some minor but necessary delays. The end product of the game wouldn't be the same if it was rushed to the public. But enough of that, let's take a trip back into the past.
"Assassin's Creed: Origins" takes place in ancient Egypt during the Ptolemaic period. You play as Bayek, a Medjay fighter who fights to protect citizens from a group of people know as "The Order" (presumably templar ancestors). Bayek is a very likable character to others and willingly completes tasks for people. Each assignment he completes brings him a step closer to bringing down The Order.
First off, I have to say that if you are a die-hard "Assassin's Creed" fan, you will know right off the bat that the game feels a lot different from the ones that came before. The control scheme is different from the others, but thankfully you have the ability to switch it so that it feels like the older versions. The different controls are due to the new and improved combat system. The combat system has a fighting style that resembles Legend of Zelda BoTW or For Honor. Instead of freely attacking enemies, you can now lock onto your target and make it feel like a 1v1 battle. I am in favor of this change, and I think it's a great improvement to the franchise.
For the first time ever in the AC franchise, there is a loot system! The system is similar to the one in games such as Destiny and Borderlands. The rarity of your loot ranges from common, rare, legendary, and epic. You can get a variety of these rarities in the form of weapons, shields, bows, horses, and outfits.
While on the topic of weapons, the weapon system has also been revamped. Similar to AC Unity, each weapon has its own category such as the short sword, long range, heavy, and many more. The same thing applies to bows and arrows. The type of enemies you encounter determines what weapons you should use in battle.
The skill tree in the game also goes pretty in-depth with what each skill uses, and the skills you apply really make a difference in gameplay.
Even though there is no online play available in the game, there's still social interaction. As you progress far enough in the game you will see dead player's bodies on the ground. After you inspect them, you will be able to avenge their death by killing what killed them. It's not much, but you've got to admit, it's cool.
There are a few frame rate drops in the game, especially in a highly populated area. Also, when riding horses I found myself phasing into walls and getting stuck quite easily. Ubisoft has stated that they already plan to have a day one patch in the process of being released this week.
The graphics are amazingly crisp and clean, and I'm saying that playing on an Xbox One S. Just imagine what it will look like on the Xbox X in stunning 4K. The Egyptian music matches the setting, and the Egyptian dialogue between the civilians only helps to enhance that.
After playing all the Assassin's Creed games and now having played "Origins," I have to say that I'm not disappointed. I didn't really expect anything in this game to be different except maybe the storyline, but Ubisoft rose to the challenge and crushed it with this game! "Origins" is a perfect starter game for anybody who wants to be a part of the AC franchise. Just know that once you're hooked, it's hard to get off.