Game Review: “Assassin’s Creed: Origins”

The Assassin’s Creed Franchise is one of my favorites. I love all of the
Assassin’s Creed games. I loved all the characters I got to play as: Altair Ibn-La’Ahad,
Ezio Auditore, Connor Kenway (Also known as Ratonhnhaké:ton), Edward Kenway,
Shay Patrick Cormac, Aveline de Grandpré, Arno Dorian, Jacob & Evie Frye and now
Bayek. There has been much history, lore and excitement building since the first
Assassin’s Creed game. It goes in this order: Assassin’s Creed I, II, Brotherhood,
Revelations, III, IV: Black Flag, Liberation HD, Rogue, Unity, Syndicate and now
Origins. The amount of work this franchise has put in its games is phenomenal. All of
their games have had beautiful visuals and compelling storylines. This game definitely
doesn’t disappoint and is a great addition to the franchise.

AC Origins is a beautiful game that takes a new approach to the usual set up of
the franchise. The combat system is unlike any style before it. The other games had set
weapons that you buy from stores to wield and levels and experience were not a thing.
Starting in Syndicate and continued in Origins, the concept of levelling up by gaining
experience and then using ability points to access new skills is a great addition. It
makes you follow a system of improvement to where you put time into your character,
and you can improve your skills to be able to contend with higher level enemies.

However, signature to Origins is the looting system to where you can loot weapons you
can use and trinkets you can sell. Also, hunting is brought back from when it was first
introduced in AC III. You can hunt animals for pelts and hunt enemy caravans for iron,
bronze and cedar wood. All of these materials can be used to craft better armor for
Bayek. The combat is redesigned to where you can use charged attacks to break
enemy shield blocking, have a more realistic feel to each swing of the sword or stab
with the spear and you can deal critical damage and see the damage of each hit with hit
splats. Another new feature is the system of ‘free archery’, which is just the ability to
shoot your bow freely and without the character automatically shooting the enemy with
the ranged attack button. This allows headshots and therefore more critical damage to
be dealt. Another great new feature is the ability to take and edit pictures of the world
around you. Pressing the button to take a picture will pause the game and allow your
camera to freely move around Bayek to allow you to take a picture from any angle in the
vicinity around where you are standing.

You can use the edit tools for field of view, noise, saturation, tone, temperature,
vignette and exposure to make your pictures look like they were taken by a professional.
I love this feature and have taken a lot of pictures of the landscape of Ancient Egypt
as well as the architecture of centers of civilization. The map is HUGE and, unlike
previous Assassin’s Creed titles, you can discover undiscovered locations kind of like in
Far Cry 4, however each of these locations have either treasure to be looted, enemy captains
to be killed or animal bosses to be hunted. You can also find many side missions around
the world to be done for rewards including money, items, weapons, crafting materials
and experience. This game, unlike the ones before it, is much more focused on exploration
of a wide open map, rather than a city to go find collectibles. I had gotten a little
tired of collecting all these blasted animus fragments and chests all the time! I love
all the new features that can make or break a game for anyone.

The script is great. You learn about Bayek and his past which is heavily
influenced by his role as a Medjay, an honorable warrior that is sworn to aid and protect
the innocent. Bayek’s story is compelling, and as you go through the missions, you
meet all kinds of new people as well as people who Bayek had befriended over the
years. As the last known Medjay of his day, Bayek must continue the legacy of the
Medjay and continue the goal of the Medjay for years to come.

I had waited with such anticipation for this game because I loved every game
before it so much. This franchise is the best and I know many others agree with me.
The storyline of this franchise continues with each new title released and we the fans
wait on the edge of our seat, expecting greatness and being pleased every time with a
truly amazing game!