Assassin's Creed Origins review: A return to form

PS4, Xbox One (reviewed), PC - Ubisoft - £44.99

For many years, Assassin’s Creed was at the pinnacle of triple-A gaming, astounding critics and winning multiple awards. The series’ downfall began following the release of Black Flag, the sixth major instalment that re-envisioned the series as a swashbuckling game. Everything following that title — Rogue, Unity, and Syndicate — felt tired.

However, after a year off (filled instead with an awful Michael Fassbender-movie) the series has returned. But does Origins — which takes the series to Egypt, a location heavily hinted at during the very first game — stack up to the finer Assassin’s Creed instalments? Thankfully, Origins marks a return to form, all thanks to a beautiful setting, engaging story, and massive world.

Origins sees you take control of Bayek, a protector of the people of Egypt and general do-gooder who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Bayek seeks nothing more than to avenge his dead son but gets whisked away into an adventure much bigger than initially realised. Along with wife Aya, the pair make for engaging and thought-provoking protagonists, providing the best leading characters the Assassin’s Creed series has had since Ezio Auditore.

Not only have the characters improved, though. So has the gameplay. Origins features an impressively huge map, featuring wonderful areas that vividly recreate the ancient setting. Rather than feel obliged to wander around the map for the collectibles, players will no doubt organically explore every crevasse merely for the spectacle. (Plus, there are no loading screens between different lands, making the map seem even bigger.)

Quests will likely take you to the most interesting spots. Many of these are great, ranging from gladiatorial battles and chariot racing to drunken brawls and, of course, some assassinations. Others are the standard yet still entirely boring fetch-quests. Luckily, there are few of the latter compared to the former. Alongside the main story, there are dozens of these littered across the map, and many provide the necessary XP to continue with the main adventure.

Yes — as was introduced during some of the latter games, your character levels up, making Origins feel very-much like an RPG. When your character grows, you unlock more skills and can use better weapons. This all makes for a game that feels remarkably more like The Witcher 3 than the original Assassin’s Creed, something that’s a nice evolution for the series.

Battling enemies has also changed drastically since then. Stealth remains the best option — and taking out a legion of soldiers requires much skill — but charging in sees a different play style, one that’s much harder to master. Swinging a sword around, firing your bow, and dodging hits takes some time to really get to grips with, particularly because the button layout seems, at times, slightly counter-intuitive. These battles are challenging, though, and feel more realistic (still not very) than previous editions.

With such a huge map, wide-array of play-styles, customisation for the character, and types of gameplay, no wonder there are still many glitches. One time I fell through the map, unable to get out. At other moments NPCs walk through each other and walls. My weapon layout sometimes saw my bow go through my shield. The sound also has a tendency to be badly balanced, the music often drowning out voices or what are supposed to be whispered words being screams. Still, those minor faults (minus the first, which required a reset) weren’t game-ruining.

Thanks to the improved play-style, Origins feels wonderfully fresh compared to the more recent Assassin’s Creed games. Finally, the series feels to be evolving, and all it took was taking the story back to the beginning.