Assassin's Creed Origins (2017)

The Chronolog III b: The Ancient Era - Rome and Egypt

Through sharp military strategy and a knack for adapting the technologies and tactics of other civilizations, the Roman Republic positioned itself as a rising power in Europe—setting the stage for Western dominance in the centuries to come.

Rome’s legacy gets plenty of screen time across various games, but it was Julius Caesar’s campaigns—as portrayed in both Empire Earth and Age of Empires—that laid the groundwork for the final stretch of the Chronolog before the dawn of the Common Era. These games track key turning points in Roman expansion, blending real events with classic RTS gameplay.

And then came a deeper, more immersive experience with Assassin’s Creed: Origins.

What Origins did best was not just gameplay or story—it was the reconstruction of ancient Egypt under Roman influence. Walking through cities like Alexandria and Memphis, witnessing the political drama in Egypt unfold within the context of Assassin's Creed's overarching narrative—there’s a sense of “phantom familiarity” that makes the world feel alive.

That said, while Origins is steeped in real historical names and locations, it’s also drenched in speculative fiction and mythological fantasy. From a historical education standpoint, it’s better viewed as inspired by history, rather than a trustworthy retelling. But when it comes to capturing the vibe, the culture, and the setting, few games do it better (especially with the game's Discovery Mode to boot).

Continuing from Caesar’s fate, we shift into the lesser-known yet compelling Shadow of Rome on PS2. This title offers a dramatic retelling of events following Caesar’s assassination, focusing on Octavianus (later known as Caesar Augustus) as he rises to power. The game, although heavily fictionalized, adds flavor to the historical narrative by blending stealth, arena combat, and political drama.

Back in Age of Empires, this period ends with Rome’s triumph over Antonius and Cleopatra, closing the curtain on the Roman Republic and ushering in the Empire. With that, the timeline of the Chronolog edges toward a massive cultural shift.

There is still one more entry to cover before closing off the Ancient era period and, for that, I'll have to jump back in time a bit...

Old World <-- Chronolog: Ancient Era main post --> The Battles For Greece

I've played this game because I purchased like a year ago on the Epic Store for €5 and I felt on the mood of "an arcade game" and people, this game is too long to be an arcade but too "Ubisoft style" to be non-arcade.

I play in a kind of strange matter: I don't want to be completest, but I have to clean all the items near me. As a result, I have played a total of 60 hours in a "casual game". I mean, most of these hours I was enthusiastic about the game, the historical setting is pretty accurate and, mate, I love playing in this historical events. But the game, suddenly, began repetitive and sometimes tedious.

The gameplay still have some serious bugs accounting it was released five years ago, which means the game was abandoned when it was no more profitable. Also, the game is sold as a stealth game, but the NPCs are legally blind. And, finally, I almost understand anything about the campaign: character's face expressions are horrible and the script too.

Resuming, it's a good game if you want something made to not think too much, but I recommend you to go direct for the principal missions and do a few secondaries.

This game was really a fresh breath from the franchise and I really liked every bit of it

Gameplay: The mechanism on this game is very modern and new to the franchise, it makes it more appealing to new players but could be a little more unsatisfied to veterans, personally I really liked the change although the bugs are there, and wished it could have more QOL. And the UI, amazing I love it so RPG-themed.

The Story: The problem with every new AC game is they try to add more explanation between the world, but they just make it more confusing, this game adds nothing apart from knowing where all it started, the "memories" characters were amazing though! i felt so invested in the story that i just wanted to know more.

World-Building: Making an Open-world is quite challenging, although I agree that it is unnecessary, I appreciate the exploration and the fun of taking out POI's, it seems like they took some elements from their previous game and brand games (like Farcry, watchdogs) and mixed it up a bit.

SFX: Very atmospheric, I enjoyed it a lot, it really shows they put work into this game

Origins is a good starting point for new players, in my opinion, you have everything that you need to know about the franchise and it's modern and fresh.

I have only 100%-ed four AC games: AC2, AC3, Syndicate and now Origins. As far as I'm concerned these are the cream of the crop and Origins tops them all.

pros:

• gameplay feels much less restrictive
• vastly improved combat system
• aggressive melee and bow combat is balanced by an equally viable stealth approach
• the map is enormous and beautiful, filled to the brim with environmental storytelling and interesting locations to uncover
• the story is a compelling revenge narrative supported by a unique historical period of cultural syncretism and the conclusion of the Ptolemaic dynasty
• the side content is easily the best in the series yet, we have fully realised side quests which give satisfying conclusions and tie back into the game's central narrative
• the assassination targets are all unique and memorable

cons:

• the parkour is simplified, I really didn't care but some people out here making 3 hr youtube videos complainin abt it so yeah
• modern day is still pretty flimsy, but Laila seems like an interesting protag and I enjoyed how they linked her to the film
• assassinations in terms of gameplay are less unique than in past games (no 'unique' kills, no distraction opportunity etc. - you can make these for yourselves in-game but there are no predetermined paths)
• the story is pretty obviously about Aya (made clear in the last 20% of the campaign) but we play as Bayek for most of it and he doesn't get any proper closure (even with the DLCs)

So yeah, if you don't like this game then seek help because you are wrong. Not only the best AC but a phenomenal A-RPG in its own right that stands beside the Witcher 3 (even exceeding it in some categories).

Finally finished the DLCs (both 100%), thinking I'll probably 100% the base game next. I seem to be in the minority but I much preferred The Hidden Ones dlc to the Curse of the Pharaohs. (Tahira🔥🔥🔥) The bosses in CoTP were awful, the plot made even less sense than usual for AC and it sort of just ends?... no proper conclusion just okay it's done now x Also, Bayek just giving away the apple to the guy he's met approx. three times im- .

The afterlives were beautiful, but not very fun imo and padded with actual fetch quests where characters just ask you to go to Y and collect X with little to no narrative reason. Collect X and Y because we need it for a ritual, collect Q and Z to summon the Pharaoh, collect E and K because I said so.

Tahemet was one of the game's most interesting character's but given basically no screen-time, the entire southern region of the map feels redundant (Yebu being central to the plot and then used as a SIDE QUEST location wtf), the villain's motivations were muddied and unclear (what exactly do they WANT???????), Bayek's complete lack of reaction to the afterlives, the lack of assassination targets, I could go on and onnnnn - it's a FINE dlc but to claim it's one of the best in the series as I've seen online is mind boggling to me.

I also encountered way more graphical glitches in the DLC than I ever found in the main game.

I just finished the main quest and im-

This is still one of the best games I've played in recent memory but damn... Why weren't we playing as Aya this whole time???

SHES LITERALLY AMUNET, THE HIDDEN ONE!!!!

I've seen a lot of Aya hate about how she's poorly written and unsympathetic but... isn't it obvious that all of that characterisation was repurposed for Bayek when they made him the MC instead?? Now all they had for Aya were scraps of her former self. While the father-son dynamic is good, it would have been pretty unique to play a grieving mother and would have lent the game's story more ingenuity. It's just really sad Aya wasn't the MC when the story and lore is literally all about her.

I like Bayek, he's very honourable and a medjay and that's great but he's one of a million stoic (though occasionally humorous) men pursuing revenge just like Ezio, Connor and Arno. It's nothing really NEW for the series, but I am glad the series got its second black lead and that the game addresses the mistreatment of Egyptians under the Ptolemaic Dynasty.

Also these graphics and the draw distances still have me quaking 50+ hours in, how did they make this world so damn BEAUTIFUL. Anyways, onto the DLCs! (hoping they will give Bayek's story a more satisfying conclusion)

I've just reached Krokodilopolis and this game has completely and utterly blown me away. I remember hearing complaints about the side quests and repetitive nature of the game but I'm still loving every minute of it. Each location is a joy to explore, the combat is fun and engaging and I LOVE how interesting the side quest stories are and how they tie into the main narrative. There are so many great mysteries and stories that flesh out the world of Ptolemaic Egypt so much more and give the game an even greater sense of atmosphere.

The claims of repetitiveness befuddle me, like yes you go to places, find objects and kill people..... that's the GAME??? It would be like complaining a JRPG is repetitive because it has turn based battles.

The only issue I have experienced is being over-levelled but I've been playing on hard with level scaling on to still have some challenge.

Okay when I initially played this back in 2017 I was suffering from a bad case of fanboyitis. I remember being befuddled by the controls and mad about the series' new direction. I played up until I reached Alexandria then stopped, and I have once again just reached Alexandria on this playthrough.

Coming back in 2021 I am OBSESSED. I've visited every '?' and completed every side quest so far. Replaying the franchise I've come to appreciate the overall mythos and lore of the series and I'm looking forward to see how these games explore the First Civilisation plotline more. I'm also not mad about the lack of proper Brotherhood/Templars because that plot had been done to death in the past ten games.

I also remember that in 2017 I wasn't a huge fan of the Witcher 3, but I learned to love it and played the game to 100% completion in the intervening years. The Witcher 3 in a lively, sprawling and beautiful recreation of Ancient Egypt? Sign me UP. Side note, I really love the environmental storytelling (especially the papyri that further characterise the locations you visit.)

SPOILERS My experience with the AC franchise goes far back to the first game. Most of them have been quite fun, althouh I skipped Unity and Sindicate, because I was tired of the franchise. With Origins, I came back to the franchise and... well... it was fun-ish. But tiring, too long, the quests were meaningless, there were no moral options. Basically, I didn't care much about the fate of the characters. Visually, it's astonishing! Beautiful game, so much detail and effort put into the enormous world, all the monuments put to scale; different environments and landscapes. Impressive! Physics, the same! All on point and delivered with excelent quality. I found it also rather poor in extra options (the ship in AC IV or creating your gang in Brotherhood), to make the game more compelling. About the story... Well, it's pretty basic, but fu, somehow. What I found anticlimatic is the fact that I spent dozens of hours playing with one character, getting my affection and my care about his cause and in the end, in the climax of the game, it's another character, (that we know, true, but are not as deeply involved with since the tutorial level) who steals the show, creates the Creed and wears the white veil. Bah, it seemed forced to me and really anticlimatic.

I expected better story telling after 10(!!!) AC games.

Intro

ACO is a third-person action game in which you sneak around pyramids and murder animals and people with a variety of melee weapons, bows and your hidden blade.

Out With The Old

I have never been shy about my general dislike for Assassin's Creed games. I played seven games in the main series and only two got a pass. Even fan-favourite Black Flag didn't get one from me. In comparison, i think ACO isn't just good - it is really good.

First of all, almost everything that was bad about AC has been fixed. Gated skills, trailing missions, insta-fail stealth missions, modern day nonsense, crappy inventory systems, subpar combat, crappy looting, scripted platforming, et cetera. - they're basically all gone. It's basically a completely different game.

In With The New

The gameworld of ACO is clearly inspired by The Witcher 3. There's a big open map filled with stuff and you are fairly free to pick your own route. Instead of one big city or several smaller ones you have several provinces with villages, cities, camps, etc. It all feels less cramped and less gamey. Gone is the map barf with endless collectibles. It also mostly lacks cringey parts where you meet famous historical figures.

They really went all-out with their representation of Egypt. It looks beautiful and there are tons of details in the environments, in-game texts and conversations. You can actually learn something about ancient Egypt and its various cultural elements. Plus the main character (excellently voiced by "Father" from Raised By Wolves) is actually likeable and the story actually somewhat interesting.

It's just a joy to ride/sail around, look at all the pretty things, fight hippos, explore pyramids, clear camps and do side-missions. I ended up clearing every location in the game (including DLCs) and completing every mission. Some things that stand out:

• A skill upgrade lets the Predator Bow fire guided arrows. It's just sooo much fun to fly arrows into people's heads. Every game should have this.

• The other bows also have their uses and combined with unique modifiers they're different enough to have their own function. There's even a "shotgun" bow.

• The various afterworlds are really cool, especially the one that's basically a giant field of wheat.

• You can scout around with your eagle, which is a really neat idea and fun to do while Bayek's horse is on autopilot to some place.

• Base assaults are probably the best part of the game. Bases are bigger and more complex, with caged animals, signal fires and enemies that survive backstabs. Loved it.

Flaws

• At the end of the main quest the game does devolve briefly into old school scripted platforming and a bit of other nonsense.

• The inventory desperately needs a "mark as junk"/"sell all junk" function. Selling every item manually is a pain.

• Even with a horse with autopilot travel still takes too much time. Especially on the edges of the map where there are lots of valleys and mountains.

• Without the DLC there's a dearth of "upgrade gems". That's kinda shitty.

• Several skills just suck. Three skill points so you can buy useless chariots?

• A save function should have been implemented, especially with base assaults taking so long (AC Oddysey has saves, thankfully).

• Levelled enemies/items are a crutch. Seriously, this stuff has plagued games since Oblivion.

• Item traits are listed separately which is really clunky and forces you to constantly go back and forth between screens.

Conclusion

ACO is a wonderful experience that i would recommend to everyone who likes to play sneaky murder man games. The core gameplay is really solid and makes it superior to, say, The Witcher 3. Even with travelling (still) taking too long it never wore out its welcome in the 70 hours that i played it. Seriously now, i of all people am giving an AC game four stars. Pretty sure hell is frozen over and pigs are flying and stuff.

My brother warned me that AC: Origins is very different from earlier Assassin's Creed games before I started playing. Gameplay-wise, I really wouldn't even call this an Assassin's Creed game. While you can still sneak around assassinating enemies, you don't have to. It's totally possible to go full frontal assault and win if you wanna go that route. This game is a lot more action-oriented and while it is different, it's fun in it's own way.

I wouldn't say the combat system is 100% revamped, but it's a lot smoother and there's more emphasis on it. Particularly the weapon system. There are different types of melee weapons and bows, each with their own strengths. But while the bows are all useful in certain situations, you can pretty much just pick whichever melee weapon you like best and stick with it. On the flipside, the melee weapons all share upgrades while the bows each have their own, so they need more upgrade points to get them all to full power.

The upgrade system is also a bit smoother from most of the older games. Leveling up through good old experience points and completing certain optional areas gets you points, use the points to buy upgrapes. Easy peasy. But you probably won't have enough points to get everything, even at the level cap which is extra weird because there are upgrades you can buy repeatedly.

Story-wise, this game was great. Since this is chronologically the first game, there are a lot of callbacks to previous games as we see how the Assassins got started. But since it is before everything else, there isn't too much focus on the Creed and its tenets until the very end of the main story. For the most part, this is just a revenge story. Bayek just wants to take down his son's murderers, plain and simple. Granted he still takes an active interest in helping people, but revenge comes first.

On the downside, this game is long. Now, part of that was because my inner completionist wouldn't let me ignore side quests for a long time. Which I don't mind in a game so long as it stays fun. But this was one of those games where once I got about 30 hours in (my personal limit once my attention starts waning), I was ready to be done. I didn't even do the side quests in the DLCs, which made me feel like I missed out a bit but I was just ready to be done so the trade-off felt worth it. There's only so many times you can hack-and-slash your way through an enemy fort.

So all-in-all, this is a solid game if you want some fairly standard action-adventure gameplay. And have lots of time to kill.

I finished the game but I’m not yet done with the game is probably the best summary of my feelings about it. Absolutely got sucked into the world.

The first important thing to note is that Assassin’s Creed: Origins is not a classical Assassin’s Creed game. It’s closer to The Witcher 3 than anything else, an RPG at its core but with a lot of action elements.

In Origins you play as Bayek, a medjay - essentially a texas ranger of ancient egypt. I feel like I’ve missed the intro or some part of the introduction story as the only thing I understood is Bayeks son gets killed and you’re up for revenge without understanding a lot of reasons behind it and as far as I’m concerned that’s absolutely fine. The main storyline was never the strongest point of any AC game and I didn’t really care for it here either.

One thing to understand about this game is that it’s an RPG. That means you’ve got a level, abilities, you’ve got damage points, your weapons have stats, your enemies have levels. It’s not like in classic AC games when you could take out anyone at any time - attack an overpowered enemy and you’ll be in for a bitter surprise.

And again the game plays a lot like Witcher 3 - with a huge open map, lots of events, leveling up, grinding, crafting etc. The main difference is that Origins has a viable option of being stealthy. The fighting is also a bit more dynamic which can be good and bad at the same time. In more tight spots the camera has problems keeping up and it's too easy to get stuck in a corner and die quickly.

Main missions are interesting for the most part and what’s cool is that the optional ones feel interesting and varied too. Not the typical fetch/kill missions without any meaning and they felt interesting enough to pursue. Did not complete all of them yet but I’m definitely going to.

What’s probably the best aspect of the game is the world. While I was really sceptical of the egypt theme - not one I would have thought interesting but the world is built with such care to the detail that it’s hard not to get sucked in. It’s huge and feel lived in. There’s plenty of going on - people minding their own business, interesting places, a derailed cart here, an animal attack there, something burned down. The best fun I’ve had in this game was just exploring - getting to the next question mark just to see what’s there - and it’s constantly something new and interesting. World class in world building.

The game is not without its flaws though not many. First of combat - while definitely better than in any previous AC creed - more arcade like, dynamic and interesting. It’s sometimes too dynamic - as the camera has trouble keeping up. And if you corner yourself without noticing it - the fight ends pretty quickly.

Stealth is really well done. Well designed spaces and ability to sneak up on enemies. Even if you do get discovered you frequently get a chance to dispose of the enemy before other guards get alarmed. However what I think is the biggest flaw of the game is the damage points set on the stealth blade. This doesn’t make sense. If you sneak up on your target and do the assassination - the target needs to go. Instead I found myself especially early in the game when a perfectly executed assassination dropped the enemies bar to a half and caused a major fight. Very annoying.

You can do something about it but that brings me to yet another annoyance. Grinding for skins and upgrade materials. The assassin’s blade, health, and some other parameters you can upgrade by upgrading equipment. To upgrade you need a certain amount of materials - animal skins, iron, bronze etc… And that means grinding. Running around killing animals for skin just to get skins, tracking bronze shipping ships or couriers for bronze and collecting them until you get enough. And while I didn’t care for most of upgrades and they sort of happened on their own - upgrading the stealth blade was a priority and took me longer than it should.

Overall though I loved the game. Finished the main story and thinking about season pass or starting a new game plus. I’m definitely still going to do additional tasks - and it’s cool that game ended in sort of open way that allows you to roam about. I’ll probably clear all of the questions marks as well as it’s just fun exploring. Highly recommend it.

I'd like to give 3 1/2 stars.

It was repetitive at times, especially most of the side missions. I didn't feel that much like an assassin most of the time (stealth isn't that easy anymore, especially since you only have one hidden blade now and it isn't always lethal). The fighting and the parkour are less dynamic (or scripted) than they used to be, but I think Ubisoft is taking a right step with changing the series' gameplay experience. While this game was indeed a bit slow at times and the story still isn't the greatest, it was mostly fun to upgrade (both physically and with the skill tree) your way to killing the big guys.

The open world is nice, smoothly explorable but after having played RDR2, all NPCs feel outdated. Should have played this one before.

(Spoiler, I guess) - What I found odd was Aya's sudden importance at the end, and in contrast Bayak's complete removal of it. It's like they decided to make her the badass of the story instead, but we only got a few missions to play with her. It felt weird not to end with Bayak...

So yeah, I like the new RPG elements for the most part and look forward to playing Odyssey. But I will kind of miss the old way, too.

It's too damn long. That is my primary complaint, and the reason why I docked stars off my score. Took just over 80 hours to complete the main quest, the 125 side quests for the main game + both DLCs + Discovery Tour. It became even more repetitive than usual for an AC title due to its length.

The earlier titles in the Assassin's Creed franchise typically took less than 25 hours to complete. This one just became a chore because it dragged on and on and on even with skipping all the little time wasting collectibles like I always do in AC games. I just don't want to spend that long in one AC game.

From what I hear, Assassin's Creed Odyssey also suffers from being long as hell too. I might just be done with this franchise after that one. I don't like the direction it's taking.

I will say this though. The Discovery Tour mode and the Animus Control Panel were very cool. Discovery Tour really helps you appreciate the care Ubisoft goes to in constructing the world for these AC games and it turns the game into a legitimate educational lesson. Much more fun than learning about ancient Egypt in a traditional classroom. These features should stay in future AC games.

Introduction

After countless times of repeating something mindlessly, sometimes it's best to return to your roots. Assassin's Creed Origins takes this thinking to heart and steps into the open world of ancient Egypt with a soft reboot to the franchise- a much needed reboot if I might add. This move in particular shows a brighter future for the series with the necessary improvement as it also provides a huge dynamic change of the core gameplay of the once going-stale series.

Blending the lines between a prequel and a sequel, Assassin’s Creed Origins takes us back to literally the origin story of the creed, of how it was born, while also rebooting the present day story with a new storyline and a new protagonist. The path is set in Ancient Egypt during the Ptolemaic period (48 BC) using Bayek, a medjay on the path of revenge following the death of his son by the Order of the Ancients.

Combat

The combat in this game took a huge turn from what we know compared to the earlier games of the series. It was inspired by one of the best RPG games - The Witcher 3 - and another series called Horizon Zero Dawn.

We got introduced to a more hit-box system rather than an animation one; and I have to say I really enjoyed this new system as it’s much more intuitive and brings a bigger dynamic factor into the gameplay.

Now, allow me to explain how it works: for example, pressing R2 allows the player to swing his weapon in a heavy attack, holding the R2 button brings the player to a huge heavy attack, sometimes allowing to have some free swings at an enemy that either staggers from the huge attack or drops on the ground from the attack. On the flipside, it takes a while for the attack to charge, making sure that Bayek will have to dodge the enemy’s upcoming attack otherwise you will have to charge the attack once again, losing health in the process. Coupling that with a light swing attack and the dodge mechanic, you will have to think fast and swing fast which is just so much fun compared to the old animation system of the old days.

The Worldbuilding

While the main story is delightfully mystical and breathtaking on its own, Origins also has some of the strongest mission stories and environment designs I’ve encountered in the entire series. From collecting clues in order to solve mysteries, to chariot racing and gladiatorial arena fighting, to chasing down leads and assassinating high-level enemies hidden beneath the fortress, to naval combat by the sea, I was definitely surprised by how much I enjoyed each and every one of these since I usually despise side quests that don’t enhance the story or don’t add anything of value to the characters of the world.

I spent a good over 30 hours on the main campaign as it took me to various places within Ancient Egypt. From Siwa, to the deserts, to a city like Alexandria - and all of these places look lively with their unique architecture as the series takes Bayek on the journey to find the killer of his lost love. As Bayek, who is simultaneously compassionate, bold, and driven by revenge, you go through a twisted story of pharaohs and corrupt leaders, of love both gained and lost, and the plights of the lower class in a time when they were routinely worked to death and nobody batted an eye.

There is also a side quest that further develops the personalities of other characters of the world, giving them more depth. It provides some of the more interesting characters with much more believable motives compared to the ones from the earlier games of the franchise. I will always remember a particular mission about the little girl selling fake Siwan items for her mother which further underlines that all of the characters have their own lives and journeys that they follow.

Gameplay

Of course, since this is an Assassin’s Creed game, there is a lot of parkour. In this game, the parkour felt the most refined among all the other ones from this series. Things that can be climbed are blended more organically into buildings and the act of climbing feels clean and almost as easy as running. Though true, some of the old kinks still exist- for example, sometimes you want to climb a building but in the end only manage to scale up without grabbing the ledge.

There is also a new XP-based RPG progression that is introduced in the series which is what makes the game a whole lot better. It allows us to customize Bayek in a play style that is suitable to us as a player and this allows for a lot of replayability in that regard.

For example, if you want to approach missions stealthily, there are abilities that give you bonuses for stealth kills, ones that let you shoot arrows in the air in a matrix-like slow-down fashion and even one that lets you visually predict the path an enemy will walk on. If, even, you want to build Bayek into a more loud-blazing kind of a play style character (which I did) then you are free to do so! There is an ability to have more XP after killing the opponent with a very gruesome finishing move, which is my favourite, or even to have a damage increase via fire. Additionally, there is also an option in making you a virtual beast in melee combat. In the earlier stages there are some more obvious picks, but I think most people will end up with very different sets of abilities by the end of the game which I feel is for the better as each and every one of us has a distinct playstyle.

Conclusion

In the end Assassin’s Creed Origins is a deep game with a truly stunning realization of ancient Egypt with its rich culture, genuine and real characters, and a much bigger mission variety than any other game in the series has provided thus far. The combat is challenging and thoughtful, and with the introduction of the loot system, enough different weapon types and enemy varieties to keep you swapping between weapons, the game catered to every situation and I enjoyed that immensely. The RPG elements encourage challenges of their own and that makes this game a very positive addition to the series.