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Assassin's Creed Origins in 2021: Was It Really THAT Good?

Jun 03, 2021
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origins

of Assassin's Creed. Magic is the word they use to describe it. The shifting sands of ancient Egypt. the powerful performances behind bayek and aya, whatever it is, there is something mystical about Origins, it is undeniable, this game cast a spell on me, Origins reminds me a lot of Black Flag, it was a transitional game for the series, Ubisoft took the opportunity to change the script and update it.
assassin s creed origins in 2021 was it really that good
In this franchise they came up with a formula that just didn't work for me at first. Why did Assassin's Creed need experience points for leveling up and loot? Why did you remove what made it unique in the first place? Why did it follow the path of other successful games instead of charting its own, I think these are still valid questions, but let's focus on what happened instead of what the

origins

could have been. It was jarring for me in 2017 to the point where I dropped it and moved on now in

2021

. We have a trilogy of new Assassin's Creed games, three huge open-world action RPGs.
assassin s creed origins in 2021 was it really that good

More Interesting Facts About,

assassin s creed origins in 2021 was it really that good...

It's kind of amazing when you think about how you managed to produce them in the span of just four years. If you follow the channel, you may have seen my review on Valhalla. I was harsh on the game because it ultimately didn't live up to my expectations in the review. I mentioned that Origins is my favorite of the newer games. I said it's absolutely brilliant. It is my ideal version of this formula. What I didn't mention is that I hadn't actually completed the game at that point before last year. I never played Origins Beyond Alexandria, which is in the first twelve hours of the game.
assassin s creed origins in 2021 was it really that good
It's ridiculous to think about it now, but for one reason or another I never got past that point. It wasn't for lack of fun, it was a mix of newer games stealing my attention and my own stubbornness, my unwillingness to accept change, I felt the inevitable friction that arises when you encounter a massive philosophical shift in something that love before Valhalla came out. I pushed through that barrier and on the other side I found the magic that made me fall in love with almost everything Assassin's Creed Origins does, how it fills the gaps left by older games and explores newer ideas, but most of all, presents this new formula in a way. that

really

resonates with me to the point that I can't help but plant my flag and say yes, this is the best of the most recent trilogy.
assassin s creed origins in 2021 was it really that good
You can't make that kind of statement without attracting attention. Invite everyone from all corners of the world. fandom to tell you why you are right or wrong. I did a poll on my channel asking people which new Assassin's Creed game was their favorite. The results are so even that it made me realize that this series has changed so much and has been around for so long. that means something different to everyone, where you intervene could easily shape your preferences and expectations. That's why a game like Odyssey was a shock to the system for some, but a refreshing change of pace for others.
So what do the origins of Assassin's Creed mean to me? As someone who finished Odyssey and Valhalla before seeing the credits for Origins, it feels like unearthing a relic, like he dusted off the cobwebs and ended up finding gold. It's familiar in the context of the trilogy, but for me it does enough to distinguish itself and not only. because it came about first, origins is an origin story, it takes us to Tolmaic Egypt, before the brotherhood existed, up to this point Assassin's Creed had only moved forward in time, so setting the game in 49 BC . C. seemed like another way of pointing out that this was a clear reboot of the series through the eyes of bayek and aya we see how the hidden ones took shape we see how the loss sets them on a path of revenge how it gives them a purpose and how they finally transforms them we see how it creates a rupture in their union, how it frees aya to follow our own path to become an amunette, we see how they learn to let go of their past from the ashes, they adopt a

creed

, a set of ideals that form the basis of the Brotherhood.
I

really

found myself. Buying what Origins is selling, while it has some retcons that might frustrate long-time fans, strikes me as an authentic foundation for the series. Much of why this works is due to the writing team and the performances of Abubakar Saleem and Alex Wilton Regan. Oh my god, they are both so powerful and so dominant in every scene they are in. I'll never forget Bayek's cries for Shadya, the way he becomes a father every time a child appears on screen. I will never forget Aya's. transformation into amunet the way he channels his pain and how he gives it conviction and purpose the structure of this narrative is very familiar to an Assassin's Creed game he hunts down targets that deserve to die finds historical figures that help or hinder that progress and then at some point The point of adding an almighty relic to chase origins follows the line in that sense and I think it does it quite well.
My only complaint is that I wish there was more focus on the relevance of the present-day animosity than, by the way, the origins. wonderful job of weaving the objective hunt into your main narrative this is something newer games choose to split into two separate quest lines this is a great thing in theory, you'd think each part would have more focus since it doesn't depend on the another, but I ended up caring a lot less about each objective because they aren't connected to the main story beats in the origins. I know exactly why I'm killing the warrant officers.
They're not just people on a list, they're obstacles in Bayek's quest for revenge. It makes finding these people and all the side stories in each area much more satisfying for me. Bayek is a megi in the same way that Cassandra is a mistios and Abor is a viking. He is a fierce protector, but he also has this level. of warmth which is so compelling to me he also feels like a killer in the way the other two just doesn't always wear the hood if you want him to in and out of combat he's fast he's agile he's able to sneak around effectively thanks to solid stealth systems and is great at scaling, never bogging down and never feeling too heavy or slow despite the non-lethal kills you can do in this game.
I was able to shoot most of the enemies whenever I wanted. All these factors. together they made bayek feel like edward to me, a character who equally embodies the

assassin

and the fantasy of the time from the stage, knowing that he was the core of the founding of the hidden probably helps too of course we have to Speaking of Aya, it's clear that she was meant to be the protagonist of this game and while Bayek's arc is satisfying, Ayas feels most relevant to the core ideals of this series, she has the biggest impact on the brotherhood and she really leads the charge where it feels like bayek is following her, it's almost like we're witnessing greatness, the birth of a legend rather than living it, we know why Aya was sidelined.
I can't help but think about what the origins would have been if he had been our protagonist in the end. I still appreciate how these developers would do with the On the other hand, they were resolved because, despite the circumstances, I ended up connecting with both characters in a way that I won't forget when you look at the origins within the context of recent games, it's easy to call it a stepping stone, the mechanics might even feel dated if you've played the newer two, the combat has fewer options and there are fewer enemy types than you might expect, the world is big enough to give that feeling of freedom in a world open, but not so large or dense that it can last for hundreds of years. hours, looting equipment is limited to weapons and there is only one slot dedicated to what you are wearing.
There are many more examples and, for me, these are the ones that make the difference. If you look closer at each of these on paper, you'll notice. something in common these mechanics are simplistic when you know how these ideas evolved the vision of the origin of these things feels like small steps compared to the leaps taken after I choose to see it differently these decisions were not for lack of imagination or fear to the change of origin is already a big departure from what the series was before. The simplicity is intentional. It represents focus and refinement.
This is a video game with clear ideas, vision and identity, with a few exceptions, few things feel frivolous or unnecessary if Valhalla is a wide jackpot. Of all trades, a game that offers many things the player can do, Origins focuses on a smaller group of ideas and encourages you to explore them fully. Part of this has to do with the nature of the game design. Ubisoft had to build many systems for Origins from scratch is the first game to use a bird companion for reconnaissance. The first to use a skill tree. The first to do many things that we recognize as normal.
Now the features exist in Origins because they were conceived and created for this video game. and exploring a tomb feels amazing because that functionality exists to support that fantasy. I'm not trying to say that sequels can't reuse or expand on existing ideas, that's what a sequel is supposed to do and there are plenty of examples of games that do it. It's all well and

good

, but to me I really feel like Origins approaches these ideas as the best of all these games, and I think part of that is because these mechanics were created specifically for this game, they're intentional, they draw a clear line to the purpose. . to the execution, for example, why is there a bird in Valhalla?
Sure Odin has ravens, but Montreal removed the ability to use the bird for reconnaissance, at best it's surveying the surroundings and immersing yourself in the beautiful surroundings, but the main function of that mechanic just doesn't exist for me anymore, it feels like a strange leftover from the previous games, it's now part of the series' identity, but it has less of a gameplay purpose and that just sucks across the board. The origins are full of content that respects my time. Their systems were designed. with a clear intention, it's not packed with features that serve no purpose, and it doesn't ask me to spend endless hours looking at everything.
I have no problem with a game continuing as long as I'm still having fun. The origins lie with that. requirement and it's thanks to the overall depth over breadth approach with reboot origins replacing counter-attack gameplay with a hitbox style system, this makes the player consider more than just time, they're thinking about spacing out movement and prioritizing objectives. , they added a shield to block and the ability to parry attacks which basically replaced the counter when I picked up Origins again. I struggled with two things, blocking and parrying. I was getting trampled hard and I didn't understand why it turns out that the block radius in Origins is so much smaller than in Valhalla.
I didn't understand how to parry because in this game you have to manually raise your shield to block and then press another button to parry. This seems like a minor detail not even worth mentioning, but for combat designers it represents a very specific decision. forcing the player to block in order to parry makes parrying a more conscious decision it's something you plan for, recognize the opportunity in an attack pattern and take advantage at the right moment in subsequent games parrying feels different to me it's more aggressive in Odyssey because it's a way to attack since there are no shields, it's somewhere in between in Valhalla, giving you the option to parry if you want, but without incentivizing it as much, speaking of timing, Perry's window is much tighter in the origins to the point where I spent more time studying enemies to see when their attacks land instead of pressing a single button right when their attack animation begins.
This way the parry feels less reactionary and more deliberate as it shortens the time, raising the skill curve to the point where it forced me to learn how to use it. Another key difference I noticed: Origins has very few, if any, unblockable and unstoppable attacks in more recent games. The player has only one option to deal with these moves. Get out of the way. Origins allows you to stop them. adding a satisfying degree of risk and reward, you can try to get your timing right, but if you miss you could be dead, these design decisions reflect one thing to me, the intentionality, the origins, the combat feels deliberate, it has a rhythm that no subsequent game captures or surpasses the effect. is that every fight had my attention, it forced me to think and consider decisions to use different tools and focus on a clearly defined set of rules because it was harder, it actually forced me to do more stealth.
This is very much my preference and there are valid reasons for me to like a faster style, but this one is for me. I was surprised how functional stealth and detection is in this game, maybe it's because I justPlay Valhalla, which currently has a broken stealth system in the origins, enemies do not detect. Through objects, there are multiple detection phases that allow me to sneak around if they don't see me, but for them to chase me if they do, there are predictable AI patterns that don't surprise me, and luckily there are tools like the sleep dart and smoking to support that style of play, I would have liked more stealth elements in the toolbar, but it's hard to complain when you compare the source stealth to the next two games, it just works, the hidden blade isn't automatically lethal, it definitely is a disadvantage, but again, I rarely ran into that problem because I upgraded my sword all things considered, I was able to use stealth effectively during my playthrough, which is not something I can say for the rest of the trilogy Origins is a beautiful video game that It captures all the expectations I had for Egypt, but I was most impressed by the cities and the people.
I've been to every major settlement in the game and none of them felt like the individual copy-pasted houses are hand-placed and support the amount of people walking outside the cities are irrigated fields with intricate machines used for farming the cities have subsections full of custom hand placed environmental pieces the npcs follow day and night cycles and travel along routes creating a believable atmosphere that immerses me in this world now I could sit here and probably pick apart the origins and find things that are artificial but I would say that this game absolutely fits into the world design.
Ancient Egypt prospered thanks to the Nile River, its predictability and fertile soil allowed the Egyptians to build an empire upon its foundation. of great agricultural wealth, so what does that mean for this video game? Ubisoft bakes that in the world large areas are dedicated to agriculture, many side missions have to do with the food supply and how those who control it take advantage of the people who depend on it. is an example of how world design quest design and narrative design are in perfect concert with each other. It creates a level of immersion that sucked me in and just wouldn't let go.
This approach to world design comes with the two highest costs in this series. unique and identifiable mechanic that suffered from it, the first is parkour, ancient egypt simply does not have an environment that facilitates parkour yubi avoids this by adding ropes that join structures, placing trees to help us navigate above the ground and crowding together houses to form routes, but the reality is that there is not so much freedom of movement and although bayek has great animation and moves fast enough, parkour becomes a means to an end. The environments exist more to support the world than to support the gameplay, the other mechanic that was scrapped due to the setting. and the environment blends in with the crowd, while there are enough people in the cities there aren't enough crowds gathered to really support this feature, also everything is more spaced out, older games used cities packed with tons of buildings as a way funneling people into larger crowds made the world feel alive, but it also served a clear purpose because the game's origins can't support that environment, so it throws out the idea entirely.
I hate it because I understand why they did it even if I didn't want to, but I was more than happy to explore this beautiful world and watch the side content. The approach to side quests was, of course, inspired by Witcher 3. The quest designers avoided quest quest checklists and always made sure the plot went in surprising directions. The result is a rich mix of storytelling that often connects to the main plot or setting - for example, when Bayek is investigating the lizard in Memphis, there are a set of side quests that support that investigation and provide plenty of context about what the lizard is doing and why.
What you are doing and how it affects people. You don't have to enjoy or understand the main story, but they certainly fill in the gaps in a meaningful way. There are many side activities outside of the missions, some more interesting than others. The highlight for me are the tombs. stone circles and papyrus puzzles all offer a change of pace and encourage exploration, climbing and discovering things on your own. I am a big fan of this game. It does a great job of drawing me in with its world design. I could not avoid it. I visited each pyramid because I could see them from miles away and when I reached each one I was rewarded with a tomb activity that simply tapped into my intrinsic motivation with optional content in a way that surprised me.
A big criticism of the origins is the introduction of forts and bandit camps. These are areas with location objectives that ask you to kill certain enemies and loot chests for no other reason than to do so. They seem like an unnecessary mess to me, but I will say that I'm glad I wasn't forced to. To make them, I focused on all the side content and only cleared camps if I felt like it, which was great for me. Fortunately, the stealth and detection systems are so solid in this game that I was able to get in and out of most of them. of these conflict-free areas if you wanted to, Origins is ultimately masterful in its world design.
Pyramids, deserts, and lush river valleys combine with believable mpc behavior and interesting side content to create an incredible open world in one of the most unique settings in gaming with Origins. Ubisoft decided to dive headfirst into RPG elements. Assassin's Creed has always had progression systems and for many people this seemed like a natural evolution, but there are three fundamental ways in which this formula just doesn't work for me: The first is leveling up, I get it. you get a bright animation, hear a sound cue, and spend your skill point. We have all done the exercise. This seems contrived to me, but it's also a missed opportunity through the interface.
When you choose skills and equipment, it feels like the simulation is paused. that makes sense because technically we're Layla experiencing Bayek's memories, but if there was some contextualized meaning behind the leveling up mood I might have bought it, instead it exists to fit the genre and that's a little disappointing. The second sin of the RPG is looting. I like it. It updates as much as the next one, but not when it takes me out of the action and interrupts the game loop. Most equipment is designed to be a slight upgrade over your last piece, meaning that unless you prefer weapon type, you're using nine. out of ten times you'll get a buff, even if it's just a couple more damage per second.
Everyone who plays this game either dives into the pause screen to equip the best piece or heads to the blacksmith to upgrade what they like to use. I realize this is very subjective, but most raider RPGs don't do this well. I prefer to collect gear less frequently in a more meaningful way and only if it fundamentally changes my playstyle, not when it has slight statistical advantages that I can't even feel. In gaming, the third sin of roleplaying is leveling up. This is the most egregious and downright shocking way to level up I've ever remembered in a video game, to the point where on the hard level I couldn't take on enemies more than three levels above me.
Problem with the secondary content because, again, I think it's really cool in its origins, but that's a decision you should leave up to the player. If I want to focus on the main story, I should be able to. There is another consequence of the level requirements: it funnels everyone into a There is a predetermined order for doing side quests, but what ends up happening is that most people are probably playing the same quests in order to progress and that is not something that You want in an open world game, leveling, looting, and leveling up feel like arbitrary gameplay elements you were used to. fit Assassin's Creed into the RPG rather than making it to fit into Assassin's Creed.
I play RPGs and I like RPGs that use these ideas, but I would have preferred the series to stick to its action roots with these, however Origins does a great job with its branching skill tree. in separate directions, forcing you to commit to a certain playstyle, rewarding you with new or improved abilities to suit that way of playing, for example, you won't get a smoke screen unless you invest in the sighted side, you won't get kills in chain unless you spend points at the hunter's site, and unlike Valhalla, you won't unlock every skill unless you do every piece of content, including DLC, which means there are real consequences with your skills.
You have to make interesting decisions with a plus and a minus. that have an impact on gameplay, another key difference for Origins is the lack of dialogue options. Odyssey introduced this and Valhalla took it forward, allowing the player to guide conversations and occasionally make decisions with consequences. Origins gives you a script, a result and for me it's just more effective. Because of that, I don't feel enough agency with Cassandra or Avor to justify choosing what they say, Bayek feels like a more realized and cohesive character, on the other hand, the cutscenes feel long and drawn out when you have to do a pause to select options that more often than not not only doesn't make a difference and with fewer faces to animate for the team side the characters benefit from animations and cutscenes that feel authentic rather than procedurally generated I basically just don't see the options of dialogue as a worthy trade-off unless I'm actually able to shape my protagonist in tangible ways, Origins of Matter captures almost exactly what I want from the action RPG version of Assassin's Creed.
It is so effective in all phases. A powerful narrative, clean and polished gameplay and excellent world building I can't. I can't help but praise it as much as possible, except for one thing: the microtransactions, this is where the paid content of the live service and the single-player game model took a firm hold and didn't let go, it's less aggressive here, but Its success led to subsequent games growing further. and selling more content is a black mark on an otherwise pristine video game. To me, you can look at the origins and depending on how you feel, say this was the beginning of what you really didn't want from the series and I get that, I think that's a completely fair perspective considering how Odyssey really deviates from the formula and Valhalla is for me this insipid mixture of the two.
I choose to see what Origins does on its own, and for better or worse, I'm very happy that Yubi did this. The game presents a new version of Assassin's Creed that works to the point that it is more than a worthy entry. It's now one of my favorites in the franchise and I can't finish the video without mentioning the Hidden Ones DLC. It's absolutely fantastic, dig deeper. in the brotherhood philosophy that the main game never touches offering one of the most impactful side quests I have played in a long time gave me chills the curse of the pharaohs has a completely different focus but thebes is another wonderful setting I was more than happy to lose myself.
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