REDISCOVERING A LOST TREASURE

After a year buried underground Assassin’s Creed is coming back to life, writes Andrew Whitehead

Few franchises are as free to experiment with tone and setting as Assassin’s Creed. While the heart of the series has remained relatively the same, it’s a testament to the original concept that it can transition smoothly between the seriousness of the Third Crusade in the Holy Land in one game, and later shift to the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean in another. It’s surprising then that a franchise so full of potential ever got stale, but after the lukewarm response to Assassin’s Creed Unity, and the low sales of Syndicate, Ubisoft did the right thing by the series and let it take a much-needed breather.

Now primed and ready to return to the spotlight, Assassin’s Creed Origins is taking players to Ancient Egypt to tell the story of Bayek, a man who will eventually become the founder of the Assassin’s Brotherhood. When we meet Bayek he’s a man in his mid-30s (so middle aged back then) and a medjay, which is an order of desert scouts who watch over settlements of interest to the pharaoh. But with the arrival of the Roman Empire in Egypt their time is coming to an end. Now the last remaining member of this highly respected order, Bayek lives in the small town of Siwa with his wife Aya. Here he maintains order and he ponders what is left for him to do with his life.

Development of Origins began shortly after production wrapped up on Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which is arguably (and I will argue for this game) the high point of the series, or at the very least the last great entry. Ashraf Ismail and Jean Guesdon, directors of Black Flag, are back at the helm for Origins and have big plans to give the series the kick up the arse it sorely needs.

“For Assassin’s Creed Origins, this extra year of development allowed us to let the franchise breath and take the time to rethink and rework the core pillars of Assassin’s Creed,” says Guesdon, director of Assassin’s Creed Origins. “Of course, the core elements of what is an Assassin’s Creed game are still here – the lore, the stealth, the parkour, the open world – but they’ve all have been deeply modified and reinterpreted to modernise the Assassin’s Creed experience.” THE WORLD AROUND US

It’s easy to think of Egypt as a country of deserts, a few pyramids, and that one really big river, but it’s a far more varied landscape than that. The recreation of Ancient Egypt in Origins is the biggest world ever featured in the series, and in amongst those familiar Egyptian elements are lush green oases, intimidating mountains, and big cities like Alexandria and Memphis.

“In terms of what makes our version of Egypt so interesting to explore,” says Guesdon, “it comes down to that diversity and the seamlessness of the experience, but also to the time period we chose, Cleopatra’s ascension to the throne of Egypt. At that time, Egypt is already 3,000 years old. In fact, there is more time between the construction of the great pyramids and Cleopatra’s reign than between Cleopatra and our time! So the world we recreated is already rich of those 3,000 years of history, of forgotten temples, of old ruins and mysteries for players to discover.”

Building off the real world history of Ancient Egypt, Origins uses this period of great change as a backdrop for the birth to the Assassins. It’s a pivotal time in the history of the world as the powerful Roman Empire continues its aggressive expansion. Entire civilisations are being torn down and rebuilt all at once.

“After centuries of grandeur and accomplishments, Ancient Egypt is now at the beginning of its demise,” says Guesdon. “Soon the line of Pharaohs will end, the Gods will die and the way of life will forever change. A new world order is coming.” WHEN THE LAW CAME TO TOWN

I went into my play session with Origins fairly blind about what I was going to see. It all began with Bayek riding into town on horseback, like a sheriff in an old western movie, strolling through the streets Siwa. The townspeople moved out of his way and spoke in hushed tones while the dust swirled in the wind and market vendors carried on about their day.

I couldn’t shake that initial feeling of Origins being a western of sorts, particularly the classic stories like the movie Shane or Red Dead Redemption. Those classic stories of lone heroes who know their place in this new world is uncertain. Alongside Bayek is

with the removal of the mini-map, players can focus more of their attention on the world itself

Senu, his eagle companion. The two have a close and symbiotic relationship, with Senu able to use Eagle Vision to scout out locations from high above, highlighting enemies and other points of interest for Bayek.

Senu doesn’t do away with those tower climbing sections of the game though, and you’ll still need to reach high points on the map to reveal more of the terrain and extend Senu’s scouting capabilities. And believe me, you’re going to need that bird’s big eyes. There’s no mini-map in Origins to help you out. Instead, you’ll be using a compass at the top of the screen with little markers to let you know which direction to head in.

“The removal of the mini-map is the most visible change,” says Guesdon, “that comes from our will to push exploration and discovery further than what has been done in previous Assassin’s Creed games. With the removal of the mini-map, players can focus more of their attention on the world itself, so it’s the world that drives their experience rather than icons on the bottom right of their screen. We now have a compass that still provides a sense of where to find Points of Interests, but it works more as an invitation to discover what awaits you by yourself than as a help to reach a place where you already know what you’ll find.”

As I wandered through the town I came across a priest beating a young man, shaming him publicly and claiming he was a thief. I enquired what was going on and offered to clear the boy’s name after hearing his story and his claims of innocence. From there I was tasked with heading out onto the river Nile and retrieving the stolen goods from whom the boy claimed were the real culprits. Jumping into a nearby boat, I headed out towards my target. To help assess the situation I sent Senu skyward and surveyed the ships, searching the larger ones for my target and anyone that might stand in my way. Once I found where I needed to be I dove into the water and swam towards the ship’s stern.

I figured the best way to take out my target was a sneak attack, though in my haste I was briefly spotted by an enemy. I dived beneath the surface, swimming underneath the ship’s hull when suddenly my threat indicator glowed as a large figure moved through the water towards me. It was a huge, pissed off hippopotamus. In Origins you’re not entirely helpless underwater, so you can swing your blade around to defend yourself, but we’ve all heard stories about how deadly hippos are, so I frantically swam to get out of its way.

I clambered up the side of the nearest ship and onto the deck. I did my best to sneak around and stay out of sight, but I made a few rookie mistakes and was spotted pretty quickly. It was then I learned how different combat is in Origins. My enemy and I drew our swords, but my instincts betrayed me and I pressed the wrong attack button. If I looked at the printed control scheme I would have realised this quicker. Origins uses the two right shoulder buttons for combat, one for heavy attacks and one for light. It took some getting used to, but combat began to feel much more alive and brutal than in previous games. We just went at it like real fighters would, trading blows in real-time. It felt like a big change from the almost turn-based style of combat from older Assassin’s Creed games.

Though timing still matters when attacking, Origins feels more like a brawler. Distance and positioning matter a lot more, and no longer can players hope to lock-on to enemies when initiating a parry then triggering a counter-attack. You have to be much more purposeful with your attacks. The addition of a second attack button lets players string together more nuanced combos, especially when you take into consideration how different weapons can be used. For example, my trusty short sword was fast and deadly, but I did eventually find a lance-type weapon that allowed me to attack more enemies at once by swinging it around wildly. I even rammed it into one soldier’s stomach, then pulled it out the other side through his body. It’s a more fluid and aggressive way of fighting, and of all the changes I noticed while playing Origins, this is the one that stuck in my mind the most.

“We’ve really rebuilt combat from the ground up and are now using a system based on hitbox,” said Guesdon. “In previous Assassin’s Creed games it was based on what we called paired animation. That means that when you pressed attack the hero and enemy came together no matter the distance and then a dedicated animation was playing. With the hitbox system, your positioning, as well as the size and the speed of your weapon, decide if and how you hit your enemies.”

I fought my way across the ship but discovered what I was looking for wasn’t here, so I was off to the next objective marker. As I continued to play I kept finding little changes that are barely noticeable but also make a lot of sense. For one thing Bayek now automatically climbs over objects and perform parkour-like manoeuvres without the need to hold a climb button. It’s definitely one of those you have to try to appreciate, but Bayek feels like he moves more fluidly and less likely to get stuck on a kneehigh wall. It’s a small change that’s indicative of a lot of things in Origins - familiar but different.

Bayek is more Obi-Wan than Han Solo; quiet when he needs to be, but always ready to take charge

“We changed the paradigm of our fight system, we removed the minimap, we introduced much more RPG elements, such as the gear stats and rarities or the new quest system,” explains Guesdon. “Those are drastic changes to gameplay and the extra year of development gave us the possibility to test them thoroughly and make sure they are at the right level of quality and refresh the experience while staying true to the franchise.”

I didn’t learn a whole lot about Bayek or his quest in my time with the game, but his character became clear early on. He’s more of an ObiWan than a Han Solo; quiet when he needs to be, but always ready to take charge. Thankfully, Bayek isn’t too self-absorbed or overly moody and does show affection for playing children and the townspeople in general. He’s interested in helping out the less fortunate, even if the reward for doing so isn’t clear.

Of course, this is just one side of the story, and, like the previous mainline Assassin’s Creed games, Origins takes place inside of an Animus computer simulation, but nothing substantial has been revealed about that side of the game just yet. One thing that has been confirmed is Bayek’s wife Aya will be a playable character, as will an undisclosed number of other characters. But the developers did stress that Bayek is the primary protagonist so don’t expect the campaign to divided up too much. GET ON MY LEVEL

The Assassin’s Creed series has had RPG elements slowly creep into the series over the years, with 2015’s Syndicate taking the biggest steps forward. Yet it was clear even then that there was room for improvement. The biggest issue with Syndicate was that the only way to gain experience points was by completing missions and sidequests, which makes sense on paper but doesn’t reward the player for actually playing how they want to. It rewards them for playing how they should be playing. Origins hands out experience points more generously, which means engaging in a simple street fight or going in search of lost treasure will contribute to your overall character progression.

“[A] player’s level and how it compares to [their enemies] is fundamental in the experience as it will be very difficult for players to kill opponents that are several levels above them,” said Guesdon. “Levelling up not only makes your Assassin stronger, it also grants Ability points that can be spent to obtain a specific capacity, such as more precise aiming with their bow or being able to poison dead bodies. There are three main branches in the Ability tree, the Master Warrior branch that focuses on melee combat, the Master Hunter branch dedicated to range weapons and stealth, and the Master Seer that is more about tools and manipulating the environment and animals.”

In addition to growing Bayek’s strengths, players can craft items to upgrade certain equipment, much like players were able to upgrade their equipment to hold more guns or ammo in the more recent Far Cry games. An example Guesdon gave is if a player decides to spend ability points on stealth skills and unlock abilities like air assassinations, they had also better upgrade their hidden blades as some higher level enemies might be able to block a lower level blade that would otherwise cause a one-hit kill.

This new take on weapons and their abilities gives each of them their own character and use case. Take bows for example - there’s the standard long-range hunter bow for taking out enemies quickly, the warrior bow that lets you fire multiple arrows at once like a shotgun blast or the nimble rapidfire bow which is great for big charging enemies who may need a few shots to be taken down. There’s also a very video-gamey sniper bow that allows players to guide the arrow mid-air ever so slightly. It’s far from realistic, but then again you’re technically playing as someone reliving their ancestors lives inside a computer, so realism can take a backseat to fun on this one. IN THE BEGINNING

Taking the Assassin’s Creed series to Egypt feels like an ace Ubisoft has had up their sleeve for some time now. So much of the mythology built up since the series began nearly a decade ago has had references going all the way back to Ancient Egypt. With that in mind, it makes sense that when the series is in the most need of refreshing this is where we’d end up.

But both hearing and seeing the work that has gone into Origins, it’s fair to that this is far from a back to basics approach, and if anything it’s the serious upgrade the series has needed for a while now. Still, it’s going to be an uphill battle to convince those burned by the series that now is the time to jump back in. But after playing Assassin’s Creed Origins for myself and hearing how committed the developers are to reinvigorating the series, it feels like the series is back on track and ready for its next Black Flag moment.