MASSIVE TO A FAULT
Also for: Stadia, Windows, Xbox One
The commercial failure of
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate caused Ubisoft to let the franchise take a
year off. And after an abscence hardly anyone took note of, they
returned wiser and greedier in 2017 with
Assassins Creed: Origins. It turned out to be a slap in the face to those who enjoyed the tight
city settings of the two previous entries.
AC: Origins presents a
continuous vast open world to mess around in. It's one of the largest I've set
my eyes upon, spanning several scorching deserts, humid river deltas, mountain ranges and a few cities,
their streets paved with palmtrees. It's a feast for the eyes, and surrounding myself in its soundscape through
earphones made it my most immersive entry since Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The usual Assassin's Creed-parkour adds great traversal to the open world formula. Not having to run around for minutes searching for a way over or around a cliff is a relief. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild received accolades for similar mechanics, but they should've gone to AC: Origins instead. Besides, the climbing in this game is much faster, and consequently more fun.
But riding my horse through the landscape quickly revealed that there's not a lot of fun stuff to do. Every settlement
offers the same services. The denizens are of a scant few
different, repeated character models. Most undiscovered locations turn out to be enemy
encampments. Most side characters are so bland that you forget what their assignments were about and just follow the quest markers. Unless you can wring some enjoyment out of the limited systemic
content, the world isn't much more than a pretty panorama.
But if you play it the right way - and what way that is depends on the player - I suppose it can be rather fun. Your alter ego is
Bayek, a soon-to-be assassin on a quest for revenge. He's a medjay, a
protector of his homeland Siwa, employed by the pharaoh. After getting
kidnapped, along with his son, by a handful of masked men he tries to break
free, accidentally stabbing his boy to death in the process. Teaming up with his wife, Aya, he swears to
avenge his son, and pursues the masked culprits all over his homeland.
Bayek is a fine protagonist, voiced by
Abubakar Salim as a man with great emotional range. His
radiant personality suits his role of protector, as he aids and befriends the
oppressed in his quest to liberate them from their regime. The world size
is so daunting that I bounced off this game several times before finally
deciding to see it through. It starts off with an underwhelming opening
section (like a worse The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's White Orchard
area), but improves in the second act to become quite an engrossing story with
some fine, unique assassinations and story bits.
I chose to follow the main questline, but whenever my level was below the next
main quest's recommendation I tackled some side content until I caught up. The
problem is that the optional stuff is so bland and repetitive. The quickest
way to gain levels is to complete sidequests from strangers, who send you on
one of about four different sort of tasks - assassinating someone, rescuing
someone, stealing something or clearing out an area of crooks.
Bayek isn't much of an assassin, which is excusable because the order and its
creed haven't yet been established. Therefore, he only has a few, rather useless
tools to mess around with. He can throw fire bombs and sleep- and poison
darts. He can cover his escape with a smoke screen, and induce berserk by
pricking the skin of unwary guards. Switching between the throwable tools
requires menu access, which makes the assassin route rather tedious.
His eagle, Senu, is an invaluable part of Bayek's stealth attempts. The game doesn't
quite properly explain all you can do with her. She can scout out locations
from above, tagging treasures, quest objectives and enemies as well as useful stuff like
enemy alarms and caged beasts you can release to cause havoc. These stay
marked and are visible through walls as you sneak around the camp. Through a skill upgrade, you can teach Senu to swoop down and stun enemies.
As a fighter, Bayek is second
to none of his fellow assassin protagonists. AC: Origins sports full-fledged RPG mechanics with three skill trees
to invest your upgrade points in. You can improve the usefulness of melee
combat, ranged combat and tools, adding more actions as you progress. Light attacks, heavy attacks, dodgerolls and shield blocks are your standard maneuvers, and you can unlock a parry by going down the warrior skill tree. The
combat mechanics are reminiscent of Dark Souls, albeit much more
forgiving, allowing for attack cancellation to block
an enemy attack. It works surprisingly well, with a decent range of quick and slow attack animations to help against enemy defenses.
Weapon selection is more diverse than before. Melee choices range from
fast-striking dual blades to devastating
two-hand maces, and everything in between. Spears have supreme range and sickle swords inflict bleeding. Some weapons boost your adrenaline gain up to the point where you can unleash a brutal finisher. Ranged combat isn't new
for the series, but has typically not been this useful and fun. Bows of four different types
act as makeshift rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles and assault rifles, with their own ammunition.
Unfortunately, every new Assassin's Creed entry screws something up, and AC:
Origins is no different. It represents a clear push towards
microtransactions. For real-life money, you can purchase in-game currency,
crafting materials and ability points, all available through the online Ubisoft store. You can also buy maps to rare locations, like the
stone circles and tombs that you otherwise could only find by accident. It's a
pity, because these locations rise above the rest in quality.
Normally, I wouldn't mind, but this time it actually affects the game. Finding
these resources naturally by playing the game is so slow and tedious that one might feel
inclined to actually spend one's hard-earned moolah in the store. It casts a
shade on the entire experience, because I can't help but think it's intentional.
I spent whole sessions trying to catch up to the harsh level recommendations
for the next main quest. It was boring, repetitive and, yes, time-consuming -
and affected the game in a bad way. This doesn't improve over time, it only
gets worse the closer you get to the end.
All enemy encampments can be dealt with
the same way. Hunting for crafting materials isn't challenging or rewarding,
it just consumes time. Most containers only hold generic loot or a handful
of coins. To upgrade your weapons, the blacksmith charges thousands
of coins, at least for a legendary item. And why must you kill, say, ten
gazelles and eight crocodiles to improve your breastplate one tier? How big is
that armor? Most equipment can be raised ten tiers, meaning all gazelles and
crocodiles in Egypt will likely become extinct in the process of maximizing your armor stat.
Thank God the story and the main quests are there to redeem these gross missteps. After
the opening handful of lacklustre assassination marks, the plot stepped up and delivered some cruel
surprises and creative assassination quests. My favorite had Bayek waking up
in the middle of the desert after getting drugged, buried up to his neck in
the sand. It took me some time to realize his escape isn't automated. Instead I had to figure out what commands I had at my disposal.
Many unique quests and situations surprised me with inventive design, and
a couple of cool, historical side characters appeared some way into the story.
That quality was enough to pull me through those tedious
level-grinding sessions. Bayek and Aya are also well-written, charismatic main
characters. The influence of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is apparent in
the numerous times they end up in some hot yoga. In spite of being rated M for mature, the game fades out just as Aya wraps her legs around her victim.
As the series keeps evolving, you win
some and you lose some. In this case you win an engrossing open world to bask in. I felt excited exploring
the great pyramids, or discovering how small the Sphinx seems until I
found the hidden entrance to its nethers. Some great characters
and a fine main quest makes it a worthwhile story to see through. The combat
engine is fine, and the different bows are the ace in the hole. And Senu is an inventive way to scout ahead, avoid danger and find secret stuff.
But the price of a hefty timesink is serious. The sheer amount of combat
is hopeless, and the lack of enemy diversity doesn't necessitate a lot of
experimenting with different melee approaches. You end up repeating the same
moves, only broken off by well-placed ranged attacks. Like most of the
gameplay, it becomes repetitive. Even the major assassination quests feel too
easy. In most cases, you can easily find a ledge from where you can drop down
on your unwary target, and then drop a smoke bomb and flee.
For most people, a fine experience hides somewhere in this colossal package,
but it might take some time and effort to find it. I followed the
main quest and tried all the optional things I encountered at least once - a
bewildering board game among them - but felt my involvement sink the longer I
strayed from the main path. The game's biggest problem is that it cannot
justify it's enormous scope. I finished the game with many big areas
completely unexplored. Assassin's Creed: Origins is a good game buried in a
desert of nonsense.
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