Assassin’s Creed: Origins [game review]

Nothing is true.
And this is the truth that confirms what to relate to the series Assassin’s Creed It is possible and necessary in completely different ways, starting from crazy love for virtual walks in various historical eras All Day, All Night, and ending with mandatory comments that the doctorship of Ubisoft Once again, it was not the same that the conveyor converts the once sound idea into something, what no adequate person and does not have time to follow, and does not want, and everything is in this spirit.
As usual, the middle ground in these judgments, perhaps, would tell us all the right path of perception of the next part of the series as dOFull, and not as well as well -wishers and opponents of such an approach to the development of the series, and it is precisely this perception that we will try to do today.

Taking (or giving players?) the annual “vacation” from the Assassin stories that farther and further quite dangerously went to modern times, Ubisoft sharply turned the vector of movement, and this year in Hellenistic Egypt we are met by Media Bayek -The last of the defenders of the weak and oppressed, who tragically lost his son in an unequal meeting with the mysterious (although we know. ) Order of the ancients, And therefore, now, of course, takes revenge, takes revenge and revenge very viciously, as it should be a professional warrior in the civil service, which is now not needed by his pharaoh.

The topic of revenge again and again with a bloody phoenix rises from the ashes in the games of the series-and not to say that it was once again somehow more or less successful than in the previous ones. Bayek and his wife Aya, What helps to arrange bloody vendettes, they perfectly understand and even verbalize that their son will not return their revenge, but to refuse the pleasure of spilling someone’s blood in the name of the gods, the child and something else, they certainly will not refuse.
It turned out … usually. As a motivation to exterminate numerous goals – it will do, because everything is arranged quite beautifully and reasonably, while revealing the characters from several sides: we kill not just people, which are involved in one degree or another in the murder of an innocent maleOgo, and those who are not good guys in themselves, shamelessly throwing Egyptian sand into the eyes of all those who are usually in social status below them (read: to the ordinary population, because they are often quite public and influential people).
And if you remember what the game is called Origins, And to risk suggesting that Bayek and Ayia are the ancestors of those very hooded assassins, then everything will finally get into their places: the followers of the brotherhood formed in the game chose for themselves about the same “qualities” of people, the version of the public reprisal in Jerusalem, then in Italy, then in America, in France, then in England ..

Bayek and Ayia themselves continue to tend to expand the number of playable characters, which began in a tired and ultimately tired of all Syndicate, But this time it does it more competent: we play Bayek bOthe more time, while his wife is content only with a limited number of minutes on the screen as a controlled character – and only by the will of the developers will be given to us. Given the fact that Aiya does not have any features, the decision is seen quite literate, recalling the mentioned indirectly and in vain Jacob And Ivy, which differed so slightly in the gameplay aspects that the question arose: why are two playable assassins, when one could get by with one, and the second to leave as a faithful comrade (sister, wife, etc), but outside the control?
By the way, continuing the theme of the inappropriate, but begging comparison: the Bayek and Ayia themselves turned out to be several times deeper and more than the characters from different sides than forever joking Jacob and Ivi always serious and turned on the assassinism, although there are still some “narrowing of consciousness” in their heads: all the time we will be obsessed with the dead son and their direct Media Mediaki.the responsibilities for protecting any population from any danger, poorly interested in more global things, while aya, like Ivy, is more ideological in a wide way;Interestingly, the influence on the future brotherhood of the Assassins, they also had very different, and therefore interesting and even very unexpected.

The main arsenal of the Avenging Father and the Mother of the future runs of the fate of the world will not even surprise the player who saw only half of all Assassin Games: from standard swords and bows to famous hidden blades and smoke bombs. Of the new and amazing, except for the shield, the concept and application of which became quite interesting when it comes to not addttering on the head. The enemies of this damned hooded conveyor can say that in all games of the series we stood in the block all the time, but without a shield, and now we are standing the same way, but with a shield, so if there is no difference, then Why pay more pay attention. Well, it is not unreasonable, but it looks more convincing than the usual defense racks.

The murder animations are now very cut in quantity per unit weapons: for the sword we have their own conditionally three scenes of the enemy’s finishing off, for Hopesh-three others, for an ax-sign up for three more, a hidden blade still assumes an acquaintance with the enemy’s neck-and no matter what position, but not to say that the visual perception of the game is somehow spoiled by this. Remembering that already with Unity And Syndicate The developers began to promote us the idea that the Latent QTE-mode of enslavement of enemies left forever, finally providing in our use a more traditional option with a person’s hand-to-hand jaming in the spirit The Witcher 2/3 or Demon/Dark Souls Together with Bloodborne.
This is really a little more “brings” the player with the main character and gameplay (but not visually! The beauty of the variety and quality of animations in Ubisoft has never been a weak link) does not bother after some – very small – the amount of time, as earlier. Another thing is that the hit-box system in this project, as in the previous two, is still far from perfect: here and there there are some incomprehensible moments with the fact that you seem to hit the enemy, but in the end there are no more terrible situations when powerful and sudden (although the word “twitching” is better suited), like snow in Sakkara, and let’s say the enemy’s attacks, let’s say it.So) enter the main character into Stallock, kills a strip of lives half, and it is strictly impossible to do something with this. It’s about bosses – not about everyone, because even on high complexity (for the first time that appeared in the “big” game in the assassins!) many of them – with the proper approach in the set of the desired level and equipment) – do not pose any danger to life and the minutes spent on it, because know yourself roll and block everything that is blocked, but some of them are broken as much as possible.
Or, perhaps, they did not work initially ..

That’s what the Souls series is good? The fact that the player is punished there for his Mistakes. I missed the enemy’s swing? Get a quick journey to the nearest bonfire. I forgot that there are not three blows in the enemy attack, but four? Goodbye. I didn’t get into taims? Oh-oh, my friend, this is you in vain. In terms of the battle with the bosses, the new part of Assassin’s Creed also remembered that the boss should be beaten either painfully or unpleasant, and the player – neither like that and … Ubisoft did it. It turned out to make a number of bosses extremely unpleasant: their attacks are sharp, to react – it is almost impossible, to memorize – it is possible, but also only in terms of how many movements are in this attack, how much – in this, and so on. As a result, some of the fights do not cause anything but irritation: here the boss introduced Bayek into a long Stalker because it is not possible to dodge his blow, here – instead of two attacks, he spent the third, because he suddenly entered his second stage (hello to Souls’am again!), and here is just a huge elephant instead of the boss that runs at you, and how to dodge this car-well, try to figure it out and try to realize, given that the clarity of driving/rolling, such as the one that was in the projects From Software, Not so much was brought to Egypt. The scarce product turned out to be.
Therefore, some questions about the implementation of their no longer quite new, but still quite unusual after so many games of the QTE, are still available.

In ordinary fights with less thick and unpleasant enemies, the situation is better. All that is needed: to make sure that the weapon does not become obsolete, and do not forget about a certain pumping of close -up skills, so that it is quite easy. Since our game is now suddenly Action-RPG (Although, remembering all the same long-suffering Unity and Syndicate, for a long time not “now”), you have to follow both that and this, but, of course, all this is so easy and superficial that you will not have to strain in any way. Weapons are distributed very stable, experience glasses – for each sneezer and sigh (and distribute a stable amount, and not according to the strange system of The Witcher 3, when to go to low -level quests made sense, and not for experience), so Assassin’s Creed for any complexity of BOthe more time still remains quite simple and friendly to your player game.

In addition, issues can always be resolved https://1redcasino.uk/ in a quiet way, the benefit of Bayek knows how to sit down on a squat, wait for the night (a useful innovation, by the way, given some simultaneous likeness of life in the NPC) and introduce the neck of the enemy with his blade hidden on the left hand.
Stealth has become quite a little deeper, but for some reason much more interesting. Partly more interesting because now, instead of that (presented as a unique) shame, which was called “Eliminate the goal as you want, and here are three options for you“In the main missions of Unity and Syndicate, in Origins, a player at Defolt can go to the right opponent from anywhere, using any of the ways. You can wait for the night and that the goal is gone to sleep (!), drag the Egyptian variation of the red barrels (they are really red here even, yes) with butter to the right enemy, climb much higher, light the arrow and shoot in oil, after which in the beautiful jump of faith to hide before someone understood something. Cool? Cool!

Or we have especially legendary (RPG, well, what are you!) on the default arrow. I don’t know how, do not ask, he just has it! And in the camp, well, there are a lot of red pots with butter. There is a lot of indecent. They are infringed on you, you do not like them, and you need to destroy them all! Said – made, and in the end we have the whole camp in fire! Everything is burning, everything is beautiful, even though you become a pyromaniac after this, but the enemies are just nervous and running back and forth. What do you think, a great chance to use the turmoil, to catch our target? Yes, excellent.

You can differently. Day, everyone patrolls their closed area. The main warfare decides that he should leave him and celebrate, sorry, a small need. He goes around the corner in the bushes, and then some future assassin is falling from a tree to his head/The current Medja. All. Nobody saw anything again. And even the body does not have to hide.

I don’t want to touch the damned enemies with sacred hidden blades? Yes, please. Poisoned darts, as in the old-well, will not give a chance to a chance, and you-not a single suspicious look. However, you can always do the work of someone else’s hands. Find some powerful comrade, one injection with a needle-and the anger of the berserker who is seething in the blood of our comrade (although he does not know about it, so we are better off to retire faster), will fall on everyone around-and on the right potential dead man, too, possibly, possibly.
Too boring? Maybe. Then you can always find a hippo/crocodile/lion/hyena, put them up, caress, tell all the charms of our philosophical life position … and send to the camp to create delicious good for our own stomach.
If our new comrades cannot cope, you can always let the arrow into the frontal lobe of the brain with your own hand. Rude, but effective. But what to do if the target runs around the camp for some fit reasons and yells bad words, and it is difficult to aim (especially in some kind of sandstorm-without a chance)? There is always the help of our other friend, this time more permanent: Senu, Orlitsa, which personifies our eternal, but now in the literal sense, orline vision can digge on the head of the enemy and peck his crown. The evil uncle will begin to dismiss this heavenly monster, and then our shot ..

And you know what?
All this can be combined by arranging the most suitable way of our generally quiet, but not always harmless to the surrounding space of passage.
Or just kill everyone to a damn crocodile.
And you also know what? This can be done both in the main missions and in secondary ones, and in general outside the missions, traveling through a really monstrously huge Egypt and find those whom you want to urgently send to the forefathers.
The game will not punish.
The game does not say anymore at all that this goal must be eliminated like this, and also to revenge three chests, so that later, at the end of the task, they wrote to you that the mission has been 100% passed.
Finally, game cancer of the conventions of forced behavior in a series of pro, a second, free and freedom-loving killers came to an end.
Altair And Ezio They exhale in relief, hugging their new comrade Bayek in warm feelings of similarity to them.

By the way, mentioning above The Witcher and the Souls series are not so unfounded. From Souls, here the fighting series, tied to the weak (even on the gamepad on the RB, was tied!) and strong blows, dodgers (instead of Stamina-three dumps in a row, and then a forced pause), but, of course, of course, of course, to the depths of the Japanese fighting of the Japanese games is still very, very far away, because it is not enough to repeat something similar-it is important to delve into the essence. The combat system of Souls and these Bloodbornes of these (alas or cheers, but only one) is not just a player’s blows;This is the behavior of opponents, and the situation around, and the number of enemies, and a bunch, a bunch, a bunch of billions of factors, which, of course, will not be very soon in Assassin’s Creed, if this happens at all (most likely not).
As for observing CD Projekt, Ubisoft clearly studied the world of the “witcher” in the third interpretation, and now very often on locations where we are waiting for some chest with a delicious loot inside, lies a note telling some story;And in order to get to the chest, you need to ride to the nearest sign of the question, on the way, having destroyed the bandit camp … Oh, it seems that we really saw it.

But! Oddly enough, this approach is not so bad at Assassin’s Creed. Instead of a billion of chests with money in previous games of the series, which we collected before just like that (for the economic system often outlined ourselves much earlier than the chests ended), now you can hunt for history and loot, for example, which is more meaningful. Stories-both perishential and in full-fledged secondary quests, do not shine with something like that from which you can write out the Pulitzer prize for literary delights right on the house of the scriptwriters, but they are all quite cute and fulfill the main goal: at least somehow motivate the player to kill the next virtual blank. Typically, all the quests end with this, however, which is quite regrettable, because the diversity still interfered with. For example, one of the few really funny quests: to make faith in the eyes of amazed children. It sounds funny! And he is playing cheerfully because the trick that we have been performing for ten years suddenly surrounds interesting background: instead of making it as necessary, we make it some fun for the sake. Great, great, great! But the quest still ends at the enemy base.
And in enemy bases and all these murders there is nothing wrong with.
No, of course, they are needed in the game about the killers, and the more we have the capabilities and motivations to kill someone, the better. But the discharge, it is needed even in such su-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-u-u-u-u-u-Uride games, where the most severe slave set of measures of the powerful world either enslaves or kills-the third is not given.
Do not be afraid. Not to be afraid to experiment not only with eras, but also with filling and its meaning, especially since previous games of the series sometimes quite successfully allowed themselves.

The giant Egypt is truly magnificent by its beauties and diverse (although it would seem) landscapes. Lifeless deserts, sunny cities, gloomy towns, deserts, swamps, a Nile and Mediterranean Sea, dark tombs and majestic pyramids, from which you can legally slide directly into the burning sand, green, directly Greek views and cool towers from trees on the hills overlooking the eyes and meadows-to catch the eye, and there is even so constantly that you can even constantly that it is possibleTires the emitting constant pleasure aesthetic taste from such wealthy and juicy paintings. The developer team once again did impeccable work – and this is perhaps the main joy of those for whom Assassin’s Creed was about getting used to the era, wandering around the famous – and not very – places in the time that it is no longer possible to return.

However, there is a problem. Return to the origins, so to speak, or rather to the first part of the series, where the situation was the same, but there was nothing to compare with, and therefore did not consider.
Database. More precisely, its absence.
At all.
That is, we wander around Egypt, which is rich in details, places, people and events, we see the building, the game tells us what it is called, but what is it, where is it, why is it and where it went – there is no. We participate in any event and guided only by those scraps of the information that we are given inside the game through the characters or some passages of the text, but not by pressing the button in the form of a compiled and embellished fraction of humor reference. All these are your pharaohs, Caesari, Cleopatra, Alexandrian beacons and tombs with pyramids – we are not necessary to know more about this, and in the end, informational involvement in the era is very critically suffering. If earlier we could read the pro, for example, Boston tea drinking after the events in the game, to understand what it meant for history, but now it is not, and it is very, very painful and unpleasant, because this building eventually deserved a place in the game, and this event remains in the annals of history.
Therefore, if at school the story was not the most beloved subject, read about Cleopatra, Caesar, Pompey and other glorious guys will still have to be in textbooks, and not in the game.

Of course, the announced Discovery Tour mode (read: virtual excursions on virtual Egypt), which will be published in the winter of next year, will correct the situation and more than that: it will bring something well-known (database) to the series, but in a completely new light, but information, information now I want to now!
Do not read conditional Wikipedia after each event or a person met in the game!
Although I had to.
Knowledge in Egypt was obtained with difficulty – here the historical parallel was carried out subtly and competently.

Despite the fact that Origins are a very important temporary reversal in the series (already in the birth of Christ, it flew away), some of its rethinking in terms of the fact that there is supposedly more RPG elements (the conditional, hidden hidden blade of the hero of the 35th level will never kill an enemy of the 40th level), the game still remains recognizable Assassin’sCreed, and … and it’s great.
Origins are felt a little differently, but still recognizable, preserving the features for which those who love the series are ready to spend a ton of their time in Egypt.
And Egypt deserved it, as well as Assassin’s Creed deserved very good reviews.

Sell ​​purely and deeply personal opinion.Original Assassin’s Creed, who was about the Altair of our Ibn La-ahada, was an unforgivable rehearsal game, which is why, hardly 10 years, he gained the glory of the legendary project for a wide range of gamers, but it was the first part that showed what and could be the series: an excursion into the density of ancient states with the possibility of improving the history of humanity through a colorful publicmurders of high -ranking persons.
AC has always been an excursion. He was a good game in the second part, about the young Ezio, because they stepped two kilometers forward in the game plan compared to the original, and in Brotherhouse, reimbursing the most acutely all mechanics so that they work impeccably and debauchery, while letting us feel brightly not a member, but the head of the brotherhood of the assassins.
Further game Assassin’s Creed often limped here and here, but she never stumbled as an excursion in eras.
And then a meaningless discussion on the topic of the one who is more interesting to roam in what time period. By antiquity or at a close to the modern day, or somewhere there or there, or somehow else. Opinions are a thousand, all of them have the right to exist, they are all correct and true.

But information about the conditional XV, XVI, XVII and so on is much more centuries than about no less conditional Hellenistic Egypt. More about the last centuries. In principle, the atmosphere of the last centuries in conversations, references or even direct heritage is more than ancient notes.
And to me, a player who now in games eats either the distant future or the first/second world, or modernity in one or another distortion, or in general some incomprehensible fantasy, of course, it is more pleasant to see any games in far past centuries, for I have not been there so often through the prism of the monitor screen. I know less. And they are tired of them too less.
If they also talk about these centuries, as Assassin’s Creed almost always did, then I am also terribly grateful for such a careful attitude to my education, which is competently integrated with entertainment. This is not such and, to put it mildly, a frequent case, we will be honest.

Therefore, the fact that Ubisoft, in principle, unfolded from the present, is the most important plus of the new part of Assassin’s Creed, and this is my main hope for future games (and they will, believe me, and the developers themselves know about it and even partially hint in the game itself; and we ourselves guessed without their intra -game hints).
As a game Origins – good and interesting. It is really nice in it play. And it’s even more pleasant that it is pleasant to play in it in the pleasant, even very, even too, bloody and cruel ancient Egypt – this is a tribute to the time when people through each sentence mentioned the name of the next god, and killed in honor of Him, and sometimes without a reason, and due to the fact that man is gesture.
How piquly it is to play at times that we know little about. Less than about England of the XIX century.

Based on this, I really hope that the series will continue to move not forward in time, but at least to the side. Or even back.
What is good for ENT AC – you can easily penetrate any country at any time, and show it depending on the existing talent, which Ubisoft has definitely not yet bewildered.

Therefore, I repeat: do not be afraid.
Ubisoft likes to be afraid, alas, when it comes to success and things dependent on it in those aspects where you could not risk and earn money.
Not be afraid this time of the antiquity that we know not so much about.
And then the series may return the face of something really original than it was originally, and will not light the reputation of the “conveyor” with renewed vigor.