Assassin's Creed: Origins | 27 October

[Pawn]

Assassin's Creed: Empire Origins (X1/PS4/PC | 27 October)

 

E3 Vanity Trailer

 

E3 Gameplay Trailer

 

Post-Conference Gameplay (2:10:37 if link doesn't take you to that time)

 

Formally known under the more attractively named Empire, Origins takes the series back in time to when the brotherhood first formed. Now it's easy to groan at another AC, but there are reasons (other than an extra year of development) I'm interested in this one:

- Revamped mechanics

- Ancient Egypt

- Return of naval gameplay

That first one is the most important to me and if they fail to deliver, then I will likely pass on this one. However, someone has their hands on the latest Game Informer and had the following information to share. I decided to separate it into categories so people can look for what they're most interested in and highlighted anything I considered of particular note.

 

COMBAT

- Brand new, more hitbox-driven fighting system and AI. Opponents do not take turns to attack and counters are gone

- As you fight, an adrenaline gauge fills up, and when both attack buttons are pressed powerful attacks are unleashed

- You can no longer one hit enemies that are more powerful than you with your hidden blade

- Fisticuffs return, as well as bows and of course melee weapons

- You can use your shield to defend against arrows. Any that stick are added to your inventory

- As in the Soulsborne series, attack buttons are the right shoulder and trigger. Left shoulder button is lock on

- There are gladiator battles in arenas

 

TRAVERSAL

- Minimap replaced with an Elder Scrolls compass

- No more sprinting button, speed depends on analog stick. Crouching is back

- Buttons for free-running up and down are removed. I'm not sure exactly what they mean here. Ascending and descending walls requires more input I guess?

- Horses return, but you can also ride a CAMEL! Many animals can be tamed (for what purpose, I do not know)

- Eagle vision is a subtle pulse that highlights objects not enemies and is somehow performed through an eagle?

- 20 tombs available to explore with more challenging puzzles than before

- All terrain is for climbing

- You can swim and there are treasures to find underwater (sunken ships, long-forgotten ruins)

 

WORLD

- Bayek isn't anything like Jacob, Ezio or Connor. He's a grown man

- Bayek starts as a Medjay (similar position to sheriff) is not the only playable character in the game, but they're tight-lipped about the other for now. Perhaps the rumoured female character?

- Takes place in the Ptolemaic era during the ascent and reign of Cleopatra. No details on the story yet

- Large and small cities with many landmarks including Memphis and Alexandria

- NPCs live out their daily lives; complete with a day/night cycle that includes eating, sleeping, working and doing a poo and a wee (well, it's not specific about the bathroom details but we can use our imagination). Animals interact with each other

 

RPG ELEMENTS

- Leveling system with a level cap of 40

- Much more in depth ability tree with 3 paths: Seer, Warrior and Hunter

- You can dress how you like without worrying about stats. New gear system is in place where players can improve specific parts by crafting materials

 

[Blue Blood]

I'm so massively turned off by the prospect of that insipid naval combat returning that you wouldn't even believe. I'm going to struggle to comment on the rest until we actually see what the gameplay and presentation really look like, but naval combat should never have been introduced to the series in the first place. It categorically does not belong and I'll never understand why it was ever popular. 

[Patticus]

Naval combat is completely out of place in the series, but it was so much fun. It made the traditional Assassining seem even more dated, actually - what was once fun was now shown up to be old hat and worn out.

I firmly believe that, just as AC was born from a Prince of Persia game, the naval combat should have birthed a brand new series set on the high seas during the golden age of piracy. It has been called the best Pirates of the Caribbean game never made.

[Pawn]

I don't disagree that it would be better served as its own IP, but it doesn't sound as though naval combat is a big feature of this one. As much as I enjoy it, two games have already heavily featured the gameplay to begin with and even that felt like pushing it.

With no spin-off franchise to be seen or even hinted at though, I'd enjoy a cheeky little voyage in AC again.

[Blue Blood]

29 minutes ago, Patticus said:

Naval combat is completely out of place in the series, but it was so much fun. It made the traditional Assassining seem even more dated, actually - what was once fun was now shown up to be old hat and worn out.

I firmly believe that, just as AC was born from a Prince of Persia game, the naval combat should have birthed a brand new series set on the high seas during the golden age of piracy. It has been called the best Pirates of the Caribbean game never made.

I honestly do not think it was fun. At all. The traditional assassination gameplay needed to be developed and improved, rather than get regularly sidelined to totally contrasting gameplay or watered down through overpowered gimmicks. 

[Patticus]

See, that's where we differ - while they became somewhat formulaic, I still thoroughly enjoyed the sea battles of AC4, and getting to captain your own ship in a much less limited way than in AC3 felt great. Heading to whatever destination while listening to the many sea shanties was just fantastic. I just wish that they had allowed us a larger map in which to play.

Havana and Kingston were great playgrounds, but were too limited on their own, and were seldom used in a way that I could say was as good as in previous games. Watered down indeed.

The assassination gameplay needs a total rethink, in my view. Maybe introduce VR into the equation? I mean, what is the Animus if not a VR experience anyway? Or give the series a total reboot.

 

On-topic now - Hoping this game is much better than the last few outings. Disappointed in the Ptolemaic setting, as I was hoping to see some Egyptian-Hittite battles, or getting to travel to pre-Persian Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece etc. Still, at least the sequels to this will probably bring us to Carthage, Rome and Athens, even if I'd prefer to see the former and latter in their pre-Roman glory.

Actually quite surprised that the Punic Wars weren't the setting for an AC game, given that Carthage could easily have been painted as an Assassin state.

[ZERO_ninja]

Seeing the actual trailer for this I've realised that even with the game looking improved in areas and with a years break I am just so fatigued on AssCreed and the trailer just left me completely cold. It doesn't help that the franchise really hasn't been hitting highs of late, but I think it's formula would have grown stale for me here even if it had.

I might pick up Origins cheap pre-owned, but unless the franchise reinvents itself I think I'll be done with AssCreed.

[Pawn]

I've edited the OP to include today's trailer and post-conference gameplay segment.

[Pawn]

Thanks to NeoGaf for collating these gameplay videos:

Open World Gameplay

Gladiator Fight

Sailing, swimming and questing

As it says. General stuff

What's changed?

For more, here's the GAF thread

 

Aaaaaaand some articles:

Kotaku ("Nine Cool Things...", complete with gifs and video to help illustrate points)

VentureBeat

Mashable

Press Start

 

Can I just say how glad I am that they elected to go the AC2 route over the Unity one regarding accents and language? Background NPCs speaking in their native language (or close enough to feel authentic), the odd word not spoken in English during cutscene dialogue; it all contributes a more immersive world.

[Pawn]

Aaaaand we're back with a lovely gif, as well as the following videos:

New Trailer (complete with the silky smooth voice of Abubakar Salim)

An example of HUDless gameplay:

There's also a lot of talk about how the game is inspired greatly by the Witcher. This article talks a bit about the RPG elements.