Assassin's Creed Origins
Review

Assassin's Creed Origins (2017) is an adventure set in Ancient Egypt near the end of the Ptolemaic period (49–44 BC). This game in the series goes back to the start of the centuries-long conflict between the Assassins (who fight for peace by promoting liberty) and Templars (who desire peace through forced order).

Along with the action and suspense of running, jumping, climbing, fighting and assassination, the games are known for their strong narrative and characters. This not only gives you a compelling reason to play but fleshes out the sense of place and historical accuracy of the game.

You progress by completing a linear string of quests that move the story forwards. As you do you gain new skills and equipment. As with all these games you can freely roam the world. Here, this is on foot, horseback, camel-back, horse-drawn vehicles or boat to explore locations, complete optional side-quests and unlock weapons.

Rather than unlocking the map by scaling buildings and triggering Eagle Vision as in previous games, here you can scout an area by control of an eagle. You can also tame various predators which will serve as a companion for the player and assist them against enemies. Along with this, Naval combat, underwater exploration and tomb raiding return to the series. Origins adds arena combat where you fight waves of increasingly difficult combinations of enemies culminating in a boss fight.

Of note to families with younger children not old enough to play the game but keen to explore the settings, there is a Discovery Tour mode and stand-alone version on PC for Odyssey, Origins and Valhalla that provides a violence-free setting. This enables players to explore the full map without the pressure of quests and combat. It also adds enhanced cinematic scenes to focus on the smaller details being discussed during a tour. There are also quizzes to see how much history players have taken in during their exploration.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Assassin's Creed Origins 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 3 months ago.