Assassin's Creed Origins

I’ve played and completed every mainline Assassin’s Creed game, and though some have undoubtedly been weaker than others, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them all.

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Assassin's Creed Origins is a single-player historical open-world game set in ancient Egypt, boasting stellar story, mechanics, graphics, and soundtrack. The Gold Edition includes two major expansions, the Deluxe Pack, and the Season Pass. Explore a country full of mystery, pyramids, and dangers, while uncovering the origins of the Assassin's Brotherhood. However, be prepared for grinding, bugs, and some ads, while enjoying the stunning atmosphere and emotional narrative.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

84%

Audience ScoreBased on 59,111 reviews

story9,744 positive mentions

optimization956 negative mentions

story
28,929 mentions
34 % positive mentions
58 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The story of "Assassin's Creed Origins" is generally well-received, with many players praising its engaging narrative centered around Bayek's quest for revenge following the death of his son, which intertwines with historical events and figures like Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. However, the pacing can feel uneven, particularly towards the end, and the reliance on repetitive side quests for leveling up often detracts from the main storyline, leading to a sense of grind that some players found frustrating. Overall, while the main story is compelling and emotionally charged, the execution suffers from typical open-world game issues, such as excessive filler content and a lack of character depth in side quests.
- “The story is captivating and the setting of ancient Egypt is incredibly detailed and immersive.”
- “The story follows Bayek, a Medjay warrior, on his quest for vengeance against those who wronged his family.”
- “The main story is a poignant and personal tale of revenge, redemption, and the birth of the Assassin Brotherhood.”
- “The story feels like it just exists.”
- “The game effectively cuts the momentum of the main story by forcing you to do repetitive and uninteresting side quests to keep up with the level requirement lest you get one-shotted by an enemy or deal with sponges.”
- “The main story is a bit lackluster, and the side quests are often repetitive and uninspired, making the overall experience feel tedious.”
gameplay
9,148 mentions
38 % positive mentions
56 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The gameplay in "Assassin's Creed Origins" has been significantly revamped, introducing RPG elements such as a leveling system, skill trees, and a diverse array of weapons, which many players find refreshing and engaging. However, some fans of the series express disappointment over the simplification of stealth mechanics and the shift away from traditional assassination gameplay, leading to a more combat-focused experience that can feel repetitive over time. Overall, while the game offers a beautiful open world and captivating story, opinions on the gameplay mechanics are mixed, with some praising the new direction and others longing for the classic elements of earlier titles.
- “The fighting mechanics are a blast, and the scenery is beautiful.”
- “After 146 hours of gameplay, I can say the following: Assassin's Creed Origins is captivating, offering a range of intriguing quests and breathtaking graphics.”
- “The gameplay has been refined and expanded upon, with a more engaging combat system and a wide variety of weapons and abilities to master.”
- “The boss fights weren’t particularly interesting and some even proved to be boring, unlike in the main game, but the visuals and the extra nearly 20 hours of gameplay made it worth it.”
- “As much as the game is beautiful, the world itself is quite vapid and lacks gameplay depth.”
- “I feel the combat and stealth mechanics are also quite simple, because of levelling in this game you either kill someone through stealth or fighting, or you die because the enemy is a higher level.”
graphics
7,449 mentions
62 % positive mentions
36 % neutral mentions
2 % negative mentions
The graphics in "Assassin's Creed Origins" have received widespread acclaim for their stunning visuals and attention to detail, effectively bringing the ancient Egyptian setting to life. Players have praised the game's ability to create breathtaking landscapes, intricate architectural designs, and vibrant environments, making exploration a visually rewarding experience. However, some users have noted performance issues and optimization challenges, particularly on lower-end systems, which can detract from the overall experience despite the high graphical fidelity.
- “The graphics are stunning and the parkour is very smooth.”
- “The game looks stunning, with breathtaking visuals that bring the open world to life.”
- “The graphics are beautiful, and the sense of proportion and scale of the Egyptian buildings and pyramids are spot on.”
- “Performance also is lacking, even though the graphics look dated.”
- “But even after turning graphics down to very low, game still crashes.”
- “I played this game for 15 hours and also I have a good network connection and high end PC but this game freezes many times; it freezes every 4 to 5 seconds and it's very annoying and makes it much irritating while playing.”
optimization
3,196 mentions
20 % positive mentions
51 % neutral mentions
30 % negative mentions
The optimization of "Assassin's Creed Origins" has received mixed reviews from players. While some users report smooth performance and good graphics on high-end systems, many others experience significant stuttering, frame drops, and high CPU usage, particularly in crowded areas like cities. The game's performance issues are often attributed to its heavy reliance on DRM, which exacerbates the optimization problems, leading to a generally poor experience for those with mid-range or older hardware.
- “This game somehow runs like butter and looks beautiful, the combat is fluid and fun, the stealth mechanics are really great and let you pick and choose each encounter how you want.”
- “Graphics fidelity is top-notch, and it’s very well optimized.”
- “In terms of performance and optimization, the game runs smoothly on a wide range of hardware, and the visuals are nothing short of breathtaking.”
- “The game is completely unplayable, constantly freezing for 10 seconds at a time and crashing and I'm playing on a 2070 super, i7 9700k and 32gb of ram and it runs this bad even on low settings, the performance is a joke for a nearly 4 year old game.”
- “This game is poorly optimized, barely getting 60fps on low settings on a $2000 custom built PC with a GPU that gets a 10,003 graphics score on 3DMark TimeSpy.”
- “The performance issues have been resolved in newer updates, but the optimization was just atrocious, so I'm refunding it.”
grinding
1,699 mentions
1 % positive mentions
12 % neutral mentions
87 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of "Assassin's Creed Origins" has received mixed feedback from players. Many find the extensive grinding necessary for leveling up and completing side quests to be tedious and repetitive, often detracting from the overall enjoyment of the game. While some players appreciate the depth and content provided by the grinding, others feel it forces them to engage in monotonous tasks that hinder the narrative experience, leading to a sentiment that significant grinding is required to progress through the main story.
- “Compelling story, beautifully built open world, and overall not very grindy.”
- “You can probably finish the main story in 25-30 hours, not too grindy; if you are underleveled, just do some secondary missions.”
- “The game itself is a really solid RPG; the side quests aren't grindy at all, and most of them you either want to do for the sake of the NPC or because they have a good storyline.”
- “The excessive grinding and the large number of secondary quests may bother you and make you not want to complete all the game's content.”
- “A beautiful and overall well-crafted game, brought down by a tedious and restricting leveling system which prevents the player from progressing through the main story as well as side missions.”
- “This necessity to engage in repetitive and boring grinding missions to gain experience becomes a major drag, especially when main story missions are locked behind level requirements.”
music
1,188 mentions
45 % positive mentions
51 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
The music in "Assassin's Creed Origins" has received mixed reviews, with many praising the atmospheric and immersive qualities of the soundtrack, composed by Sarah Schachner, which effectively captures the essence of ancient Egypt. However, some players noted that the music is infrequently heard during gameplay, leading to a sense of repetition and a lack of variety in different environments. Overall, while the soundtrack is often described as beautiful and fitting, it may not reach the memorable heights of previous entries in the series.
- “The soundtrack, composed by Sarah Schachner, complements the visual splendor with an evocative score that enhances the mood and atmosphere of the game, from the epic battles to the tranquil moments of exploration.”
- “The soundtrack is impressive and the historical setting is amazing.”
- “The music, the graphics, the scenery and at last the story.”
- “The soundtrack repeats quickly.”
- “Music: almost no ambient music, the soundtrack is boring; it only has 1 good song and it's Ezio's family.”
- “The soundtrack is weak compared to the Ezio trilogy.”
stability
1,160 mentions
9 % positive mentions
1 % neutral mentions
90 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting frequent crashes, freezes, and various glitches that can significantly disrupt gameplay. While some users have experienced smooth performance on high-end systems, others have struggled with persistent issues, particularly on mid-range hardware. Overall, the game is described as "buggy" and "unoptimized," leading to frustration for many players despite its engaging content and visuals.
- “The game runs great (seriously, all maxed and never under 70fps, usually above 100, 1080gtx w/[email protected], 27" gsync 1080p), the environments look stunning, and there are tons of fun things to do and explore.”
- “Beautiful, vast, bug free, good story, interesting locations/characters, and well blended DLC.”
- “At the time of writing this review, the game is also virtually bug free for an Ubisoft title which only makes the experience that much better.”
- “Can't get past the launcher freezes to even play it.”
- “Most people play then delete the game right after to stop it from further crashing their computer.... and by crash I mean it freezes your computer and forces you to hard shutdown.”
- “Game freezes 1-10 minutes after starting to play.”
monetization
711 mentions
6 % positive mentions
77 % neutral mentions
17 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy in the game has drawn significant criticism, with many players expressing frustration over the presence of microtransactions in a full-priced single-player title. While some reviews note that these microtransactions are not intrusive and can be ignored, others argue that they disrupt gameplay and create a grindy experience designed to encourage additional spending. Overall, the sentiment is largely negative, with calls for a reevaluation of such practices in premium games.
- “While there are microtransactions, there is a way in the game to acquire shop items randomly, and it has been very generous in my experience.”
- “Although I have issues with the game having microtransactions as part of its structure, I'm still giving it a positive review because I was able to fully play and engage with all of the content I wanted to within the game without ever having to pay additional money.”
- “Yes, there are microtransactions in the game, but luckily you don’t need to purchase anything at all, as you can play normally without them.”
- “The game does not get any support, has very predatory monetization practices for a single player game, and I really discourage purchasing Ubisoft games because they shut down servers for their games all the time, ignoring anyone who had purchased the game.”
- “The whole game is built around a grind so they can charge you microtransactions for timesavers, which is ridiculous.”
- “Microtransactions in a full price singleplayer game?”
atmosphere
681 mentions
63 % positive mentions
35 % neutral mentions
2 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in "Assassin's Creed Origins" is widely praised for its stunning visual fidelity and immersive design, effectively capturing the essence of ancient Egypt. Players appreciate the rich environmental details, evocative soundtrack, and the vibrant life within the game world, which collectively create a captivating experience that encourages exploration and engagement with the historical setting. Despite some criticisms regarding gameplay mechanics, the overall ambiance and cultural authenticity resonate strongly with fans, making it a standout aspect of the game.
- “The soundtrack, composed by Sarah Schachner, complements the visual splendor with an evocative score that enhances the mood and atmosphere of the game, from the epic battles to the tranquil moments of exploration.”
- “Assassin's Creed Origins sets a new standard for visual fidelity and atmospheric design, showcasing the beauty and majesty of ancient Egypt in stunning detail.”
- “The atmosphere in this game is unmatched and only touched by the Paris setting in Unity.”
- “0 atmosphere and lack of music does not help.”
- “The atmosphere in the game is apparently poor as you do not feel the vibes of ancient Egypt as those are not presented properly.”
- “Having to restart the game a bunch of times just ruins the atmosphere and story of the game.”
emotional
422 mentions
86 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
13 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of "Assassin's Creed: Origins" is highlighted by the deeply engaging story of Bayek, whose journey of revenge and personal loss resonates with players, often evoking strong feelings. Many reviews praise the character development and emotional depth, particularly in the relationships between Bayek and other characters, including his wife Aya. However, some players feel that while the emotional moments are impactful, the overall plot can be disjointed or lack sufficient depth, leading to mixed feelings about the game's narrative engagement.
- “The story is emotionally charged and well-crafted, with Bayek’s character being one of the most relatable and deeply developed protagonists in the series.”
- “Bayek's journey is both emotionally charged and politically significant, making players deeply invested in his quest for revenge.”
- “The story is a heartbreaking tale about love, revenge, and a father's quest to avenge his son.”
- “The problem is that we follow this amazing character through a painfully average and boring story, along boring and straight-up bad side quests and side content. He interacts with barely developed characters and isn't allowed to reach his full potential at all.”
- “Totaly lost all interest in the game because of the dull and boring story.”
- “Soo the main complaint about this product is its shallow, boring story.”
humor
332 mentions
99 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
1 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with many players finding it both charming and unintentionally funny due to glitches and awkward voice acting. The protagonist, Bayek, is noted for his subtle humor and relatable dad-like qualities, while side quests often feature amusing scenarios and dialogue. Overall, the game successfully incorporates humor through its quirky moments, character interactions, and the occasional absurdity of gameplay mechanics.
- “The dude is a complete dad and his interactions with others can come off as interesting, funny, and quite heartwarming in some instances.”
- “I think I missed the deep symbolism of the scene because I was laughing out loud at how stupid that scene seemed to me.”
- “While Bayek is normally expected to be a character who always frowns and sprints along the path of revenge due to his own story, he was created as a character who can find pleasure in the small details of life and has a sense of humor.”
- “The humor in the game feels insignificant and often relies on glitches that aren't funny.”
- “The jokes fall flat and the attempts at humor seem more like glitches than intentional comedy.”
- “Overall, the humor is lacking and often comes off as unintentional glitches rather than clever writing.”
character development
210 mentions
40 % positive mentions
44 % neutral mentions
16 % negative mentions
Character development in "Assassin's Creed Origins" receives mixed reviews, with many praising the depth of the protagonist Bayek, who is seen as relatable and well-developed. However, some characters, particularly Aya, are criticized for lacking depth and becoming one-dimensional as the story progresses. Overall, while the game offers engaging character arcs and historical authenticity, it also suffers from pacing issues and underexplored character motivations, leading to a somewhat inconsistent experience.
- “Bayek is an incredible protagonist with deep character development, and in my opinion, Origins has the best story of all the Assassin's Creed games I've played so far.”
- “As we navigate Bayek through the remnants of pre-Assassin Brotherhood days, the blend of historical authenticity and carefully crafted character development becomes a hallmark of the game.”
- “The story, the character development, the vibe of Egypt, the soundtrack all are just amazing.”
- “Initially introduced as a strong and capable ally to the protagonist, Aya's character development takes a nosedive halfway through the story, being suddenly transformed into a one-dimensional plot device.”
- “The story, although engaging, occasionally loses its momentum, and some character development feels underexplored.”
- “No character development, no emotional triggers, no ambition or drive, no twists... nothing.”
replayability
178 mentions
28 % positive mentions
64 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with some players finding it infinitely replayable due to its abundance of content and exploration opportunities, while others criticize it for lacking meaningful replay value, particularly after completing the main quest. Many reviews highlight that the experience can vary significantly based on individual preferences, with some enjoying the ability to replay with different character builds, while others feel the repetitive combat and limited mission variety diminish long-term engagement. Overall, the game offers a range of replayability experiences, from highly engaging to notably low.
- “Assassin's Creed Origins boasts an abundance of content and replayability.”
- “A very good game that gives me the perfect amount of dopamine at every second and has a replay value of 100%.”
- “And there is enough replayable content in this game to relax to and play for years, if not forever, if you learn how to enjoy yourself.”
- “But the lack of a manual save is a big problem, and I doubt the game will have the same replay value that Odyssey does when I have finally finished the main quest.”
- “Overall the combat is pretty repetitive and I don't see replayability value unless you're hunting for achievements.”
- “Not much variety in missions or locations, and very little in the way of replay value.”