Oct 24, 2026 · 26 min · 8 segments
As a longtime fan of the "Assassin's Creed" series, and in preparation for my upcoming trip to Egypt, I sat down and played through "Assassin's Creed Origins" (2017). Set during the reign of Cleopatra…
For those of you less familiar with Assassin's Creed, let me go over the broad ideas of the series.
The general premise focuses on the eponymous Assassins, a clandestine group of freedom fighters who are engaged in an ideological shadow war with the Templars, another secret society who seeks to control humanity in the guise of a benevolent dictatorship using the so-called Pieces of Eden, technological relics of an extinct precursor civilization known as the Isu.
Through the aid of the Isu-influenced machine known as the Animus, characters can dive into the genetic memories of their ancestors, often placing them in key moments of history across the centuries-long conflict between both groups.
The player typically follows the adventures of these figures, uncovering grand conspiracies and taking part in missions centered around the assassination of high-profile targets through a blend of stealth, action set pieces, and its famous parkour traversal system.
The open world settings of these games are quite varied, including the Holy Land during the Third Crusade, the Italian Renaissance, Ottoman Constantinople, Colonial North America and the Caribbean, Revolutionary France, and Victorian England.
By 2015 though, a sense of fatigue regarding the yearly release schedule set in among many players.
Stale gameplay mechanics, an increasingly convoluted storyline, and finally a troubled transition onto the eighth generation of console hardware forced publisher Ubisoft to take a step back and re-evaluate their business model.
Developed by the Ubisoft Montreal team along with Ubisoft Sofia and Ubisoft Singapore, it was intended to be a soft reboot of the series, particularly regarding its gameplay, which de-emphasized the focus on stealth, instead turning it into an action-adventure RPG system, with combat reminiscent of contemporary games like The Witcher 3.
While the setting had gradually progressed up to 19th century London, Origins turned the clock back nearly two millennia and set it in antiquity, specifically Ptolemaic Egypt, during the reign of Cleopatra VII.
This would make it the second earliest entry in the entire series, since it would be followed by Assassin's Creed Odyssey which takes place in Greece during the Peloponnesian War.
The narrative of Origins focuses on the life of Bayek Asiwa, the last of the Medjai who once protected the Pharaoh and acted as peacekeepers throughout Egypt, along with his Greco-Egyptian wife, Aya of Alexandria.
Most of the game takes place during the civil war between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII between 48 and 47 BC, the former supported by the Order, while the latter is allied with Bayek and Aya, who in their quest for justice lay the foundations of the Hidden Ones, the earliest incarnation of the Assassin Order that would be present throughout the rest of the universe's setting.
This leads them to cross paths with figures like Pompey, Julius Caesar, and others, sometimes working with them and sometimes against them.
The stories of the Assassin's Creed games usually follow the broad strokes of actual history, featuring the appropriate famous names and faces, but tend to diverge heavily with regards to the finer detail namely through the involvement of the assassin and templar orders along with the pieces of eden which enabled the likes of moses joan of arc and alexander the great to perform their more miraculous accomplishments Unlike previous entries, the present-day setting and its sci-fi elements are heavily de-emphasized, although it continues to play a nominal part in select areas.
Fans are divided on this aspect, as some found the modern plotline to be a key part of the series identity, while others found it intrusive and boring, preventing them from committing to the meat-and-potatoes gameplay of running around in the Animus as a historical simulator.
For those of you less familiar with Assassin's Creed, let me go over the broad ideas of the series.
The general premise focuses on the eponymous Assassins, a clandestine group of freedom fighters who are engaged in an ideological shadow war with the Templars, another secret society who seeks to control humanity in the guise of a benevolent dictatorship using the so-called Pieces of Eden, technological relics of an extinct precursor civilization known as the Isu.
Through the aid of the Isu-influenced machine known as the Animus, characters can dive into the genetic memories of their ancestors, often placing them in key moments of history across the centuries-long conflict between both groups.
The player typically follows the adventures of these figures, uncovering grand conspiracies and taking part in missions centered around the assassination of high-profile targets through a blend of stealth, action set pieces, and its famous parkour traversal system.
The open world settings of these games are quite varied, including the Holy Land during the Third Crusade, the Italian Renaissance, Ottoman Constantinople, Colonial North America and the Caribbean, Revolutionary France, and Victorian England.
By 2015 though, a sense of fatigue regarding the yearly release schedule set in among many players.
Stale gameplay mechanics, an increasingly convoluted storyline, and finally a troubled transition onto the eighth generation of console hardware forced publisher Ubisoft to take a step back and re-evaluate their business model.
Developed by the Ubisoft Montreal team along with Ubisoft Sofia and Ubisoft Singapore, it was intended to be a soft reboot of the series, particularly regarding its gameplay, which de-emphasized the focus on stealth, instead turning it into an action-adventure RPG system, with combat reminiscent of contemporary games like The Witcher 3.
While the setting had gradually progressed up to 19th century London, Origins turned the clock back nearly two millennia and set it in antiquity, specifically Ptolemaic Egypt, during the reign of Cleopatra VII.
This would make it the second earliest entry in the entire series, since it would be followed by Assassin's Creed Odyssey which takes place in Greece during the Peloponnesian War.
The narrative of Origins focuses on the life of Bayek Asiwa, the last of the Medjai who once protected the Pharaoh and acted as peacekeepers throughout Egypt, along with his Greco-Egyptian wife, Aya of Alexandria.
Most of the game takes place during the civil war between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII between 48 and 47 BC, the former supported by the Order, while the latter is allied with Bayek and Aya, who in their quest for justice lay the foundations of the Hidden Ones, the earliest incarnation of the Assassin Order that would be present throughout the rest of the universe's setting.
This leads them to cross paths with figures like Pompey, Julius Caesar, and others, sometimes working with them and sometimes against them.
The stories of the Assassin's Creed games usually follow the broad strokes of actual history, featuring the appropriate famous names and faces, but tend to diverge heavily with regards to the finer detail namely through the involvement of the assassin and templar orders along with the pieces of eden which enabled the likes of moses joan of arc and alexander the great to perform their more miraculous accomplishments Unlike previous entries, the present-day setting and its sci-fi elements are heavily de-emphasized, although it continues to play a nominal part in select areas.
Fans are divided on this aspect, as some found the modern plotline to be a key part of the series identity, while others found it intrusive and boring, preventing them from committing to the meat-and-potatoes gameplay of running around in the Animus as a historical simulator.
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