Assassin's Creed® Origins Review Summary

Immersive Ancient Egypt setting: The game's setting in Ancient Egypt is frequently highlighted for its beauty, detail, and immersive atmosphere. Players enjoy exploring the well-crafted and historically rich environment, which brings the ancient civilization to life.

Bayek as a compelling protagonist: Bayek is widely praised for being a well-developed, charismatic, and emotionally engaging protagonist. Players appreciate his strong character design, compelling story, and excellent voice acting, which make him a standout figure in the game.

Engaging story and characters: The story and characters are noted for being engaging and emotionally deep. Players find the main storyline and side quests compelling, with well-developed characters that add to the game's appeal.

Rewarding exploration and side missions: Exploration and side missions are highlighted as rewarding and engaging. Players enjoy the diverse and interesting side quests that enrich the game world and provide a satisfying experience.

Enjoyable combat mechanics: The combat system is described as enjoyable, fun, and rewarding. Players appreciate the action-focused and tactical combat mechanics that add to the game's excitement and challenge.

Repetitive side quests: Many players find the side quests to be repetitive, monotonous, and lacking variety. These quests often feel dull and can be frustrating due to their repetitive nature.

Frustrating leveling system: The leveling system is often criticized for being poorly implemented and frustrating. It can restrict gameplay and feel out of place, leading to an unsatisfactory experience.

Ubisoft service issues: Ubisoft's service, including their launcher and customer support, is often criticized for being poor and problematic. This can affect the overall experience with the game.

Repetitive mission structure: The mission structure is often seen as repetitive and simple, which can be frustrating for players. This repetitiveness can make the gameplay feel monotonous.

Poor parkour mechanics: Parkour mechanics are criticized for feeling off and poorly implemented. They are often seen as an afterthought and could be improved.

Historical and architectural exploration: Players can explore a historically rich setting, including landmarks and ancient structures, with a focus on Ancient Egypt and its cultural representation.

Character development and story progression: The game emphasizes story and character development, with a narrative that includes character relationships and a progression system with skill trees.

Expansive open-world design: The game features a large open world with diverse locations and activities, offering players extensive exploration opportunities and various quests and secrets.

Detailed combat mechanics: The combat system is hit box driven and requires strategy and timing, offering various weapons and tactics for a more tactical and rewarding experience.

Leveling and skill upgrades: The leveling system impacts combat effectiveness and includes skill and equipment upgrading, with a gear level system that affects player and enemy damage.

Frequent crashes: Several players experience frequent crashes, including issues with the launcher and general instability. This significantly impacts the gameplay experience.

Mixed FPS performance: Players report varying FPS performance depending on settings and hardware. Mid settings on a 1080ti yield 60-70 FPS, while high to very high settings result in 35-50 FPS. Very low or low settings provide 50-55 FPS.

Impressive graphics: The game's graphics are praised for being impressive on both consoles and PC, with some noting they are ahead of their time.

High CPU usage and bugs: The game is noted to be a CPU hog and contains various bugs, affecting overall performance and gameplay experience.

Compatibility and technical issues: There are various compatibility and technical issues reported, including problems with Ubisoft Connect and game freezes after Windows updates.

Highly recommended game: The game is highly recommended for its immersive experience, engaging story, and beautiful world. It is particularly suggested for history and exploration lovers.

Recommended for specific audiences: The game is recommended for fans of the franchise, history lovers, RPG fans, and those who enjoy open-world games with strong character development and beautiful world design.

Recommended for new players: The game is recommended for newcomers and those who love immersive worlds. It is also suggested for both new players and old fans.

Recommended for open-world RPG fans: The game is recommended for those who enjoy open-world RPGs, beautiful worlds, and decent action gameplay. It is also suggested for players who enjoy parkour and character progression elements.

Good value for money: The game is considered worth the price and offers great value for money, especially if purchased on sale.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $30.00.

Game completion: 73.3h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Assassin's Creed Origins initially intrigues players with its historical and mythological elements, but the combat and controls can feel clunky. Once players adapt to the control scheme and find their preferred playstyle, the game becomes more enjoyable and rewarding.

Reported time to anchor: 1h.

Friction: Clunky combat at first; Confusing control scheme; Repetitive side quests and tasks.

Unlock drivers: Adapting to the control scheme; Finding a preferred playstyle; Character progression and leveling system.

Grind-Averse Critic: Prefers games with meaningful progression and minimal repetitive tasks. Motivation: Seeking a balanced and enjoyable gaming experience without excessive grinding. Stance: no buy.

Story-Driven Explorer: Enjoys exploration and side quests, appreciates well-developed characters and narratives. Motivation: Engaging story and rich world design. Stance: sale.

Completionist: Thorough exploration and completion of all game content. Motivation: Achieving 100% completion and exploring every aspect of the game. Stance: sale.

The game generally performs well on lower-end hardware with sufficient RAM, but higher-end systems report significant stability issues. Mid-range hardware shows strong performance with minor caveats.

Windows <8GB VRAM / <16GB RAM: positive. The game runs smoothly on mid to high settings with consistent frame rates.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: negative. The game frequently crashes and freezes, causing system instability.

Windows <8GB VRAM / 16-31GB RAM: positive. The game performs well on ultra settings with high frame rates.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback for Assassin's Creed Origins on the Steam Deck reveals several key issues. The Ubisoft Connect launcher is a major point of frustration, requiring frequent logins and often failing to work properly. Gameplay and control issues are also noted, with users finding the controls confusing and unresponsive at times. Battery life and performance on the Steam Deck are suboptimal, with users reporting around 2.5 hours on OLED and 1.5 hours on LCD. Despite these issues, the story and origin of the Assassin Brotherhood are well-received, with users appreciating the emotional depth and different fight mechanics.

Linux and Proton: The game experiences performance issues particularly with AMD GPUs, which can be mitigated with specific tweaks like using DXVK. Additionally, users on Linux need to force specific versions of Proton to run the game, indicating some level of tinkering is required for optimal performance and compatibility.

Monetization: The game has received mixed reviews regarding its monetization practices. Several players have expressed frustration with the removal of free item acquisition methods, forcing them to purchase through the Helix store. Additionally, the necessity of buying DLCs to fully enjoy or complete the game has been highlighted as a negative aspect. However, many reviews also suggest that the game offers good value for money when purchased on sale. The excessive grinding and repetitive tasks have been noted as potential tactics to encourage in-game purchases.

External guides: The primary user complaints revolve around the need for external data to understand complex mechanics and lore, encountering bugs and glitches, and the educational value of the game requiring additional resources. These issues significantly impact the user experience, often forcing players to rely on external sources like wikis and online searches.

Ubisoft account requirement: The game requires players to have a Ubisoft account and use the Ubisoft launcher to play.

Activation key problems: Some players experienced issues with the activation key, which may prevent them from accessing the game.

Language issues: There are reports of language-related problems, which could affect the gameplay experience for non-native speakers.

Linux compatibility: Some players mentioned playing the game on Linux, indicating potential compatibility considerations.

Gifted copy: A few players received the game as a gift, which might be relevant for understanding the context of their reviews.