The latest issue from GamesTM gives us a brand new interview with Game Director, Ashraf Ismail who sheds light on important new points about Assassin’s Creed Origins’ gameplay and story.
By the end of the experience, I want people to walk away saying ‘wow, this was an Assassin’s Creed game that needed to happen’ – Ashraf Ismail, Game Director
In GamesTM magazine’s cover story for Assassin’s Creed Origins, game director, Ashraf Ismail details the goals the set out for themselves prior to the creation of Assassin’s Creed Origins, three and a half years ago, as they planned to make the past problems of the series feel like history, which made it the most challenging Assassin’s Creed project to date.
Among the interesting points about Assassin’s Creed Origins is time period which is 49BCE, the beginning of the end of ancient Egypt, the pharaohs and mysticism. A new world order begins with Cleopatra fighting to ascend her throne. Now this is very interesting point, as several weeks back, The Codex shared a screenshot from the Origins demo stating:
New World Order
My little children, we live in faithless times. You all bear witness to it. The new world order is misguided and profane. But I will see it all destroyed. My death is my transcendence. Fear not, Gods do not die.Soon we will all see this world cleansed by Ra.
Himself will burn these institutions and their soulless leaders to ash. All eyes will see this corrupt world crumble, and the new one rise to take its place with my return. A little while only remains. Stay true.
This message is clearly written by Juno herself, judging by her manner of writing and the use of terms such as “my little children”, and since it’s known that “Juno Events” will be part of the game (reported by The Codex back in June, according to a marker in the demo), and also because Cleopatra will be part of the game (as reported by The Codex few weeks back based on an image from the official calendar), the fact that this article mentions a New World Order and Cleopatra’s ascension strongly suggests that Cleopatra might have been an incarnation of Juno whether as a descendant, a sage or a hologram. The message which we can assume that it’s Juno’s, there’s a mention of ‘Gods’ and ‘Ra’. To humans, Juno and her kind, the Isu, are gods. According to Game Informer’s cover story for Origins, The Isu had something to do with the constructions of the pyramids, so it’s safe to conclude that the Isu influence was pretty much real on Ancient Egypt. As for Ra cleansing the world, Ra could likely be a Sage who will take it upon him to ‘cleanse the world’.
Juno’s message is clearly written after the death of Cleopatra which could be a vessel for her consciousness or a subject enthralled by her in some shape or form. She’s assuring people, maybe right after the death of Cleopatra or in present day, that gods do not die (referencing herself/Cleopatra) and the Ra (likely a Sage) will cleanse the world of its soulless governments, which could me the creation of a new order and ending the old ones, ending the reign of ancient Egypt or perhaps Ra, a sage, will cleanse the modern world of its current systems and governments. After all, Juno have influenced humanity over the ages and since her existence is digital, she lives outside of time, she’s ageless and she has all the time in the world to make changes.
In the Assassin’s Creed lore, the Assassin Amunet Assassinated Cleopatra herself, and it is yet to be known whether the event will be shown in the game, but based on these information, it seems likely that it would happen, especially based on my conclusion above that the message is likely after Cleopatra’s death.
Another interesting point in the article is Mysticism. It is mentioned as one of the reasons why Bayek can see and fight larger than life bosses. As Ashraf stated, the game is grounded in historical reality but will be exploring fantasy in a way that does not go against reality. In this GamesTM article, it is stated that hallucinations are the reason why we see giant bosses like the serpent seen in the announcement trailer, and it’s likely that we’ll fight other giant bosses as it’s stated in plural.
Regarding the game’s development, Ashraf Ismail stated that they tried to create a modern Assassin’s Creed experience based on everything an Assassin’s Creed game means. They wanted to explored what they could change and what the new tech can offer to present an experience that both feels new and still an Assassin’s Creed experience.
In Origins, the mini-map of the game has been removed to encourage players to explore, to see view points, to use Senu to look at the world, instead of relying on a small map to get to your objective. Bayek will also be able to scale almost any structure in the game and his ability to climb is no longer regulated by architectural design flaws, problem solving powered by intuition rather than vertical pathways carved out by precisely placed bricks and handrails.
The new combat system is structured based on the different types of objectives that are new, based on the fact that there’s a new AI system and a new quest and narrative structure. For example, you will no longer be restricted to a specific range like 30 or 40 meters to be able to track a target without losing him/her, or else you desynch. The studio had to rethink what to do about this since fans hated that fact.
Origins presents a world with persistence NPCs and characters that are virtualized to live within the world without the player’s gaze. They have schedules to do, specific places to be at specific times. NPC have jobs, sleep cycles and bathroom routines .They’re not just 3d models that perform one actions that is only loaded when the player looks at them and stop when the player looks away, like previous games. They have their own life out in the world and if an objective fails, the player won’t need to reload, but rather wait for the next best moment and the game will generate new scenarios and gameplay opportunities and react to your success and failure in real time. It is an example of how realistic a virtual world migh be.
Another example is how we get to find our targets, some targets like to decoy in one of the cities. The player has to learn about him and his schedule, and you have to pay attention to him and his decoys, they way they’re living their lives, where they go and when. The decoys are innocent people. The open-ended play doesn’t end there as the game experience changes even if you’re on the run, chasing him down. The player can choose to engage in open combat in the streets only for them to escape on a chariot and make a break for a fortress. From there it means that your simple assassination attempt will transform into a multi-tiered stealth encounter as you try to sneak past the gaggles of enemies of far higher levels than you are. The combat has improved drastically from Syndicate.
Another aspect for the more open-ended design is that it doesn’t feature missions in a traditional sense. Objectives used to feel frustrating due to the fact that you often desynch because they were largely built around to be played in one way and the deviation from that would make them game “punish” you. Origins however, is more about choice and control so it’s going to be the first Assassin’s Creed to feature a quest-based structure. Players can now make choices amongst a large variety of meaningful main and side quests, and you will have to prioritize which ones to do first or pick up multiple quests and have them all available simultaneously and decide their order and priority. Origins will not only focus on the story of the Brotherhood of the Assassins, but on the stories that lie in the wider world.
Combat has also evolved to get rid of the counter attack prompt and enemies no longer wait for their turn to attack or be attacked but rather all attack in a realistic manner and the player has to focus on fight and defense at the same time. Embracing the action-RPG has opened up the door for Ubisoft to do all the new gameplay variations and to add all these micro details that make fighting much deeper and more detailed than ever, you have to pay attention to your position and your enemies’ to be able to properly plan your next move.
The complete issue of GamesTM is available now digitally and in print.
