it's got some nice deserts. the game never really takes you there though. it's almost afraid to guide you across its map, an issue Odyssey and Valhalla wouldn't have. feels like a huge waste of space.
i can see how the game wanted you to explore because you it really requires you to grind up enough levels to actually complete it. this is a non-issue if you wind up with an XP boost, however, which I ended up using because I found the combat so tedious and utterly unrewarding. of course this also winds up turning the game into a sluggish equally unrewarding linear experience. so like, even though this only took me 20 hours to finish, it was spread out over two years and i had maybe 2 hours of fun with the whole thing. not a great sign when I am left yearning for Valhalla's endlessness.
Bayek and Aya make an interesting couple, maybe one of gaming's most compelling, realistic romances. very rare i think to find a couple in a game who genuinely feel like friends. theirs is a strained relationship. they reminded me of my parent in a weird way: two people, who've known each other since childhood, destined to have been together on one hand, but also destined to be separated. it's a shame their relationship takes a massive backseat to an Assassin's Creed plot and the game rarely if ever finds a way to actually intertwine the two in a gameplay in meaningful ways.
i guess what's most interesting about AC Origins is still its setting. the whole series is built on iconography that's practically begging for pyramids and tombs. the whole Isu stuff feels particularly Egyptian. I remember when one of the games ended with a CGI scene of ancient Adam and Eve escaping some area and the whole thing felt like a hype trailer for an inevitable Egypt game down the road. that this is their ancient Egypt game feels like a downer to me, though. like that's it? i guess. it's cool to get a AAA game completely set in Africa though. i remember being disappointed that there was no Ancient Rome AC game but I guess i appreciate ubisoft's one run at being less Eurocentric for once and taking Egypt over Rome (even if maybe you get the sense it's just because the Egyptian mythology is more of a standout than Roman mythology esp considering the Greek pantheon was coming right after). wish they just did more with Egypt: the politics, the people, the land. it's all just AC window dressing and the whole game feels like a test run for Odyssey (which in comparison is the more well--rounded experience).
the best thing this game accomplishes is making me want to pick up a history textbook.
i can see how the game wanted you to explore because you it really requires you to grind up enough levels to actually complete it. this is a non-issue if you wind up with an XP boost, however, which I ended up using because I found the combat so tedious and utterly unrewarding. of course this also winds up turning the game into a sluggish equally unrewarding linear experience. so like, even though this only took me 20 hours to finish, it was spread out over two years and i had maybe 2 hours of fun with the whole thing. not a great sign when I am left yearning for Valhalla's endlessness.
Bayek and Aya make an interesting couple, maybe one of gaming's most compelling, realistic romances. very rare i think to find a couple in a game who genuinely feel like friends. theirs is a strained relationship. they reminded me of my parent in a weird way: two people, who've known each other since childhood, destined to have been together on one hand, but also destined to be separated. it's a shame their relationship takes a massive backseat to an Assassin's Creed plot and the game rarely if ever finds a way to actually intertwine the two in a gameplay in meaningful ways.
i guess what's most interesting about AC Origins is still its setting. the whole series is built on iconography that's practically begging for pyramids and tombs. the whole Isu stuff feels particularly Egyptian. I remember when one of the games ended with a CGI scene of ancient Adam and Eve escaping some area and the whole thing felt like a hype trailer for an inevitable Egypt game down the road. that this is their ancient Egypt game feels like a downer to me, though. like that's it? i guess. it's cool to get a AAA game completely set in Africa though. i remember being disappointed that there was no Ancient Rome AC game but I guess i appreciate ubisoft's one run at being less Eurocentric for once and taking Egypt over Rome (even if maybe you get the sense it's just because the Egyptian mythology is more of a standout than Roman mythology esp considering the Greek pantheon was coming right after). wish they just did more with Egypt: the politics, the people, the land. it's all just AC window dressing and the whole game feels like a test run for Odyssey (which in comparison is the more well--rounded experience).
the best thing this game accomplishes is making me want to pick up a history textbook.