- Tested on PlayStation 5.
- About 35 hours in total.
- History not over.
- Home images using the game photo mode.
Series started in 2007 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, Killers Creed is now an integral part of the video landscape, offering a new opus on a regular basis in the same way as giants. Call of Duty and FIFA. Ubisoft is aware of the gold mine represented by this franchise spread over more than twenty exits, shared between canonical opus and derivatives. The publisher in charge of financial markets this year capitalizes on a feudal Japan long demanded by fans. But don't think that Killers Creed held the same recipe for more than fifteen long years. The first major upheaval, the appearance of the open world with the second strand, will have signed the beginnings of a wave on which today's industry is still surfing. Eight years later, Assassins Creed Origins As for it passed the series of Ubisoft in the category of Action-RPG.
Antimemorials
Although these columns were nothing of a confessional, I must nevertheless share, at last, my disaffection for frankness. Killers Creed. Yet it is not for lack of having tried to love him, turning the first part in all directions, intrigued that I was by his proposal compared by the press of the time to the beloved Hitman, before trying on the second then on its two numbered suites, and even at spin-off Release on PS Vita. I also undertook a few more recent take-overs, which arrived in the first years of the PS4/One generation, still missing some notable titles. However, I must admit, this state of affairs has always been sorry. Because I feel like I missed a real phenomenon, to have missed one of the major works of this media that I love. Unfortunately, when it comes to Ubisoft, at least after the appearance of Far Cry 3I can hardly find the strength to remain optimistic. And the continuation of his exits will finally have given reason, since Far Cry 4 and 5 were much less good and more predictable than their model, when the Part VI I think it's rather shameful. On the Killers CreedHowever, I must admit that I sincerely envied those who managed to pass over mediocre writing qualities and a gameplay loop running a little bit in circles.
What finally changed is a trilogy that will have been more intrigued than I would admit in the first place. First because the free transition to action-GRP way The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt had something promising in my eyes. Not that it has ever seemed to me that Ubisoft is able to repeat the exploit of Projekt Red CD, holding almost miracle, but there is no difficulty in trying, as long as the intentions are good and the means are sufficient. At first glance, however, Assassins Creed Origins, the first part of this trilogy, ticks all the boxes of the ambitious experience: wide Open-World, consistent content, attractive visuals, and of course radical change of gameplay and intentions. By moving away from the fraternity of the assassins, the title chose a more common recipe, of course, than would not deny very standardized productions such as Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War 2018 (see our test), or Hogwarts Legacy. But he did not have to blush in the face of competition, especially in 2017, a year which, although particularly rich in terms of exits, did not offer so many memorable open worlds as that. Except The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the WildOf course. And the first force ofOrigins, it is certainly its strange context. Whatever it is said, ancient Egypt intrigue, and too few videoludic experiences have given us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in it, much less so « realistic ».
So I imagine that the enthusiasts of history will offend before this or that failure, such architecture or the placement of a memorable monument... but for the common mortals, it must be admitted that the discovery of the world of Assassins Creed Origins has something gloomy, and even strange. With its strange blend of Greek and Eastern structures, in the heart of an Alexandria that has a crazy charm for example. Or later through the discovery of large pyramids and a desert of tangible sand, or even a typical fauna and flora. Even if the title does not constantly aim at total immersion, it must be said that it is easily achieved by giving the means. In other words, by simply wandering around this world struck by a lead sun, never replaced by any other less advantageous weather (which is a disappointing, but perfectly understandable, given what this implies in terms of development). The only hic at this level is a HUD, i.e. the marking of information on the screen, which lacks cruelly natural, and falls on the image like a wig in the soup.
First big regret, which will be followed by many others, if it is possible to set the HUD to make it less opaque, the options nevertheless lack shade. Too much to allow the sacrosanct immersion without going through big concessions. Personally, I would have liked it if it was possible to remove everything from the screen, except the goal marker chosen by the player on the world map. But it is unfortunately impossible. If we choose to remove everything the HUD brings us in terms of information, we deprive ourselves of the same comfort, and then we are forced to spot ourselves, opening our map and guessing the location of the characters to whom to speak, or places hosting a quest. No discreet mini-map to be arranged in a corner of the screen, or environmental indications, so Ghost of Tsushima. What is not a defect in itself, since it must be recognized that it brings a huge plus to the immersion to find your own goals, forgetting all the disgracious markers that previously obstructed our field of vision. But the title is not designed for that, and it feels fast. As much as every auxiliary quest or point of interest is closed at a crazy speed. We rarely feel rewarded for the effort and time spent finding our goals without this aggressive assistance imposed by default.
An audience that hurts a gameplay that, if it sincerely tries, still runs in circles. What we call the « gameplay loop » rarely bore his name as well in an Open World. Because in Assassins Creed Origins, a vast majority of the proposed objectives consist of going to an infested point of enemies in order to eliminate a target there, find a key item there, or exfil an ally. However, if the level design is rather well thought out overall, which should have allowed a feeling of novelty at each fortified place, the operating procedure remains the same: when we arrive nearby, the game tells us by a big marker on the screen that we must use our hawk to do the spotting, which translates into a score of the adversaries and related objectives that then appear in highlight, even through the walls. Then it remains to infiltrate the scene, kill the ostensibly stupid NPCs that block us from the road, and exit without warning the reinforcement troops that might be a problem. Suffice it to say that we quickly went around, despite some attempts to renew a bit of interest in these recurring sequences, by adding new types of enemies, for example, who often act more as PV bags than anything else...
South of nowhere
Because the transition to Action-RPG has not only had good, and it must be recognized that clearly distinguishing the life bars from our opponents quickly emerges from the immersion yet sought. But also that balancing is quite catastrophic. Where the World Building most often seeks a certain realism, a tangibility that would avoid any unexpected eyebrow increase on the part of the player, find itself faced with adversaries who only lose a ridiculous amount of life points by having their carotid by our hero taking them by surprise has something detestable. Worse still, Assassins Creed Origins Force the player to graze, in other words to gain experience artificially, by opposing enemies of higher level than he, impossible to bring down. A problem that we find in the very construction of adventure, with main quests that it is not possible to chain without being interested in the annex content. All of them are marked by a required level, so it is quick to see that after a large mission advancing the plot, the next one most often calls for a much more advanced constitution. Too bad, because the pace of adventure suffers enormously. One has the tenacious impression of a game that shoots unnecessarily in length, despite the rather short missions that are running fast.
A recipe that tastes a little American Fast Food. Everything is there, like a kind of buffet at will, and we try all the time to force ourselves to go down by reminding ourselves that we can get the dishes delivered directly to our table without bothering to use our legs or brain. Have I ever told you that I despised food delivery services and those who abuse them? Well, it's not Assassins Creed Origins which will change this state of affairs. Unfortunately for him, the game is in a way the victim of the standards imposed earlier by Ubisoft himself, aiming more to satisfy players who are not regular than long-time gamers. A point which has been lacking in all the experiences of the French giant for about ten years, and which has ended up spreading to the industry in general over time. Hello Sony! And while I find that there is no difficulty in organizing her experience so that she can please as many as possible, of course, it seems deplorable to note the lack of options thought for the most usual players. A fortiori on such an expensive game, since we are talking about a triple A assumed, whose life and content are in the very top of the basket. Who has 50 hours to put in a hollow title that takes his hand as well, while more reasonable, less expensive, and more interesting projects appear every week? Not me anyway.
So what remains to be done Assassins Creed Origins ? Any of the matching characters? Well, yes and no. Yes, some NPCs that we will meet during the adventure are quite significant, and we appreciate going back to them, or discovering more about their motivations and experiences. But they are a minority, and most of them will simply invest us in an absolutely detestable FEDEX quest, which we would have done well. If all or almost all is scripted, and you feel the influence of a The Witcher 3, writing qualities are years light of the title of CD Projekt Red. What was predictable, of course, but remains rather confusing when one thinks of the longevity of the French company, and its supposed know-how. A know-how which has managed to give birth to a finely constructed world, certainly, but which is not able to lay down any interesting scenario, any enticing protagonist, or to leave its damned sequences « contemporary », that we will jump at the speed of light as their interest approaches nothingness. Making two stories in parallel is nice on paper, and some games do it very well. But this bias must bring something to the point. However, at Assassins Creed Origins, not only do we quickly forget the history of Bayek, our protagonist of ancient Egypt, but in addition we execrate that of Layla, his « distant parent of the present ».
What a year of having to endure these returns in the present, during which Layla, an insipid character, exchanges with one does not know who on her empty plans of meaning, forcing us to perform fad actions when all one wants is to return to plant thin blades between the sides of the bastards. Bayek's story gets better, fortunately, and has some highlights, among which the death of his son and his reunion with his supposed murderer are at the top of the list. But it does not escape major problems, to start a much too long introduction (not far from four hours of play) before letting us dive into the big bath. A choice of structure that seems to go completely against the current of the basic idea of the game, namely to propose a vast open world offering a great freedom of actions and discoveries. Now, after the frustration of the first moments, difficult to regain feet, and finally enjoy exploring when the opportunity is given to us. A fortiori inasmuch as the title constantly slams us, with its enemies too strong for us who block us from certain accesses, while regularly distributing new quests auxiliary to the required levels far removed from ours.
On this ready-made buffet that I mentioned earlier, the sequences in the present would certainly be those famous cheese-pommelled beef skewers, and the battles at Bayek's command would be like the sautéed noodles: delicious in appearance, but shocking in substance. The greasy salmon sashimi, the nail of the show, would rather be represented by the sequences of exploration of decrepit tombs, but especially pyramids. How good it is to profane the grave of an ancient king entrusted with a divine mission, for the simple pleasure of pimping a few pieces and one or two legendary loots! At this level, the game of Ubisoft does not play in the same court as one Borderlands or Diablo, where the work around armaments is a meticulous, almost religious fanaticism. But it must be recognized that the recovery of new, more powerful devices of death than the previous ones has something rather grim, especially when put into practice against some pataud opponent.
Land of forgetfulness
As strange as this conclusion may seem, I did not have a bad time on Assassins Creed Origins. But I think it's in large part because he made me laugh, with his screen pluggings visible to leagues, or his superpowerful enemies who didn't twirl when some well-feeling arrows fell into their necks. I really have to get to the muscle, because it obviously protects well, even from stabbing in the carotid. In truth, what I preferred in this perfectly imperfect game is his universe. It certainly isn't « realistic », whatever this term may mean when we talk about video game, in other words entertainment, but for a kid who grew up religiously documenting everything that ancient Egypt might have left as relics, is blessed bread. As much as I have personally had that rare opportunity to survey such arid or tropical scenery, not having been tempted by Star Wars : Outlaws, Atlas Fallen or Avatar : Frontiers of Pandora, which all seemed, by far, quite mediocre. Like a lot of open world finally, finding that only engages me of course.
From there to recommend this episode rather than any other video game of the same kind? Absolutely not. Turn instead to a Ghost of Tsushima much more ambitious and captivating. What I loved, in Assassins Creed Origins, that is to say not much in the end, I loved him because I am a fervent defender of short, original and linear experiences. All this video game isn't. So of course, according to your profile, you may find qualities to his massive adventure, and may be less irritated by his almost authoritarian leadership, aggressive HUD, and poor writing. Personally, I still don't recover from Bayek's relationship with his wife, Alya, both jumping on it like barely puberty teenagers as soon as they meet, while all the talk of adventure revolves around the brutal death of their son and their quest for revenge. What's wrong with these people? I don't know, but at least I laughed. Finding that I also draw from everything that revolves around history in its totality, since subtlety seems to have deserted. Assassins Creed Origins, it is therefore a Fast Food experience, which savors itself in small sessions, otherwise its recurring defects quickly cause nausea.
I agreed with you until you criticized the sashimi. Who do you think you are? No, but ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 😀 How is that not the main subject? ^^^ In any case this opus as well as the other two main opus of the license that are Odyssey and Valhalla clearly did not make me want to play it on one part because the RPG side on this series it makes me drunk, but above all the fact of having to type out secondary missions in order to be able to advance in the main story is without me. Already that AC stories are not transcendent so if in addition you have to type even more insipid (and normally totally optional) stuff then no thanks.
Thanks for your review in any case it's just a shame that you didn't show on the screen the visual boil that are the cards of the ACs and their disinterest points, and the HUD that indicates far too much on the ad nauseam screen.
I preferred to spare the reader's eye said visual boil, in favor of some more pleasant images. But it's true that I may misunderstand my point.
What makes me crazy is that having looked at my wife doing Odyssey and Valhalla from the corner of my eye, they seem even more important, and no more interesting... I want it to be games addressed to the casual player, but what casual player has time for such a massive thing, and the desire to lose a week of his life on a miserable story?
And if not, sashimi > raclette, I put that there.
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