Assassin’s Creed: Origins looks to revive fans’ passion for the game – this time in ancient Egypt
After taking a year off to freshen up its top franchise, Ubisoft has redesigned the game’s fighting system, introduced artificial intelligence to characters and made the world feel more ‘alive’
Video game titan Ubisoft has released a new instalment of Assassin’s Creed, seeking to reignite passion for the game after a year off to freshen its top franchise.
Breaking from its pattern of annually releasing sequels to Assassin’s Creed, which has sold more than 100 million copies since the first version debuted in a decade ago, Ubisoft took an extra year to craft Assassin’s Creed: Origins.
The new instalment is set in Egypt at a time when Cleopatra is ascending to the throne, and reveals how the brotherhood of assassins began.
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“From the beginning, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has always explored pivotal moments in history, from the Third Crusade to the Italian Renaissance, and this year ancient Egypt,” said Origins creative director Jean Guesdon.
Work on the game began four years ago, with the team setting out to provide a fresh, new experience to players in a franchise showing signs of waning enthusiasm given its perennial release schedule.
“We really wanted to rework the major systems,” said Origins producer Julien Laferriere at the E3 video game trade show earlier this year in Los Angeles.
“We feel we have a meaty, very modern game.”
The game’s fighting system was redesigned, and imbued with artificial intelligence making enemies more wily and giving characters virtual lives of their own complete with responsibilities such as farms to tend and families to feed.