Assassin’s Creed Origins: 5 Things We Want To See

Whenever someone mentions Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise, it is hard not to think about the mess that the company eventually turned it into. What started off as a series full of story, famous faces from the annals of history and some almost perfect side quests turned into a mess of bugs, glitches, microtransactions and poor storytelling. After Assassin’s Creed Syndicate did not perform as well as its predecessors (to say it bombed would be slightly unfair), Ubisoft took a break from the franchise, instead plugging an equally terrible film, before we were finally given a full preview of Assassin’s Creed Origins.

Set in ancient Egypt, Ubisoft looks set to reset the series and start again from scratch. A bold move, but if the franchise is set to be saved, Ubisoft really need to consider the following things.

 

LESS REPETITIVE GAMEPLAY

Assassin’s Creed is known for its very repetitive gameplay. The missions usually consist of ‘go here and tail this guy’ or ‘sneak around and kill this guy’, and it can lead to people becoming frustrated with the way the game works. Although this had improved in later releases in comparison to the first one, I still found myself becoming frustrated with it. I understand that the whole idea of an Assassin is to stick to the shadows and sneak around, but by the time Ezio had his second outing, that whole principle had basically gone to the dogs. I mean, who wouldn’t notice a man running around with a sword, leaving a pile of bodies in their wake?

Origins needs to not only bring something new to the table, but it also needs to change the way it plays in a big way.

 

SIDEQUESTS WITH MORE ACTIVITIES

One of the main things that Assassin’s Creed does well is the side quests. From restoring your villa in Assassin’s Creed 2, to renovating your homestead in Assassin’s Creed 3, to recruiting a gang in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, it is something that Ubisoft have done well every single time. However, once you reach a certain point, the side quests end and you are then forced to continue with the story mode.

The gang side missions in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate really could have worked well if they had expanded on it. Having more battles to retain your territory after they had been taken over, and even recruiting unde bosses to help keep tabs on it would have worked to help add some meat to those missions, because once London was yours, it felt a little pointless throwing all that time into taking it over as you did not need to defend it.

Adding just a handful of smaller additions to these side quests will make them not only feel worthwhile, but also add an additional depth to the game itself.

 

INCREASED STORY DEPTH

Although the storyline to the franchise remains the same -playing as an assassin to bring down the Templars- what the very first game in the franchise did well was they gave us a reason why he was our target and what effect killing him would have on the organisation. Ghost Recon Wildlands did this extremely well, telling us a little bit about the province boss and the effect that killing them had on the cartel.

Giving the player a little background information on each member of the organisation they are trying to kill, as well as possible consequences is a little thing that can really go a long way.

This format can quite easily be carried over to the Assassin’s Creed franchise and this will give us an additional depth to the storyline. Syndicate lacked anything spectacular, with the storyline becoming confusing once you were required to switch between the two main characters.

You could argue that the story is one of the main reasons why the franchise needed a reboot so Ubisoft need to pull something massive out of the bag to pull this off.

 

ACTIONS IMPACT THE STATE OF THE GAME WORLD

One thing that seems to be missing from this game, but has been done to a great deal of success elsewhere is the mechanic that the choices the gamer makes impact the world as a whole. I find it hard to believe that Ubisoft have made a game where you are killing key characters, but the world is not being affected as a result. You would think that removing key members of both the Templars and people within the game world would have some sort of effect on how the game plays.

Now I am not asking for an Until Dawn or even a Mass Effect here, but something subtle that would give gamers the incentive to go out there and kill someone. An example would be that killing a certain general will prohibit the game spawning troops that they are linked to, that kind of thing.

 

LESS MICROTRANSACTIONS AND BUGS

In recent years, the franchise has become better known for two things; the glaring glitches that the games are riddled with upon release and the insane amount of microtransactions that they offer.

Ubisoft are well known to offer ridiculous in game purchasing, such as new gear which is purely just aesthetic and offering in game purchases for their virtual currency, something that killed For Honor and Syndicate was full of.

Instead of throwing that in our faces, why not make it easier for us to obtain the currency either through missions or side quests.

I hate microtransactions…

I am holding my breath when it comes to Assassin’s Creed Origins. Ubisoft have to really pull something out of the bag to make this game one of the best in the series, because if they don’t then it will might put the franchise back in trouble.

Assassin’s Creed Origins is due to be released on 27th October 2017 on PS4, Xbox One and PC.