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The mysteries waiting in Assassin’s Creed Origins
Ubisoft is about to reveal more about its Assassin’s Creed genesis project, Origins, at this year’s Gamescom, but ahead of that we’ve got the skinny on some of its hidden mysteries!
Legend has it that beneath one of the paws of the Great Sphinx of Giza exists the “Hall of Records”, a library of sorts detailing the history of Ancient Egypt and its first peoples, alongside alleged evidence of the existence of the Lost City of Atlantis and its ties to Egypt’s foundation. Scientists and Egyptologists alike have found evidence of cavities in and around the Sphinx, which is also now popularly theorised to be a few thousand years older than the pyramids that accompany it on the Giza plateau, but no one has ever been able to definitively excavate the site with any real penetration. And while most historians and Egyptologists dismiss the existence of the Hall of Records, a romance of mystery still surrounds this and other legends regarding Ancient Egypt. Logic suggests there’s nothing there, but our hearts want something to be there.
There is precedent, of course. The lost city of Troy was fabled for many years as nothing more than a fictitious city as part of Homer’s Iliad but would later go on to be discovered and excavated, revealing that poems, stories and even fables based in the Ancient World could very well hold real truths to them.
Poetic license has always been at the narrative fore of the popular franchise, oft with alternative history, conspiracy theory and ancient legend helping flesh out their own fantastical version of events from the past.
What ancient, legendary treasures await us?
© Ubisoft
This concept has never been lost on Ubisoft where its Assassin’s Creed series exists. Poetic license has always been at the narrative fore of the popular franchise, oft with alternative history, conspiracy theory and ancient legend helping flesh out their own fantastical version of events from the past. Whether it’s a New World Order being puppeteered by the Knights Templar, or a quest for truth and knowledge being championed by the fictitious, franchise-titular Assassin’s Brotherhood, Ubisoft’s fantastical take on a parkour-heavy Ancient World helps us live out those romantic fantasies of hidden mysteries from the past.
In chatting with Assassin’s Creed Origins game director Ashraf Ismail, that passion for mystery -- and discovery -- specifically within their new Ancient Egypt setting, is contagious. He lights up like an excitable school boy when we ask him about how, and if, any of those legends surrounding the great Ancient Egypt will rear their head in this new AC outing.
“By choosing a setting and a context like ancient Egypt, it naturally means that we have to take in the fantasy; the mysticism that people have about it today, and put our spin on it and even try to align [that] with what we know for real,” Ashraf explains. “We have a lot of Egyptologists that are part of the core team that help us give flavour and knowledge [to] the context [of the setting]. But for sure, we wanted to give answers to who were these masked figures? Why were the gods animal-headed with human bodies? What's under the pyramid? What's under the Sphinx? We have our spin on that and we want people to explore that and discover not just what it meant to Egypt, but what it means to [Assassin’s Creed]. And what it means to the Brotherhood because all of this stuff has a meaning.”
This game is pretty AF
© Ubisoft
In playing the game, its sheer size and scale, along with the incredible moving vista of a lively and functioning Ancient Egypt is almost intimidating. The game-world is truly alive and sinking ourselves into this alternative past; foreshadowing what we see of the plateau and its surrounding areas today, is a design feat to behold. There’s a genuine sense of digestible history here, and while it’s a bit fantastical to imagine anyone dressed in Brotherhood garb being able to scale the Great Pyramid with modern day parkour skills, the fidelity of the playspace and how well perceived it is helps suspend that disbelief. In many ways, the game’s new protagonist Bayek is a truly believable character.
“Bayek's story is not one about a guy who just decided, you know, I'm going to start a group of people who get together and do this,” Ashraf reveals. “No, he goes on a personal journey and it's through the discovery of a lot of elements about the secrets of Egypt. That was important to us, that the narrative assumes the mystery element. That was really important to us, that the mystery of ancient Egypt was also encompassed in the character. [So] for sure we touched on all that stuff [and] we gave our spin on it.”
Traditionally the Assassin’s Creed games have always featured tombs to explore -- climbing and traversal puzzle spaces with collectible rewards for players wanting to get the most out of the experience, and the game-world or historical setting. And thankfully this is a place Ashraf is happy to reveal we’ll be returning to, making his above comments even more exciting. Especially because this gameplay pillar feel most fitting here, and with the newer RPG elements of the game, alongside the power of Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro and the game’s expanded open-world setting, we’re likely in for an exploratory treat.
Ancient parkour, bro
© Ubisoft
“Just the RPG element, for example -- the amount of effort the player has to put into customising and crafting their own character is way deeper and way bigger than what we've ever done before,” Ash says enthusiastically. “I mean it's... I don't know how much you experienced in it, but at some point when you're playing the full game, you see that it's a full-blown RPG in that sense. Your weapons matter, your stats matter…
“I'll [also] say this for vehicles, for horses, for camels: effectively what we wanted is that whatever you're doing in the world, it's consistent. The controls remain the same. Attack is an attack wherever you are. So [you] press the button and it works. In terms of the underwater specifically, Egypt was actually lush with water at that time period, and so it was natural for us that we needed to be able to seamlessly go through it. And that there are opportunities and advantages for those people to explore the underwater. So there are underwater tombs. There are sunken temples. There are wells that you use to sneak into forts. So there's a lot that can be done with the water.”
There are opportunities and advantages for those people to explore underwater. So there are underwater tombs. There are sunken temples. There are wells that you use to sneak into forts. So there's a lot that can be done with the water.
The question is, will we face Nile crocodiles?
© Ubisoft
So, mystery, expanded exploration, personal journeys of self-discovery and living, breathing ancient world, reimagined for gaming is what awaits us. Ash is also happy to reveal that it’s not just an animated set-piece we’re moving through -- the world itself will affect the player, and often in unique and interesting ways. He mentioned water above, but there’s also that desert element and it’s here he’s coyly happy to plant some seeds for what we should expect in that space.
“We have this thing called ‘Desert Overheat’, which is a system that is meant to... the idea is when you are being consumed by the heat that you see, like, a lot of effects,” he unveils. “[So] you start really falling into some kind of haze. We had to tone it down for the [E3] demo because that wasn't the purpose of the demo. We left a little bit of it on, which was [a] shimmer, [but] when it's on and you're in the middle of the desert and you're lost in the desert, it's fucking awesome.”
Colour us tickled sand (and water) at the moment. And if these promises can come through in a meaningful way that allows players to experience a unique journey personal to them, with all of the aforementioned, then this could be one of the biggest releases of the year. The blueprint is there, the setting is fantastic, the technology is all-encompassing and we’re starting at the beginning of the whole Brotherhood affair. Mysteries and wonder abound and we still barely know anything about the game’s hero, his plight or even how this new adventure is going to preface everything we’ve already played in the series before. But just like those Ancient Egyptian mysteries mentioned at the top of this article, our hearts want to know.
(Developer quotes in this article are from a larger interview this writer did with Ashraf that can be seen here.)
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