While claiming that a new game will “reinvent” a series is a reoccurring phenomenon within the industry, the kind of changes that Ismail describes genuinely sound like a total breakdown and reconstruction of a franchise that has, in recent years, threatened to stagnate a little. Ismail’s vision included adding loot systems to Origins, alongside RPG-like skill progression that will see players customize the playing style of main character Bayek - although Ismail admitted how daunting it could be to mess with some of the series’ core gameplay concepts during development:
In hands-on gameplay, the series’ progression really becomes clear - Bayek handles different depending on the weapon he’s wielding, the approach players take, and the skills they’ve chosen to unlock over the course of the narrative. Still, these kinds of changes can be earth-shattering to a series that has made its name largely on a predictable gameplay formula - it seems bizarre, for instance, that a trained assassin might not be able to instantly kill a target they’ve ambushed from behind, especially given how Assassin’s Creed has approached this scenario in prior games.
That players need to earn the ability to perform the most awe-inspiring combat tricks and assassinations in the game might be the kind of character and gameplay progression that keeps Assassin’s Creed Origins fresh long into its narrative. Ismail, to his credit, acknowledges that there is a lot of pressure on him and the rest of the Assassin’s Creed Origins team, generated by the combination of a longer hiatus than usual, the drastic changes coming in Origins, and sales pressure from Ubisoft. Ismail’s response to that pressure should give fans even more confidence in his vision for the series, though:
Assassin’s Creed: Origins releases on October 27, 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
