'Assassin's Creed Origins' Does A Terrible Job Introducing Its World

Internet, I have a confession: I think Assassin's Creed 3's much maligned intro is way better than the one in Assassin's Creed Origins, even though the latter is—15 or so hours in—shaping up to be a much better game.

When the first Assassin's Creed released in 2007, I swore to all my friends that even with its warts, we were seeing the future of video games: huge open world cities with varied and distinct atmospheres; open-ended, systems-driven challenges; dense storytelling that took cues from both TV serials and meta-fiction; parkour.

I was wrong, of course, because the future of video games ended up looking a lot more like Assassin's Creed 2 (and its immediate sequels.) Collectibles, mobile game tie ins, a major division between "main" and "side" content, and lovable-if-we're-lucky white guy protagonists.

I spent years rooting for the game's multiple massive development teams as they experimented with new gameplay ideas and brought the series to new times and places. And though I never finished Black Flag or even started Unity, Rogue, or Syndicate, I still have a bit of a soft spot for the series.

When an Assassin's Creed game is good, it offers us a glimpse at a time and place that we've only been able to read about. Yes, sometimes it's all a little Microsoft Encarta about handing out facts and figures about the people and places of these historic eras, but simply standing in a piazza during the Renaissance or taking the helm of pirate ship evokes something in a way that all of my history books didn't.

And sometimes, when they're really good, Assassin's Creed games go a step farther, transporting us not only to a place but into the shoes of someone from that world. I don't think I'm going to go back to Assassin Creed 2 and it follow ups any time soon, but taken with a long view, Ezio's arc from smarmy youth to grizzled-but-loving old man is pretty special.

That's part of why I like the intro of Assassin's Creed 3 so much, and why Origins' misses the mark.

If you don't remember (or never experienced) AC3's long prologue sequence, it sets you as the (then mysterious) Haytham Kenway, a British guy with a wristblade and a serious interest in ancient aliens. It's pretty obvious within the first 30 minutes or so that this dude is part of the Templars (the series-long antagonistic organization that wants to control the populace via near-magical technology).

The fact that the "twist" isn't really that surprising doesn't matter. What matters is that you spend a lot of time getting into the head of this dude who would ostensibly turn into a stand-out villain. It was a bold start and a big play. If they had stuck the landing with Kenway as a villain in the main game, he'd be a character we knew intimately, whose motivations we'd already explored.

Origins takes all of that and does the opposite. It opens in media res with a confusing fight against characters you do not know, and worse, as a protagonist you know literally nothing about. Over the next few hours, you explore the oasis town of Siwa and its outskirts, doing side missions for NPCs the game barely introduces.

It paints in broad brushes: There is a guy in charge of town. He's bad. You're a medjay, which Origins sets up as a sort of sheriff and all-around-problem solver. That means you're good. You had a family? You have a family? It's not clear. If you go exploring on your own accord, you'll find a tomb and have a brief flashback to your son, still alive. "Ohhh this is who Bayek is," I told myself, "he's a mad dad."

The early missions also fail to roll out key mechanics smoothly, either failing to tutorialize them or spending way too much time making sure you get the point. It all climaxes in a forgettable confrontation in the petty tyrant's camp. If you're me, it all ended in a cramped bedroom with a sword fight I could barely see. Blah.

Here's the thing: I'm probably 15 hours into Origins now and I think it's actually pretty good. Despite the extra year of development time, it isn't a dramatic re-writing of what Assassin's Creed is, but what's here mostly works once you get into the big open world.

The combat isn't especially deep, but successfully getting through a challenging encounter is rewarding. The game's story has been hit-or-miss, but some of the hits have been dead on—I especially enjoy how they're playing out the ethnic and political divides among Greek, Egyptian, and Roman characters. And hey, I say this with some degree of trepidation, but so far the loot has been pretty fun to get. But my fear is that no one will see that Origins is actually a competent and enjoyable action RPG and instead bounce off of the aimless intro.

So hey, if you're one of those people and are curious about what this game looks like a dozen or so hours in, here's my suggestion: Watch me play some of it! Because of embargo rules, I had to cut the videos up—and unfortunately I couldn't show or talk about some of my favorite stuff—but I think this stream still offer a pretty good picture of what the hell this game even is. Watch part one above or watch the full playlist over on YouTube!

We'll have a more full featured take on Origins early next week. If you're playing the game, though,let us know what you think over in our forums!