What Assassin's Creed Origins Failed to Understand - A Critique

[@alienplatypus1596]

Some corrections: 1:16:09 - I meant to say "Cristina" instead of "Claudia", 1:38:56 - Tuaa can actually be found in Krokodilopolis after this moment, and that unlocks some inconclusive dialogue where she explains she is doing better but still hasn't reached out to her father. It does not unlock any items or follow up quests, and I personally couldn't find her. 2:49:56 - The text is supposed to read "Flavius did", not "Livius did" Thank you to everyone for your positive reactions to the essay, and for taking the time to correct my mistakes in the comments. Hopefully I'll see you again for the next video (when it is ready)!

[@alissonlares2926]

Soo... my last AC was Syndicate. But since origins this games just looks too long and boring. Personaly, I never cared about the whole lore. The modern parts I didn't like. I had some atention in some parts of the actual good character in the past. But for me was always about gameplay. Unity for me has the best gameplay. Since origins with this stupid RPG system just destroyed what Unity ans Syndicate was good, The Stealth.

[@Kimkong2]

You should definitely do AC valhalla.

[@alissonlares2926]

@John Brophy man the quality of the animations is terrible in this new games. The npcs has no facial expressions at all, the cutscenes are now pre-defined animations like in Mass Effect and SWTOR. And the parkourt is not relevant anymore. My comment is about the mechanics and the systems in the game. I never cared about the AC story or lore. I never understood why the sci-fi boring things was in the first game anyway. And I think needs to change again because has three games they are just recycling the same game.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

@@alissonlares2926 In the first game, the sci-fi elements were a framing device for narrative progress and a slight reveal - from what I remember the marketing was solely for the historical bits, leaving the sci-fi as something to surprise the player. I certainly was taken unawares by its inclusion. Think something like From Dusk Till Dawn, where the movies shifts gears (and genres) abruptly. And yeah, I agree - I could go the rest of my life never hearing ‘Assassins’ ‘Templars’ or ‘Animus’ again and be perfectly content. The main draw of the series for me was always the history, and surprisingly it’s the one thing that Ubisoft reliably does well. From a purely historical perspective Odyssey was some high-speed shit, much crunch and many Adderal went into stuffing every inch of that game with historical references. Having read about a place like Samos or Korinth, how it would’ve looked back then, and then seeing it portrayed in the game as a pretty faithful facsimile was a wonderful experience - the only downside is everything else.

[@t.wcharles2171]

Montreal did exist n 1506 but it was the one in Aude

[@KnellMortem]

“Hey, Zap, do you wanna watch Avengers Endgame?” “No, dude, I’m watching What Assassin’s Creed Origins Failed to Understand - A Critique.”

[@Garry_Combine]

lol

[@tranvophuchung4248]

Haha

[@omglordluca8914]

Four hours well spent, my friend.

[@InhabitantOfOddworld]

@@omglordluca8914 Four hours of content to rival each extended LoTR movie, to be sure

[@coleintheville117]

LMAO

[@Miller09095]

My man showed up to deliver one of the most in depth and well put together reviews of a game I've ever seen and then disappeared. What a legend.

[@LukeSkywalker-fm1dc]

Go to his community page. He's disappeared to perform his most challenging undertaking to date. A trial that borders on the insane. A Herlucean task. Reviewing Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

[@Kster-uj6dr]

​@@LukeSkywalker-fm1dcMay God have mercy on his soul

[@friendly7empest]

This never came to be… sadly.

[@franckpetit3548]

@K.C-2049 same for me I think it's because origins is the game that "killed" the saga I loved and odyssey is just another game

[@danpeas7516]

Holy shit just play the game if ur listening to 4 hojr review CLEARLY INTERESTED just buy

[@Csumbi]

the whole game i waited Bayek to confess to his wife Aya that he was the one that stabbed Khemu by accident, but it never happened, which is a shame because it would have been probably the most interesting conflict of the game, both of Bayeks with himself and with Aya.

[@ssj4galactus]

Aya doesnt even feel like a mom. She shows no emotions for khemu at all

[@francesco8000]

@@ssj4galactus That could also be an interesting character moment if it was intentional. It would be interesting to have a family where the father really loved his kid but the mother never really did, she had a kid because simply as a "side effect" of staying with the man that she really love.

[@ryanmoore6259]

Flavius redirects the strike. Flavius is the one who bares the blame

[@kennethjuarez5384]

@@ssj4galactus Aya allowed the death of her son to reshape her. She figured "im not meant to be a mother". You see her crying at Khemu's grave site in late game. Bayek wanted to continue being husband/wife or a couple that lost a baby, her thoughts were elsewhere.

[@georgelebessisjr9203]

That’s was actually my only critique of this game. I was really confused as to why he never told Aya that he accidentally stabbed their Son. That kind of shit MUST be addressed!

[@eba2644]

>Walks into room >Posts What Assassin's Creed Origins Failed to Understand - A Critique >Leaves Absolute Chad

[@ReedL64]

I was one of the many quest designers on this game. Your analysis of the side quests is pretty much spot on. I didn't agree with the "let's add some combat if there is no gameplay" rule either. Also, it was our first attempt with MeatAI, so controlling AI was a real pain in the ass, as I worked against the systematic nature of NPCs with heavily scripted behaviors. Remember, this game was in the making after The Witcher 3 was released. We were fully aware of how to make branching quests but lacked support in both budget and technology to realize that. Lots of behind the scenes shenanigans were rarely picked up by game critics. Game development is half art and half, if not more, a complicated software engineering undertaking often riddled with fiscal year earnings BS.

[@borekstvorek]

Lack of support I get these days, but lack of funds on an aaa title? Guess the ceos were too buys stuffing stacks of cash up their asses or something... Shame that this product represent people that had their decisions overruled and reflects badly on everyone. The newer games are obviously riddled by greed and almost nothing else shows anymore unfortunately.

[@davidstinger1134]

@@borekstvorek Remember that a lot of budget in these games goes towards marketing.

[@eugenerider0701]

@@borekstvorek They probably didn't lack overall funding, but actual budget allocation. If administration level is messing things up, a lot of mismanagements can happen, which will lead to shitty budget distribution. I don't know. I installed Origins 3 times now, and each time I couldn't let myself finish the game because how bad this game is. It doesn't feel like a assassin's creed game and gameplay is just plain nonsense and boring.

[@marinpazanin9503]

I played every assasins creed game and I just didn't like any of them .... but when I played origins it looked like an average game to me and nothing special, I was looking around the world in the game, i have been sneaking around like a real killer, finding places and tombs and there are so many fascinating things in the vast world of egypt where the world anywhere looks like a painting by some artist, wonderful. I love this game very much and thank you and your colleagues for the game🤜🤛😀

[@borekstvorek]

@@eugenerider0701 I agree for sure. Also can't finish it it's garbage hahah

[@meganathanchandramohan7968]

Two hours in, this guy pointed out every single thing I noticed, but chose to ignore, mainly due to its fabulous settings I somehow got immersed more into the open world fantasy. I'm actually very glad to have found this video, and despite the lengthy time, I can't stop watching it. As you mentioned, the lack of information, Bayek's insensitivity to certain situations, and Aya's role as a mother/wife, were all so confusing while I was playing the main campaign. In a way it is sad for me to see my favorite AC game getting a harsh critic like this, but I still have to accept it for what it is. Please make another video about AC odyssey, would love to see how that turns out, thank you, subscribed.

[@akmal94ibrahim]

I always forgot that Aya is the mother of Bayek's son. Lol

[@azureascendant994]

Aya also game me the impression she passive aggressively hated Bayek. She had her reasons like the death of their son.

[@ShinzuXTruth]

alot of exposition is shown in exploring siwa though..bayeks house, the temple, ect. you learn why the enemies are evil and who bayek is to siwa..Just because it isn't spoonfed to you doesnt mean it doesnt exist. Its a proper RPG game..go explore. Hes comparing an open world proper rpg game to assassins creed 4..which is open world..but narratively linear.

[@DoxToDox]

Im being honest here. I don't care. I love this game. It's the first AC I've played, it's an African setting aswell

[@MrSwitchblade327]

@@DoxToDox it's the setting and atmosphere. Sucks you in

[@65firered]

For a channel with only this video (so far) and less than 200 subscribers, the quality, writing, and production quality is absolutely amazing! And as much as I love Origins this video is *really* good and covers many issues I have with Origins, Odyssey, and even Valhalla.

[@somenote2186]

How does this channel only have one video? This video was so good I was ready to binge their other content

[@deschain1910]

Ironically, while many of these issues still exist in Valhalla, it did a lot of these things better even though Eivor outright refuses to join the Hidden Ones. I still enjoy it, but the series has really weird mixed messages now.

[@mamufixie]

I personally enjoy unity more than these three new games.. i ended up rush the game (origins odyssey valhalla) because of boring quests and repetitive activity

[@65firered]

@@mamufixie Most would agree with you, including myself.

[@Based1889]

@@mamufixie nah nah that's the best joke I've heard in 2021 ac origins is wayyy better than shit unity unity is the reason why ac almost died and origins is the reason why ac got revived

[@chickendrawsdogs3343]

It would have been cool if we got to see Bayek gradually go from a more traditional warrior's open combat style to the stealthy approach of the Assassins we've known as his targets become more and more guarded, their number multiplies, and tackling them with sword and shield proved both difficult in-game and politically inconvenient for Bayek's benefactors. To counter this, Bayek developed his skills both narratively and gameplay-wise, creating many of the techniques the Assassins would follow for centuries like double assassination, crowd blending, quick counter...

[@degariuslozak2169]

I agree, though some of those specific techniques are supposedly part of the codex pages in AC2 making them Altair's developments

[@SomasAcademy]

This is a really fantastic critique, I'm genuinely astonished by how necessary that length was. Like, you could trim it down by maybe a few minutes by cutting out a few less important clips, but for a 4 hour video, shockingly little padding. I was also shocked to see that this is the only video in your catalog; if this is the first video you ever made, hooo boy is that impressive, and even if you've got some past experience, a video essay this long, deep, and well edited is astounding.

[@Vulcano7965]

This game made him so made, it made him start an entire YT channel with a 4 hour long essay. Damn.

[@Aurora_Lightbringer]

​@@Vulcano7965 Most sane AC fan.

[@GoblinLord]

Wait... you DON'T HAVE TO BE STEALTHY WHEN FOLLOWING THE MERCHANTS??? *WHAT*, I did that INSTINCTIVELY, I WHY WHYYYY

[@alanm7838]

As someone who is fascinated by this game franchise in particular because of its narrative and philosophical potential, I just want to say, this is an achievement. I have watched few critiques that are so thorough and well-put as this. This is a work you should be proud of making. I may disagree about Origins holistically and I may disagree with some elements of this critique, I find this critique, despite its length, to be a must-see to any person with any honest relationship with this franchise.

[@IssueOneProductions]

So you soul searched for this video so you don't feel like the minority in the AC fandom... Gotcha

[@kyotodreams3306]

Bot comment

[@thanotos3013]

It still perplexes me that this channel only has 1 video…I have not come across a more comprehensive, extensive, and cogent critique of any artistic project anywhere else and I can’t wait for whatever you put out next!

[@Peter-the-Angry]

Because the video is total trash

[@hughjazz7930]

​@@Peter-the-Angry and why do you say that?

[@Iz.deehar]

@@hughjazz7930 mans being delusional that his favorite series gets attacked

[@m3rl1on]

you only have 1 video, and its 4 hours, and its good. you should make one for Valhalla, because oh boy i expected more from it

[@kblakeney7791]

Agreed

[@finnlay3888]

i’d even argue valhalla was worse because it did a similar thing to the vaulting in this game where it appeared to be assassins creed but just lies

[@G-Realla]

@@finnlay3888 i argree with you on it technically being worse because it goes “hey look it’s assassins creed” but the whole assassins part is basically just side story that can be skipped but I could believe that an argumentcan be made that it’s better than origins due to the fact that the story is more coherent and key features (while nowhere near what it was) returns like social stealth in all honesty I would rather have Valhalla than origins but I would love to see a critique video that makes me think is Valhalla actually better or worse

[@finnlay3888]

@@G-Realla but social stealth hasn’t returned, basim introduces you to it and after that it’s just inefficient to use and not fun - the assassins are side clutter with all of the bureau knowledge being a paragraph on a piece of paper better served on a wiki page - the only good “assassins creed thing” about valhalla is the modern day that will be ruined in the next game because of the constant writer and team switch

[@G-Realla]

@@finnlay3888 you make a good point about all this it kinda reminds me of how a friend and I discuss the bioshock series where i herald the first game as the best and find infinite to be bad and not a true bioshock game while my friend loves infinite but agrees that it isn’t a true bioshock game and if it did not have bioshock in the name it would not have been so bad same can be said for Valhalla if the game was just called Valhalla and not assassins creed: Valhalla the game would flourish better and honestly that’s what I think the video gets at with origins in a way they wanted to create something different but in turn created a new ip but kept the name of the old ip

[@lntellectuaI]

The quality you’ve put in this video is unbelievable. Most other videos of this grandiosity tend to waste their length on complete retelling of the story, leaving little time for analysis or critique on the author side. But you’ve managed to offer such a level of in-depth analysis, from story to the world and soundtrack, that I simply never see on KZbin. Thank you.

[@countbyme]

I'll be honest I only really clicked on this video because it was 4 hours and I wanted to see if you could come up with 4 hours of new arguments against Origins without repeating yourself too much. I'm surprised. lol well done. For the most part I would say that's 4 hours worth of un-repeated new thoughts and content. :)

[@alarrim29574]

I clicked on it to play in the background while I fall asleep.😂

[@Killicon93]

A joke I told my friends about AC: Origins revenge plot: "- Papo! Will I die some day?" "- Haha Khemu! What? Do you think you are the family member of a protagonist in a series with several protagonists avenging dead family members?"

[@nnnnmhughuuhhjiijj9457]

Man, it's has been done so much now, even playing as Altaïr in AC-1 feels more refreshing.

[@benharder7816]

​@@nnnnmhughuuhhjiijj9457 I watched Lazerzzz 4-hour deconstruction of AC I, and it really helped me appreciate AC I even more for what it is. Before, I thought it was a great set piece with some cool characters here and there. Now, I see it as an actual philosophical experiment of a game that hasn't really been attempted as earnestly since.

[@nnnnmhughuuhhjiijj9457]

@@benharder7816 True, unfortunately it wasn't a perfect attempt, considering how it was riddled with repetitive gameplay-loop and poor presentation, but it was a geniune attempt at creating something more than your typical action game.

[@NoonDragoon]

I am so glad this video exists because it echoes so many sentiments I have felt about Origins, and the AC series as a whole, since this game's release. I have no enthusiasm for AC Valhalla due to it being so far from what I loved about the AC series. Really awesome video, and I went to your channel after finishing this to see what else you had and was STUNNED this is your first video. You've earned a sub for sure.

[@Saztog1425]

I'm so glad I found this video. After hearing everyone praise it to the heavens, I played it for about 3-4 hours and just couldn't get over how poorly written and unpolished it all was. The overall design of it from the combat to the RPG elements just feels either shallow or clunky. I really loved the setting, but after doing the same side-quest of "scout with your eagle drone, find the commander of a camp and kill him" for what felt like the 60th time, I just gave up. Wonderful analysis all around.

[@itsDjjayyArt]

Exactly

[@jasonholzhausen1093]

Glad to see someone make point of Bayek being the one who killed his son and the fact that the game never makes him confront that fact. Haven’t seen any other review note on that or make a whole section regarding it.

[@terra_the_nightingale135]

I thought the same thing but someone else pointed out that since Flavius redirected the strike he still bares all the blame. But as Bayek was Khemu’s father... that’s still something to really fuck him up. Or should’ve at least.

[@ALTAI38]

You can literally see flavius hold bayek's arm, sidestep leftways and pushing bayek's arm further to the right, and bayek caught in the unbalance lunging forwards into his son. C'mon, AC 'fans'

[@jasonholzhausen1093]

@@ALTAI38 the idea was even though it wasn’t bayeks intent his son still died by his hand. I understand Flavius redirected his arm to do so but it was still Bayek stabbing his own son

[@OminousToast]

Lol I wonder if some ancient Egyptian justified grave robbing because "Ah enough time has passed that he's fought his way to the afterlife already, he doesn't need these anymore." Awesome video man.

[@jaserader6107]

When you make the point that Aya and Bayek see the brotherhood has an organization to to kill bad guys for vengeance while not being about freedom, I think that would make a great narrative if bayek were to ever get a sequel in the roman empire. In the start of the game you would be doing just the same as in origins, killings bad guys out of vengeance, yet this time your actions have consequences and people start to hate you and your creed seeing you as a bunch of maniacs in the shadows and fear you. the creed would have a reputation of being these masked men who take away your loved ones and cause instability. Bayek and Aya over the course of the game learn from their mistakes and make the creed revolve around the idea of freedom for the people of Rome and not just a revenge cult. In the end they finally make the brotherhood philosophy and have changed it for the better. I think this would make a great narrative for a game. I know this video is old but Please see this comment because I would like to know your opinion on this. Fantastic videos as well Edit. Awesome you responded!

[@azureascendant994]

When I first played this game I thought it was going to be about the founding of the creed but it turned out to be a change in creed philosophy.

[@SalamSalam-my4sn]

Finished the video in few sessions, man it got me. awesome editing, good choice of footage, marvelous use of music, amazing and engaging narrative, completely educational and most important of all was that it wasn't just another critique, it was a voice of passion without hope coming from bottom of a true fan's heart.

[@Reading.with.Pat.25]

Dude, this video really changed my views on the game. It took me two days to watch in full and all the while I was thinking....damn, you’re right. Congratulations on making such an amazing video, on doing your research, on proving facts and everything. The music, voiceover, gameplay was all amazing. You have earned a thumbs up, subscribe, and a share from me, really looking forward to watching more from you

[@Slayer398]

I found myself unable to complete Origins as I was just completely uninvested. By the time I met Aya and found out that 3 of the 5 "bad guys" was now dead i was like WTF?! why am I even *here*? These guys are just getting killed and even when I'm supposed to do the "assassinating" I'm getting stupid cutscenes and I barely care about my "targets". I got to Chapter 2 and just threw my hands up and quit.

[@jyotirani8187]

You were an idiot to do so. The real story begins from there. There aren't just 5 bad guys. There are 12 to 13. But if you are so impatient then I suppose it was good that you stopped.

[@gandalfhan]

Still better than Odyssey and Valhalla

[@nekoluxuria7721]

I only managed to finish it when I had my brain turned off. When I turned my brain on and looked back in hindsight there was only 1 part in origins that I was invested. That's not a good thing. Only 1 part of the entire game was actually good.

[@ALTAI38]

​@@gandalfhanvalhalla story actually gets you invested if you are into the isu and norse mythology stuff

[@-PVL93-]

If there's one thing I learned from this essay it's that Bayek and Aya are fucking psychopaths who quite literally get arousal from seeing each other after committing murderous activities, without fail. I get this is part fiction part based on an ancient society but good lord even porn movies sometimes show restraint

[@francesco8000]

About the stealth issue i think it's funny how the last 3 assassin's creed still haven't figured out what they really want to do with it (should it kill everyone or not?) and then we got Ghost Of Tsushima that found the perfect balance: stealth is capable to oneshot everyone (except few boss enemies) and upgrading the blade doesn't increase the damage, it makes the animation faster and more clean. This way you WANT to upgrade your stealth weapon not because you need it to kill enemies that are above lv50, but because you will be able to be faster and more efficient.

[@spiidey1]

GoT is the pinnacle of Assassin's Creed-esque games. It makes me chuckle how a studio that isn't Ubisoft fixed many of AC's shortcomings, particularly gameplay and bloat.

[@DV-ou1yu]

@@spiidey1 Let's not forget how HZD even fixed the Tower issue that Ubisoft still keeps alive in AC til this day. How many ledges must one jump off????lol

[@Leohlyon]

@@spiidey1 It makes me chuckle at how lackluster GoT’s open world is. At least the AC games get the open world concept right. In the AC games, you never know what you’re gonna see. Maybe you’ll see a croc, or maybe you’ll see 5 or 6? Maybe you’ll see a group of Hippos? In GoT, I know exactly what I’m gonna see: One Bear (always alone), or Boars in groups of 3. The world just doesn’t feel alive. Too damn static for an open world game.

[@spiidey1]

@@Leohlyon Crocs and hippos dont exist in Japan bro, lol. I played AC Origins (and got the platinum) and I was amazed by the wildlife for the first couple hours of the game. But around the 20 hour mark, I fucking hated getting near any body of water because there's always a small group of crocs or hippos that want to attack the player. Finding collectibles isn't fun when the game world goes out of its way to turn a 1 minute activity into 3 minutes or more because animals *ALWAYS* have to attack you.

[@Leohlyon]

@@spiidey1 Hmm, please show me where I said Hippos and crocs existed in Japan? I know it’s hard sometimes, but reading comprehension is very, very important. The point that you *clearly* missed is that the AC worlds feel alive, and the wildlife is part of that. I’m playing Origins and I have no issue avoiding conflict with the wildlife, if I so choose to. Since you’re a Japanese wildlife expert, I have a question for you. In Japan, are wild boars always found in groups of three?

[@hamstergal9164]

Literally the first thing I was thinking before Part 1 started was: It would be cool if he talked about the menu screen first, kind of like how ActionButton talks about UI in his video. And you did! Love the video already.

[@scarabyt]

Glad to see this keeps getting more and more love

[@trumpflavourednugget9325]

Walshie was right

[@fishpodpizza544]

This man dropped one top tier video and dipped

[@Ajay-kz9ns]

Rise up in the KZbin algorithm with this comment my padwannn

[@doggo531]

xd

[@alyseleem2692]

"Let the Architect of Fate guide it's hand to our victory " Thousand Sons Legionnaire.

[@vinniy32]

You know what would have been interesting? Have Bayek initially go for revenge, perhaps going on the brink before seeing how much damage he is doing with his quest and the Order has done. From there, perhaps after a symbolic death of his old self, he can be reborn as the founder of the Hidden Ones and perhaps have quests where you can recruit others to help to fight against the Order of the Ancients. It’s crude, yes, and could use some refinement, but I figure that it’s better than Bayek seeking vengeance against his son when those that led to his son’s death were killed.

[@Keep-Your-Pads-Steezy]

Please make more videos, you have a great voice and your editing is on point.

[@blacktomcasidy]

That ending line hit my heart so bad that tears dropped outta my eye. I have loved this franchise so much that I bought unity and waited for the problems to be ironed out. I played origins and has never played an AC game since. Was a backseat gamer when my friend played Odyssey, but hated it from the beginning. A demigod that claimed that she was no assassin wasn't the way I wanted to see the franchise.

[@terravictoriaproductions]

For a channel your size, your production quality is insane. Hope you keep it up!

[@LiannaBabeli]

I'm a huge supporter of AC, the franchise and what it originally represented, and Origins did 'feel' like a great upgrade compared to the past. It felt engaging, interesting, just the right length in story, and immersed me in a world that I'm extremely fond of. I am a massive Ancient Egyptian/Pre-Arabic fan, particularly of the Old Kingdom and the Kush Empire so when I heard about Origins, I was immediately on board for it. I recently tried playing it, but my real life has interrupted this second playthrough after more than 150 hours in my first one, having completed all content and the DLC years ago. I think I may have been fan-servicing the game for the longest time, as I am also a game developer and know how difficult it is, even if one has a multi-million dollar budget and the talent to handle such a project. I knew also that a lot of the negative changes you pointed out were likely put in place for various reasons, particularly when it comes to gameplay mechanics, but the story? I was so very confused myself. While I enjoyed it, it always felt lacking, particularly when it came to Bayek's religious beliefs. Even in the Ptolemaic period, Egyptians were still extremely devout. By Cleopatra VII's time... the idea of different gods or pantheons was almost unheard of, yet, they embraced it and continued their ancient beliefs simultaneously. It wasn't a black and white situation. Yet, they treated his beliefs like a convenience and that felt wrong. You acknowledged so many aspects that are wrong with this game and it doesn't even come down to laziness on the developers... it comes down to purposeful choices. Every aspect of a game MUST go through an approval process with the producers, directors, and owners. Every single piece must be authorized and scrutinized by them. There is no way that the producers, directors, and the team at large weren't aware of these problems. No matter how big a project gets, making a game in 2014 up to 2017, it would be just as impossible then as it is now for there not to be a pipeline of information that all aspects of the team have access to. Any excuse they have made over the obviously terrible writing, horrible plot structure, and chaotic handling of Bayek's personality and choices is completely negligent. I overlooked the terrible stealth, the modicum of improvement to combat, and the RPGification of it all because of my staunch support of AC as a whole. I believe in the franchise and want it to truly succeed with the community, but it's only gotten worse. Hell, I didn't even bother really playing past the first twenty hours of Odyssey because I 'thought' it was terrible. Now, I've beaten Odyssey and while it certainly is NOT an Assassin fantasy game by any measure, it was a significant improvement over Origins and I felt like I was back in Unity and Black Flag again, experiencing a story and a character that truly made me care about it. Valhalla... that is... the most sincere form of insult to the franchise as a whole. The concept is fantastic, the world is incredibly interesting and, thus far, has forced me to learn things even I didn't know about Norse and Viking culture despite being as big of a fan of Norse mythology as I am about Ancient Egypt. It does not excuse every other problem with Valhalla. Everything is a gimmick, designed to make you WANT to keep playing while ripping your money from you. The combat is worse than Odyssey or Origins, the stealth is completely and utterly useless, the AI is only marginally better than previous titles, social stealth is a joke and useless, parkour doesn't even have real verticality or movement benefits at all unless you're in a city, and the only good thing about the game is the setting, environment, soundtrack, and sound design. It's just unfortunate that it took sexual harassment and internal struggles to finally change the structure within to hopefully provide us with better future games in this franchise. I'm not sure how I feel about AC Infinity, as it sounds like another horrible, expensive gimmick that will produce totally lackluster results. I have a fear that Ashraf's specific management style has yet to leave the company and I don't care what the Executives believe: it will only make money in name and not because of any other legitimately worthwhile reason. As a side note: this video essay truly shows your talents and skills as a creator and an individual. I hope whomever you work for are extremely happy with your presence in their organization. I wish I could afford to hire you for our development company because I believe that you have much more to offer than simply making really good videos. This intricate, immaculate, engaging, and forthright without beating around the bush on negative and positive aspects of both the game, the franchise, and the company behind it all. Thank you and I've subscribed, in the hopes of seeing more future content. Please, keep making these. May the Gods continue to bless you.

[@alienplatypus1596]

Wow. This feels like the comment to end all comments. I have half a mind to print it and frame it :) From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the kind words!

[@LiannaBabeli]

@@alienplatypus1596 It is well earned darling! I'm excited to see any future you create and look forward to knowing that your future is bright and exciting. ^^

[@Zeb0101]

Although a not good main story odyssey is surely an upgrade but often framed as the opposite, showing that some only care about the superficiality of having a hood and a hidden blade and that makes the game a "real assassin's creed", not to mention the rest of details you hit on spot with your comment

[@gandalfhan]

Now do the same critique towards Odyssey and Valhalla.

[@rappercentral703]

4 and a half hour analysis *damn you must be passionate*

[@Nejvyn]

When I first heard that AC Origins would explore the creation of the assassin order and be set in Ancient Egypt, I imagined a game set in the tumultuous time between Egyptian kingdoms, with a lot of mystery and intrigue, with maybe an even more ancient organization, and a close-knit group of allies who split from that organization or tried to oppose it. What I got was a dying Egypt and an order founded by some people in a restaurant to kill guys from a fraternity because a kid died.

[@ombelle5284]

This is exactly it. A slave rebellion against the pharaohs, no king nor gods, even with easy analogies to abrahamic stories, like exodus. Could be some interesting tensions with egyptian mythology, and a reversal of expectations in a setting it is the main form of religion.

[@TheCapitalWanderer]

​@@ombelle5284true, sad we don't got that and we got a witcher ripoff (with shit story) instead

[@romylosvspartan4208]

​​@@ombelle5284 nah I personally prefer the mixture of greek, Roman and egyptian cultures it's more interesting that way and more history is recorded in the time period of 49 BC then something ridiculously long ago like 1600 BC so its more accurate this way.

[@educatedlaziness3268]

This is one hell of a first video for this channel, hope it's a sign of more to come, would love an in depth take on Odyssey in the future

[@tedzhh]

I saw this video in my recommended tab back in 2020 in the lead up to Valhalla and said no way I'm gonna watch a 4 hours video on Origins, it kept reapearing on my recommended tab throughout time and I finally decided to watch, took some days to finish, but man do I feel regretful for not watching it before... This video perfectly puts into words what I felt about Origins and didn't know how to explain because I forced myself to like this game as almost everyone else did. Great video man.

[@someguy1365]

That AC3 Title Screen... it still sets my heart afire with a feeling of adventure.

[@strikingdiscussion5263]

Bro do more videos! You are very concise, fair, and insightful. Also you bring a sense of levity into this critique which keeps it entertaining. We need more talent like you in the critique community!!

[@jortsmajeure]

An hour and forty minutes in, and the only thing I think I disagree on is the grimness. I would have liked more actual grimness. Not more combat or death, necessarily, but even the violence and death are so breezy that they don't make an impact, IMO. I think the bit with Shadya worked because collecting the body underwater was a really distinctive quiet moment, but in general the camera and voicework and pacing (the unwillingness of the game to stop for a minute and breathe) undermine what could otherwise be weightier quests. These same issues also keep the more comic sidequests and scenes from being anything but annoying. Everything is so breezy and formulaic.

[@IbrahimKhan-ix9vt]

This guy dropped a video critiquing my favourite assassin's creed game in the most eye opening way possible and doesn't make any more content. Damn i want more

[@Lin_Eileen]

He wrote the script for the new Mirage trailer!

[@IronInvoker47]

Thank you so much for helping me realize what it was about this game that made me put down my old fire for this series.

[@getthegoons]

I feel like part of the Parkour problem is that they've moved away from the big cities to wider wilderness areas. I'd almost rather have an AC in a single, more realistically scaled city than a whole miniaturized island. Unity and Syndicate had the right idea just poor execution.

[@Pedro_Le_Chef]

Alexandria could've been much better designed for parkour. How can ac2 make a small village well designed for parkour but Origins can't do the same for one of the biggest cities of its era?

[@getthegoons]

@@Pedro_Le_Chef Rooftop Parkhurst hasn't been very fun for me since like 3 when they had mad snipers on every single roof

[@scylla4342]

Not poor executions, simply because this setups are not selling at all. It’s obvious from the complaints and critics the game received towards the end of its stealth era everyone calling Ubisoft to turn it into another Skyrim, Dark Souls, Witcher, etc.

[@trumpflavourednugget9325]

@@scylla4342 no one asked ubisoft to turn assassin's creed into skyrim.

[@scylla4342]

@@trumpflavourednugget9325 there are a lot if you’re in the fanbase back in the day

[@elvenatheart982]

That ending...almost made me cry.

[@goldenvalkyrie7142]

When you said "Requiescat in pace fratello mio" at the end it made me cry. You are right, no matter how much I want the series to return to what it was it never will, and it makes me sad and angry. After being so invested in this story, after wondering for years how it all would end I know now, and have known for some time, that I will never know. I will never know becuase Ubisoft simply won't tell the story of the struggle between the assassins and the templars anymore. Thank you for making this video, it is incredibly well made. Well done sir.

[@elvenatheart982]

So glad I found this video. I feel like this game was severely bipolar when making it's story....however I had no idea how much not even after playing it. Thanks for honestly reviewing it. Even tho I will still enjoy some of its stupidity

[@elvenatheart982]

Also, damn I thought the problem with Ac protagonist started after Orifins but sadly I was wrong

[@stubblytuna4068]

I know I had a KZbinr tell me that a character I killed isn’t actually dead because he luckily found a papyrus that told him. What a game 😂

[@emanedeljkovic5354]

FINALLY! Finally, someone who shares almost all of my opinions on this game and series as a whole. I trully couldn't have said it better myself. From the broken story, forgettable characters, useless parkour (seriously, when I found out that you could scale the huge cliffs near Siwa just by running up to them, I almost cried) and SO MANY side quests that all feel samey, I gave up and decided to stop supporting the franchise. I still don't understand why so many people like this game but to each their own, I'm just glad I'm not the only one who has these opinions. Anyways, amazing work on the vid! I started watching it and couldn't stop partway, it was just that engaging to me. I hope to see more in the future and wish you great success, you truly deserve it.

[@gandalfhan]

Unlike Odyssey and Valhalla, you actually have a good story, good characters and you become an Assassin in Origins.

[@TheCapitalWanderer]

​@@gandalfhanyeah comparing horse shit to dog shit doesn't make any of them good, both origins and odyssey is shit. the templar and assassin conflict, the battle of ideology is gone. its just "assassin good, templar bad" with nonexistent parkour and witcher ripoff mechanics, it ain't good, you're better off of playing Witcher or Skyrim.

[@gandalfhan]

@@TheCapitalWanderer Origins isn’t shit lol

[@degariuslozak2169]

@@gandalfhan Weren't you listening? It's not just shit, it's dogshit

[@rezasalamati9652]

Man I love this, it's a masterpiece of critiques.

[@TonioTyme]

"I'm no grave robber" 😂 great review & well edited content 🔥 much appreciated 🙏

[@elvenatheart982]

"Stop gaslighting me, Game!" Awesome line. That and the "retconning a scene before introducing it " lmao and crying too

[@simonaspalovis1204]

What you said about Ashraf Ismail certainly sheds a new perspective on how he changed the franchise (arguably, maybe even for the worse). Blackflag was truly an amazing pirate game, but from the very beginning, it was considered a black sheep of the franchise in how it tried to steer away from the Assassins vs Templars themes. I loved Origins, but I also agree with all that you said about it and, yeah, it felt like the established lore was just a bunch of references, rather than naturally woven plot points that added weight in Bayek's story. As with Valhalla, the marketing #likeaviking already hinted were the game's core aspects truly lied in and we all know that Eivor doesn't even become an assassin in the game's story. So yeah, all in all, it seemed like Ashraf simply used the Assassin's Creed IP to make fantasy games in historical settings. Pity.

[@TheCapitalWanderer]

Black Flag is a good Assassin's Creed game too though, it's take on the assassin templar conflict is done really well, i can't ignore the grindy and collectible being pushed to a higher level tho

[@godzillazfriction]

it only tried to steer away from the core of the conflict (that is Assassin's Creed), in a intentional superficial level...

[@ALTAI38]

I can argue that the AC franchise had 2 core storylines. First one about the assassins vs templars story line. The second one about the ISU lore. Valhalla has no assassin as protagonist (still a good and well written character eitherway) but the ISU lore and how the king of england alienated the pagan gods and came sneaked the templar order into christianity and the templars overtake the western civilization.

[@vyshakmanoj2357]

Dude make more pleaseeeee! I'm only like 20 min in and I already love it! Just excited for the rest!!!!

[@xl-dt6qj]

I thought I was dumb for not understanding during the start of the game and then later on I realised the game is just thrown together and they actually don’t care about anything having to make sense to you.

[@AnimeGamer256]

Many have said this already, but I feel the need to repeat it, this is amazingly well done. This is the level of quality of both critique and production that I'd expect from a well-estalbished channel with 1000 times the subscribers, this is truly impressive. I have to ask if you have some history in this type of production before? I find it hard to believe that someone with no formal history of analysis, some form of semi-professional journalism, or at least someone who excelled in some writing analysis classes could be capable of this for their very first video. I also have to add extra praise for being possibly one of the only times that anyone has used the term "edgy" that not only didn't annoy me but had me agree. I can't understate how important it is to define your terms in the context of a debate, analysis, or even just general discussion. The term is usually used in such a vague or meaningless context of "kind of trying to be dark and kind of bad", but adding that little daria scene and giving it an exact definition really ensured that the exact context was known and no meaning was lost in its use.

[@Pedro_Le_Chef]

Considering he hasn't visited the comments or has made any other videos i would assume this isn't his main channel. Or he has other outlets besides this one.

[@alienplatypus1596]

Hi I know this VERY late for a reply, but here I am all the same. First off all, thank you for the praise. It really does mean a lot. In regards to my background, for my studies I majored in communications with a minor in history, in large part due to how much of an impact the earlier games in this franchise had on me. But this was my first production of this scale, and I couldn't be happier with the reception it wound up getting. I will always take any opportunity I can to thank my audience for their enthusiasm and positivity. So thank you, looksee, and thank you whoever might wind up reading this random comment!

[@AnimeGamer256]

@@alienplatypus1596 Oh wow, thanks for the response! Late or not it's nice to know you saw my comment, and I look forward to any future projects you have planned.

[@ArvisSc]

I expected 4 hours of improvised rambling but the whole video is well built. Why aren't you making more videos? This is really impressive.

[@SomasAcademy]

~2:37:04 There's actually a place in Southern France called Montreal (which Montreal, Quebec may be named after), which I'm pretty sure was already called that by 1506. The people there actually have an accent slightly closer to Italian than French (though the difference would have been smaller during that time, as I believe French r's were still rolled back then), so in addition to being an Easter Egg, that line has an in-universe explanation (assuming they thought of that and it wasn't just a coincidence).

[@alienplatypus1596]

I was not aware of that. Thank you, that is really interesting to know.

[@whynot7564]

I always thought it was nothing more than a joke, huh.

[@nothingoutofnothing5955]

2:52:25 This is my biggest problem with the series. So what if Ptolemy drowned according to our historical record? Did they completelly forget what Vidic said in the first game? We are seeing history as it was not as it was recorded (And these are games anyway). They never did anything interesting with this concept other than killing minor historical figures or inventing new ones. Etzio could have killed the pope and for the remainder of his rule it could have been a body double put in either by the church out of shame or by the assassins to make sure the vault was safe for example. Stuff that would show the nature of our historical record being easily corrupted or manipulated by politics

[@itsmorphinetime]

This is amazing, really hope you keep this long form content up. You deserve a crazy amount of subs

[@CinematicSeriesGaming]

I'm half way through and I'm loving this video. You're the first person I've seen to point out what I was always pointing out in conversations: that Origins has a massive issue with ludonarrative dissonance. I also noticed how it's really weird that Bayek is a religious person who pays respect to the dead and to traditions but at the same time he pillages tombs and temples wherever he goes. On one hand we have a character with certain convictions and on the other hand we have abundant loot for the player to collect. Those two things are constantly at odds in Origins. Another instance of this dissonance in Origins is Bayek's attitude towards the soldiers. Sure, some of them are evil bastards who torture people, burn villages and oppress the region. It would make sense for Bayek to assassinate some cruel leaders or defend innocent people against aggressive soldiers. But the game goes out of its way to make us kill almost every soldier we meet. Every goddamn camp is a location to complete and all of them require Bayek to rob a chest or kill someone. Why would Bayek really feel the need to kill so many random soldiers? Are all soldiers evil? Don't they also have loving families? Aren't soldiers just normal people who ended up following orders? Stuff like this makes me really appreciate Black Flag. That game had very few issues with ludonarrative dissonance because everything we did as players made perfect sense for Edward to do. Of course he would pillage chests, of course he would plunder ships, of course he would kill guards, of course he would accept assassination contracts! He was a greedy and egoistic pirate! Killing and pillaging was not beneath him at all. It was only at the end of the game when he became more compassionate and introspective.

[@alyseleem2692]

I remember one time I was in a camp and I found a soldier's diary near his " bed"( really a cover over some hay with a pillow). He was guilty. Very much so. He was sick of his job, but afraid of the Crocodile. I had killed everyone I saw in the camp. I'd burned half of it. I'd been hunting patrols around it... These developers had the gall to let me do all that,and then put this,and then let nothing come out of Bayek's mouth. I burned the bed. And the whole building. And that goddamn diary. And I went straight back to murdering patrols.

[@malfuresz7351]

This was fantastic! Your speech at the end was beautiful, especially with that music (God I love Jesper Kyd). I really hope you'll do more of these of other AC games as well, this one was just pure quality. Also your voice really reminds me of that of Leo K's :D

[@jacobschaefer6388]

Bro, I’ve literally never found an assassins creed fan that’s would agree with me. Everything you’ve said is literally the same opinion. And because I finally found someone and herd there opinion on it….. you made me cry bro lmao. Just hurts to know that I’m truly not the only real die hard fan that is saddened by Ubisofts way of going about making these games now.

[@degariuslozak2169]

Fans like us aren't the majority anymore, but it's good to know there's still a lot of us♥

[@capitalism7229]

Everyone says this video is 4 and a half hours long but really if you actually look closer you'll find it's actually only 4 hours and thirty-eight minutes and also five seconds

[@AD-oi2bz]

6 seconds actually

[@mahermosally6691]

@@AD-oi2bz not the 6 seconds 😩

[@AD-oi2bz]

@@mahermosally6691 I'm just trynna be helpful he is trying to be accurate I'm just giving him a nudge in the right direction

[@xanderxodiac8317]

This is awesome, I checked your channel and I can't believe this is just your first video ! Eagerly waiting for many more !

[@Misadventurer]

I am blown away by the existence of this video - four and half hours of commentary and analysis which deserved four and a half hours. This video is shockingly good, and I really hope you consider making more critiques in this style.

[@TimelessWorldOfGaming]

What I miss is being normal person, discovering the mystery around the creed and then being indoctrinated and learn to be an assassin before rushing into a story that's rushed and all over the place. We'll never have an Assassin's Creed as good as Ezio's story. I haven't connected with any of the main characters since Ezio and that's pretty bad when you think how many games have dropped since then. I did nothing but complain about the intro to Valhalla, My parents died but I genuinely did not care. It was a bunch of cheap attempts to make me care about several animated models that had no personality. I didn't get to see any interaction between Eivor and his parents and as soon as I took control of Eivor as a kid I said "Let's go watch our parent's die like every other game" and sure enough, saw it coming a mile away. They are too focused on their maps, worlds. and having a ton of empty content than an immersive experience or story. I feel it was a lot of "Damn we spent too much time creating the world and terrain, now we have to hurry and add everything else so we can start cashing in on micro transactions and possibly fix what we didn't finish if players complain about it.

[@OrangeNash]

As time since AC2 goes by, I don't think the question is "Where did AC go wrong?". It's "How on earth did this company of abysmal game designers somehow produce the gem that is AC2"? Because it is so far ahead of the others. It is the exception.

[@godzillazfriction]

no such thing as the concept of 'Normality'...

[@degariuslozak2169]

@@OrangeNash It's because Patrice Dissilet left the company(for a 2nd time) during Brotherhood's production

[@AdityaSathya]

They create some new lore in Valhalla which adds a bit more meat to the whole 'bayek not experiencing memories' thing

[@jackwarr4251]

Doesn’t matter isn’t in origins

[@DopDipDop]

Gotta pay £60 for us to explain our shitty lore. As incompetent as Ubisoft is, they're really efficient when it comes to being scummy.

[@Ibeptr]

Iiii

[@_sethm]

@@DopDipDop I kinda disagree with this take. They ARE scummy, as many corporations are, but that situation feels like Darby McDevitt trying to cover for other (shittier) writers fucking up lore. Valhalla explaining a relatively small discrepancy isn’t even a selling point that would ever be mentioned.

[@DopDipDop]

@@_sethm That's fair. I was more referring to the incomplete nature of all the games they put out. I appreciate Darby trying, must suck working with a company actively working against you and it's fans.

[@Chucklefu-ckle]

The balls to just post a four hour video as your small channel rep video, respect dude

[@AdityaSathya]

AC origins' narrative was heavily changed by the higher ups. The game lost its original narrative director Darby Mcdevitt (Revelations, Blackflag, Embers and now Valhalla) and Alain was brought in late 2016. This also shows how Valhalla is such a step up in quality of scripting (major moments especially) and vision. Nvm you know all of this lol

[@mrmorgan1376]

I didnt, thank you!

[@ItzMeWill]

everyone knows this already..duuhh...omg......ok I didn't know

[@Shaker_YT]

Valhalla is barely better than origins, it isn't the issue of a single writer, its the issue in Ubisoft and the fact that this series is dead

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

I can’t believe we got a Ptolemaic Egyptian game, a classical Greek game, and whatever tf Valhalla is supposed to be before we got a Sengoku Jidai setting for an AC game. They literally had secret orders of assassins, Ubisoft. Why has it taken you this long to make such an easy lay-up?

[@AdityaSathya]

@@Shaker_YT wrong

[@ThisGamerSeemsLegit]

Oh my god you put how I felt about the intro perfectly. I feel like I couldn't have worded it any better. Amazing writing and great video man. Inspiring me to go work on scripts that I've personally been working on.

[@bulldog6545]

I loved the way you dissected every issue with the game so carefully and passionatly. Thank you.

[@zhroom8623]

I knew someone special enough to shit on origins this hard could create & write such a perfect trailer for Mirage

[@zhroom8623]

Best trailer since Revelations. Marvelous work

[@editating_2614]

What?

[@tommygun6866]

First video and already a banger! Can't wait for the next one.

[@umikousaka8158]

Re: Ezio's Family being used over and over again Thank you for expressing what I had unable to articulate to my friends (also veterans of this franchise) whenever this comes up. I utterly agree with the sentiment here and hope that Ubisoft grows past this in due time, esp. given the talents that it had utilized in composing the soundtrack for these past few games.

[@DevilsRe6ct]

This is probably the best video review I’ve ever seen on KZbin. Can’t believe I sat thru all 4hrs, I never do that. Great job and great quality. 👑. Btw I just can’t get into origins nor odyssey. 1,2 brotherhood and revelations are masterpieces IMO. Can’t wait for your next video. PS hope you do a video on Ubisoft in general.🙏🏾👍🏾

[@WeekendGamerTX]

You articulated all the things I dislike about this game. Having said that, I still enjoyed exploring the game world.

[@alyxandyrbrubachyr]

Really well done, you perfectly put into words my vague feelings about this game, I was happy to be finally finished with the game, never to go back to it. I love the different angles you put this game through and I learned a few things and everything you said makes sense. I loved the video even though I had to watch it in a few sessions and I look forward to more. I would love and hate you for working Odyssey through this as well as I loved it as its own game but now having watched this I can see how it would fall short of the bigger picture. Well done, keep up the good work I look forward to hearing more from you.

[@Lin_Eileen]

The Mirage trailer was sooo good! Amazing work Antoine ❤

[@ProfessorGReco]

Love AC Origins, but also love and understand your video critique. I hope you make another video like this about AC Odyssey and AC Valhalla. Really love your work!

[@ronensalathe]

>shows up >posts a 4 hour long critique of AC: Origins >refuses to elaborate >leaves

[@Facelessbuster]

Dude... your first video and it’s a 4 hour and 30 minute critique of AC origins? I’m so in. Instant subscribe!

[@youhavebeendeceived2519]

Why on Earth would you like a video about that

[@t.m.o2897]

@@youhavebeendeceived2519 watch the video

[@youhavebeendeceived2519]

@@t.m.o2897 I did

[@garyslater]

This would be a pip on the shoulder of any seasoned youtuber and that it's your first entry on the platform is nothing short of astonishing! Thankyou for this well rounded and well thought out critique. Looking forward to your future projects!

[@karthikcv8104]

1:16:09 You mean Christina mate?😅 Claudia is Ezio's sister

[@antwon5834]

Sweet home Alabama

[@Aerosmith1999-j6h]

"I only need a minute"

[@zhroom8623]

I always saw this in my recommendeds and was always hesitant to watch a 4.5 hour video, but I just came around to watching it over two days and honestly this is just.... such a high quality explanation of Origins's narrative sins. And you gave fair credit where it's due, too (Love the DLC1). I'm not much of a narrative-oriented gamer, but this game always kind of irked me in ways I couldn't articulate and I always felt like I was missing something that other fans saw because I didn't pay attention, but now I know that it's just this game's writing. Making stuff like this, editing and syncing audio is really time consuming work, but you have it down pretty damn perfectly. I look forward to any future analyses like this masterpiece

[@kronosleblu888]

The last 3 Assassin's Creed games are so off the mark that I feel like them having that assassin's Creed label attached to them holds them back and makes them irrelevant. Turning a game that is focused on recreating historical society and architecture into a game that is not focused on anything and is open world to a level that everything just feels the same and boring. Unfortunately due to high sales and good reviews, the old Assassin's Creed is dead. The series no longer has an identity and to make matters worse ghost of Tsuchima did what Assassin's Creed has failed to do for the last decade. Ubisoft is a joke at this point....

[@ghost-j4r]

Sounds like you're crying to me we've been playing assassins creed with the same concept same background for years since some fans wanted to complain that it was getting stale ubisoft created assassin creed games that's a new experience and it's a success as much as I love the original games y'all need to stop whining because its different people will continue to love these new assassins creed games why yall are stuck crying that its not like the first 9 assassins creed's and there's only 3 that's extremely different

[@secondsummer4106]

I don’t know man, I really enjoy the latest three AC games more than I enjoyed many of the previous ones. Odyssey is definitely my least favorite, and Origins is actually my favorite, and Valhalla falls somewhere in the middle. I think they’re gorgeous, the voice acting is good, they’re more interesting and the level of detail is far superior and they don’t feel anywhere near as clunky and dated. I love them but I know it’s a very unpopular opinion. I’m also of the opinion that...things need to evolve. If every single game was the exact same formula as the typical AC games it would’ve gotten very boring very quickly, and been extremely repetitive. Yeah the games are different, but it doesn’t mean you gotta automatically hate them. Franchises evolve. They’re trying something different and despite the issues I do have with the games, I think they’re pretty solid. I personally had zero interest in AC (despite being an ancient history major in college) UNTIL I saw Origins. I’ve now gone back and played the other ones and they’re just so meh to me. I do like AC2 and Black Flag a lot though. I think it was the aspect of ancient history that really drug me into it because there’s so few solid games involved ancient Egypt or Greece or even the 800s AD Viking age. What I personally think is this: Are they necessarily *great* AC games and follow the formula? No Are they absolutely fantastic history RPG games? Definitely I think attaching the AC label really just added the prestige and funding the games needed because I don’t think they’d have been near as good if done by a smaller company. So I guess consider that too. Nobody would’ve cared about an Egypt RPG but attach the AC name? Now people care.

[@secondsummer4106]

@@ghost-j4r I absolutely think the old formula was getting old and they switched it up and now people are pissed. As if they wouldn’t have been complaining if AC had stuck with the same formula anyways. You just can’t win

[@ghost-j4r]

@@secondsummer4106 people are picky while gamers like me are open minded and willing to try new things I was once like the people talking down on the new ac games till I opened my mind and my heart to experience the new games and I love it in my opinion

[@moosejuice4231]

@@ghost-j4r exactly. B-but it’s not azzazinz cred is it sjdgwgsy

[@SanguineDoe]

20:11 I 100% agree with this point. The entire time Bayek is going on about "I have to find the man who killed my son" and I'm just thinking, wasnt that you? He was the one who put the knife in Khemu's chest. Is he ever at any point going to face the face that he had a hand in his own son's death? I was really hoping that at some point Bayek would realize that HE was the man he was looking for, and in that understanding move from going after the Order of Ancients for revenge to going after them to protect people. But it never happens. He just kills Flavius and thats the end of it.

[@SJ-ex2md]

One of the best in-depth videos i've seen, didnt even care about origins but your review had me hooked

[@ThePreciseClimber]

2:19:49 "History is the study of change. Change IS life. When things become static, it means they're dead." Damn. Deep, man. :P Although AC2 was also a little lazy with modern security dudes since they only used batons (and they were just re-skinned maces). AC3 got a little better since they used guns from time to time but, again, they were re-skinned 18th century guns. But I will give them a bonus point for the unique gun reload animation Desmond can perform. But yeah, there's no excuse for the Abstergo guys to use bows & arrows in Origins. Especially since there's no combat here, they just insta kill you. So they should've killed you with an insta-kill gun animation. Or, better yet - an assault rifle animation. AC is seriously long overdue for basic cover-based shooter combat in present day sections, Watch Dogs style.

[@kalebm1951]

I hope this is found by more people

[@walterkrueger5947]

Coming back to this video after playing AC Odyssey and finding out Aya was intended to be the protagonist really shows they writing of Bayek was always going to be flawed. Having the game always portraying Bayek as right wouldn't allow drama. With Aya it would be a story about Avenging her son, coming to terms with her husband being the one who held the knife, and carrying on the legacy of the hidden blade she inherited.

[@lailailailalai]

After i watched literally every second of this video, now I know why my experience towards this game felt "flavorless" or "dull". I always wanted to know why I can't really love this game so much, but i can't tell. All i can see is other AC fans praising this game, good for them, but i wish i could too. But then now i know why.

[@ricardomiles2957]

I'm a old time fan and I think I can surely say that people who like the new games probably didn't think of AC as more than another RPG that had a quirk with parkour, and unfortunately these are the majority so Ubi as a company will focus on them

[@gandalfhan]

Still better than Odyssey and Valhalla

[@Zeb0101]

​@@gandalfhanNo, odyssey has better gameplay, still an RPG but at least does it better, just as bad main storyline as origins but at least better secondaries and side quests

[@gandalfhan]

@@Zeb0101 bro said Origins’ story is bad💀 you really have no idea what you’re talking about. At least it’s the last game that actually IS about Assassin’s Creed.

[@Zeb0101]

@@gandalfhan A hood and a hidden blade doesn't make for and AC game, just fanservice not more relevant than talking about ISU affairs, also "not idea what you're talking about" lol, you have half brain if you think so, cause is so frickin evident when looking at it unless you're dull. I recommend you see the video you're commenting on, since it seems you haven't, no need to tell you myself cause it already does. (in an amazing and complete way I can't even compete with btw)

[@MrHoll87]

I agree with a lot of these complaints, especially regarding the plot and pacing, writing, direction, etc. But man, some of these frustrations of yours really seem like petty nit picks you're blowing way out of proportion. Like you're not even consistent with your gripes, you complain that Ubisoft did NOT change history by Ptolemy's death, but then complain they DID change history because Siwa wasn't even called Siwa at the time. Pick a lane, dude. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Honestly so baffled by the childish temper tantrums thrown over little things in this video.

[@myyoutubeaccount4167]

The latter half of your comment misses the point of his argument, I feel. He says that Ptolemy's death, like many others in this game, is unsatisfying. After making this claim, he attempts to identify why that is the case, and the conclusion he came to was so Ubisoft could claim that they're making their games historically accurate. After identifying this, he then comes up with the following counterarguements; Firstly, in their previous games, historical accuracy was sometimes compromised for the sake of their creative vision. Secondly, even if Ubisoft wanted to say that the gameplay was compromised for historical accuracy, other historical inaccuracies (such as Siwa not being named Siwa at the time) render this point invalid. If you cut corners and compromise gameplay for historical accuracy, might as well go all the way, right? Ubi didn't do this, and that is the point of that section.

[@kaiserthescouser8067]

I love Origins. I love the setting and I love Bayek. I love the world and the story. I don’t necessarily agree with some of your points, however I see how many of the points you made are just hilariously stupid and how sloppy many of the things in Origins were developed. I enjoyed your video and those 4h flew by. So thank you for this.

[@borekstvorek]

I think that's the whole point. Shitty product or not, if you are having fun with it, then it's a success :-)

[@trumpflavourednugget9325]

Which points exactly didn't you agree with him on?

[@tejashweruthaman9194]

I don't think you understand the essence of Assassin's creed. This is just a cash grab from the name, the sequels of star wars.

[@pandogstudios1512]

​@@tejashweruthaman9194Let people enjoy what they want. It ain't that deep.

[@justAiose]

This was beautiful. Thank you for the well put essay

[@clownbunniez]

such a good video essay/critique! my only previous knowledge of assassins creed came from about 15 minutes worth of jumping around on rooftops in assassins creed 2, but this kept me entranced in a world and a game that i knew nothing about for over four and a half hours (genuinely really loved how long the video was too! ive been watching it on and off for a few days) this also made me really interested in going back and trying out some of the older games in the series! looking forward to any potential future content :D

[@crumb2380]

fucking hell I never noticed the eagle skull was khemu's. I thought it was so dumb a random skull imprint became the assassin logo Edit: finished the whole video, incredible job on this! Perfectly explained all the misgivings I had about this game and the direction of the series as whole but couldn't quite articulate myself. Honestly surprised when I checked your account and this is the only video you've put up. Clearly a lot of skill and work put into it, very glad I stumbled upon it!

[@RogueDEV96]

Superb video, one of my favorites of all time, the ending was the cherry on the cake

[@amaas211]

11:46 So to rewrite the game, we'd have the tutorial be with Bayek's boy. Bayek teaches his son how to navigate (parkour), a crash landing puts Bayek on the spot to protect his son (combat), and the scuffle is brought to the Pharoh's attention who decides (with the masked voices in his ear) to have the boy killed and Bayek exiled, starting the game. Now Bayek has to start up the brotherhood to get revenge on the Pharaoh and learns about the greater Eden/Isu/Future-Templar conspiracy and dedicates the Brotherhood to protecting the innocent, dismantling Tyrants, and protecting the world from the pieces of Eden.

[@amaas211]

And we need to make sure we follow Chekhov's gun even with characters.

[@amaas211]

Basically we need the flashbacks in real time, at the start, giving both the player and character motivation.