When Ubisoft unveiled gameplay for Assassin's Creed: Origins at this year's E3 presentation, the studio received relatively positive feedback. There were complaints of course; some voiced the opinion that, for a studio that had taken the last year off to "re-examine the franchise," not enough had evidently changed from the rather formulaic series. The combat in particular seemed to have carried over much from previous installments, with little obvious innovation.
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For the most part, however, Origins looked like a breath of fresh air in a franchise that has slowly driven itself stale over the years. In a recent interview with the Game Informer podcast team, Game Director Ashraf Ismail answered a variety of questions related to Ubisoft's upcoming title. Check it out:
The video's definitely a little long for casual watching. Luckily for us, the community over at the Assassin's Creed subreddit put together a list of the interview's major points.
From this, it's clear that there's a lot going on in Origins. The map will be fully open world (which is normal), weapons can be upgraded (which is not), the cover system has been tweaked, and the successfulness of assassinations will be determined by the player's level. This last bit is particularly noteworthy for longtime fans of the series; in Assassin's Creed, combat has rarely been much of a challenge, so any hint towards a higher difficulty in completing objectives is certainly good news.
What sticks out the most from the interview though is the level of enthusiasm from Ismail. It's common practice to hype up your studio's project of course, but hearing a developer's pride in what Origins will provide is actually kind of wholesome, and speaks highly of his confidence in the game.
Plus, from the sounds of it the developers have been actively listening to feedback. The dodge animation took a lot of flak at E3, for example, so the team immediately began implementing changes to respond to this. Similarly the customizability of the player's character is up in the air as well, which again suggests a level of consideration present among the studio's staff.
For more information about Assassin's Creed: Origins, follow Ubisoft's official Twitter account for the game.
