Firstly, chain kill abilities are pretty high up the skill tree so you won’t be doing them for a while, and even then they are capped at 2 kills. The chain-kill system used by previous titles, which allowed you to mow down large crowds in visually impressive ways, is also severely limited. You’ll need to be severely overleveled to deal with Phylakes, for one of these guys on your level will mop the floor with your face and laugh while doing so (literally). Enemies one or two levels above you will be really tough, and anything with a red skull icon will absolutely destroy you – except for the elite Phylakes. It’s generally a good idea to purposefully over-level for whatever task you want to complete, because as opposed to other RPGs, this doesn’t make things easy, it makes things fair. Do you finish off the weaker, faster opponents first, look for an opening, or dodge to flank the enemy? Another thing to consider is levels – once you’ve reached the early mid-game, the game becomes particularly cruel if you try going after enemies even just one or two levels above you. Tower shields, for example, require a charged heavy attack to knock out of the way, however pulling that off with multiple enemies around you isn’t easy, not to mention it is an unlockable ability not available by default. Shields particularly mix things up, as the different varieties require different moves to get through.

Instead of the same 3 or 5 archetypes, the weapon and shield loadouts of enemies affect their fighting style and what approach you’ll need to take. There is a wider variety among enemies, for one.

For almost a decade, the franchise relied on the same combat system, but Origins is shaking things up completely. For the first time since 2007’s Assassin’s Creed, combat is challenging, not in small part due to Origins being an RPG. The very first thing you’ll notice is the combat, because the game drops you into a combat scenario right off the bat. Many of the familiar motions of Assassin’s Creed we’ve come to know are there, but at the same time some major elements of the gameplay has changed. Origins doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and it’s absolutely Assassin’s Creed, but it manages to take the franchise forward while solving some of its longest standing issues. Assassin’s Creed: Origins is the fruit of this short break, and it’s immediately apparent how beneficial taking a step back and putting more time into development was. After years of annual releases with little innovation, and two large blunders, it wasn’t much of a surprise that both the community and Ubisoft wanted to put Assassin’s Creed on a hiatus, regardless of Syndicate’s success.

Assassin creed origin pc