In 2007, the first entry into one of the most well known video game series of all times was released. Nearly a decade later, Ubisoft has released its tenth major installment of everyone’s favorite stealth-kill franchise, taking place in Ancient Egypt. The game, “Assassin’s Creed: Origins,” currently sits at a 9/10 rating on both Steam and IGN, and has accrued overwhelmingly positive reviews.

“Amazing graphics as expected with no downgrades whatsoever, what was shown on E3 is delivered here. A joy to look at that beautifully rendered draw distance, and the beautiful color palette choice makes this game look absolutely stunning,” said a gamer named Dante in the highest rated Steam review for the game.

Diverging from their typical “I joined the brotherhood, I must kill Templars” storyline, the protagonist, Bayek’s,  motivations are entirely personal. His wife, however, does attempt to instill some political motivators for him, educating both he and the audience in Ptolemy and Cleopatra’s drama/wrongdoings, but our protagonist is frankly not having it.

Aside from the storyline, other significant changes have occurred. For the first time, the game employs a loot-based system, and “goes RPG.” The most noticeable change, however, is in battle.

“Now this is the biggest change in Origins, the combat has shifted from animation-based system (or unscripted QTE [quick time events, where you quickly choose between options] if you will) to a hitbox-based system..but I can tell you this much, it plays and feels better than it looks,” said Dante.

Like Syndicate, carriage mechanics are present, in the form of chariot racing minigames, along with the familiar drone/owl from earlier games manifesting as Senu, your pet eagle.

The soundtrack is amazing, missions are numerous and all of a high quality, and the voice acting and cutscenes are compelling, adding depth the award-worthy plot.

But, is is worth noting that some AI issues and glitches have been garnering some complaints from consumers, “the AI needs some improvement because it can be really dumb sometimes and ruin the immersion for me, also some of the animations are weird and stiff, nothing game breaking but it would be nice if these issues get sorted out with a future patch,” Dante also said.

Personally, I have encountered a few glitches, the worst of which being nothing more than a hyena getting trapped inside a rock during a battle; this was easily resolved by “waiting” in game.

As usual, prices on Steam are more cost-effective than a hard copy version, but who wouldn’t want that steelbook!? The game is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows, starting at around $59.99 at most retailers.

This game is honestly in my top picks, and I highly recommend it, but, like Dante said, “check gameplay footage on YouTube to see if the game appeals to your taste and make up your own mind instead of having your opinion swayed by ‘game journalism-ing.’”