Assassin’s Creed: Origins is taking inspiration from the series past, which ironically is the future, by re-introducing tomb raiding in the Egyptian action-adventure. Ubisoft wants to reintroduce the more realistic tomb raiding from Assassin’s Creed 2, according to Origins creative director Ashraf Ismail.
In an interview from the latest issue of OPM, via GamesRadar Ismail said that Origins will feature authentically recreated Egyptian tombs, stating that,‘We have quite a few tombs in the game, and they range from being classical puzzles to navigation puzzles and navigation challenges’. This sounds like a similar approach to Assassin’s Creed 2, where many of the tombs were set in real-life locations such as Basilica di San Marco in Venice, with its authentically recreated mosaic design, as well as in an artistically adjusted Rome, which featured a circular rather than elliptical Colosseum due to technical challenges present at the time.
The Assassin’s Creed: Origins team had spent a lot of time researching ancient Egypt, and also spent time consulting with historians on how the tombs were originally constructed so they could achieve a level of authenticity in the game. ‘A lot of them are actually built off of the actual true tombs that we’ve researched’ said Ismail, ‘Now, of course, we have a bit of fun and go a bit further, like, what are the secret chambers that have not been discovered yet?’.
It’s clear from this interview that there’s a large focus on accuracy, but also there’s the need to make sure that the game itself is fun, so the tombs are designed in a way that has a challenge to it whilst maintaining a historical influence to puzzle design and layout.
Assassin’s Creed Origins is out for PS4, PC and Xbox One on October 27.
