10 Ways Assassin's Creed Origins Has Saved The Franchise
2. A Worthwhile Skill Tree & Progression
From telekinetically piloting arrows to taming animals, chaining stealth kills to shield-charges, parries and better trade prices, AC Origins skill tree would verge on Ubisoft throwing every last thing at the wall to see what sticks - if it wasn't so damn effective.
Coming at a point in the industry where the majority of "upgrades" are "+2% damage" or "increased XP for 1 hour", having an actual set of new animations, abilities and meaningful skills is a godsend.
From beginning to end you do start as an accomplished killer, but after a few hours you'll be clearing guard outposts in a blur of thrown blades and smoke bombs, commanding a recently-released lion to finish off any remaining stragglers.
Progression extends to the amount of weapons and outfits you get too, as though the former falls back on random number generation to give you "better" equipment, you do feel the benefit of being able to tackle higher-level areas once you've spent time unlocking the requisite gear.