Assassin's Creed Origins: 10 Important Questions It Must Answer

9. If Combat Controls Like Dark Souls, Is The AC Style Gone Completely?

I see you there, stamina bar. And I see you, behind-the-back camera. In fact, as various people who got to go hands-on with Origins at E3 have attested, the very control scheme for combat now mimics that of Dark Souls.

Origins' button layout slightly differs, in that the shoulders are now used for short attacks and shield bashes, whereas the triggers are reserved for long range pokes and larger swipes, but either way the notion of controlling combat with the shoulders and triggers is a 'Dark Souls thing'. Presumably, this also puts the focus on range and circling around opponents in a similar Souls-like fashion, but with more back-stepping and retreat/advancing quicksteps, rather than side-rolls.

Being that Dark Souls has become the focal point for everything from its own genre (Salt & Sanctuary, Lords of the Fallen, Absolver, The Surge etc.) to being the go-to combat model God of War's reboot, is just carrying that over going to cut it? And in doing so, does that mean all the identifiable mass-killing badassery we associate with AC is gone?

Because let's be frank, there is a LOT of style and flair applied to killing in Assassin's Creed. If even mastering this new system still means you can't wipe out platoons of guards in one fell swoop... will it still feel like Assassin's Creed?