Assassin's Creed Origins Hands-On: 12 Things We Learned

4. The 'Animus Pulse' Map Ping

Proof - if it were needed - that Origins is chasing the tail of other open-world action games, now AC has the standard 'map ping' function seen everywhere from Dragon Age to No Man's Sky.

Called the 'Animus Pulse', in Origins it's used to help locate a variety of story-related items for quests and side-missions. Interestingly, this is mostly used as a stand-in for the radial map itself, as Origins is the first AC to not have any onscreen map whatsoever.

Ubi are therefore hoping for a more Skyrim-esque experience where goals and checkpoints are marked on-screen, rather than drawing your attention elsewhere. Can an open-world game like this work without an onscreen map? Let us know in the comments.