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

7. Overhauled Combat (With Some Immersion-Breaking Animations)

Easily the most obvious change to standard AC gameplay is completely redesigned combat, which mimics the behind-the-back setup of Dark Souls.

Ubisoft's take on this is a far twitchier, less play-tested affair - one that even in the short sequences we saw, shows Bayek literally running a guy through with a spear, only for them to keep fighting as normal. Bayek also takes a few mortal slashes through the gut himself, but it doesn't stop him fighting as normal.

Escapism is obviously the order of the day, but it's a strange decision to want a more 'gritty' and tactical combat system, only for wounds to literally mean nothing - not to mention, general animation needs considerable touching up.

Gone is the flair of chaining kills and being a one-man powerhouse of blades and dodge-rolls, and in is a supposedly methodical dance where every hit counts - except sometimes it occasionally doesn't.