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IIRC it's okay to copy and paste from an editor's direct source so I took the most interesting parts of the article so you can quickly read to what is interesting to you (combat, open world, mission, lore etc)
BUT there's more details in the link above (especially on combat!)
About the open world
About NPCs
About travelling
About the new combat system (lots of details in the article I can't copy and paste everything)
Boss fights
Gear upgrading and stealth
Taming animals and more gear-related stuff
On different approaches for different kind of gameplay
On the "UAV" eagle companion
No more minimap
New mission structure
Story/lore context
IIRC it's okay to copy and paste from an editor's direct source so I took the most interesting parts of the article so you can quickly read to what is interesting to you (combat, open world, mission, lore etc)
BUT there's more details in the link above (especially on combat!)
Combat, exploration, and even the way missions are structured have all been overhauled and reinvented, creating an experience that – while unmistakably Assassin's Creed – represents a whole new beginning for the series. Assassin's Creed Origins is a world not of elaborate gadgets and strange technologies, but of gods, mystery, and freedom. We've dipped our toes into that world by freely exploring one of its regions, Faiyum, and speaking to Origins' creators. Here's what we've learned about what's in store when Assassin's Creed Origins is released at the launch of Xbox One X and on October 27 for Xbox One, PS4, PS4 Pro, and PC:
About the open world
”We have the capacity, from a technological standpoint, to create a massive countryside," says Ismail. ”It's not a city, it's a whole country with many cities, many villages, many exotic landscapes."
”We know that people, when they think Egypt, they think desert," says Jean Guesdon, the game's creative director. ”But Egypt is way more than that. You have the Nile Delta, you have the Nile River, you have tons of oases. So when you mix all that, from the green, lush fauna of the Nile Delta to the oasis of Faiyum, it's the perfect playground."
The Faiyum region is just a small part of the game's world, and the E3 demo is set in an even smaller part of Faiyum – but even the small slice we had access to was vast and diverse, a place where desert cliffs give way to bustling towns and sprawling acres of carefully irrigated farmland.
About NPCs
”The NPCs of the world have full schedules, day and night," says Ismail. ”The NPCs are living a life in this world which includes working, sleeping, socializing, eating, peeing, and so on. Farmers farm, priests run rituals and prayers, bandits ambush and steal, Ptolemaic guards patrol, defend, transport and so on. All of this is based on their day/night cycle, and as you learn more about the world and the specific characters you meet, you can play with where to meet them, assassinate, attack, steal, infiltrate, and so on."
About travelling
It's worth noting that Viewpoints are still dotted across the map, waiting for you to climb and sync with them, although their functionality is a little different from previous games. In the demo, they aren't necessary for revealing the map, but synchronizing unlocks them as fast-travel spots, while also marking potential quests and other points of interest as question marks.
About the new combat system (lots of details in the article I can't copy and paste everything)
Bayek is an extraordinary man, one who possesses abilities unlike any Assassin to date. Chief among these is his approach to battle; where previous Assassin's Creed fights revolved largely around dispatching small crowds with a system of instant-kill counters, Bayek's tactics are more direct and aggressive. His melee approach centers on combo strikes, dodges, and deflections, and he can annihilate foes from a distance with ranged weapons or use stealth to topple them one after another. In a toe-to-toe fight, enemies will coordinate in merciless ways, lunging in or firing arrows while you're busy slashing up their comrades, so the dodge button frequently comes in handy. Bayek can also block attacks with his shield so long as you're standing still, or you can use it to briefly knock enemies off-balance with an unlockable parry move. It's even possible to drop smoke bombs mid-combo, which is great for when you're feeling overwhelmed and need a little breathing room.
”The philosophy around the combat is different, but so are the controls," says Ashraf Ismail. ”The default controls propose a very different experience compared to previous Assassin's Creeds, but fit very well with the new combat system. For people who really miss the legacy controls, we will have options to change the default. Otherwise, in terms of gameplay, it is really about learning each weapon and how they behave – because there is a lot of depth there – and also paying attention to the weapons wielded by enemies, as this will dictate their behavior."
Able to lock on and quickly switch focus between enemies, Bayek can unleash flurries of light attacks that are enough to take down most weaker enemies, and his slower, heavier strikes can knock aside shields and stagger foes. Bayek also has an adrenaline gauge at the bottom of the screen that builds up during combat; depending on your weapon, filling it will let you unleash either a devastating, defense-smashing Overpower attack that's more than enough to kill most enemies, or a frenzy that briefly makes Bayek stronger, faster, and more resistant to damage.
Boss fights
Mastering Bayek's weapons and abilities is essential if you plan to tackle another of Origins' new additions: boss fights against formidable warriors and strange creatures. We played through one of these, set in an arena in the city of Krokodilopolis, in which Bayek faced down a hulking man known as the Slaver. His weapon of choice was (appropriately enough) a man catcher, a spiked, forked polearm that he used to grab Bayek and hurl him around the arena, frequently into rotating spike traps.
Gear upgrading and stealth
”Bayek starts the game with most of his basic gear except for the Hidden Blade," says Ashraf Ismail. ”All his gear starts at level 1 and levels up through crafting, which increases the stats of the gear and its appearance. The Hidden Blade is found by going through the story, and it is necessary to keep upgrading if you want to maintain the ability to perform assassinations. Otherwise, you do stealth damage and enter combat."
Speaking of stealth, it can be a little easier to sneak around fortified encampments at night, when visibility is low and some of the guards are sleeping. And if you don't feel like waiting around, you can fast-forward through the day by making Bayek meditate until nightfall.
”More often, you have guards who sleep at night," says Ismail. ”But the counter to this is that you also have more bandits active at night, so you can be ambushed or attacked if you are not wary of such things."
Taming animals and more gear-related stuff
In the demo, Bayek carries a handful of sleep darts, which can knock enemies out for a few crucial seconds, giving you a window for a fatal stab or a quick escape. Eventually, you'll even be able to use them as a crucial step in taming animals – including crocodiles, hippos, lions, and more – who'll loyally follow Bayek into battle and obey his commands until they die. And that's just for starters; Bayek's repertoire of tools can be expanded over time to include firebombs, poison clouds, traps, and much more.
On different approaches for different kind of gameplay
”We want players to have fun finding their own way through the ability graph," says Ismail. ”The Hunter path is made to lean towards ranged fighters and stealth players. Warrior is obviously made for melee fighters, and the Seer path is for playing with manipulation – Assassin tools, economic persuasiveness, animal taming, etc."
On the "UAV" eagle companion
The key to discovering what Assassin's Creed Origins has to offer is Senu, Bayek's eagle and the origin of the phrase ”Eagle Vision." Instead of the color-coded second sight of later Assassins, Bayek can send Senu aloft to get a bird's-eye view of the landscape. Not only that, but unlockable abilities let her tag patrolling threats so that Bayek can easily spot them, or distract enemies by lunging down at them from the sky.
She can also pinpoint nearby objectives, which is especially important because Assassin's Creed Origins does away with the traditional onscreen minimap entirely, instead relying on floating onscreen markers that point you in the general direction of tasks you need to complete.
No more minimap
”We didn't want to hold players' hands," Jean Guesdon says. ”This is why we decided to remove the minimap. We want you to enjoy and to actually experience the beautiful world we're bringing to you. You will have to play the game to put icons [on the map]."
The markers you do get aren't always exact, which is part of the fun. Our very first task in the demo was to find Hotephres, a Greek informant who sailed across Moeris on a ship that carried a statue. We knew generally where he'd be, but rather than sail across the massive lake in search of a single large boat, we loosed Senu. When she got close, a yellow awareness indicator appeared, at which point we parked her in midair and scanned her surroundings until a tightening yellow circle clicked shut on Hotephres' ship.
New mission structure
More than an extra step in finding a mission objective, this exercise underlined Assassin's Creed Origins' new approach to the structure of its quests. Rather than being locked into a clear chain of A-to-B story beats, you'll take a free-form approach to discovering your objectives, and you can pursue them more or less at your leisure. After visiting Hotephres, for example, we were tasked with visiting his wife, Khenut, who held a ledger pointing to the identity of a sinister figure known as The Crocodile. However, talking to one of Hotephres' deckhands also revealed rumors about farmers in Dionysias, who were dying as their fields were burned by unknown assailants.
At that point – or at any other point where a passerby told us about something that could lead to a mission – we were free to track and pursue either objective. You won't run into a mission failure or desynchronization if you wander off the ”correct" path; we could even go so far as to wander away from one quest mid-mission, tackle the other one, and then return to where we'd left off in the first quest. This flexibility also means there's a considerable degree of freedom in how you approach your quests; there's just the objective, the environment, and threats to avoid or dispatch as you see fit.
Story/lore context
As the title suggests, Assassin's Creed Origins isn't just about taking a step back in time to see how ancient Assassins took down their targets. Bayek is the last of the Medjay, a Nubian order of warriors who served as agents of the pharaohs for hundreds of years, protecting cities and temples from threats. In his hometown of Siwa, Bayek is seen as a hero – but in the rest of Egypt, where the influence of the Greek Ptolemies is stronger, those in power seem to view him as more of an inconvenient relic.
”At the time of Bayek, the Medjay didn't have a reason to exist anymore, because the rulers were not pharaohs," says Maxime Durand. ”There were new people that replaced the Medjay."
Bayek is steadfast in his mission, believing that the gods of Egypt support him, but even he sees the need to adapt to the pressures of an ever-expanding world. Those adaptations form the basis for many of Assassin's Creed's familiar symbols.
”Was it just that someone decided ‘I'm going to put on a hood?'" asks Ashraf Ismail. ”No, no. There are stories behind all of this, and these are the experiences you explore in the game."
