DSOGaming reports that Assassin's Creed Origins will get an Animus Control Panel for the PC this month.

Ubisoft has announced that a new tool will be released for the PC version of Assassin’s Creed Origins, the Animus Control Panel. According to the French company, this tool will allow PC players to tweak some game parameters to create their own game experience.

The Animus Control Panel will feature 75 parameters within 11 categories and will allow three pre-created presets. Presets created by players can be shared on a dedicated forum and the Animus Control Panel will be embedded in Uplay Library’s page.

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PC Gamer reports that Discovery Tour mode has been added to Assassin's Creed Origins.

As a free update for existing players, premium standalone for everyone else.

All games with impressive worlds should have non-combat tourist modes. Slaughtering beasts and baddies is great fun, but I love clearing an area of enemies and then returning to their natural habitats with the luxury of peace and quiet. 

Assassin's Creed Origins adds its educational The Discovery Tour today with this in mind. 

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Farflame spotted two reviews for the Assassin's Creed Origins DLC: The Hidden Ones:

COG Connected - Score:83/100

The XBox Hub - Score: 4.5/5

PCGamesN reports that The Hidden Ones DLC will be released on January 23. A free combat-less discovery tour will be available as well:

Assassin’s Creed Origins’ first DLC is out next week, free Discovery Tour in February

Ubisoft have detailed the rollout for Assassin’s Creed Origins DLC over the next few months, including a date for the free Discovery Tour mode.

If you’ve got all you can out of the historical Egyptian murder in Assassin’s Creed Origins, Ubisoft have some welcome news: the DLC will be out soon, as will the free, combat-less Discovery Tour mode.

The releases kick off with The Hidden Ones on January 23, which is the first major piece of the game’s season pass. This follows the growth of the Brotherhood four years after the events of the main game, increasing the level cap to 45 and giving you access to new weapons including Legendaries, new mounts, and a new outfit.

The Discovery Tour mode will allow you to explore the world without combat to see the game’s depiction of Egyptian history and daily life starting February 20. You will also have the option to follow guided tours curated by historians. If you’re purely interested in digital Egypt rather than Assassin’s Creed, you’ll be able to get this mode as a standalone purchase.

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PCGamesN spoke with an Egyptologist about the possibilities of discovering history in Assassin’s Creed Origins, too.

Thanks Farflame!

Assassins Creed: Origins will release some new content in January in the form of an expansion called The Hidden Ones.

This Month in Assassin's Creed® Origins - January

We hope you enjoyed the festive season and best wishes for 2018 from the entire Assassin's Creed team! Without further ado, here's what's in store for Assassin's Creed® Origins in January.

Title Update

A new title update will be released in January to add more content to the game. Here's what you can look forward to:

• A new quest to celebrate the arrival of the first expansion, The Hidden Ones
• Update to the Heka chests item pool, which adds the items from the Nightmare and First Civilization packs, as well as the Gladiator and Wacky packs to the pool
• A new option to sell outfits at weaver shops

The Hidden Ones

January marks the arrival of the first major expansion, The Hidden Ones. In this expansion, Bayek and the Assassins will clash with the Romans, who occupy an all-new region in the game.

Here's what you can look forward to:

• Delve into an all-new vast story
• A level cap increase from 40 to 45
• The Hidden Ones will be available for no additional cost to Season Pass owners

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RPGFan has reviewed Assassin's Creed Origins:

Assassin's Creed: Origins

"It doesn't do enough to distinguish itself from its competitors, resulting in an overall experience that feels bland and left me longing for a more capable action RPG experience."

Reinvention has always been the key component to the Assassin's Creed series, which is one of the reasons why it's been going strong for over a decade. Each entry improves upon elements introduced from its predecessor without straying too far from its foundation. It's fitting that a franchise which centers on genetic memories never forgets its past, even as it focuses on creating its future. However, sticking too closely to the roots of the original Assassin's Creed for so long has resulted in a formula that feels tired. Origins seeks to remedy this by shifting the series into true action RPG territory for the first time, but failure to embrace the change in a meaningful way is its undoing.
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Score: 75%

Henriquejr spotted an Assassin's Creed Origins - review on PC Gamer:

Assassin's Creed Origins review

Putting an end to the machinations of the corrupt inner circle of Egypt's ruling class is on hold for a bit: first I gotta help this peasant boy I met thirty seconds ago, whose ox cart was stolen by bandits. Priorities firmly in order, I circle the bandit camp on horseback, dismount, creep close, take aim with my bow at the nearest bandit, and fire. Actually, I fire and then take aim: I have a skill that allows me to control my arrows in midair and in slow-motion. My arrow sinks into the bandit's shoulder, and he spins around and spots me.

The slow-motion feature of my bow skill doesn't just give me an advantage, it also allows me to see things I otherwise would have missed, such as what happens next. The bandit and I attack at the same time, me with my second arrow, him by throwing a fire bomb. My arrow and the bandit's lobbed grenade pass each other in midair. The bomb strikes the sand and explodes, the flame from the explosion lights my airborne missile on fire, and there's a satisfying fwoosh of my arrow igniting just before it hits him right between the eyes. The bandit drops, felled by a flaming arrow we created together.
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Naturally, once you've beaten the main quests you can continue exploring the world, and the biggest compliment I can give Origins is that I'd much rather be playing it than writing about it. It's a got a dazzling and beautiful setting, lots of enjoyable systems for mischief and mayhem, and has just the right amount of diversions and distractions to keep you busy without ever feeling like busywork. The extra year Ubisoft took with Origins didn't result in a completely new and novel experience, but it did provide one of the best games in the Assassin's Creed series.

Score: 84/100

WWG reviewed Assassin's Creed Origins:

Assassin's Creed Origins Review - A Worthy Comeback Title For The Franchise

Assassin’s Creed Origins is the comeback title that the franchise needed and fans have been begging for. The overall story is compelling, dark, and gut wrenching; with an intriguing look inside the Brotherhood’s beginnings with a vast open world to explore within ancient Egypt. It has everything Assassin’s Creed fans want: wide-spread freedom, an impactful narrative, and characters that we care about.
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All in all, Assassin’s Creed Origins offers a truly stunning game experience that is unique, yet familiar at the same time. Origins is the comeback title that many veterans of this long-standing franchise have been begging for and we’ve finally got it. A thrilling story, immersive and dynamic environments, characters you truly can’t help but to admire and care for – Origins is it. It’s the game that Assassin’s Creed fans deserve as well as a truly charming experience for those gamers just coming in.

Final Verdict: 4.5/5

Assassin's Creed Origins has been released. Farflame found some reviews:

Easy Allies: 3.5/5

Polygon: 8.5/10

Gamezone: 9.2/10

Gameinformer: 8.5/10

Gamereactor: 10/10

Gamesradar: 5/5

Eurogamer: Recommended

Kotaku

Twinfinite: 4.5/5

Hardcore Gamer: 4/5

TSA: 8/10

Gaming Bolt: 8/10

The Telegraph gives an overview over the current Assassin's Creed Origins reviews:

Assassin's Creed Origins, review of reviews

One of the three games coming out on October 27, the most chaotic day of the year for all sorts of media releases, is Assassin's Creed Origins. The latest entry to the decade-old Assassin's Creed franchise, it's coming after a year break, for the development team to get to grips with changing the formula up and creating a somewhat different Assassin's Creed experience.
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Gamepressure has some info about the post launch content of Assassin's Creed Origins:

Assassin’s Creed Origins Season Pass and free DLC revealed

Ubisoft has revealed details on Assassin’s Creed Origins post-launch content, including the Season Pass and free DLC.

Ubisoft has shared details on the post-launch content coming to Assassin’s Creed Origins. This includes both the paid Season Pass as well as several free add-ons, some of them available on day one. Those latter include the Nomad’s Bazar, featuring a wandering merchant giving players daily quests, completing which earns them mysterious exotic rewards. The other DLC available for free on the launch day is the photo mode, letting you take and edit photos of ancient Egypt and share them with the community.

What’s also free is the so-called Trials of the Gods, a series of boss battles during special timed events. The first one of those is starting 15 days after the release of Assassin’s Creed Origins. And there is also the Discovery Tour mode coming early next year.

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Thanks Farflame!

Smascellante spotted some Assassin's Creed Origins screenshots on Neptunegames:

Assassin’s Creed: Origins Looks Incredible in New 4K Screenshots – Battle, Elephants, Exploration, Romance and More

Ubisoft has released a new set of screenshots for its upcoming open-world adventure set in Ancient Egypt, Assassin’s Creed: Origins

Ubisoft has released a new set of screenshots for its long-awaited open-world adventure, Assassin’s Creed: Origins. The new screens shown by the French gaming giant are a digital testament to the efforts made by Ashraf Ismail, and the Ubisoft Montreal team, in shaping a coherent, colorful game universe. By watching screenshots, in fact, we can appreciate some vibrant combat scenes, variety of setting, and care in creating animated polygonal models of secondary characters, enemies, and PNGs that will help us continue in the singleplayer campaign.

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PC Gamer thinks Assassin's Creed Origins has enough RPG elents to call it an RPG now:

For better or worse, Assassin's Creed: Origins is an RPG now

Levelling up in ancient Egypt.

I always hoped that Assassin's Creed would top the silliness of the 'air assassinate an ocelot' quest at the start of AC4. Assassin's Creed: Origins delivers early when I unleash an adrenaline attack on a hippo's face. In a storm of slashes I bring to bear the martial expertise of a master assassin to take down a swamp animal that, minutes earlier, had been quietly getting on with its day.

It is a high level hippo, though, so the barrage of blade strikes only removes a portion of its health bar and I'm forced to dodge around its teeth to lay into its blubbery flank. At this point a crocodile gets involved so I retreat to use my warrior's bow to blast the animals at range. It fires a spread of arrows like a shotgun. A flashing indicator on the hippo's health bar lets me know that head shots do extra damage.

Game system contrivances have always sat uneasily inside Assassin's Creed's beautiful, authentic worlds. I'm used to futuristic UIs floating in front of dusty snapshots of ancient life, but there is a lot more game in Assassin's Creed: Origins, and more friction between the setting and your moment-to-moment behaviour. We left Assassin's Creed as an action series, now it emerges from its two-year hibernation as an RPG in The Witcher 3 mould, complete with levelling, skill trees, an extensive loot system, and crafting.

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Thanks henriquejr!

@DSOGaming Assassin's Creed Origins has a new cinematic trailer and Ubisoft has also announced a new game mode called Discovery Tour by Assassin's Creed: Ancient Egypt.

Ubisoft has released a new cinematic CGI trailer for Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Ubisoft has also announced that a new game mode is coming to the game, called Discovery Tour by Assassin’s Creed: Ancient Egypt, in which players can explore the diverse landscapes of Ancient Egypt and learn about its rich history from audio guided tours.

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Gamepressure checked wether Assassin's Creed Origins is an RPG or not:

Will Assassin’s Creed Origins be a full-fledged RPG?

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has been romancing with RPG mechanics from the very beginning. Can the Egyptian chapter in Origins be called a typical role-playing game? The developers avoid this label, so let’s try to answer this question ourselves.

There’s no doubt that Origins will be the biggest revolution in the Assassin’s Creed franchise since the iconic second installment. Yes, Black Flag happened along the way, and it almost toppled the long-standing premise of the conflict between Assassins and Templars, but it was the adventures of Ezio Auditore da Firenze that set the brand’s course for years to come. The gameplay premise that could at least pretend to be fresh in 2009 (although the developers were clearly inspired, among others, by… the Grand Theft Auto franchise) was inevitably getting old, culminating in the release of Syndicate. It all went downhill from there.

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Is that an RPG?

Let’s start with defining a good RPG. Our gaming dictionary suggests several obligatory elements: extensive, multi-threaded, and non-linear (though the latter is not required) plot; main character described by a number of numerical stats; presence of experience points and/or level-based character progression mechanics; extensive combat system, either turn-based or real-time; and finally, story quests and side missions given to the player by NPCs.

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Thanks Farflame!

Games Revolution posted some combat from Assassins Creed Origins.

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GameInformer ask some lingering questions about Assassins Creed Origins.

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In this special edition of The Game Informer Show podcast, Ben Hanson talks to the game director of Assassin's Creed Origins Ashraf Ismail and asks him burning questions from the community about the open world, E3 2017 feedback, the secrets surrounding Origins' modern day component, comparisons to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and much more.

Kotaku reports that Assassin's Creed Origins NPCs and animals get a life, schedules etc.:

Assassin’s Creed Origins’ New Mission System Sounds Like A Much-Needed Change

At E3 in Los Angeles last month, there were several obvious points of distinction between Assassin’s Creed Origins and the 10 or so major Assassin’s Creed games before it. It’ll be the first AC in ancient Egypt. The first with stargazing puzzles and swimming hippos. One thing I heard about but didn’t see, however, seems the most franchise-shaking.

The innovation I’m talking about involves a combination of the game’s new quest structure and its artificial intelligence. It results in missions that involve players doing Assassin’s Creed things and interacting in signature Assassin’s Creed ways with characters who don’t sit still like they did in older games. In a change for the series, many non-player characters in this new late-October game will move through the game world like clockwork.

“We developed this new technology to be able to populate thousands of human [non-player characters and] animals that have a life, have a persistency, that have schedules, that have places to go to sleep, places to go eat, go to the bathroom, work,” game director Ashraf Ismail explained at a showcase hosted by Ubisoft as about a dozen people played the E3 build of the game in a room behind him. “This is married into the quest structure.”

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Thanks Farflame!

Farflame has collected information about Assassin's Creed Origins:

Xbox One X Combat & Quest Exploration Gameplay in 4K - E3 2017

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E3 2017 Mysteries of Egypt Trailer | Ubisoft [US]

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More info:

PCGamesN: Skill trees

PCGamesN: Multiple playable characters

Way Too Many Games: How to improve the Assassin's Creed series

Digital Trends checked out Assassin's Creed Origins at the E3:

‘Assassin’s Creed Origins’: Our First Take

After 2 years away, Assassin's Creed returns as a wannabe RPG in 'Origins'

Assassin’s Creed Origins is the culmination of the series’ two-year hiatus, and though there’s plenty new and different, some old problems remain.

It’s been two long years since the last Assassin’s Creed game, AC Unity, met with tepid reception from fans and critics. Ubisoft responded by taking a break to put AC back in the oven for a while, and the resulting game, Assassin’s Creed Origins, was unveiled for the first time during Microsoft’s E3 2017 presentation in Los Angeles.

Set in ancient Egypt, Origins will depict the, well, origins of the Assassins brother/sisterhood. You play as Bayek, an Egyptian warrior who, based on the demo Microsoft put in attendees’ hands at its Xbox showcase today, is both a skilled warrior and an instrument of his own interpretation of “justice.” In other words, he’s an Assassin.

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Assassin’s Creed is more of an RPG than ever before

That loot system, too, is new to the series. We opened the menu to equip the prize, noting several additional inventory slots and an ability upgrade screen that looks straight out of a typical RPG.

Random loot drops, RPG-style upgrades, totally revamped controls and combat, and many more changes make it clear they’re holding little sacred. The new setting in Egypt has a lot of promise for both character-level drama and mythological overarching story, and seeing the Assassins’ origins has potential to tickle longtime series fans.

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GameRant reports on what a redditor found in an early copy of Game Informer. Assassins Creed Origins will purportedly release October 27th and is hinted at an Ancient Egypt setting.

The leaked pictures also contain two new taglines, "As an empire falls, a brotherhood rises" and "The brotherhood begins," which strongly hint that the game will live up to its title as an origin story for the Assassin brotherhood. For those curious if there will be supplementary material released alongside the game, pictures reveal that there will be four different versions of Assassin's Creed Origins available at launch, standard, Deluxe, Gold, and Gold Steelbook.

The Reddit user who leaked the Game Informer pictures also revealed a number of story and gameplay details for Origins, claiming that Ubisoft has been working on the game before Assassin's Creed Unity and that it will take place during the ascent and reign of Cleopatra, all but confirming the long-standing rumor that the game is set in Ancient Egypt. While specific story details are being kept under lock and key, the Reddit user claims that the game will feature a brand new combat system which will be more hit-box driven, new A.I, and various tweaks to the usual Assassin's Creed formula, such as puzzles, free-running, and exploration.

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WCCFTech has collected rumors about Assassin's Creed Origins:

More Assassin’s Creed Origins Leaks – No Towers, Multiplayer or Naval Combat

Leaks on Assassin’s Creed Origins don’t stop coming. This time, a very significant amount of information has been shared on 4chan and summarized on Reddit.

We’ve cleaned it up and posted it below, though of course this should be treated as rumor. Some of the highlights are that the new main character in the past is Israelite and should have his own trilogy, just like Ezio; the plot of Assassin’s Creed Origins will revolve around him freeing Israelites from Egyptian slavery.

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Thanks Farflame!