GEEK - Fall 2017 - 42
Ga
of the Apis Bull, a literal sacred
cow worshiped by the city's
religious populace.
After canvassing the
animal's enclosure for clues,
we discover the horned deity's
been fed a diet of poisonous
peach pits. Two scared sibling
priestesses ultimately cop to
the crime, but insist they were
coerced into the devious act.
Upon producing the severed,
bloodied finger of their
abducted brother, the sisters
explain he stands to lose more
than an appendage if they
don't comply with his captors'
demands.
More than just presenting
our first meaty mission
objective, the exchange
with the priestesses paints a
promising picture of Bayek's
better half, Aya. A strong,
spirited female character
- who recalls Game of
Thrones' Ellaria Sand - the
assassin's wife has no problem
playing "bad cop" during the
BASICS
DEVELOPER:
Ubisoft Montreal
PUBLISHER:
Ubisoft
PLATFORMS:
Xbox One, PS4, PC
RELEASE:
October 27, 2017
42
ISSUE 02
interrogation, even offering to
deliver swift justice with her
own blade.
"She knows what she wants
and knows how to approach
getting what she wants," says
Ismail before elaborating on
the importance of Aya to the
game's narrative: "The journey
we propose to our players is
the birth of the Brotherhood,
which actually came from the
marriage of these two people
that have a deep love for
one another, but look at the
world from slightly different
perspectives."
Before we learn more about
Aya's relationship with Bayek,
we're sent to rescue the
man with nine fingers. Upon
approaching a heavily guarded
temple, we release Bayek's
bird sidekick, Senu, into the air.
Technically a Bonelli's eagle,
the winged companion can
be controlled from a literal
bird's eye view to tag targets,
distract enemies, identify
the prisoner's location and
generally get a lay of the land.
We swap back to Bayek,
stealthily breach the
encampment and then begin
piling corpses higher than a
pyramid. We first sneak behind
the ground-level threats and
introduce the business end
of our blade to their jugulars.
This gets the attention of
rooftop guards, but they're
easily silenced by Bayek's
triple-arrow-slinging bow. Our
systematic strategy works
seamlessly until we perform
a stylish drop assassination
that alerts bigger and badder
adversaries.
This, however, presents the
perfect opportunity to test out
Origins' action-RPG chops, so
we trade our standard bronze
sword for a level 21 Crescent
Axe we'd looted earlier. The
upgraded, one-handed heavy
weapon initially has little
trouble carving through goons,
but our mindless buttonmashing soon leaves Bayek
low on health. After sustaining
a few more flesh wounds, we
learn the game's nuanced
combat rewards a more
careful mix of light and heavy
attacks, alternated with ample
dodges, blocks and parries.
The satisfying clashes have
us craving more time behind
■ TUT TUT:
Residents of ancient
Egypt investigate a
mysterious illness.
■ TALK LIKE AN
EGYPTIAN: Cleopatra,
flanked by guards,
holds court.
Bayek's shiny new blade, but
we forgo our bloodlust in favor
of bringing the prisoner home
to his family. Our successful
completion of the objective
gifts us an ability point, which
we quickly invest in the game's
Seer skill tree; we purchase
a promising ability dubbed
"Flesh Decay," which can
apparently be used to kill living
threats by contaminating
corpses with poison.
While we sadly don't get
to unleash this supernatural
skill during our demo, we are
granted an audience with
Queen Cleopatra herself
before our preview concludes.
The intriguing encounter
results in a new assassination
mission that we won't spoil
here - but we can't wait
to tackle it when Assassin's
Creed Origins infiltrates Xbox
One, PlayStation 4, and PC on
October 27.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GEEK - Fall 2017
Contents
GEEK - Fall 2017 - Cover1
GEEK - Fall 2017 - Cover2
GEEK - Fall 2017 - 3
GEEK - Fall 2017 - 4
GEEK - Fall 2017 - 5
GEEK - Fall 2017 - Contents
GEEK - Fall 2017 - 7
GEEK - Fall 2017 - 8
GEEK - Fall 2017 - 9
GEEK - Fall 2017 - 10
GEEK - Fall 2017 - 11
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GEEK - Fall 2017 - 50
GEEK - Fall 2017 - Cover3
GEEK - Fall 2017 - Cover4
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