Having been two years since the last major release in the series, Ubisoft is looking to make it splash with Assassin’s Creed Origins. This one is definitely one of the more peculiar titles on my list coming out this year because of the complete overhaul it is gone through compared to the previous entries. Ubi was kind enough to release a new gameplay walkthrough for us of one of the game’s quests “What’s Yours is Mine”, on the new Xbox One X.

I guess one of the first things that caught my eye is how good the game looks. When you call Senu, you can see how big and detailed the world looks. I won’t even acknowledge the texture pop-ins because it’s still a work in progress (even though I guess I acknowledged by saying I won’t acknowledge it). It looks even better in that 4K, which  reminds me that I need to upgrade to the Pro.

Finally, it seems like Ubisoft has captured the stealth element of being an Assassin. You can crouch and slink around, and the addition of the bow looks like a neat weapon that can actually enhance your stealth capabilities compared to the throwing knives of old. One of the cool combat features is the telegraphing of damage when you’re in or out of stealth. For example, the dev aimed at the head with the bow, and it showed how much damage the show would do, giving you an idea of how you want to plan your attack. There’s also a chain slow motion ability which allows you to slow mo kill a second target with the bow as long as it remains drawn after the first kill.

As for basic swordplay, I’m still not sold (I’m forewarning you that I did not like the way they changed the swordplay for Assassin’s Creed Unity). It just looks strange to me. Horizon Zero Dawn is a game I see Origins very similar to, and the combat didn’t look as strange as it does in this title. Maybe it’s because you can lock on and being locked on brings the camera over your shoulder making it to hard to survey the battlefield. Not to mention the fury attack doesn’t even one hit kill, but that could be based off of your character’s level compared to the enemies’ level. I guess it’s one of those things where you have to get your hands on it to figure out if you like it or not.

The walkthrough gave us a lot of cool extra information such as the tombs you can discover in order to gain ability points, the ability to meditate to pass time, sandstorms (because it’s Egypt), and the fact that there are more ability points than levels. As I said, this game is definitely one of the more peculiar ones on my list of 2017 games. It looks good, but I am not fully sold on it yet.