Would you have ever wished to stroll the streets of Ancient Alexandria without the help of a time machine? And in a way, Assassin’s Creed Origins does exactly that. Ubisoft released a guided tour of their magnificent recreation of the Egyptian city in the game, with commentary by noted ancient historian Tristan Hughes. However, the gamer crowd was a little excited and seemingly divided.
The tour lets the player walk through famous monuments such as the Tomb of Alexander the Great and the famous Pharos Lighthouse- one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Think of this as too much. This has to be the ultimate good fortune for any history nerd. No dusty textbooks, no boring lecture; just raw, concrete interaction.
Then there is the very internet. Not everyone is thrilled, though. Seems like many players paraded the opportunity to reprimand the franchise. One user @kobratrading sarcastically ridiculed the use of historians: “historian” 🤣 Is this a joke? You guys made a female & a black guy samurais. You guys are delusional. Oof. That sure has to be one quick way to downplay an otherwise great lesson in history.
Meanwhile, others were just enjoying the return of Origins, considered by many to be the best of the series. “Origins was fire. Guessing you haven’t played it after all this time,” @xDarkWiffster responded to a critic. Just as well-timed @FineNDanDee tweeted, “I just reinstalled Origins, its like you knew.”
It was not all about nostalgia. Most players explicitly used the occasion to beg for sequels. “Please, make a Bayek sequel. And Amunet too,” pleaded @MarcosJoseLpz. @TheDemiGabriel followed that up with more poetic musings: “A woman who suffered the worst of sadness and yet revenge did not blind her… She is Aya of Alexandria.”
Oh boy. The drama was unsolicited. @BadEmil96 decided to toss in some European copyright law, tweeting in Italian (translation): “The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the copyright holder exhausts their rights after the first sale, your EULA is illegal in Europe.” Uh… alright? That’s not quite the vibe we were aiming for, but okay.
Naturally, every time Assassin’s Creed comes up, the ideas start flowing. @borisskyman wondered if they would get tours for the older games like AC1 and AC2. Meanwhile, @BrandonBrindle1 issued some very serious demands for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, including toggleable capes hinting, and I quote, “They look a little goofy on pieces of ninja gear.”
And really, it is just an incredible blend of learning and gaming. Whether the huge history fan or someone who simply likes exploring virtual worlds, Origins remains that quintessential game to this day, some seven years after its launch. So there! If one hasn’t spun through those legendary worlds in quite a while, this may be the time. Ignore the Twitter drama and wave that nostalgia flag.
