Splitting up assets after a breakup can be a bloodbath. In Assassin’s Creed Origins, the breakup is made even more intense when the former “couple” are siblings, and the assets are the fate of a nation — possibly the world. While the Assassin’s Creed franchise famously includes lots of kills, Assassin’s Creed Origins’ setting of Ancient Egypt may be the marker in the series where it should take a turn for the gorier.
In the game’s cinematic trailer, a raspy, haunting voice sings, “You want it darker? We kill the flame… I didn’t know I had permission to murder and to maim,” as deadly foes stalk around in masks. Common folk drop to their knees, the pyramid bricks weighing them down as they build an awe-inspiring yet crumbling empire. As an origins story, this installment has to be dark enough to prompt the creation of Templars and Assassins in their ancient struggle for freedom vs. control. It also needs to inspire the assassins to create their maxim: “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
A New Perspective on Collateral Damage
In the time of Ancient Egypt, pharaohs and kings built their empire on the blood and sweat of their citizens, much like the Isu, god-like creatures with knowledge of the universe, used human lives to forge their empire. Humans fought back against the Isu, and used their numbers as artillery in the war for freedom, knowledge, and control.
The citizens of Egypt would probably be exposed to suffering, if not bloodshed, in the ensuing power struggle within Egypt and Rome. Whips, medicines, poisons, and scimitars would all be used to enforce the poor serving the rich, even to death.
With Assassin’s Creed Origins, the developers have gone out of their way to create independent tasks and days not related to the quests at hand to bring NPCs to life. Seeing those people become their own and then seeing them fall as collateral damage with their actual lifeblood would add a new perspective to the impact of this ongoing war.
Weapon Damage
The new adrenaline gauge for “finishing moves” in combat could also be the perfect opportunity to let the deadliness of the assassins more apparent. We’ve already seen footage of the new Predator Bow releasing small sprays of blood when it hits the target, but have yet to see if other weapons have similar or even more intense effects. With weapons now having weight and timing differences that affect damage, it would make sense that their effects may include more gore this time around, like blood spurting from the mouth when impaled with a spear.
In Assassin’s Creed Unity, players could occasionally use Arno as a slayer with his guns instead of a more stealthy assassin with the traditional hidden blade. Gore in Unity included guillotine decapitations, so the series is not a stranger to visual bloodshed.
Cinematic previews of Assassin’s Creed Origins show Bayek grabbing bloodied arrows from fallen foes and propelling them into his standing enemies. Later, his robes are spattered in what he hopes is the blood of his enemies as he perseveres forward. The blood adds a sense of urgency, of loss, and even of life. It’s not Tarantino-level bloodlust, but it’s just enough red to remind us that these are people’s lives at stake.
In previous games, even Black Flag, most enemies — even those blasted by a cannon — would fall in a slightly messy heap. With the mystery and devastation behind some of the world’s greatest wonders, Assassin’s Creed Origins cast could be brought to life even further with the use of appropriate gore.
A Bloody History
Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, two of the main characters in this installment, are famous for their unorthodox path to glory and their brutal demise. Caesar was stabbed repeatedly by the senators of his nation, including his best friend Brutus, thus creating the famous reaction to betrayal, “Et tu, Brute?”
Cleopatra locked herself and some servants in a room together to die via what is widely presumed poisonous snakebites, as opposed to being taken after her lover Marc Antony was defeated. Ptolemy XIII, Cleopatra’s brother, doesn’t have as much recorded history, but since we know from history that Cleopatra arose as the single ruler of Rome we can expect a dramatic regime to extricate him from power.
Besides the struggle of powerful leaders and the emerging Assassins versus Templars, Assassin’s Creed Origins is including new Game Modes that could lead to more intense and gory battles. Horde Mode is a gladiator-esque fighting arena where players can fight waves of enemies. Trial of the Gods uses the supernatural while fighting against Ancient Egyptian gods as bosses in special timed events. These new features incorporated into the context of Ancient Egypt could be the perfect preamble to making the game even more impactful with the use of appropriate gore.
Assassin’s Creed Origins is set for release on October 27, 2017.
