Assassin’s Creed Origins Demos Its Much-Improved Combat In Deadly New Footage

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For a series all about stabbing people to death, Assassin's Creed has never had great combat. In an effort to keep things simple and approachable, past AC titles accidentally created a combat system that was often rigid and downright frustrating. Thankfully, Assassin's Creed Origins is taking a deeper, more free-flowing approach to combat. You can get a full rundown of AC Origins' fighting courtesy of the latest IGN First video, above.

Assassin's Creed Origins game director Ashraf Ismail describes the basic difference between past Assassin's Creed games and Origins when it comes to combat:

"In previous Assassin's Creed games, fighting was a paired animation system. When you pressed attack, you and an enemy would come together regardless of distance, play an animation, then split apart. We wanted to move away from that. We've gone to a hitbox system. If you press attack, you're going to swing your weapon and if something's there, it gets hit and takes damage, and if nothing's there, you swing at the air and maybe open yourself up. Suddenly the range of your weapon, the speed of your weapon, the range of your enemies and their equipment -- all of this matters."

The full video is definitely worth a watch, as we get a look at the game's various types of weapons (swords, dual swords, heavy blades, spears, scepters, blunt objects, sickles, and bows), enemies classes, available battle strategies, and brutal bosses. Assassin's Creed Origins probably won't give Bayonetta a run for its money, but it absolutely looks like a huge improvement over past games. I would say the combat now looks like it compares pretty well to a good Zelda or Dark Souls-type game.

Assassin's Creed Origins sneaks on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on October 27. Don't forget that Amazon Prime members save 20% when they pre-order.

[via IGN]