Assassin's Creed Origins Director Talks Climbing, Vehicles & Mounts

AC Origins seems to be bringing a lot of changes into the otherwise stale series. The footage we saw at E3 didn’t reveal that much, so we were left to wonder. Game director Ashraf Ismail sat down to shed light on some of those changes, like the new and improved mounts, how parkour fits into ancient Egypt, and more.

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Ismail explained exactly how they envision the mounts and vehicles. AC’s Egypt map is a really big place, so there was the issue of keeping the flow going while the player gets from one place to another. One way of doing it are the mounts and vehicles, which should feel much more useful (and alive) than before.

You’ll obtain most of your transportation by stealing it from unsuspecting enemies. Camels are primarily used for covering long distances, especially when you don’t expect trouble. Horses, on the other hand, are most useful in tight spaces, since they’re easier to control and more lively. Finally, chariots are great for open areas – they’re bulky, powerful and devastating if you’re hit by one. Players will be able to drift when riding a chariot, which will allow them to knock over opponents, even those on horseback. Hopefully it will allow them to create underground drift racing rings, as well.

The navigation system is much more fluid than before, which should allow you to seamlessly switch between land and water, on foot and vehicle. The entire environment is fully climable, which goes for major cities like Alexandria, as well as desert rocks. The cities will have different architecture – Alexandria will be more modern and engineered, while the older settlements will be more chaotic.

We’ve known that the pyramids will be climable as well, but now we’ve learned it won’t be in the usual sense. Each pyramid will require you to solve a navigational puzzle in order to reach to top, so you won’t be able to just push forward and wait for Bayek to do all the work.