Parent's Guide: Assassin's Creed Origins - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

What is Assassin's Creed Origins?

Travel back in time to ancient Egypt, as you set out on a journey through the land of the pyramids in Assassin's Creed Origins. With a huge, detailed, and authentic recreation of ancient Egypt to explore, you take on the role of a man named Bayek - a Medjay, or protector of the people, who's been pushed to the edge following the murder of his young son. Determined to bring those responsible to justice, he sets out on a quest for vengeance, as he attempts to uncover the murky organisation he holds responsible.

How do you play Assassin's Creed Origins?

With an open world to explore, Assassin's Creed Origins gives players dozens of side quests and story quests to choose from, alongside a wide range of collectibles and locations to discover as they explore the game world. Main quests see Bayek hunt down those responsible for his son's death, piecing together evidence, asking tough questions, and investigating areas until he eventually figures out where to find them, and kill them, while side quests offer a mixture of more light hearted affair, and those in need of more serious assistance. From a wife whose husband got drunk and stumbled away, to a group of actors who were imprisoned for wanting to perform a play that was deemed heresy, as the Medjay, it's up to you to protect the innocent, and keep everyone safe.

Like other Assassin's Creed games, Origins has an emphasis on stealth. While small numbers of enemies can be taken head on, infiltrating enemy bases require a more considered approach, encouraging you to sneak around in the shadows, rather than run in flailing your sword. However, staying hidden is actually easier than it sounds, thanks to both the ability to "tag" enemies with your pet Eagle, which lets you see their location, even through walls, and a one button "stealth takedown" you can perform when hidden. Protagonist Bayek is also skilled in parkour, letting you scale vertical walls with ease, which both makes getting around the world a lot of fun, and gives you many more options when it comes to infiltrating bases, and sneaking up on your enemy.

How easy is Assassin's Creed Origins to pick up and play?

Assassin's Creed: Origins is a complex game, and yet one that does its best to ease new players in. The game has a gentle difficulty curve that gradually ramps up the skill and number of enemies you'll be facing, giving you time to explore, and figure out how the game works for yourself.

With a heavy emphasis on stealth, this is a game that requires a large amount of situational awareness. With bases often containing dozens of enemy soldiers, you'll need to keep abreast of where everyone is at all times, and have some quick reactions, as one mistake could lead to you being discovered, and killed. Staying hidden will make your life a heck of a lot easier, and almost every mission requires you to have a plan, and a backup plan, with the ability to change tack and very quickly come up with an alternative on the fly. That said, with objectives clearly marked on screen (and your trusty hawk that you can send in to scout the area and mark any enemies) you can always be sure of where you need to go next. An aim assist, with several different levels of assistance, encourages your bow to snap to and track enemies, making aiming a lot easier.

With three difficulty levels on offer, you can tailor the challenge of the enemies here to suit, with combat becoming substantially easier on the lowest difficulty, which the game describes as being designed for those who just want to enjoy the story.

In terms of accessibility, Assassin's Creed Origins comes with great subtitling options, with large, clear subtitles for spoken dialogue. However, some sections of the game are delivered through text only, with smaller fonts. Sample sentences include:

• Hold (d-pad up) to use Animus Pulse and find hidden objects.

With bloody violence, nudity, and strong language throughout, Assassin's Creed Origins is a game aimed at an adult audience.

Violence and Gore

Opening with a cutscene that shows a man carving a deep gash in his own arm with the head of an arrow, Origins doesn't shy away from violence. Your stealth takedowns see you firing a concealed blade into your target's neck, while combat in general sees moderate blood spurts go flying, staining both the ground, the enemy, and yourself. One scenes shows a headless corpse impaled on a spike.

Sexual Content and Nudity

Topless female characters can be found throughout the game, while an in-game brothel contains both murals of people having sex, and a couple who can be viewed having sex through an ornate window, although you don't see anything beyond two people with their legs wrapped around each other. You can, however, hear moaning throughout.

Bad language

Although infrequent, bad language in game runs the gamut from "sh*t", "ass" and "b*stard", all the way up to "f*ck" and "c*nt".

Mature Content Disable

Assassin's Creed Origins does let you disable both "Blood FX", which removes any blood splatters during combat, and "Fight Damage", which prevents bodies and player characters becoming stained with blood. This does make the game substantially less gory - however, blood will still be visible in cutscenes, and in some places in game (one area shows a large amount of blood floating on the surface of a lake).

Mature content on/off example:

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Playstation 4