VIDEO GAMES

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about 

Assassin's Creed: Origins

Work on the game had commenced by 2015, prior to the release of Assassin's Creed: Syndicate.[2] Ubisoft Montreal is the lead development studio on Origins, with the team comprising many of the people that previously worked on Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. Ubisoft Sofia, Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Chengdu, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Kiev, and the Sperasoft studio are also collaborating on the development of the game.

Due to the setting being further back in time than previous entries in the franchise, history books did not always suffice as reference. To compensate, Maxime Durand worked closely with various historians and Egyptian experts to fill in the blanks where needed. In some cases, the lack of reference meant the Art team had to create the look and overall feel of what Ancient Egypt would have been like at the time.

A new Artificial Intelligence framework was also created from the ground up, since the developers wanted the non-player characters, both human and animal, to have their own agenda and activities. Full day cycles were created to make the world feel dynamic and alive.

To refine how the game displayed colors, the team designed a new color-grading feature to help them create specific and unique color ambiances. They also used satellite images of Egypt to fine-tune the colors for the ground and the vegetation and make them as realistic as possible.

Another visual aspect that received a lot of attention was lighting; the developers studied technical documentation from NASA to better understand how airborne particles impact lighting. Similarly, they looked at the ways in which different sediments refract light to realistically depict different types of water, which can communicate to the player what kinds of wildlife they might encounter in it.

The player takes on the role of a Medjay named Bayek and his wife Aya, as they work to protect the people of the Ptolemaic Kingdom during a time of widespread upheaval: the Pharaoh, Ptolemy XIII, struggles to maintain his rule whilst harboring ambitions of expanding his kingdom; his sister, the recently deposed Cleopatra, begins marshalling loyalist forces to launch a counter-coup against Ptolemy; and frequent incursions into the Kingdom by the Roman Republic under the command of Julius Caesar lead to fears of an imminent invasion. Bayek's role as a Medjay brings him and Aya into contact with the secretive forces manipulating these events and into becoming the first Assassins.

In the present day, Layla Hassan, a researcher at Abstergo Entertainment's Historical Research Division, is tasked along with her friend and co-worker Deanna Geary with finding and retrieving an artifact in Egypt. However, she instead finds a tomb containing the mummies of ancient Assassins Bayek and Aya. Hoping to find any relevant information that would secure her a position in the company's Animus Project, Layla decides to relive both Bayek and Aya's genetic memories using her modified Animus without telling her superiors, despite Deanna's protest.

In 49 B.C.E., Bayek, a respected Medjay in charge of protecting the Siwa Oasis, is abducted along with his son Khemu by a group of five masked men to an underground vault in the Temple of Amun. The masked men give Bayek a golden orb and demand that he use it to open a secret Vault. Khemu helps Bayek escape, but during the struggle to kill one of the masked men, Bayek inadvertently stabs Khemu in the chest, killing him.

One year later, in 48 BCE, Bayek had exiled himself from Siwa in order to track down the five masked men to take his revenge. He finds the first one, Rudjek, "The Heron", and kills him. Bayek then returns to Siwa to kill the local priest Medunamun, "The Ibis", who has been torturing Siwans for information to open the same vault. After killing Medunamun, Bayek then heads for Alexandria, where Aya has been tracking another of the masked men. 

Upon meeting Aya, she reveals that she has already killed "The Vulture" and "The Ram", leaving only one target left, "The Snake". Aya also reveals that she has been working with Apollodorus and Cleopatra to uncover The Snake's identity. She gives Bayek the very first Hidden Blade. Bayek discovers that "The Snake" is Eudoros, the royal scribe, and tracks him to a bathhouse. Bayek kills Eudoros with the Hidden Blade, at the cost of his own left ring finger, cut off by the same blade.

Bayek remembers Eudoros' words and begins to have doubts. He decides to meet with Apollodorus and Cleopatra for answers. Cleopatra tells Bayek that she was ousted from the throne by the masked men, who call themselves the Order of the Ancients and seek to control all of Egypt by using Ptolemy as their puppet. 

In addition, there are more members of Order than the five Bayek and Aya had already killed: "The Scarab", "The Hyena", "The Lizard", and "The Crocodile". In fact, Eudoros was actually "The Hippo", and the name of "The Snake" is used to refer to the Order as a whole. Confronted with this new information, Bayek agrees to become Cleopatra's Medjay and assassinate the remaining members of the Order. Bayek eventually tracks down and kills all of them while Aya convinces Pompey the Great to ally with Cleopatra.

Back in the present, Layla and Deanna are attacked by Abstergo's paramilitary task force Sigma Team for failing to check in with the company. Layla is able to kill her attackers, but Deanna is captured and presumably executed. Swearing revenge, Layla returns to the Animus, determined to complete her mission.

Bayek receives a letter from Aya explaining that there are two more members of the Order, "The Scorpion" and "The Jackal", who are members of Ptolemy's royal guard and the likely culprits responsible for Khemu's death. He finds out that Lucius Septimius is the Jackal and tracks him, but is too late to stop him from assassinating Pompey. 

With no other options, Cleopatra has Bayek and Aya help sneak her into the palace in order to meet Julius Caesar. Cleopatra is able to impress Caesar and secure his support. Bayek manages to kill Pothinus, "The Scorpion", but is stopped from killing Septimius by Caesar, while Aya watches as Ptolemy is eaten by crocodiles as he tries to flee across the Nile.

After the end of the civil war, Cleopatra takes the throne as Pharaoh. Septimius becomes an advisor to Caesar and Cleopatra cuts ties with Bayek and Aya. Bayek and his supporters realize that Cleopatra and Caesar have now allied themselves with the Order. Regretting his mistake in supporting Cleopatra, Bayek gathers all of the allies he has made and decides to form a brotherhood to counter the Order and defend the free will of the common people. 

Bayek and Aya recall the great interest the Order showed in the tomb of Alexander the Great and they go to investigate. There, they find a mortally wounded Apollodorus who warns them that Caesar's lieutenant, Flavius Metellus, is "The Lion" and the true leader of the Order. He and Septimius had taken the Orb and Alexander's personal Staff of Eden from the tomb and are heading back to Siwa for the Vault.

Upon returning to Siwa, they find the Vault already opened. Bayek tracks down and confronts Flavius, who now bears the activated Apple of Eden, but Bayek is able to defeat and kill him, finally avenging Khemu's death. Bayek then returns to Aya, who has recruited Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus to their cause. She plans to head to Rome with Brutus and Cassius to assassinate Caesar and Septimius. 

Sundered by their paths of blood and shadow and hollowed by the death of their child, Bayek and Aya decide finally to part ways, but cement the foundation of the Assassin Brotherhood when they both swear to fight from the shadows to protect the world. As they part, Bayek discards his eagle's skull charm, a necklace of Khemu's. Aya picks it up and notices the impression it leaves in the sand—the icon of their new Brotherhood.

After this, Layla wakes up from the Animus to find William Miles, present day Mentor of the Assassin Brotherhood, watching over her. She accepts William's offer to work with the Assassins, but stops short of actually joining them as a member, and the two depart for Alexandria.

In Rome, Aya confronts Septimius, who wields the Staff of Eden, and she defeats and kills him. She then infiltrates the Theatre of Pompey and assassinates Caesar with the aid of members of the Roman Senate. Later, she meets with Cleopatra and warns her to be a fair ruler or she will return to assassinate her. Afterwards, Bayek and Aya, now calling herself "Amunet", begin recruiting and training other Assassin apprentices as they build the Assassin Brotherhood in Egypt and Rome, respectively.

and as always have a chilled day from the Viking