Assassin's Creed Origins

A decent but mixed-bag game, both beautiful and riddled with inconsistencies. Its recreation of ancient Egypt is breathtaking, with gorgeous water, lighting, and draw distance, though character models are stiff and lip-syncing is poor. It is dragged down by persistent frame drops even on strong hardware, clunky combat that collapses against multiple enemies, weak stealth detection, a slow tedious opening hour, filler side missions, and intrusive microtransactions; worth picking up at a discount.

ZP: disappointing RPG-lite; cynical microtransactions.

AJ Rapid Fire: 6/10 PC, 7/10 console.

Strong open-world RPG with excellent exploration and varied Egyptian setting; recommended for series fans despite frame-rate issues on Xbox One.