Assassin's Creed Origins pre-review

I spent last week playing Assassin's Creed Origins, and brought back some footage of early quests. My review goes live on Thursday, but in the meantime, I just wanted to share some early impressions about the scale of this game, and the detail of its world, via the video above.

Set in ancient Egypt, Assassin's Creed Origins follows Bayek as he takes out soldiers and agents of a corrupt regime. It's a story of political intrigue, but also of ordinary people struggling against tyranny and corruption.

I played the game on Xbox One X, and it's undeniably a beautiful piece of work. As you can see from the captured footage, it's big on detail, while also rendering a coherent, believable world, filled with people who have their own cares and problems.

As a game, it will be familiar to Assassin's Creed players, following a template of climbing, sneaking, fighting and discovering. Various systems underpin the game, including a progression tree, upgrade economy and crafting.

I go into more detail in the 30-minute video, and I'll have a lot more to say in the review. Assassin's Creed Origins is out this Friday, Oct. 27 on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.