Platinum Quest: Assassin’s Creed: Origins
The Quest to this Sneaky Desert Platinum
Welcome to Platinum Quest!
If you didn’t get a chance to read over the introduction post to this new feature, click here.
The Game:
Assassin’s Creed: Origins
Release date: October 27th, 2017
Date I earned the Platinum: June 11th, 2018
It’s 2020, and the PS5 and the Xbox Series X are officially out in the wild. Preorders are backed up and store shelves have zero product to sell. There is a new Assassin’s Creed title (the Viking-centric Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, which will likely be a future Platinum Quest entry) is burning up the sales charts.
Assassin’s Creed: Origins was not my first game in the series. I’d played the original Assassin’s Creed when it came out. I thought it was fascinating then, even if the stealth heavy gameplay didn’t completely grab me. The next title I played was 2012’s Assassin’s Creed 3. Even though I loved the setting, the series was starting to feel stale. Thankfully, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag came along. I think Black Flag is where I started to see the beginnings of a franchise that I could get behind. Heart-thumping naval combat, an interesting protagonist, and a beautiful world that felt worth exploring.
For one reason or another, I didn’t return to the franchise until 5 years later.
Origins served as a soft reboot: it still had so many parts of what made Assassin’s Creed so cool, but the delivery had been changed. It became more of an open-world RPG, focusing on exploration and revamped combat. You had a host of weapons and a dusty world that felt more alive than ever before. I think my fascination with Origins is so tired up with that world. It helped that it wasn’t beholden to modern day Desmond. I didn’t feel lost in the game’s crazy story — seriously, these games are bonkers — for the first time in a long while.
Origins made me love Assassin’s Creed. It was the right path for these games to take. Some moan about the changes, but they are nothing but good.
The Trophies:
Favorite Trophy
‘I’m a Legend’ — Bronze Trophy
Rare 28.9%
Be equipped with only Legendary equipment
The introduction of Legendary equipment may seem like a small thing, but I think it represents one of my favorite parts about these newest games. These games let you have fun. They are not stuffy historical retellings. There are monsters and magic, cults and special weapons. The equipment system added the RPG element, while also letting you make your Bayek look different than mine. I think that Origins had the least customization, but this was the start.
You get Legendary gear from quests, special vendors, and from enemy drops. You even get legendary horses! This system is all upside: Bayek looks cool, and I get to tear up house with cool weapons.
Worst Trophy
‘Overheating’ — Bronze Trophy
Rare 15.7%
Witness raining bugs in the desert.
Barf. This one took me forever. To unlock this trophy, you have to run around in the desert during a certain time of day. After a few minutes of this, a hallucination will trigger. Here’s the rub on this: the hallucination is random. I saw 6 or 7 hallucinations before the one I need dropped.
I hate trophies that are randomized. Stop doing this. Nobody likes this.
Coolest Trophy
‘Set-up Date’ —Bronze Trophy
Very Rare 9.0%
Bring a tamed lion to a crocodile.
This trophy is just funny. It doesn’t require much to do. You have to unlock two specific skills (Sleep Darts and Animal Taming), and then find the two predators. This took some trial and error. I kept running into enemies and my lion would go to battle. But the very idea of ‘Set-up Date’ brings a smile to my face. Great stuff.
The Start of Something Grand
As far as Platinum trophies go, Assassin’s Creed: Origins was an easy one. It was certainly time consuming — wait till we get to Odyssey — but it was anything that I couldn’t handle. If you haven’t played a modern Assassin’s Creed title, this may be a good place to start.
That being said, Assassin’s Creed: Origins is not a perfect game. It felt like a test run for what Odyssey would perfect several years later. I have not played Valhalla yet, but reviews seem to align with what I knew already; these games rock.
Thank you for joining me on this Platinum Quest! Find the rest of my posts here in my Introduction article. Next time I’ll be covering the epic webslinger simulation Marvel’s Spider-Man!
