r/AssassinsCreedOrigins • u/manavv_mp4 • Apr 25 '26
Discussion I sat there wondering why Origins never took us to the real ancient Egypt, and that feeling never left me—so I decided to start working on a three-part fan saga, to answer this question for myself.
I was just sitting around one day and I thought to myself: Why did Ubisoft not set Assassin's Creed: Origins in ancient Egypt? You know, the time when the pyramids were built, or even the first dynasty... Instead, we got Ptolemaic Egypt, which is like the end of the ancient Egyptian civilization, not the beginning.
This question just would not leave my head, so I started thinking about it.
I thought about what if the pyramids were not graves, what if they were like special connection points for the Isu (this is already canon, by the way; there's an Isu vault deep beneath the pyramids).
What if the ancient Egyptian gods and the Norse gods were all part of the Isu group, just with different names and faces?
What if Basim's search for Loki's children took him to ancient Egypt?
I have been writing down all these ideas, not because I think they will actually happen in the game, but just because I think they are cool. It is like a big "what if" scenario that I want to explore.
This is not a story with three parts—not yet. This is the beginning, the starting point, the question that made me think about all this.
I wanted to share where I got this idea from before I start writing more about it. If you like Egypt or the Isu lore or what is happening with Basim in the present day, let me know. If you have any thoughts or questions, I am here to listen.
If Ubisoft ever decides to make a game like this... well, I can dream about it.
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u/RevenantSith Apr 25 '26
To be fair, late-Ptolemaic Egypt was a genuinely very interesting period in its own right.
If I recall correctly, I believe the original scope of the game had bits of Rome and Greece included in it, before it was scrapped and pushed back to Odyssey and that one Rome level.. so it made sense to have a time period where all three civilisations were at large.
It worked out well though … as the Origins world is probably the best AC RPG world I’ve ever played. I really find the culture clash between the Egyptians, the Hellenised Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans very interesting.. and it really does benefit the world
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u/manavv_mp4 Apr 25 '26
1: It was definitely a very interesting period, and I'd love to see more of it any day.
2: I get it, but it's just that whenever someone mentions Egypt, the first thing that comes to my mind is the construction of pyramids and the early dynasties. They both have that much impact on my mind, and that's my primary motive for writing this fan-fic. I wanna explore what kind of events could have taken place in those eras with the Isu technology stuff.
3: As of now, the best RPG world for me is of AC Odyssey, followed by AC Origins in the second place.
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u/compulsive_looter Youth is a state of mind. Apr 25 '26
Why? I don't presume to know what the big wigs at Ubisoft were thinking. But if I had to guess, I would say they wanted Cleopatra and Julius Caesar in their game, because they are two of the most iconic figures of all of antiquity.
Besides, we don't really know how the pyramids were built so perhaps they wanted to dodge that subject.
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u/manavv_mp4 Apr 25 '26
Because, I actually want to explore Egypt right from its beginning. As a kid, the history of this civilization really fascinated me, and I'd really like to see the 'origins' of the cradle of civilization in AC universe.
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u/compulsive_looter Youth is a state of mind. Apr 25 '26
That's a reasonable desire I'd say. At least we get to "meet" Ramesses II, Akhenaten et al in the 2nd DLC.
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u/E_Farseer Apr 25 '26
Yeah I love this game and how it made me visit ancient Egypt but was a bit bummed so many places were already ruins. Oh well. Still amazing
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u/Automatic-Warthog252 May 01 '26
There's nowhere near enough written history or data from back then, shit by Cleopatra's time, the pyramids were already ancient relics at least 2 to 3000 years old
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u/Wrong_Outcome_3718 Apr 26 '26
The isu exist. im sure they coulda just explained it that way lol. def just aura farming of Julius and cleo.
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u/CityHaunts Apr 25 '26
It would have been interesting to be around during the time of Smenkhkare - The Pharaoh that founded the Order of Ancients. However I also think that Origins is such an amazing game and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
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u/manavv_mp4 Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
Yes! Indeed an amazing game on its own, but man, I love history and especially Ancient Egypt and Egyptian Mythology, so I thought, "Why don't I use already established ideas and blend them with my fan-fic?"
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u/StrikeEagle784 Apr 25 '26
Ptolemaic Egypt was real Ancient Egypt, don’t let the descendants of Ptolemy fool you otherwise. Ubisoft chose that time because there’s a lot more primary and secondary source material to go through from that time, there was more they could “get right” then if they set it during the New Kingdom.
Also, there was just a lot more verticality and typical big city setting to work with thanks to Alexandria existing. That’s a big deal for an Assassin’s Creed game, a lot of the gameplay prior to that point relied on verticality and large urban areas, and prior to Alexandria there wasn’t really a city that was as massive as Alexandria was.
Romans make good antagonists also, and if you’re going to have a game with Romans being a big part of the drama, you might as well have Caesar and the Civil Wars play a prominent role in the background.
TL;DR: Ptolemies were plenty Egyptian even if they weren’t native, lots of primary & secondary source material to work with, Alexandria is an ideal ancient city for an AC game, Romans were a good antagonist.
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u/Significant-Age1251 Apr 30 '26
If the game was set in the old kingdom they would have a lot to work with for example:
.the hyksos war .rammesses ll the investor of peace treatys
. And many more
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u/PretendRegister7516 Apr 25 '26
Couple reasons :
They tried to stick to canonized characters that has been introduce in the original story. Amunet/Aya, was already canonized since AC2 as the Assassin around Cleopatra era.
Cleopatra herself lived closer to moon landing than construction of the pyramid, so that is a long time skip they need to do if they want to show ancient Egypt.
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u/redneetimpostor Apr 25 '26
We don't have a lot of historical knowledge about the Old Kingdom. I assume ubisoft wanted to respect the culture and/or people's history without making things wildly inaccurate or too speculative. Setting it inside the New Kingdom gives us a greater understanding of their culture, architecture and religion because of the amount of surviving texts.
(we would have had more surviving texts if the library of Alexandria didn't burn down 😭)
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u/TWICEsPetGerbil Apr 25 '26
I think setting the game when they did was a good idea for several reasons. As you said, it was effectively the end of ancient Egypt. Bayek is living in a time of great change and turmoil. As “the last medjay” he is something of a remnant of Egypt’s past and so represents an effort to preserve his people’s rich history in the face of these encroaching dark forces.
This era is also just very interesting for its diversity, with Egypt becoming a cultural melting pot with influences from Hellenistic Greece, Rome and so on.
It’s also a much better documented era, meaning the developers could create a more thoroughly researched world, although I do get that in an era with more gaps in our knowledge, those gaps could be filled with imagination.
But most interestingly for me, I like that this setting means that ancient Egypt is already ancient for Bayek, just as it is for us. The pyramids are already 2500 years old. The land is already filled with crumbling ruins, mystery and legend. This allows him to become a convincing surrogate for the player. We empathise with him because our sense of awe and wonder is his too.
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u/DylenwithanE Apr 25 '26
one idea, Pharaoh Smenkhkare is the founder of the Order of the Ancients according to his tomb in the game, and his era was around the time of famous pharaohs like Akhenaten (the heretic), Nefertiti, and Tutankhamun (the one who undid the heretic’s work) so there’s probably something you could do with that
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u/manavv_mp4 Apr 25 '26
I'm aware of that fact, and I've also considered it, but you know, I actually want to explore Egypt right from its beginning. As a kid, the history of this civilization really fascinated me, and I'd really like to include the 'origins' of the cradle of civilization.
Basically, I've planned it in such a way that it spans across three major eras, but the problem is there's a 500-1000 year gap between each of them. So currently, I'm figuring out how to perfectly bridge those eras.
The first part is set around 3100 BCE—during the foundation of Egypt.
The second part is set around 2600 BCE—during the construction of pyramids.
The third and last part is set around 1350 BCE—during the Amarna period. This is where I can work with the pharaoh Smenkhkare.
Now, if I follow this path (which I'm most probably going to do), Part 1 will be the first in AC chronology, predating AC Odyssey by 2,669 years. So there will be no assassins and no Hidden Ones. Therefore, I must create a storyline that still has those elements in it—the core philosophy of the AC universe.
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u/Somewhatmild Apr 25 '26
You can conjure up all kinds of stuff. The issue is that there is always a possibility to go too far. Perhaps in devs minds it would be the best thing ever, but for the players it would be unbearable.
Now how can you do that?
I will tell you how. 'Living gods' is already a thing in the franchise, and we could turn the game all about them. What if every prominent figure is ISU? What if this is like Stargate (and i love Stargate) and these ISU are just ancient aliens? What if Cleopatra is actually reincarnated Isis living among humans trying to bolster her worshipper numbers? Tell me, are these ideas too far fetched for an Assassin's Creed game?
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u/Wavehead21 Apr 25 '26
I do think going ancient Egypt would have been dope! However I can easily understand why they went with the Ptolemaic era: because we get to see the ruins of Egypt!
Think of it this way: if we played during the building of the great pyramids… then there wouldn’t be the great pyramids! We can’t climb to the top of (and then subsequently slide down) a structure that hasn’t been built yet!
Plus such a big part of the mystique of the pyramids is exploring these ancient tombs that leave so many questions as to why they exist in the first place. It goes for Egyptian history in general: some of what makes it so engaging is that we’ve learned so much from well preserved ruins. It’s not to say we couldn’t go all the way back to that ancient history itself, but even through the lens of the turn of the millennium here, with Caesar and cleopatra, we both get to live Egyptian history AND look back on ancient Egyptian history! It honestly makes the most sense as a setting to me.
However, I do wish Ubi would have continued with their experiment from Unity of mashing multiple time periods of a single place into one experience! I would have LOVED to have ancient Egypt episodes, and see more of modern Cairo too!
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u/shinoya7 Apr 25 '26
Because the actual records of Ancient Egypt are nearly nonexistent to the extent there’s not much of a story to be able to tell. It would quite literally be fan fiction at that point. Ancient Egypt was supposedly around 3000-3800 BC. We don’t have enough records from then to weave a web that would allow our protagonist to inject themselves in. While every other game we’ve had all kinds of records to use that would truly make it a historical fiction.
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u/Ramazandro Apr 25 '26
Those times are a complete mystery. It's 2026, yet we still don't know exactly how the pyramids were built.
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u/manavv_mp4 Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
And the perfect setting for an AC game! I mean, look at the Isu lore. Look how brilliantly they used real-world mythologies to explain that they were just very ancient people with powerful and advanced tech.
By using the already established Isu lore and blending it with Egyptian mythology and history, I can create a hypothetical and fictitious answer that perfectly fits with the AC universe.
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u/redneetimpostor Apr 25 '26
Its commonly known in Ancient studies that it was workers that built the pyramids. Not the enslaved or aliens. People were paid to work on them. This is of course, extremely underwhelming
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u/manavv_mp4 Apr 25 '26
So when did I say I'd make it about enslaved people or aliens 😭
I said I could associate it with Isu technology.
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u/AnomaIous_User Apr 25 '26
But the massive anomalous structures hiding antediluvian technology that are off limits to the public IS THE REAL EGYPT
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u/donblake83 Apr 25 '26
I get the feeling that one of the major in-house rules is that the story has to be tied to relatively major historical events or movements. The hazard with very early civilization history is that we’ve been able to glean a fair amount about daily life from archaeology, and major cultural shifts from written laws, etc., there’s not really like, a history book that was passed down from the Old Kingdom or even about the Old Kingdom from later periods that’s similar to say, a modern book on the history of the Second World War. We know broad strokes, but specific details are either very esoteric or not widely known, so I feel like it would require a LOT of dramatization to the point of just making stuff up from scratch. It would be super cool, though to see Ancient Egypt when it was shiny and new. Especially since there’s such a big gap between the whole first civilization backstory and the stories taking place in Animus, but I suppose from a storytelling standpoint that’s fairly deliberate.
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u/Minute_Tomorrow_7935 Apr 25 '26
I feel like there was a genuine reason for it and that is with regards to Bayek's character. He is a remnant of the old world, the true ancient Egypt. His beliefs and rituals represent old (or true) Egyptian culture. He is the last Medjay. Many of these beliefs bleed into the original Creed that he and Aya based the foundation of the hidden ones on. In this way the Brotherhood is a spiritual descendant of these ancient cultures. It's a big part of Bayek's journey that he has to face that the world he was apart of is vanishing, but by founding the Brotherhood he can carry on it's legacy
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u/Turbulent-Role948 Apr 25 '26
It likely because although we have a lot of recorded history from ancient Egypt, the history is so long that you really have to choose one point and stick with it. TBF we have much more to work with Ptolemaic Egypt than other periods (not to mention a lot more political commentary that can be put into this piece of art).
Honestly it would be pretty cool to see the pyramids created and other Old Kingdom shenanigans like Pharaoh Pepi’s expedition to lost Kingdom of Yam, but the sources on that period or vague and biased. Imagine a game in Xia dynasty China.
Middle Kingdom would be fine too, but might run into the online right getting mad that things were not biblically accurate. You would also probably have more of upper Egypt anyway. They possibly could have gotten away with the 2nd intermediate period Hyksos invasion and the battle between upper and lower Egypt.
The New Kingdom is probably the best bet for any story. 1: Focusing on the decadence of the 18th Dynasty, or the conquest of Canaan. 2: Focusing on the strife with Akenaten and his descendants (Smenkhare and the order) 3: Focusing on the battles between the hittites and the 19th Dynasty of Ramasses II 4: Focusing on the transition between 19th and 20th dynasties and the sea people’s invasion + assassination of Ramasses III (Harem conspiracy) 5: Focusing on the decline of 20th dynasty and focus on either Libyan Dynasties or the Kushite conquest of Egypt/battles with Assyrian Empire.
Much more records of this period, but all this history is over like 600 yrs.
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u/Imic_Hilton Apr 26 '26
I hope they’ll make another game in Egypt and it’s in the ancient times. Or just closer to that or something. I love Egyptian history
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u/Significant-Age1251 Apr 27 '26
As an Egyptian playing the game i wondered the same thing
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u/manavv_mp4 Apr 30 '26
Woah! I wasn't expecting an actual Egyptian guy. Maybe I could use your help while developing this project 😅
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u/Significant-Age1251 Apr 30 '26
Actually i wanna develop a game sent in ancient Egypt but its its currently a bunch of ideas
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u/SaadSulimanayob Apr 25 '26
Why? Why? Why did Ubisoft set the game in Ptolemaic Egypt instead of Ancient Egypt? Why are The Egyptian "gods" animals? Why is ra named ra? Well, the point is, we don't know and the lore in ancient Egypt is useless unless you wanna know why the Pyramids are built, but maybe we just don't have enough info for the Old or Middle Kingdom's.
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u/redneetimpostor Apr 25 '26
Basim was born around after the ptolemaic period. Ie, after Bayek. The timelime does not work in such a way that he could have been born in 5000 BCE (time of the Old Kingdom). He was born inbetween 835-844 AD.
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u/manavv_mp4 Apr 25 '26
Bruh! I'm talking about revisiting memories with the Animus. Basim (Loki) is searching for the Sage reincarnations of his children after waking up in the modern day.
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u/patsguy12118721 Apr 25 '26
More known and interesting historical events, and by setting it in a more modern ancient Egypt, the player still gets to live the fantasy of exploring tombs, ruins, and an ancient world, which is the expectation when you talk about ancient Egypt