The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

I just finished reading Assassin's Creed Origins: Desert Oath over the last three days, so anything in this topic that is a spoiler could be a "background" spoiler for the game. Nothing major, but still.

One thing that we KNOW we can do in this game is play at tomb raider. If you've seen any gameplay (or played it yourself) you know this. You can explore the secrets of the pyramids, and walk close to countless objects within with a "Loot" prompt.

This gameplay mechanic is and has been immensely useful to us, the players, at gathering money and goods. It's going to be even MORE important in AC: Origins because we know there will be random weapon drops in loot chests that have the potential to reap great rewards.

In Black Flag, we were a Pirate... the first game where it actually made sense to go around looting everything we could. In all the other games, Ezio, Connor, Jacob, Arno, Evie, Lydia, Adewale, Shay, Aveline had the inclination to loot for their own reward. It wasn't as lore friendly as being Edward Fucking Kenway the pirate, but there was no reason not to loot a random chest on the ground or painting on the wall.

This brings us to Bayek and Assassin's Creed Origins. Will it be awesome to loot the Pyramids and Necropoles of Ancient Egypt? You bet your ass it will be. Will it be awesome to explore the tombs themselves and find out what secrets they hold? Also, yes. That will be awesome. A hallmark of this series is exploration.

However, it makes zero goddamn sense for Bayek to do this. The simple act of ENTERING a pyramid or other tomb, let alone looting it, does not fit with his character, nor with his role.

(This is where the spoilers start).

Bayek grew up in Siwa, son of Sabu, the Protector of Siwa, and more, but this isn't about his calling as a Medjay. But let's just leave it at that. Protector of Siwa. What was he charged protecting? The people? To some extent, sure. But what the protectors are there to protect, primarily, are the tombs and temples of the cities. Who are they protecting them from? Graverobbers and looters.

When Bayek is a child, a notorious graverobber named Menna sets his sights on the tombs of Siwa. He sends a band of fighters to Sabu's house in the cover of darkness to kill the protector, Bayek's dad, so they can rob the place in peace. It doesn't work, but this is a traumatic experience for young Bayek. Menna doesn't show his face in the town himself, but pulls the strings. His first lieutenant sneaks through Bayek's room, but manages to escape Sabu and the rest. Sabu gets down to the tombs, destroys the tomb-raiding force and they run with their tails between their legs.

EVERYONE knows of Menna's defeat to Sabu in Siwa. In fact, Menna and this band of graverobbers is one of the chief antagonistic forces in the novel.

To take it a step further, Bayek, on his journey, meets with some old friends in another town. They are nomadic Nubians and live where they can. In this instance, they have taken up residence in a tomb at the town's necropolis. Bayek (and his companion at the time) is more or less pissed at this and won't step foot in the necropolis except for the assertions that the tomb was empty when they moved in. It was either never used or robbed before the Nubians got there. They all understand that it would be utter sacrilege to enter and live in the tomb otherwise.

Bayek lived the first 15 years of his life training to become Siwa's Protector. That is, again, protector of their tombs and temples. The fact that this gameplay mechanic goes so far against Bayek's core values is so dissonant.

It never bothered me with the other games, lore-wise. I mean, I never understood WHY they did it, but wrote it off as a necessary mechanic. That said, why is Ezio breaking into a house/courtyard of his peers and stealing all that they hold dear? How does that benefit the cause?

When Edward came along, I think I even made comments about it FINALLY makes sense to open treasure chests everywhere.

With Bayek, the whole idea of tomb-raiding is so contrary to his core beliefs and motivations, that this, as far as being lore-friendly, is even worse than Jacob and Evie's rope-launcher. It's basically the most lore-unfriendly thing this series has ever done. They are giving us a character whose motivations are to protect the tombs of the dead and the temples of the gods... then they let us go pillage every pyramid we see.

It makes no sense at all.

It will be fun as hell, though.