Assassin’s Creed Origins was the first open-world RPG of the series, with many claiming it was arguably the best one until Shadows came along. Both Odyssey and Valhalla were criticized for being too bloated, so many look back at Origins fondly for being the right length.
Origins also had Bayek as a lead, who many consider to be one of the series’ best leads. Bayek is up there with Ezio for some as the franchise’s best protagonist, and he deserves to have another game dedicated to him.
For the sake of keeping things fresh for Assassin’s Creed, we think it would be wise if Bayek is the lead for a smaller game in the future, similar to Mirage. This is ironic since he started the open-world RPG nature of the series, but hear us out.
Gamers loved Assassin’s Creed Origins because it made the series feel fresh despite being completely unoriginal. The mix of RPG elements and stealth gameplay added variety to this franchise. More importantly, Bayek’s story was a great one that players loved witnessing, even if the conclusion was too quick for some.
Bayek is a pretty relatable character, motivated by love for his family, among other things. He wasn’t perfect either, as later events made him pretty vengeful, leading to moments of reckless abandon. That mix of down-to-earth motives and understandable anger made him a fan-favorite in the series, so it was disappointing that Ubisoft moved on to other protagonists.
Following the ending of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Bayek has become the founder of the Assassin’s Brotherhood, and the change in position should lead to a sequel story. Now that Bayek is leading this guild, he has to lead by example, and taking part in various stealth levels sounds like a promising evolution for his character.
They can keep some open-world aspects from Origins, like side quests and ship battles. Ubisoft can even use the same world for Bayek to explore, though maybe limit it to the town for a clear mission structure. While we wouldn’t mind another big RPG for Bayek, the release of Shadows could lead to more saturation for this series, which is arguably still pretty high.
Ubisoft has a poor tendency to move on from their lead characters, which was a bummer for Assassin’s Creed Origin fans. There was more to explore with Bayek and his family, so switching to Odyssey immediately disappointed many. An Ezio-style trilogy would have been good for the character, seeing him struggle with the Brotherhood to reach his inevitable death. There is a lot of potential here.
Fans will argue that a lot of Assassin’s Creed protagonists deserve another game, like Connor from AC3 or Arno from Unity. However, it’s fair to say that Bayek has surpassed them in popularity and story material.
As the founder of this brotherhood, we feel that learning more about Bayek in smaller games would naturally flesh out the character and story.