HAVING released a main entry into the Assassin’s Creed series every year since 2009, developers Ubisoft – perhaps jaded by the cycle of year releases and resulting variation in quality – opted to break the mould by taking a prolonged break after Syndicate’s visit to Victorian London in 2015.

Two years on, Assassin’s Creed Origins hopes to bear the fruit of this self-imposed exile and return the beleaguered franchise back to its former glory in the setting of ancient Egypt.

And as has often been the case with the series, Origins’ location and time period certainly captures the imagination – with primary school history lessons learned about Tutankhamun and co truly brought to life.

The game world looks spectacular, and there was never really any doubt that it would be fun to explore the great pyramids of Giza and the Sphynx in their late-BC heyday.

Assassin’s Creed again blurs the lines between fact and fiction as Origins absconds from its timeline to take us back to the very birth of the Assassin Brotherhood.

Our hero Bayek (seemingly pronounced ‘by heck’, evoking Burnley in 1972 AD more than Alexandria in 49 BC) enlists the help of none other than Julius Caesar himself in the wake of Cleopatra’s descent from the throne in deference to her brother and husband – ancient Egypt wasn’t all great – Ptolemy XIII.

On the gameplay side, Origins’ combat has been overhauled and now feels as closely related to the Batman Arkham series as it does its own ancestors.

Still, Assassin’s Creed Origin is not quite the revolution many might have expected given the series’ hiatus and is still occasionally hampered by technical issues.

Long-time fans of the franchise may also be disappointed to find that one of its key unique selling points, of lurking in the shadows and using stealth to take down opponents, appears to have been abandoned.

If nothing else, the break between titles will go some way to staving off oversaturation, but it’s hard not to think of Origins as a missed opportunity for reinvention.

However, Assassin’s Creed is worth revisiting for its immersive and extensive game world alone as well as the chance to walk like an Egyptian.