George TsagkarakisBayek of Siwa is coming back, and you won’t need a controller for it.
The protagonist of Assassin’s Creed Origins returns this October in Assassin's Creed® Animus – The Board Game, made by Mantic Games. He’s not alone either. A roster of other series protagonists comes with him.
The Kickstarter total says a lot
The campaign pulled in £274,425 in pledges. That’s the kind of number that suggests people have been waiting for an excuse to spend time with these characters again.
One to four players take on the roles of Assassin’s Creed protagonists, explore the past, strike down targets and race to make their mark on history. Ten eras are on the table, and each one is built to be played more than once.
Why Bayek keeps coming up
Origins landed in 2017 as the tenth major installment in the franchise, at a point when Ubisoft’s series was drawing mixed reviews. The Egypt game broke that streak. Reviewers praised the performances, the writing, the atmosphere and the gameplay.
It helped that the story had weight. Bayek and his wife Aya set out to avenge the death of their son, and what they build along the way is the Assassin’s Brotherhood. The war with the Templars that runs through the rest of the series starts right there, under Cleopatra’s reign.
Two DLC releases, The Hidden Ones and The Curse of the Pharaohs, landed just as well. Nearly a decade later Bayek still turns up in conversations about the best characters the series has produced.
Read the pledge tiers carefully
The Initiate Pledge runs £65 and includes six playable eras. Reasonable, as these things go.
But the Early Bird Master Assassin Pledge is the one that opens up to 10 playable eras, and that’s the bundle that puts Bayek’s stretch of Ancient Egypt in your hands. The miniatures ship alongside it.
What you’re actually doing on the board
Players enter the memories of their chosen assassins, each with their own abilities and goals. You pick your character by era, skills, equipment and playstyle.
From there you spend actions to move across the board, investigate special locations and hunt down enemies. Special cards keep throwing new things at you: targets, challenges, events you didn’t plan for.
Boxes start shipping to backers in October. Bayek’s Egypt is in the expensive one.
