Look, if you’re going to slather one of the most consistently fine sandbox adventures with Egyptian historical settings I’m not going to be responsible for my gushing behaviour.

Alright let’s settle down, though, because we have some new bits and bobs to bring up.

Combat has been shoved into the shoulder buttons which takes a little getting used to but ultimately feels a more natural fit (I’m always pushing knives into my foes by tapping a grey plastic blob).

More troubling, however, is the skill tree, a tired facility which greatly saps a game’s realism. How does earning skill points and spending them upgrading your abilities even work in real life? Yeah I know, the series isn’t exactly known for treading a ‘real-life’ path, but still. Bah on that.

But hell, apart from this and some occasional graphical spasms (one of my fleeing enemies melted into the road and fell for miles into the earth’s mantle, quite out of my grasp, the lucky so-and-so), I haven’t got much to say against this game.

Set in Egypt’s Ptolemaic dynasty, Origins is utterly gorgeous, stacked with all the mystery you’d hope from such a crossover and squirts in a few titbits from previous Creed instalments just to tie things together.

Sandstorms can whip up at a moment’s notice, your off-piste exploring can uncover hidden monuments and treasure, and the characters and story are engaging enough to ruin any hopes you might have had of an early night.

What shortcormings Origins has are battered into submission by the setting and storytelling, which are sublime