Principally set in Egypt, near the end of the Ptolemaic period from 49 to 38 BC, the story follows a Medjay named Bayek of Siwa and his wife Aya as they seek revenge for the murder of their son.

It received positive reviews from critics, with many calling it an improvement over previous entries and praising the story, characters, voice acting, reworked gameplay systems, world design, historical accuracy, and the visuals.

Its successor, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which is set in Classical Greece during the Peloponnesian War, was released in October 2018, expanding on the revamped gameplay and continuing the new framing story.

Players complete quests—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story, and can freely roam the open world environment on foot, horseback, camel-back, horse-drawn vehicles or boat.

[15] To further enhance combat efficiency, Bayek's hidden blade, quiver, stabilizer glove, bracer, breastplate and tool pouch can be crafted using the resources collected from hunting wildlife, dismantling gear, and attacking convoys carrying supplies.

[26] Locations within the game world enable the player to choose their playing style by offering stealth and open combat as equally viable choices for completing objectives.

[31] The player takes on the role of an Egyptian Medjay named Bayek of Siwa and his wife Aya, as they work to protect the people of Ptolemaic Egypt during a time of widespread upheaval.

Bayek's role as a Medjay brings him and Aya into contact with the secretive forces manipulating these events and into forming the Hidden Ones, the precursor organization to the Assassin Brotherhood.

In 49 BC, Bayek, a Medjay charged with protecting the Siwa Oasis, is abducted along with his son Khemu by a group of masked men and taken to an underground vault in the Temple of Amun.

Apollodorus introduces him to Cleopatra, who confirms that the masked men are members of the Order of the Ancients, which ousted her from the throne and seeks to control Egypt using Ptolemy as their puppet.

Pompey is killed by Order member Lucius Septimius, forcing Bayek and Aya to sneak Cleopatra into the palace to meet Julius Caesar.

Cleopatra impresses Caesar and secures his support, allowing her to win the civil war against Ptolemy, who is eaten by crocodiles while attempting to flee across the Nile.

Bayek and Aya return to Siwa to find that Flavius and Septimius have used the Apple and Staff to open the Vault, which contains a map with the locations of more Pieces of Eden.

As Bayek returns to Amunet, she informs of Gamilat's actions of planting his men among innocent villagers, knowing that the Romans would kill indiscriminately, thus creating martyrs to motivate more people to join the rebellion.

Afterwards, realizing the importance of a Creed to serve as a moral guideline for the Hidden Ones and to ensure their survival over time, Bayek and Amunet address their apprentices and create their first tenet: the prohibition of harming innocent lives.

Deciding to investigate, Bayek travels to the city and discovers the disturbance to be a "curse" which has seemingly resurrected several past pharaohs as undead spirits to haunt the region.

Upon venturing into the Heb Sed and defeating Ramesses' spirit, Bayek investigates the ritual and learns that the Piece of Eden has been passed into the care of the priests of Amun, meaning it was in Isidora's possession all along.

In addition to recruiting in-house historians, they also consulted academics like Jean-Claude Golvin to place landmarks in the game's world and recreate ancient paintings.

[43] Alan Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs served as the foundation for the language spoken by the NPCs, though the team also drew from the works of James Allen and Raymond Faulkner.

[44] The team watched films and TV series to see how ancient Egypt was portrayed in pop culture,[44] and adjusted the game when they felt the focus on history had impeded gameplay and entertainment.

[46] To make the world more dynamic, the team invested a lot of time into designing the artificial intelligence of the non-playable characters, ensuring they would have a routine every day such as working during daytime and sleeping at night.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot later added that this also gave the Montreal studio additional time to polish the game and learn from Assassin's Creed Unity (2014), whose troubled launch alienated the series' fans.

Several gear packs were released for the game,[61][62] and Ubisoft partnered with Square Enix, the developers of Final Fantasy XV, to create crossover content.

[65] This DLC focuses on Egyptian mythology, as Bayek travels to Thebes to investigate a curse that has apparently brought several ancient pharaohs back from the dead.

[66] Ubisoft also released a series of missions named Trials of the Gods, which allows players to fight high-level bosses inspired by Egyptian deities.

The team received feedback from people in the education field and designed the tour and its control to be as accessible as possible, and allow players to explore at their own pace.

[71] In an article on history-themed video games, Damals magazine wrote the Discovery Tour mode presented a transformation from an entertainment product to an interactive learning aid.

Discovery Tour: Ancient Egypt, however, was heavily criticized for intellectual dishonesty and deliberate historical revisionism and inaccuracy of Egyptian society of the time (as confirmed also by the "Behind The Scenes" narrator), showing an education system in which females in reality were typically excluded but in the game is instead gender mixed.

[82] Writing for PC Gamer, Christopher Livingston noted the recommended level of an area made Origins similar to a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) and remarked it created "a feeling of artificial difficulty".

[84] Blain praised the game's design and applauded the team for ditching the franchise's staple gameplay features such as paired animation combat, tailing missions, and an excessive amount of collectibles.