Assassin's Creed Origins gets 'nightmare' difficulty mode

Have you been finding Assassin’s Creed Origins, a game where you can control the trajectory of your arrows, a bit on the easy side? Don’t fret -- the December update will add a new "nightmare" difficulty mode, level scaling and two new quests, one of which introduces horde mode.

I’ve found myself unexpectedly taken with Origins. Bayek is one of the most charismatic and likeable Assassins we’ve gotten to control, Egypt is a joy to explore and even more lovely to just stare at, and while the RPG trappings are a bit conservative, they do a surprisingly good job of spicing up the series. All that said, it’s not a game that seems to need a higher difficulty. I just want to muck around with my bird and explore some ancient tombs.

The masochists among you might be a bit keener on the prospect, however. Here’s what you can expect:

Nightmare mode: a new Nightmare difficulty level will be available. The enemies will become more resilient to damages and more dangerous.

Enemy scaling: by popular request, we will add the enemy scaling option. When this option is activated, the game automatically scale the lower level enemies to your level.

Nightmare and First Civ pack items will be available in the Heka Chest.

And then there are the two new quests. Ubisoft is keeping schtum about one of them, but the other is an event quest, Here Comes a New Challenger, which introduces the horde mode. You can show off your combat prowess in the arena against ceaseless waves of angry enemies. I think I’ll just stick to robbing dead Pharaohs.

On top of that, there’s more tat that you can buy in the store, if you’re willing to drop some real cash on some gear and outfits, as well as the latest Trial of the Gods, where you’ll face Egypt’s top cat, Sekhmet. And if you missed the previous ones, against Sobek and Anubis, you’ll get another chance to take them on, too.

Judging by the official forums, I’m not the only one who was hoping for more HUD customisation. Some Assassin’s Creeds let you turn on or off individual elements, but in Origins, there's just the presets, and they’re not great. You’re either stuck with a very noticeable HUD that never disappears, or no HUD at all, which means that you can’t even see what weapons or items you have equipped.

There’s also been some confusion over the Trials of the Gods. Ubisoft are calling the Sekhmet battle the final trial, but players were under the impression that there’d be four, not three. On the forums, someone fished out some old concept art that included the god Horus in the roster. It looks like he’s bowed out of the fight, however.

The update is due out later this month, and the new store packs will appear on December 12 and 26.