Great moments in PC gaming: Being hunted by enemies so scary I spent most of Assassin's Creed Origins hiding from them
Great moments in PC gaming are bite-sized celebrations of some of our favorite gaming memories.
Developer: Ubisoft
Year: 2017
I'm what you'd call a lapsed Assassin's Creed player. I was in deep pretty much from the get-go, religiously playing every AC game since the first, year by year, as they were released. But just like my baseball fandom, my daily regimen of pushups, and my promises to keep in touch with my extended family on a regular basis, I eventually just had enough and quit.
The last Assassin's Creed game I played was 2017's Assassin's Creed Origins, and then I hung up my cowl. I didn't grease any fools in Ancient Greece, or cover the rainbow bridge with blood as a Viking, or bag up any baddie bodies in Baghdad. I've assassined enough over the years. I think I'm just kinda done.
But I think I went out on a high note with Assassin's Creed Origins. Not only was it a great Assassin's Creed game, it had one of my favorite enemies in any game, ever: The Phylakes.
In most open world games you find enemies in specific spots, usually just sitting around waiting for you, and sometimes you'll randomly run into enemies while exploring the map. The Phylakes in Origins were different. They were the Pharaoh's bounty hunters, ordered to find and kill Bayak of Siwa (that's you). And they didn't just hang around a fort or stronghold waiting for you to sneak in and start stabbing them. They restlessly searched the world looking for you. It was really cool.
You could encounter them, I believe, just about anywhere and at any time. You'd get an alert when they were approaching, like a horn blast. And they were scary as hell. Heavily armed and armored, a couple dozen levels more powerful than you (at least at the start), and fierce fighters, much deadlier than the typical rabble you'd find in level-appropriate zones. The Phylakes were out there on the map, all the time, searching for you.
My first few fights with them early on in the game were a joke. They killed me almost instantly, which was the point: this was like a boss battle that tracked you down and didn't give a crap if you were prepared for it. When it came to the Phylakes, my fight-or-flight response became only and always flight.
Many games are power fantasies, and Assassin's Creed is no different. I'd infiltrate a fort like death incarnate, eluding and toying with my foes, dragging them into the shadows to die, silently stabbing my way through an entire stronghold before anyone knew I was there. I was an indestructible magical badass who left only concealed bodies in my wake. But then I'd hear the Phylakes approaching and all that power would instantly be gone. I'd hightail it away from the road, crouch behind cover, and not move an inch until the Phylakes rumbled away and out of sight in their chariots.
I eventually became powerful enough to start taking them on, but honestly that wasn't nearly as much fun as being terrified of them. In a game about being the deadliest killer in Egypt, The Phylakes were utterly humbling, and that's what made them so great.