In 2024, Microsoft began rolling out Windows 11 version 24H2, and developers and players alike quickly discovered that this update was wreaking havoc on several Ubisoft games. While some games have been fixed, problems still abound in the Assassin's Creed Origins trilogy, Odyssey, and Valhalla, and the first of those titles in particular is paying the price on Steam.
On November 22 of last year, Microsoft confirmed that a handful of Ubisoft games were prone to “become unresponsive during startup, loading, or during active gameplay” due to the effects of 24H2. Updates to Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws quickly fixed the problems in those games, but the slightly older Assassin's Creed titles are still suffering.
Currently, Windows 11 won't download the 24H2 update if you have any affected games installed, so if you've been slowly grinding through Origins since before launch, you'll still be fine. But if you recently purchased a title like Origins, which just happened to drop to $5.99 as part of Steam's recent winter sale, you probably already have 24H2 installed and could be in for a very bad time.
Origins has a “very positive” overall Steam rating with 85% positive reviews, but in the last 30 days those reviews have fallen to a “mixed” rating of 61%. While a handful of negative reviews focus on the game's content itself, or general complaints about Ubisoft as a whole, the vast majority point to the 24H2 update and the glitches that have occurred as a result.
In a post pinned to the game's Steam forum, a developer says that “Ubisoft and Microsoft are working on a resolution and will provide more information when it becomes available.” Interestingly, while this same message is also pinned on the Odyssey and Valhalla forums, only Origins receives the negative review treatment. Maybe everyone who bought Assassin's Creed in the Steam sale was simply trying to get started with Origins.
Anecdotally, I was able to launch Origins on my PC with 24H2 installed and had no problems, but that was with just a few minutes of testing. Your mileage may vary here, but we hope Ubisoft and Microsoft fix this issue for all affected players as soon as possible.
There are a lot of upcoming Assassin's Creed games on the way, and Assassin's Creed Shadows It will arrive very soon.