Assassin's Creed Origins is a soft reboot of the franchise, and was released in October 2017 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Stadia.The game introduces a new protagonist in the modern-day, Layla Hassan, and explores the origins of the Assassin Brotherhood and their conflict with the Templar Order. The story is set in Ancient Egypt, near the end of the Ptolemaic period (49–43 BC), and follows a Medjay named Bayek and his wife Aya, whose fight to protect their people from the Order of the Ancients—forerunners to the Templar Order—leads them to create the Hidden Ones—forerunners to the Assassin Brotherhood. Unlike previous games in the series, which were more action-adventure oriented, Origins heavily features mechanics found in action role-playing games, including an overhauled "hitbox-based" combat system.

In February 2016, Ubisoft announced they would not be releasing a new game in 2016 in order to step "back and [re-examine] the Assassin's Creed franchise... [and take the] year to evolve the game mechanics and to make sure we're delivering on the promise of Assassin's Creed offering unique and memorable gameplay experiences".On the decision, Guillemot said that "Ubisoft started to question the annualized franchise with the release of Assassin's Creed Unity, and the fact that Assassin's Creed Syndicate had "a slower launch than expected". Guillemot added that "by moving away from the annual iterations of the franchise, it will give the Assassin's Creed teams more time to take advantage of new engines and technology".Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's director Ashraf Ismail, commented on an interview that he and the team would be interested in doing an Assassin's Creed game in an Ancient Egyptian setting, along with reiterating an earlier statement that a female leading character was not an impossibility for the series.In May 2017, Ubisoft confirmed the development of Assassin's Creed Origins; one month later, the setting was confirmed to be Ptolemaic Egypt.