The Degeneration of Assassin's Creed

In 2007, something novel happened. The studio Ubisoft, known for games such as Driver, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and Prince of Persia:The Two Thrones, decided to start experimenting with history and brought out a game called Assassin’s Creed.

Assassin’s Creed was unique. It allowed you to delve into the genes of Desmond Miles and replay the life of his ancestor; Altair. Altair was an Assassin, based in Masyaf and he spent the entirety of the game jumping off rooftops, climbing up insanely high towers and assassinating people with a hidden blade in his wrist. As a concept, the game was remarkable. The plot was good, with enough twists and turns to keep a history buff interested, but what really took the cake was the gameplay and the environment details.

A few years later, the sequel to Assassin’s Creed- Assassin’s Creed 2 was released and this game blew us all out of the water. It was an amazing improvement over the original. It’s protagonist was Ezio Auditore, and he was handsome, charismatic and deadly rolled into one. We took Ezio in and around 15^th century Italy, at the height of the Renaissance period and climbed up certain iconic landmarks such as the Bascillica in Florence and the canal bridges in Venice. Ezio also had Leonardo da Vinci at his side and the thieves of Venice to rely on for help in situations. As before, the parkour and the free running was simply divine and it was truly spectacular to leap off one roof onto another and take down five guards before jumping out of a hay stack to kill the assassination target and walk off in the chaos that ensued. Ezio packed not one but two hidden wrist blades, was proficient in fist fighting and swordplay and an absolute charmer of the ladies. The player fell in love with him.

Realizing that they had something good going Ubisoft gave us two more games with Ezio in them- Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, which was in my opinion one of the best games in the series and Assassin’s Creed Revelations in which the connection between Ezio and Altair is fully explained. At the end of Revelations, Ezio  (now fifty) hangs up his blades. In all respects, this was the ideal time to finish the series. However, it would have ended on a cliffhanger, because Desmond Miles’ fate was as yet undecided.

Throughout these games, the presence of the Knights Templar and the mystical “Pieces of Eden” were rampant. In the game, the Assassin’s Altair and Ezio both went after such a Piece, while in the present time, Desmond used this information to track the Piece in the present. I found this concept to be a good one. As Desmond became more and more attuned to Ezio and Altair, he started to learn their skills. He also started to have weird visions, which was expected seeing as he was living a double life per se.

Ezio’s retirement was a turning point for the saga.   It put focus back on Desmond. In the next game; Assassin’s Creed 3, we stepped into the 1700’s and a new Assassin- Connor Kenway made himself known. We also visited the then French colony of New Orleans in the shoes of Aveline de Grandpere who was the only female Assassin introduced in the series thus far. Assassin’s Creed 3 and it’s DLC featured animals- alligators and wolves which were as deadly as humans. Fighting them was a series of quick time events. The climbing also changed as both Connor and Aveline spent an equal amount of time in trees and in bushes as well as in cities. The game engine altered slightly, allowing for better graphics. It was truly spectacular to see light particles being refracted in the water or the moon being reflected in ponds. Swimming became a major feature in these games, perhaps to compensate for the low density of urban environments.

However, while these games were also quite decent; they didn’t have Ezio’s panache and they seemed to lack the historic charm that the previous games had. Somehow, Ubisoft seemed to have focused on gameplay more than actual execution of the plot, which is very important. Ergo, my personal reception of Assassin’s Creed 3 was lukewarm. It was fun to skulk in the trees and drop down on unsuspecting tribal warchiefs but it lacked an X factor.

Desmond died in Assassin’s Creed 3. He died to save the world. Arguably, this was the peak of the series and it should have ended here. Unfortunately, Ubisoft wasn’t done with Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag went into the Caribbean and let us play as the notorious pirate Edward Kenway, who was Connor’s grandfather.

Assassin’s Creed IV was something straight out of an RL Stevenson novel. Sea shanties, blunderbusses, naval warfare and ships to loot took precedence over assassinations. Whaling was also a major part of the game and swimming became a major asset to possess. Edward Kenway was also charismatic, with an edge of “don’t mess with me” thrown in. He was the next best thing to Ezio that the player (me) encountered.  I’m in the process of playing Assassin’s Creed IV at the moment and looks wise and gameplay wise it’s stellar.

However, it’s also sending a message. It’s time to stop this series. Granted, there is still eons of history left for Ubisoft to play around with, but too much of a good thing is bad as we all know.

A lot of people seemed to share my opinion about Assassin’s Creed becoming a super saturated series. Everyone apart from Ubisoft that is.  Their latest instalment Assassin’s Creed Unity takes place in France during the French Revolution.

To call Unity an Assassin’s Creed game would be like comparing a Ferrari to your father’s 20 year old sedan. The entire gameplay mechanic has changed. There are no more dialogues with your assassination targets. Gameplay is repetitive and boring, not to mention dull. It’s usually go here, kill him. Repeat.

While in previous installments open combat was a viable option, here it’s suicide. The ability to counter your foe’s strikes is gone. The ability to counter kill is also absent as is the chain kill feature- introduced in Assassin’s Creed 3. Chain Kill allowed you to lock on to targets in a certain sequence and kill them in that sequence.

There is a marked difference between Assassin’s Creed Unity and any other stealth game. The stealth mechanics are a tad too challenging for someone casual to play with. It demands patience to execute a certain sneak attack which I lack.

The reverse parkour option, which allows you to run down a building is however a welcome addition. But, it’s too little too late.

Therefore, it is my humble request to Ubisoft and it’s associated studios to stop making any further Assassin’s Creed games. The series was an amazing concept and upto Edward, it was executed brilliantly. However, there’s no need for Assassin’s Creed anymore, because it’s gone past it’s peak. A better idea is to work on a sequel for Watch_Dogs which was again a very good concept, but with poor optimization for PC’s. There’s plenty of potential in Watch_Dogs if utilized properly.

In closing, I would like to thank Ubisoft for creating and developing a series as vibrant as Assassin’s Creed. Not only was it engrossing- it was a journey into the past that a person like me could never know. However, it’s time to move on to other projects Ubisoft.

The Bilge Master