
Assassins Creed games have been a staple of my game collection ever since we first saw Ezio stalking prey way back in 2007. However in recent years the quality of the games has varied, and clearly Ubisoft are not happy with feedback from the last two games, Unity and Syndicate. They have released a statement saying:
This year, we also are stepping back and re-examining the Assassin’s Creed franchise. As a result, we’ve decided that there will not be a new Assassin’s Creed game in 2016. Since the release of Assassin’s Creed Unity, we’ve learned a lot based on your feedback. We’ve also updated our development processes and recommitted to making Assassin’s Creed a premier open-world franchise. We’re taking this 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 that make history everyone’s playground.
Essentially they’re acknowledging the last two titles have fallen short of where they need to be and the next game will have more development time. It could be a time to get excited.
I’ve been a fan of the games since day one, and even more so since Assassins Creed 2 came out. Ezio was a great character and the story was a comfortable fit for renaissance Italy. Despite some bumps along the way (Assassins Creed 3) the franchise went from strength to strength. I pre ordered Unity and took the day off work to play it. I was disappointed, but I worked hard at enjoying the game. There’s no doubt that it looked beautiful, but it really didn’t pack the same punch that Black Flag had. I was underwhelmed but decided that it could just be a blip like the colonial America foray in AC3.
When Syndicate landed I was again underwhelmed, this time by Victorian London. Maybe I expected more slums and less factories, but what I ended up with did not feel particularly Victorian. Horse drawn carriage chases made this feel like a poor mans GTA at times. It may have ben the age of steam, but as far as I was concerned the franchise had run out of steam.
The question is, should we now get excited at the prospect of another game developed for twice aslong? Has the series has gone stale, is it that our passion for the never ending battle between Templars and Assassin is beginning to wane?

Revolutionary France looked beautiful with it’s gloomy streets, but after Black Flag the massive map felt very restricted being in just one city. The gameplay suffered in the step up to better consoles with controls feeling clunky and fighting repetitive. I had high hopes for London based Syndicate, but the expected gloom was replaced by a borderline garish take on Victorian Life. I’d always hoped for an AC set in Victorian London, but the game barely held my attention long enough to complete the story. It felt like I’d done it all before several times, and when Fallout 4 landed I stopped playing. I haven’t been back either. I’m afraid Jacob and Evie Fry were not character I could grow fond of.
So in order to use their time effectively not only do Ubisoft have to encapsulate their chosen time period far more convincingly, but they also have to make an AC that feels fresh to play. We’ve crept behind guards listening to conversations, we’ve performed 10 air assassinations and we’ve climbed famous landmarks to the wooden planks and synchronised. We want all the historical goodness that AC packs without feeling that it’s simply the same game dressed in different clothes. Whatever clothes it is dressed in it needs to feel a little less like an arcade game of old. I’ve heard it may be based in Ancient Egypt, a tantalising prospect that can afford to be bright and bold.
They also need to play through games such as The Last Of Us and The Witcher 3 to learn a little about character building and story telling. These games build their characters steadily and convincingly and both switched between the male and female leads with ease. Jacob and Evie didn’t feel all that different and it mattered not which one I played with. Although TLOA was more episodic than any AC game it still dealt with character switches very well. Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher was a character you could really immerse yourself in, deep and moody but with a firm moral compass. The Witcher was all about him and is interactions with the other rich characters.

I also hope their time away will give Ubisoft time to think about those Abstergo missions and realise we don’t want to play little puzzle games in a modern day office block, if we did we wouldn’t have bought a game featuring the Ponte Vecchio, would we? If you want to do mini games stick to cards and bar games and avoid those god awful tower block missions set in modern time.
The Assassins Creed series is at a crossroads and the success of the franchise rests on the next game. Three poor games in a row would spell serious trouble, and with a movie coming out they need to keep the franchise alive. They have a lot to cram in to the next two years if they’re going to pull it off.