The Next Assassin's Creed is Set in 19th Century London

[Steven Bogos]

The Next Assassin's Creed is Set in 19th Century London

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate takes the franchise into the heart of Victorian London.

Ubisoft has just revealed the latest installment in its Assassin's Creed franchise: Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, and this time we're going to Victorian-era London. Set 1868, the new game will feature two playable protagonists, twins Jacob and Evie Frye, who will work alongside prominent Victorians, including novelist Charles Dickens and biologist Charles Darwin, to take down yet another Templar conspiracy.

Jacob is a "more hot headed, brash and rebellious" figure, while his sister Evie is described as "a relentless Assassin" and "a master of stealth". You'll be able to switch between the two at will during the game's open-world segments, but certain story missions will restrict you to the use of a specific character.

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Moving away from Unity's multiplayer focus, Syndicate will be singleplayer only. Ubisoft explains that it made this decision in order to allow the developer to "focus on creating the biggest city based open-world that we've ever had for an Assassin's Creed game." Indeed, Syndicate's London will be approximately 30% larger than Unity's Paris.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate will release worldwide on PS4 and Xbox One on October 23rd, and later in the fall for PC.

Source: Ubisoft [https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=13&v=6DSlgEcp5aM]

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[Johnny Novgorod]

Hard to work up much enthusiasm for the series at this point.

 

[IceStar100]

Hard to work up much enthusiasm for the series at this point.

I'm thinking the same thing. After the mess that was assassin creed unity. Being honest anyone who pre order this one will only get pity from me. Heck at this point they don't even finish the stories. Altier and Ezio got theirs wrapped up. Conner, Aveline and now Arno will be waiting for a finishing touch.

 

[Asclepion]

I hope he has some sort of filter on his assassin outfit to not die of smog inhalation.

Although I'm wondering how far the series can modernize itself before your swordplay is ineffective against guys who are carrying machine guns.

 

[Dalisclock]

including novelist Charles Dickens and biologist Charles Darwin, to take down yet another Templar conspiracy.

So, are Charles and Charles also assassins, and were Dickens books about the lower classes was a disguised middle finger to the Templars? And are the Templars creationists?

Not that I really care anymore but considering how Ubisoft just loves shoehorning famous people into these games and their love for convoluted conspiracies, it's a fair question.

Really, at this point, all I want to know is how an Apple of Eden ended up on the moon in AC2(which is presumably the entire reason for the Space Race in the AC-verse).

 

[Dalisclock]

I hope he has some kind of filter on his assassin outfit to not die of smog inhalation.

Although I'm wondering how far the series can modernize itself before your swordplay is ineffective against guys who are carrying machine guns.

Easy. They just don't have the Templar/Abstergo guards carry machine guns,just carry extendo sticks or pistols like the AC2-BH-R-3. Because Templars are apparently dumb.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Set 1868... who will work alongside prominent Victorians, including novelist Charles Dickens

Oh boy, I look forward to escorting Dickens on his 1868 lectures and readings in London.

Seriously though, if anyone is dying to be squeezed into the AC universe during Victorian London, it's not Charles Dickens but John Stuart Mill and Benjamin Disraeli.

 

[RJ 17]

Hang on, I need to consult with my upper management on this.

*dials them up*

Hello? Yes. It's about the announcement trailer for this year's Assassin's Creed game. Just want to know if---oh? Are you certain? There aren't any laying around in the warehouse? Ahhh, so Mike just finished the inventory and it's a sure thing. Alright. Alright I'll tell them.

*hangs up*

Yes, I'm terribly sorry, but I've just confirmed that we are indeed all out of fucks to give at this point.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

including novelist Charles Dickens and biologist Charles Darwin, to take down yet another Templar conspiracy.

So, are Charles and Charles also assassins, and were Dickens books about the lower classes was a disguised middle finger to the Templars? And are the Templars creationists?

I imagine they're going to recast Dickens as someone funding or guiding the Assassins, as they align with his political views. As for Darwin... what's the bet he'll explain that the publication of Origin of Species is designed to discredit the Templar-backed Church of England.

 

[K.ur]

Although I'm wondering how far the series can modernize itself before your swordplay is ineffective against guys who are carrying machine guns.

The better question is how long before Ubisoft combines Assassin Creed with Splinter Cell (that's also my answer to your question) or does a complete AC outside animus. To the teaser(?) credit, there wasn't a blade bigger than a meat-cleaver shown. At least i don't get the feeling, we will get anything bigger than a saber or other types of hid-in-cane-swords.

 

[ecoho]

Hard to work up much enthusiasm for the series at this point.

you hit the nail on the head I was just going to post;

"we should care why?!"

ubisoft has burned people way too often to be taken seriously now.

 

[Kurt Cristal]

One minute into the developer video and they've already dropped the word "iconic". Oh Ubi, never change.

Any takers on Evie as a playable character being shoehorned in and that all of the mandatory character levels and best dialog will still be dumped on Jacob. I'm just saying, based on everything else we're seen, it feels like Ubisoft really can't be bothered to put in that effort.

Ah well, here's to hoping AC will follow the star trek rule and that since this is an even numbered game, it'll be great. (Does not account for spinoffs)

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I saw the gameplay video. Expect another unfinished product. You don't showcase a fuckin' walkthrough using a pre-alpha build 5 months before release. This game, like Unity, is most likely going to be a mess.

 

[elvor0]

eeeh, I've been wanting Victorian era AC for a long while, but I have no desire to play it. I just don't feel they've learned from what people loved so much about Black Flag, I'm not expecting them to stick the ship in every game and obviously it wouldn't fit here, but they need to slow the fuck down, sit down and say "what can we do to make /this/ entry feel special?", because right now, losing that ship makes every game that comes after Black Flag feel like a massive step back in how the world feels and player freedom.

It wasn't just the ship, it was the fact that the world felt so big and fun to explore, wheras the cities really just all blend into one, they're all very pretty, but they don't really do anything to differenciate them from one another, it's just wallpaper when you get down to it.

I'm still of the opinion that Black Flag started out as it's own game, and when the devs made something special, Ubisoft stepped in and said "It's ours now, we can't have you showing our flagship title up", because the actuall AC stuff feels as shoehorned in and has about as much presence as Vaan and Penelo do in FF12. Obviously I'm not saying they should shift the focus away from the theme of the series though, that would be silly. Just the way the game world felt, didn't feel like an AC game. Now, I'm off to listen to Alestorm, because it's the only thing to quench my pirate thirst after mentioning Black Flag as my copy is...over the seas.

 

[Fasckira]

Although I'm wondering how far the series can modernize itself before your swordplay is ineffective against guys who are carrying machine guns.

To be fair swordplay is still effective today assuming the Assassin is trained to a high level with the sword, has cover to hand, and has good reflex skills (which the assumption is). Obviously he'd struggle if he had a few people closing the gap on him in an open field, all firing machine guns, but then so would anyone in that situation regardless of what they were armed with.

The Victorian age sounds good though, despite the long coat thing going on there.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

Set 1868... who will work alongside prominent Victorians, including novelist Charles Dickens

Oh boy, I look forward to escorting Dickens on his 1868 lectures and readings in London.

Seriously though, if anyone is dying to be squeezed into the AC universe during Victorian London, it's not Charles Dickens but John Stuart Mill and Benjamin Disraeli.

i feel like they're not even trying anymore, just getting some interns to write down people they know that might have been around during that time period, regardless of the context of their character. it took a real bunch of untrained monkeys at ubisoft to ruin a game series and lore i was heavily invested in. it's sad really.

 

[Shadowstar38]

I saw the gameplay video and I have to say, I'm pretty hyped for this based on how they improved combat and traversal. Looks like it'll be fun to play if nothing else.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I saw the gameplay video and I have to say, I'm pretty hyped for this based on how they improved combat and traversal. Looks like it'll be fun to play if nothing else.

How did they improve combat? All I saw was the same old combat with different animations. Maybe they changed it so that enemies don't die after you press the attack button once, instead they die after you press it two or three times. They just made the combat longer without making it more challenging. We don't even know how many moves you execute by pressing the attack button once. So how exactly has the combat been improved?

Traversal is dumbed down even more. What was once a key feature is all of a sudden considered a chore apparently so they're making it even easier, despite the fact that AC is often criticized for being too easy.

 

[Johnny Thunder]

I have skipped most AC's since Revelations, but this one I will get, provided that it is not another glitchfest like Unity. Victorian London is my favourite historical era and it would be fun to see Dickens and Darwin in a videogame. Switching between the brother and sister also sounds good.

But they would do me such a favour just to dump the tiresome redundant modern day subplot. It's probably gonna be there but it's gonna be a chore for me to get through.

 

[RJ 17]

Any takers on Evie as a playable character being shoehorned in and that all of the mandatory character levels and best dialog will still be dumped on Jacob. I'm just saying, based on everything else we're seen, it feels like Ubisoft really can't be bothered to put in that effort.

You're probably not too far off on this. Considering how ACIII sucked donkey nuts with the only redeeming factor being the naval portions which led to Ubi making the next game entirely around the naval portions of ACIII, the fact that Unity sucked buffalo balls and people nearly rioted when they found out there wasn't going to be a female character most likely led to the executives demanding that one be put into this game.

To be fair, it does sound - from the way the article is written - that both of them are going to have their own mandatory missions with the ability to switch between them when free-roaming. That said, I'm certain this game is still going to suck gnarwhal nards...and they have internal genitalia. After all, it's already got two strikes against it:

1: It's a Yearly Release Series.
2: It's made by Ubisoft...the people who touted the fact that Unity was made by 10 different studios as a selling point rather than a giant red flag warning that it would be a clusterfuck of game breaking bugs and disappointment.

Edited for clarification and a typo or two.