Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs in the same universe?

[NateA42]

Spoilers:
So I was recently playing AC4 and hacked into the computer nearest to my desk, on it I saw a promotional email about "Blume" and "ct0s"; both of which I know are from Watch Dogs (although I have not played it).
I also heard some other user comment when I looked this up about you having to kill Oliver from AC in the last convoy mission in Watch Dogs. Is that right?

So are they in the same universe? Is it just a nod to the new game they were making? I mean I know that if you read Abstergo's history they released video games with Ubisoft, an obvious easter egg (unless the Templars are real and are Ubi, I guess that makes EA the Assassin's).

I guess it would make sense for them to be in the same universe, then again it would also make sense either way. I never liked this whole "this is just a dream" type plot line in AC games until now. [Spoilers for the "Lego Movie"] Then again I hate the Lego Movie because of that.

 

[erbkaiser]

At the moment I'd put it as cameos or in-jokes, but yes there is some crossover. Blume and ctOS are referenced in ACIV's modern day story, and yes Olivier Garneau is "taken down" by Aiden Pierce in Watch_Dogs.
In AC: Rogue, Garneau is gone and disappeared.

The Far Cry 3 DLC had references to in-universe Assassin's Creed, so Far Cry could also be in the same "Ubiverse".


Darby McDevitt, lead writer of Assassin's Creed, has mentioned Olivier's "cameo" should be taken as a joke on his twitter though. Unless there is a specific reference made, I'd take it as nothing more than in-jokes, like the previous AC games appearing on the shelves of the Abstergo employees in ACIV/AC Rogue's modern day story.

 

[small]

i vaguely remember seeing references to abstergo in watch dogs but dont quote me on that

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I believe they are, for the difference it makes. Played Watch Dogs and you're missing nothing by not doing so (it was thoroughly mediocre, bland and had awful driving. There's more wrong with it but you get the point). During the game we encounter a couple of references to Abstergo. But to be honest, that's the extent of it. References, nothing more. You might scan a citizen whose details pop up (name, age, occupation, quirk) and the occupation says " Abstergo Employee".

I have only played AC2 thru fully so have no particular interest in the series beyond that. Saying that, I would correct your "it's a dream" remark. It's not a dream. The framing device in the series, the animus, lets the character "relive" their ancestors memories. The scifi twist is that our brains store all the memories of our ancestors (one presumes along the patriarchal line since it's always been male ancestors). The frame for the story is thus that the events in the past (the majority of the gameplay) are real events from the past that happened to the present/future person's distant ancestors. The main point is that it is not "a dream".

All that said, the whole thing is a convoluted, boring mess that will never amount to anything since Ubi plan to keep flogging the dead horse for as long as gamers pay them to. It's not a worthwhile debate

 

[erbkaiser]

MCoffey: if you haven't yet, play the Bad Blood DLC for Watch_Dogs. It has three major advantages over the main game:
1) No Aiden Pierce
2) A focused story with actual goals, rather than a weird revenge story that forgets to add actual pressure
3) No Aiden Pierce

If Watch_Dogs 2 is more like Bad Blood and less like the main game, I think it could be something good. And if Ubisoft decided to make the shared universe official, I'm all for it. Rebecca Crane (the hacker Assassin from the modern day story) could show up in Watch_Dogs 2, she'd fit right in.

 

[Avalanche91]

It wouldnt make me any more interested in playing either series.

Which is to say I am not.

 

[Nami nom noms]

Spoilers:
I guess that makes EA the Assassin's.

EA actually own a large part of Ubisoft, so I doubt it.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's all just a joke, or at least it was conceived as one.
This is from Darby McDevitt's Twitter, lead writer of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and spokeperson for Ubisoft.

 

[NateA42]

Oh okay, now I get it; though it would be interesting to see an Ubiverse.

Also I meant that "it's all a dream thing" as being a plot device, I know he's actually living through the thing through the animus but I didn't know how else to explain the plot device.

 

[Catfood220]

To be fair, it's probably just an in joke or Easter egg like the newspaper in Uncharted 3 that tells of a unexplained fungal infection, hinting at The Last of Us.

 

[laggyteabag]

I think that these are just nods to other series, and I don't think that they should be considered to be canon. That being said though, should they ever decide that they want to combine all of these universes, the groundwork is certainly there.

 

[small]

They could make an Avengers-style crossover event and it probably wouldn't make Watchdogs any less generic and boring. As it stands it's just a couple shared names and companies. Nothing to get excited about.

I kind of wish games would do this more though. Metro and Stalker share a universe and it makes both worlds feel bigger, even if it doesn't really change anything. I just like knowing that while I'm crawling around subways, there's a bunch of poor bastards getting chewed up in The Zone looking for artifacts.

So if Ubisoft wanted to take it further than they have I'd be on board. They'd need to make Watchdogs not suck, obviously, and maybe get their shit together on Assassin's Creed, but I'd be down for it. Maybe the Assassins need help cracking an Abstergo security system and hire Grumble McStubble (The Watchdogs protagonist. Have I mentioned I didn't like it?). Meanwhile the next poor fuck that becomes a Farcry protagonist is exploring his island paradise and stumbles upon a Precursor ruin. Hell, make Abstergo one of the factions fighting for the island. They're billion dollar company, they're bound to have other enemies besides the white hood guys.

both stalker and metro are loosely based on road side picnic but dont share the same universe unfortunately

 

[sXeth]

I took it as an easter egg, nothing more.

Its like having RDR's protagonist as a parent option in GTA not tying those two together. Or Link being in Mario Kart. Or the Kilrathi ship in Ultima 7.

 

[MirenBainesUSMC]

Have to say, I hardly noticed --- I was too involved in pondering how un-motivating Watch Dogs had become.

I didn't breeze through it either... I actually did most of the side-quests and ect...

Once again, UBI SOFT finding a pretty interesting idea with questionable results and even more questionable writing and story decisions. I've come to conclude that UBI SOFT is still a very strong company that, when their elements of story, craft, devolopment, and execution does come together --- they make a real great set of games.

Not so much with the AC titles of late and def not so much with Watch Crap.

Now Far Cry 4? Excellent job. Cudos to Splinter Cell: Black List too, that was an excellent representation of what that studio can do when they have their _____t together.