The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

On the beauty and tragedy of Assassin's Creed Unity, its pros and cons, and a few ways we can learn from it moving forward.

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AC Unity is an interesting game because whenever you bring it up, inevitably there will be people who say how much they enjoy just wandering around the open world. And as someone who’s now done a fair bit of that for stress relief and for video purposes, I’ve done some thinking as to why.

Unity has more problems than any other game in the franchise, to this day. Ask a bunch of different people and you’ll get different answers as to whether the game is “fixed” or not. For some people, performance issues remain, for others, bugs are still very much alive, and for others still those things were never really their concern, but rather the problems inherent to the game that can never ever be repaired, and we just have to live with. As someone who struggled just to find a way to eventually appreciate this game for all the dim light I saw deep down in its broken shell, I can’t look away from those problems, but as the person who did learn to appreciate it, scars and all, I have to make note of its positives. You hear that? You feel it? That’s called character-development.

Unity is at its absolute best when it evokes a certain feeling. When a player can say and truly mean, “As an agent of the Assassin Brotherhood, my awareness of my surroundings borders on superhuman, and I have a Response to every possible Situation…” This feeling of player-ownership, of responsibility over your gameplay, of being accountable for your successes and failures, is why people love Unity the way they do.

Another video is coming up that talks about Advanced Movement in Assassin's Creed, how it ties into collectibles, and how it should, and finally, ways Ubisoft can teach advanced gameplay in future titles that make them more interesting for newcomers and veterans alike. See you then.

~ a rogue