Assassin’s Creed Infinity looks cool, actually

Two weeks ago the world was introduced to Assassin’s Creed Infinity, a service game set in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed universe. The internet has erupted with the same collective moan around service games: they are exhausting and there are too many of them. And while that’s certainly true, I’m excited about the potential of Assassin’s Creed Infinity, or at least the version of it is shaking in my brain. Recent Assassin’s Creed games have already moved closer to service games, and I want to see what that looks like when Ubisoft officially launches.

What do we know about Assassin’s Creed Infinity?

Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft via Polygone

We know very little about Assassin’s Creed Infinity outside of its existence. Bloomberg – who originally broke the news on Infinite – reported that the game will offer several historical settings and get updates over time. We also know that the game will not be released anytime soon and will be co-developed by Ubisoft Quebec and Ubisoft Montreal, the studios responsible for Odyssey and Valhalla respectively.

Beyond that, we can make some assumptions. Abstergo, the Templar-run company that created the Animus, will he play a role in the game? You can imagine how they would fit into a service game. Will there be Assassins? I feel comfortable saying yes. What about Assassin’s Creed’s extremely wacky lore about gods, ancient relics, and other weird stuff? I certainly hope so.

But beyond the usual suspects, we can only see the model of the most recent games in the series to see what might appear. This model lends itself well to a service game like Grand Theft Auto Online, Fortnite, or even Destiny 2.

Assassin’s Creed is already a live service franchise

Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft via Polygone

Modern Assassin’s Creed Titles – Origins of Assassin’s Creed, Odyssey, and Valhalla – all of them fall into service game traps without actually being service games. Each offers some interesting DLC ​​to get you back into the game months after you’ve finished it. Each has an in-game store to lull you into shopping for cosmetic items that only you will never see.

But the series’ game systems lend themselves well to a persistent world. Players collect loot, unlock and upgrade their skills, and invest time, energy, and emotion in their characters’ stories and playstyles. The length and downloadable content of the games means you spend a lot of time with your character, tweaking and perfecting them, only to have to start all over when a new Assassin’s Creed comes out. My finished Kassandra Odyssey and its super-powerful DLC, but then I had to switch to Eivor in Valhalla, with no reward for the way I had made my Kassandra. It was wrong.

Of course, Assassin’s Creed is not alone in this case. But unlike jumping from one Metroid game to another, as Nintendo finds an odd way to get Samus out of his previous skills, AC games are similar enough that it feels like they should share their progress. Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla all have similar fights, a plethora of side activities, and a union of villains to hunt down – each with their own unique historical setting as their theme.

Entries are so frequent – unlike the Metroid series, which can take decades between main titles – that I feel like I’m always playing the same game. Eivor, Kassandra, and Bayek all have different personalities, but the similarity of their gameplay combined with the time I spend investing in each hero makes it all a lot harder. Over the past three Assassin’s Creed games, I could have been the same hero jumping between timelines, collecting new loot, experimenting with new stories, and keeping some of my investment. Imagining this world – where I can continue to improve my character – excites me.

Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft

It’s cool to imagine, say, starting my journey in Assassin’s Creed Infinity in feudal Japan, then delve into a Mayan civilization in a new expansion, without having to start a character over from scratch. Games like Valhalla and Odyssey are huge – so big it’s exhausting – and I like the idea of ​​a world where InfiniteThe pitches are smaller and more manageable in exchange for being plentiful. A new set of missions and a new location every year, where my progress continues, seems a lot less tedious than starting over every two years for another 100+ hour campaign. I can stay with a character that is close to my heart instead of having to know someone new, and I feel like this investment will pay off not just for the next DLC pack, but years from now. This sword that I looted during this special event in 2025 can help me get through a tough boss fight in 2029. As a connoisseur of loot-based service games, this kind of long-term gameplay is appealing. .

With Ubisoft’s Clint Hocking, director of some of the studio’s most experimental games, Far cry 2 and Watch dogs: Legion – on board for Infinite, we can expect some interesting twists to shake the foundation of the series. I have no doubt that whatever I think Assassin’s Creed Infinity might look, the result will probably be very different. But no matter how similar or different they are Infinite is compared to previous Assassin’s Creed games, service titles are hard to come by and no one has done it perfectly yet. Assassin’s Creed Infinity could easily under-serve on content and over-serve on microtransactions, giving players less play while still offering more cosmetics.

The game is still too far away to really speculate, but it looks like Ubisoft has tried to make a big game with every iteration of Assassin’s Creed. Now that he’s officially taking the plunge, I can’t wait to see what we have next, whether it’s a searing disaster or a screaming success.