How Assassin's Creed recovered his mojo

A reader looks back on the ups and downs of the Assassin franchise & # 39; s s Creed and how Unity's failures have such a positive effect.

Assassin's Creed is a well-known gambling franchise. In the space of 11 years, there have been 19 entries, from the PlayStation 3 to the Nintendo DS. We went to Italy, France and London; climb each building in sight. We have synchronized the entirety of Egypt. Let's say we spent hours on these games. But with Odyssey stirring the series for the better, I thought to take a look at how we got here.

Question Time

With an annual franchise like Assassin's Creed, part of the reason he had become stagnant in 2015 was this: how do you keep a game stealth action of the open world fresh every year? Do you make a better graphics engine? Improve artificial intelligence or just resurrect the game in a different setting? And how do you keep fans happy with what they have when innovation is one of the decisive factors in the good press?

These are all difficult to answer and are questions that the various Assassin's Creed developers have come across over the years. And all these questions helped and hindered the franchise in different ways. The most intriguing thing is that the soft restart of last year, Origins, was the best Assassin's Creed of this generation. He had a beautiful and fully realized world, a new and improved combat system and combat equipment, as well as elements of health and skills, all of which were taken to the next level. In short, it was as if Assassin's Cred worked for all these years, a complete final game that was a great success, financially and qualitatively. But there was a trap: He did not feel like a game Assassin's Creed.

Put in front of all the other entries, Origins was on the foundation of belief, but 90% of the game was without it. Even though they have finally managed the formula, Odyssey, with the upcoming arrival of a series of great innovations, has lost its identity. Now, I really want to clarify that it's not me who are moaning or fuming, it's just saying that there is a cost when it comes to quality and in that saying that this identity crisis is not necessarily a bad thing. It may be that this restart and Odyssey are the beginning of a new era of games, without the classic model Templar vs. Assassins. This prompts me to ask:

What is Assassin's Creed?

Over the years, there have been many moments of identity crisis or perception of certain franchises. Take The Dark Knight (2008) for example. Not only did Nolan make a great story of origin and reinvention in Batman Begins, but he managed to change our perception of the whole kind of superhero and make a theoretically superhero movie very possible in relation to the real world. It was a masterpiece of a film that earned its own iconic status. The video game industry is constantly changing, and while Assassin's Creed took a break in 2016 to evaluate the franchise as a whole, this extra year helped shape a cooler world and more satisfactory. entry, with a template on which to support. A new perception of what Assassin's Creed is.

But above all, the series was very simple. A historic setting, stealth and action missions, and basic game mechanics. I can understand why people have bought them all the time, as people buy Call Of Duty every year – you know what you get. By April 2014, the franchise had sold more than 73 million units and, while Black Flag was not selling as fast as Assassin's Creed III at that time, the good news was on the verge of being a good temporary new.

Turning Point

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, Unity is the first creation of Assassin's Creed for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One and features stunning graphics and l & # 39; One of the worst launches any developer could have wanted. The game that was launched was a buggy nightmare and made sure that Ubisoft would not recover soon. Ubisoft has been announced by fans and critics for its terrible launch, especially from a BIG developer.

The game was finally settled, but the damage had been done and consumer confidence had been lost. And the game itself was … well. At the moment the next entry, the highly underrated Syndicate, came out in 2015, sales suffered at launch.

After the end of the year, When Origins is a huge success, financially and critically. It was so good that he doubled Syndicate sales in the same 10-day period. The elapsed time has proven effective and the new formula introduced has given new freshness to the franchise. Ubisoft is back in the good books

On the Horizon

Having stopped the fall of Assassin's Creed with a sabbatical year and a new entry, Ubisoft has again gained consumer confidence and adjusted the formula Assassin's Creed. the best. The series had always seemed almost perfect, but Origins was the input to make the game I had dreamed of: an open world stealth / action game with matching roleplaying and fighting elements.

And as I'm looking forward to the new entry Odyssey I am convinced that while the franchise has stumbled for a few seconds, the answer has changed for the better. I'm looking forward to playing the next Assassin's Creed again, and all thanks to a fall, a break and a triumphant comeback. We see each other again in ancient Greece

By reader Charlie Ridgewell

The reader's function does not represent necessarily the point of view of GameCentral or Metro.