The Assassin’s Creed series is going stronger than ever.
The last main game,”Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,”apparently is the highest-grossing Assassin’s Creed game to date, by a large margin.
The series has ballooned into an absolute monolith,big, bestselling, massive open-world action adventures.
But, of course, as many as you know,
there was a whole different
world of Assassin’s Creed games
before this massive shift.
From the humble beginnings of Altair
to the mega hit that
was Ezio’s adventures,
for years, the Assassin’s Creed series
hopped around from time
period to time period,
experimenting with different variations
on Assassin’s gameplay
until it eventually shifted completely
with “Assassin’s Creed Origins”
into a big open-world RPG series.
But there was one last
game that held the line
before the big evolution,
“Assassin’s Creed Syndicate,”
one last game that kept
the classic stabbies
and stealth gameplay we
initially loved the series for,
and it’s the one that people
never give enough credit
for trying to hold that line.
Give us one last good classic
Assassin’s Creed title.
I call it the last gasp of
Assassin’s Creed gameplay.
Now, is it the best Assassin’s Creed?
No, I definitely don’t think so,
but it is deserving of love.
Even if it wasn’t perfect,
it’s worth remembering.
Now, released in the fall of 2015,
the game has you playing
as Jacob and Evie Frye,
a brother-and-sister pair
living in industrialized
Victorian London in 1868.
The duo definitely come off
like rough-around-the-edges street kids,
but they were also raised
and trained as Assassins.
They find their hometown
completely under Templar control
and jump in to take it back
and really ultimately
find the Shroud of Eden
in a plot full of Templar
conspiracy, crime,
real-world historical figures stopping by,
and of course, some sci-fi time hopping.
Now, this was the first
Assassin’s Creed game
that let you swap between characters,
often during missions, and it
was a fairly cool mechanic.
Jacob is a bit more of a brawler,
where Evie is a bit more stealth focused,
and each have little
advantages here and there,
but still they’re really flexible
to do pretty much whatever
with whichever character.
Combat is pretty button-mashy.
You’re overwhelming enemies
with attacks and stabs,
but you’re also dodging and countering
in a kind of slight “Arkham” style.
It’s okay, you know,
but it it’s cool that
it’s mostly based on fists
and knives and stuff, no
massive swords or anything.
Also, there are guns, and
you can shoot and dish it out
but also have to worry about
dodging incoming fire, too.
In this, there’s still small
elements of social stealth,
just walking around the streets
and avoiding certain folks,
but there’s also a
dedicated stealth button,
where your character crouches
down and puts their hood up.
Basically, it’s like they’ve become
an Assassin’s Creed person
with a button press.
Revolutionary at the
time, because before that,
every character, besides Edward at least,
just wore their hood all the time,
just straight up kind
of looking suspicious.
Now, the stealth is simplistic,
with the easily fooled enemy AI,
but having that crouch button
from “Unity” definitely helps.
Still, the sneaking and
stabbing and punching
was still satisfying,
especially with the fact that,
like “Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood,”
you could roll with some homies,
or really, gang members in
this world from the Rook gang,
because you’re engaging
in organized street crime.
So they can fight with
you in street fights,
and it all can become very cool,
kind of “Gangs of New York” style stuff.
You start off kind of
as lowly street urchins
and basically work your way up the ladder,
becoming badass, not only
cool Assassin people,
but also criminal gang leaders.
And the game goes even crazier
with some time hopping,
occasionally thrusting you
into London during World War I,
making the game even more
modern than we’ve ever seen.
You’re a relative of the Fryes,
and you’re working with Winston Churchill.
It’s wild.
And your base of operations hideout
is really impressive and creative, too.
It’s on a moving train,
out in the open world.
You just head to it,
and then it’s your
mobile Assassin hideout.
Henry Green, your Assassin
mentor, helps set it up,
and it’s just really sweet looking.
This is where you track
assassination targets
and keep track of the Rook gang
stuff and manage equipment.
Then, when you’re done, you
can just hop right off of it
and engage immediately
with the open world.
I don’t think we’ve
seen this in many games,
and it’s still really impressive.
And, oh my god, the the city itself,
let’s talk about the setting.
“Syndicate” takes place in
an insanely big, detailed,
and almost modern game world,
like I said, in the late 1860s,
and it has all the stuff
a world coming out of
the Industrial Revolution
you would expect: soaring
buildings with multiple stories,
factories working nonstop,
a bustling main river
crowded with boat traffic,
shipping goods everywhere,
accurately representing London, England
as the powerhouse of the world
as it was in this period of time.
Not only that, the streets were wide
and filled with not only detail
on the sides of the streets,
but bustling horse and carriage traffic,
something that just seems
really complicated to implement
into a game like this.
You got people coming and going
on the streets and bridges
in carriages of all shapes
and sizes and purpose.
It all just makes it feel so
alive, up to the rooftops,
with just thousands of chimneys
with smoke spewing out of it.
Not only that, there’s also trains
just persistently cruising
by through the whole map.
It’s a big, wide, polluted city
with rich political districts,
working-class districts,
factory zones, deeply poor districts
and that all just feel convincingly real
and not only lived in,
but really lived in.
It feels like an old city
bursting at the seams
and really helps you get immersed.
Even if it’s not as completely
one-to-one immersive
as, say, “The Witcher” or
your favorite RPG deep world,
it still really sells a unique world
that we just don’t see in this
type of genre, like at all.
This, to me, is one of the
best parts of the game.
The detail, still, to this
day, is pretty stunning.
They bust their at making detailed worlds.
I mean, Paris was pretty
impressive with “Unity,”
but this takes it to another level.
It’s massive and dense,
but not staggeringly huge
like “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.”
There’s not as much wasted space.
This London is, of course,
still filled with that
typical Ubisoft bloat.
It’s map filled with busywork,
distractions, and tons
of things to collect
and areas and hideouts to conquer.
But when you’re actually
just in it, walking around,
it’s really nothing short
of video game magic,
from the sight and sounds,
the visuals, the lighting,
the detail that I
mentioned early, all of it.
Plus, it is pretty brilliant
how they made you still be
able to get around quickly,
despite all of the modern,
much taller buildings.
They solved that problem
with a grappling hook/zip-line thingy.
It really is the perfect solution
to still get you on those rooftops quickly
and still make the game
feel Assassin’s-Creed-ish.
I mean, if you’re not running around
and parkouring on rooftops,
then it’s not Assassin’s Creed to me,
and they solved that problem.
Giant wide streets for carriages.
How are you gonna get across the street
when you’re on the roof?
Well, that’s where the zip line comes in.
On the ground floor
staring up at a massive, massive building?
Well, with the press of a button,
Batman-style your grappling
hook, and you zip right up it.
Pretty smart solutions.
Not to mention, like we said
earlier, it’s super ambitious
how they added a whole
vehicle system of carriages.
That had to have been
daunting to implement.
Crowded city streets and
carriages, navigating through them,
but also keeping the gameplay
fun and fast and exciting.
Horse and carriage, buggy,
whatever you wanna call it,
always seems like it would
be really boring in a game,
but they made it pretty thrilling.
Now, the results are often
goofy and a little bit floaty,
but it still totally works,
and some of the chases were really good,
maybe some of the best parts of the game.
The story was actually fairly interesting,
with some okay villains and stuff.
It also did a fairly good job
of showcasing the rough edges
of the time period: the
massive wealth disparity,
the fact that people were
living almost in tent cities
beneath the city and the sewers,
the sickness running rampant at the time,
and the fact that the game
actually shows children
working in factories.
Some of this stuff is
acknowledged in the story,
some of it is just out
there in the environment
for you to discover,
but it kind of all just helps
strengthen the story a bit.
But really, the tone and
exploration were the best parts,
along with the gang wars.
So even if the combat or stealth
wasn’t a hundred percent,
it was the total package that
made it all come together
and still feel satisfying to play.
It was that classic Assassin’s
Creed gameplay formula
that was really kind of pioneered
with “Assassin’s Creed 2,”
and they made it all
the way up to this point
in this almost modern time period.
It is really impressive
how they pulled that off.
And again, like I said, at the start,
even if it isn’t maybe considered
the best Assassin’s
Creed game or anything,
to me, personally, it
is still the most unique
and does a really great
job of just standing out.
You’re still doing the
Assassin’s Creed thing,
but it just feels a
little bit more special.
It’s kind of hard to explain.
It’s one that you just definitely
need to kind of check out
for yourself.
And there are other underrated
Assassin’s Creed games.
Believe me, this isn’t
the one end-all-be-all.
We can make a whole video
about “Assassin’s Creed Rogue,”
or any other game, really.
But we just wanted to take a minute
and take a quick trip down memory lane.
It’s been a long time since
we talked about “Syndicate,”
and we wanted to show it some love,
especially after
“Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,”
which you might love that game,
but it’s definitely come very far
from what the series originally was.
But we also wanna know when the
comments, what do you think?
Did you play “Assassin’s Creed Syndicate”?
Were you kind of burned from “Unity”
and then you didn’t want any more?
That happened with a lot of people.
This did release after
“Unity,” and at the time,
Assassin’s Creed did have
a bit of a mark on it
in terms of quality,
but there’s some interesting
angles to this game.
I mean, we just made a
whole video about it.
So we wanna hear what
you think in the comments
if you played it.
If you had fun, listening
to us talk about a game
that isn’t brand new, we’d
love to hear from you,
and also, we’d appreciate it
if you clicked the Like button
if you liked this.
Thank you very much for doing that.
But hey, as always, thanks for watching,
and we’ll see you guys next time.
“Assassin’s Creed Origins” into a big open-world RPG series
The Assassin’s Creed series is going stronger than ever.
The last main game,”Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,”apparently is the highest-grossing Assassin’s Creed game to date, by a large margin.
The series has ballooned into an absolute monolith,big, bestselling, massive open-world action adventures.
But, of course, as many as you know,
there was a whole different
world of Assassin’s Creed games
before this massive shift.
From the humble beginnings of Altair
to the mega hit that
was Ezio’s adventures,
for years, the Assassin’s Creed series
hopped around from time
period to time period,
experimenting with different variations
on Assassin’s gameplay
until it eventually shifted completely
with “Assassin’s Creed Origins”
into a big open-world RPG series.
But there was one last
game that held the line
before the big evolution,
“Assassin’s Creed Syndicate,”
one last game that kept
the classic stabbies
and stealth gameplay we
initially loved the series for,
and it’s the one that people
never give enough credit
for trying to hold that line.
Give us one last good classic
Assassin’s Creed title.
I call it the last gasp of
Assassin’s Creed gameplay.
Now, is it the best Assassin’s Creed?
No, I definitely don’t think so,
but it is deserving of love.
Even if it wasn’t perfect,
it’s worth remembering.
Now, released in the fall of 2015,
the game has you playing
as Jacob and Evie Frye,
a brother-and-sister pair
living in industrialized
Victorian London in 1868.
The duo definitely come off
like rough-around-the-edges street kids,
but they were also raised
and trained as Assassins.
They find their hometown
completely under Templar control
and jump in to take it back
and really ultimately
find the Shroud of Eden
in a plot full of Templar
conspiracy, crime,
real-world historical figures stopping by,
and of course, some sci-fi time hopping.
Now, this was the first
Assassin’s Creed game
that let you swap between characters,
often during missions, and it
was a fairly cool mechanic.
Jacob is a bit more of a brawler,
where Evie is a bit more stealth focused,
and each have little
advantages here and there,
but still they’re really flexible
to do pretty much whatever
with whichever character.
Combat is pretty button-mashy.
You’re overwhelming enemies
with attacks and stabs,
but you’re also dodging and countering
in a kind of slight “Arkham” style.
It’s okay, you know,
but it it’s cool that
it’s mostly based on fists
and knives and stuff, no
massive swords or anything.
Also, there are guns, and
you can shoot and dish it out
but also have to worry about
dodging incoming fire, too.
In this, there’s still small
elements of social stealth,
just walking around the streets
and avoiding certain folks,
but there’s also a
dedicated stealth button,
where your character crouches
down and puts their hood up.
Basically, it’s like they’ve become
an Assassin’s Creed person
with a button press.
Revolutionary at the
time, because before that,
every character, besides Edward at least,
just wore their hood all the time,
just straight up kind
of looking suspicious.
Now, the stealth is simplistic,
with the easily fooled enemy AI,
but having that crouch button
from “Unity” definitely helps.
Still, the sneaking and
stabbing and punching
was still satisfying,
especially with the fact that,
like “Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood,”
you could roll with some homies,
or really, gang members in
this world from the Rook gang,
because you’re engaging
in organized street crime.
So they can fight with
you in street fights,
and it all can become very cool,
kind of “Gangs of New York” style stuff.
You start off kind of
as lowly street urchins
and basically work your way up the ladder,
becoming badass, not only
cool Assassin people,
but also criminal gang leaders.
And the game goes even crazier
with some time hopping,
occasionally thrusting you
into London during World War I,
making the game even more
modern than we’ve ever seen.
You’re a relative of the Fryes,
and you’re working with Winston Churchill.
It’s wild.
And your base of operations hideout
is really impressive and creative, too.
It’s on a moving train,
out in the open world.
You just head to it,
and then it’s your
mobile Assassin hideout.
Henry Green, your Assassin
mentor, helps set it up,
and it’s just really sweet looking.
This is where you track
assassination targets
and keep track of the Rook gang
stuff and manage equipment.
Then, when you’re done, you
can just hop right off of it
and engage immediately
with the open world.
I don’t think we’ve
seen this in many games,
and it’s still really impressive.
And, oh my god, the the city itself,
let’s talk about the setting.
“Syndicate” takes place in
an insanely big, detailed,
and almost modern game world,
like I said, in the late 1860s,
and it has all the stuff
a world coming out of
the Industrial Revolution
you would expect: soaring
buildings with multiple stories,
factories working nonstop,
a bustling main river
crowded with boat traffic,
shipping goods everywhere,
accurately representing London, England
as the powerhouse of the world
as it was in this period of time.
Not only that, the streets were wide
and filled with not only detail
on the sides of the streets,
but bustling horse and carriage traffic,
something that just seems
really complicated to implement
into a game like this.
You got people coming and going
on the streets and bridges
in carriages of all shapes
and sizes and purpose.
It all just makes it feel so
alive, up to the rooftops,
with just thousands of chimneys
with smoke spewing out of it.
Not only that, there’s also trains
just persistently cruising
by through the whole map.
It’s a big, wide, polluted city
with rich political districts,
working-class districts,
factory zones, deeply poor districts
and that all just feel convincingly real
and not only lived in,
but really lived in.
It feels like an old city
bursting at the seams
and really helps you get immersed.
Even if it’s not as completely
one-to-one immersive
as, say, “The Witcher” or
your favorite RPG deep world,
it still really sells a unique world
that we just don’t see in this
type of genre, like at all.
This, to me, is one of the
best parts of the game.
The detail, still, to this
day, is pretty stunning.
They bust their at making detailed worlds.
I mean, Paris was pretty
impressive with “Unity,”
but this takes it to another level.
It’s massive and dense,
but not staggeringly huge
like “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.”
There’s not as much wasted space.
This London is, of course,
still filled with that
typical Ubisoft bloat.
It’s map filled with busywork,
distractions, and tons
of things to collect
and areas and hideouts to conquer.
But when you’re actually
just in it, walking around,
it’s really nothing short
of video game magic,
from the sight and sounds,
the visuals, the lighting,
the detail that I
mentioned early, all of it.
Plus, it is pretty brilliant
how they made you still be
able to get around quickly,
despite all of the modern,
much taller buildings.
They solved that problem
with a grappling hook/zip-line thingy.
It really is the perfect solution
to still get you on those rooftops quickly
and still make the game
feel Assassin’s-Creed-ish.
I mean, if you’re not running around
and parkouring on rooftops,
then it’s not Assassin’s Creed to me,
and they solved that problem.
Giant wide streets for carriages.
How are you gonna get across the street
when you’re on the roof?
Well, that’s where the zip line comes in.
On the ground floor
staring up at a massive, massive building?
Well, with the press of a button,
Batman-style your grappling
hook, and you zip right up it.
Pretty smart solutions.
Not to mention, like we said
earlier, it’s super ambitious
how they added a whole
vehicle system of carriages.
That had to have been
daunting to implement.
Crowded city streets and
carriages, navigating through them,
but also keeping the gameplay
fun and fast and exciting.
Horse and carriage, buggy,
whatever you wanna call it,
always seems like it would
be really boring in a game,
but they made it pretty thrilling.
Now, the results are often
goofy and a little bit floaty,
but it still totally works,
and some of the chases were really good,
maybe some of the best parts of the game.
The story was actually fairly interesting,
with some okay villains and stuff.
It also did a fairly good job
of showcasing the rough edges
of the time period: the
massive wealth disparity,
the fact that people were
living almost in tent cities
beneath the city and the sewers,
the sickness running rampant at the time,
and the fact that the game
actually shows children
working in factories.
Some of this stuff is
acknowledged in the story,
some of it is just out
there in the environment
for you to discover,
but it kind of all just helps
strengthen the story a bit.
But really, the tone and
exploration were the best parts,
along with the gang wars.
So even if the combat or stealth
wasn’t a hundred percent,
it was the total package that
made it all come together
and still feel satisfying to play.
It was that classic Assassin’s
Creed gameplay formula
that was really kind of pioneered
with “Assassin’s Creed 2,”
and they made it all
the way up to this point
in this almost modern time period.
It is really impressive
how they pulled that off.
And again, like I said, at the start,
even if it isn’t maybe considered
the best Assassin’s
Creed game or anything,
to me, personally, it
is still the most unique
and does a really great
job of just standing out.
You’re still doing the
Assassin’s Creed thing,
but it just feels a
little bit more special.
It’s kind of hard to explain.
It’s one that you just definitely
need to kind of check out
for yourself.
And there are other underrated
Assassin’s Creed games.
Believe me, this isn’t
the one end-all-be-all.
We can make a whole video
about “Assassin’s Creed Rogue,”
or any other game, really.
But we just wanted to take a minute
and take a quick trip down memory lane.
It’s been a long time since
we talked about “Syndicate,”
and we wanted to show it some love,
especially after
“Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,”
which you might love that game,
but it’s definitely come very far
from what the series originally was.
But we also wanna know when the
comments, what do you think?
Did you play “Assassin’s Creed Syndicate”?
Were you kind of burned from “Unity”
and then you didn’t want any more?
That happened with a lot of people.
This did release after
“Unity,” and at the time,
Assassin’s Creed did have
a bit of a mark on it
in terms of quality,
but there’s some interesting
angles to this game.
I mean, we just made a
whole video about it.
So we wanna hear what
you think in the comments
if you played it.
If you had fun, listening
to us talk about a game
that isn’t brand new, we’d
love to hear from you,
and also, we’d appreciate it
if you clicked the Like button
if you liked this.
Thank you very much for doing that.
But hey, as always, thanks for watching,
and we’ll see you guys next time.
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