Assassin's Creed is one of my favorite franchises of all time, but its reception in the eyes of both the general public and hardcore fans has been historically polarized. A lot of people don't respect Assassin's Creed as a franchise despite its immense potential early on in its lifespan.
I wanted to take a look at the series and learn more about why that shift in perspective occurred. This video asks a loaded question: when did Assassin's Creed get bad?
Contents:
00:00 Intro
02:11 The Birth of a New IP
05:25 Ubisoft's Renaissance
08:07 Red Flags
10:54 A Game by Committee
15:34 A Never-Ending Story
19:17 Back From the Depths
22:14 Too Close to the Sun
27:00 Stagnation
29:21 Redemption...?
33:17 A Fanbase Divided
36:21 Where Are We Now?
41:00 When Did Assassin's Creed Get Bad?
References:
www.cnbc.com/2023/01/12/ubiso...
www.eurogamer.net/original-pl....
www.bbc.com/news/technology-3...
www.bloomberg.com/news/articl....
www.eurogamer.net/assassins-c...
www.engadget.com/2010-06-13-a...
www.gameinformer.com/b/news/a...
www.eurogamer.net/assassins-c...
wccftech.com/assassins-creed-...
gamingbolt.com/11-ubisoft-tit...
www.gamespot.com/articles/ass...
The biggest problem with new Assassin's games is that you are no longer playing as an assassin.
YES, THANK YOU.
Don’t forget the misunderstanding of what an rpg is leading to poorly implemented rpg systems much like w3 which had the same problem
Exactly. It’s a money grab.
And in the most recent, you don’t even use stealth AT ALL
@@LczzOw seriously???
Incredible line: "Maybe someday we will get back to a place where an experienced team of developers and artists is showing us their plan for one great game instead of some guy in a suit showing us a roadmap for 10."
It just doesn’t make sense that they killed off AC3’s narrative for the sake of future games when nothing after AC3 even progresses any overarching narrative anyway. The castrated AC3 and it made zero difference to the followup games.
See Marvel franchise for more information.
@Parker-- yet you still played them lol so stfu
Unfortunately that isn't going to happen. Videogames became too big and mainstream. Corporations and enterprises realized there could be profits made and corners cut, but most importantly dumb consumers galore. Once they started realizing this, it was over.
amen to that
It happened when we looked away for a minute and there were suddenly 10 new AC games.
I agree. If they took enough time for each game like rockstar did, AC games might become as praised as GTA games.
Why is this so accurate lmao. I played these religiously from AC 1 to Black Flag, took a break from gaming and then came back to 70 titles
10 years flew by fast
its a good thing how often they are dropping AC games and will continue to... would you rather it be like Bethesda or Rockstar and only get a new game every decade if your lucky?
@@lordrichardson4447YES I would gladly wait 5 years or more for a new Rockstar game than whatever Ubisoft does Bethesda games on the other hand are just crap
Being Ezio really was a cultural reset. I listen to "Ezio's Family" several times a week
cringe
@@JunSkyeand?💀
@@JunSkye eww he said cringe.
Why would it be cringe, its a nice song
@@mihajlodjordjevic3243 *soundtrack.
I actually liked AC1 a lot. The templars were actual templars and the assassins actual assassins.
I am in the same boat, if they improved the quests to not be repetitive, it would be perfect.
Starting with AC2 game became less and less about stealthy assassination and more welcoming to open combat.
I would only play AC1 on a remastered version. It was a good game at that time and I enjoyed it, but right now after I upgraded my PC and have an organic monitor I just can't stand these graphics anymore.
When AC1 released it was so insane, it didn't matter most of the quests were repetitive trash, everyone still loved it because of how much the game innovated in seemingly every other aspect. Do the same thing all over again for a couple titles and yeah, we got fed up with it.
@@ozvega.57 Exploration has always been amazing in those games, but gameplay in the new games sucks so much that it makes me not want to engage in exploration anymore. It can be done right, but they way they did it with artificial level requirements to slow down progression and bait microtransactions is what makes those games terrible regardless of how beautiful the map might be.
Unity's wasted potential still haunts me to this day. On paper, it was the perfect AC game. A beautifully detailed dense city which wasn't overwhelming, a smooth weighted parkour system, a slightly more difficult combat system that still maintained the fluid animations, huge Hitman like sandbox missions which gave you endless ways to assassinate a target inside and outside of buildings and most importantly; the potential of a really good story - an assassin and templar in love, having to balance their allegiances with their romance all whilst navigating the backdrop of the French Revolution. It honestly could've been so powerful and different from the typical revenge arc. Whilst i don't think the problems started with this game, it was definitely series defining.
I def think it was the one. People were so hyped for Unity, and when it came out, the technical mess it was, was so intense, that the hype turned into hate very very quickly. I think it was the switch point, and I don't blame anyone. You simply can't trust Ubisoft anymore. Too woke, too greedy, too eager to recycle as much as they can, too eager to take as less risk as possible and grinding on the same formula with a different wrapping.
For everything you say this is the worst AC for me, even though it probably isn't.
I still find myself just randomly booting up Unity just to take in the world of it all. Just walking around and looking at the architecture and the crowds is amazing. It really feels like stepping back in time. The fact that they used Unity to help rebuild Notre Dame IRL just goes to show the beauty of the world they built.
@@DoubleU159I want more information regarding that last sentence
@@brrrrrrits a joke but seriously the Notre Dame looks amazing in unity
I don't watch a lot of AC stuff these days, but I clicked on this because I couldn't help myself. This was genuinely tremendous, glad I sat down and gave it a watch to hear someone else's detailed thoughts on a topic like this even if I'm not 100% in agreement on every little thought. Loved this video.
That is very kind of you, thank you. You’ve been a huge part of the AC community over the years so it means a lot
The issue with the new games is that they are lacking on the whole point of being an assassin. I do miss the brotherhood that was present in the second one. The new games sometimes feel like youre alone… while second one felt like assassins were everywhere.
In AC 2 you run into assassins in everywhere and Ezio doesn’t even know it. The whole game is centred around the brotherhood and their role in renaissance Italy and how they effect this alternative history. Now the games are centred around the historical time period with Assassins thrown in there so they can keep using the franchise name. Meanwhile the gameplay is so infested with micro transactions and half baked mechanics they aren’t even fun anymore. So they remove the story we play the games for, completely re-work the gameplay but not commit to anything, and choose time periods that make no sense for a game with stealth and parkour as a main mechanic. Stealth and parkour being the main things we associate with being an assassin, but they choose early medieval England where it’s all fields and wooden shack houses. Nowhere to climb or hide.
Origins had this feeling to it. This is mainly why Odyssey and Valhalla didn't work for me very well
I feel like the stealth works okish in Valhalla. Yeah there is no massive sprawl of buildings but you can definitely sneak around the areas where there are groups of enemies. But what I think everyone hates about the new games is that they made open combat not an absolute struggle to do so people sneak less.
To be honest when i first played Origins and could stealth kill my enemies because of their higher level it felt cheap. He is too strong for you so you wont just stab him with your hidden blade you punch him and then get wrecked. How dare you try to stealth kill.
The ending of AC revelations where Ezio calls out to desmond is amazing. I think the writers desevre some applause for how well written that is. "Who are we that are so blessed to share our stories across centries." For me that one scene gives meaning to the whole franchise that wasnt there before. The music is just breathtaking as well.
Revelations was my favorite!
Let’s face it every AC protagonist since Ezio hasn’t been memorable and killing Desmond was a mistake.
@@ziggypop79Edward was memorable, just not as an assassin. Every memory I have regarding Edward may as well just have him be a pirate doing pirate things who begrudgingly joined the brotherhood while Ezio was clearly a sneaky assassin furthering the Assassins Creed Brotherhood.
After black flag yeah I played a bit of rogue but that whole sailing thing was over played at that point. Up to revelations was truely good, AC3 was notable for being completely different and using slme really neat mechanics.
@@ziggypop79 Why Ubisoft decided to follow up the charismatic Ezio with the stoic (and frankly boring) Connor will always baffle me
I loved revelations. Fighting Janissaries was actually worrying. The city of Constantinople was so detailed, felt like walking through history, which is exactly how assassin's creed should feel, in my opinion.
Gameplay wise I think Revelations is my favourite ezio game and the visuals are gorgeous.
Same I actually liked Revelations as much and in some places even more than Brotherhood
Aassasin franchise was always bad, its just that people who grow up, nie see that
The ending of Revelations is one of my favorite endings in videogame history.
@@lucianwong420 you must not have played very many good games then
the day Desmond died so soon instead of him ending the storyline as a modern day assassin was when the series lost its glory to me
I don’t think anyone remembers how divided AC fans were back then. There were a lot of ppl who hated Desmond and hated having the story interrupted to play as some douche from 2012.
I still can't get over how Ubisoft treated it's best game developers like Patrice Desilets or Michel Ancel. They created these amazing IPs Ubisoft now has and their game design has completely hit a brick wall cause the most talented people have left and they are stuck recycling the ideas and designs from over a decade ago.
For me personally, the line started from AC4. I love the game and it's in my top 5 of the series, but it's where the seed of focus shift was sowed. The series shifted from _"experience the fantasy of being an _*_assassin_*_ working behind the scene in the annals of history"_ to _"experience the fantasy of being [insert cool historical culture here] member in their specific historical periods"._ If the focus was still on the assassin fantasy then everything else I cared about from the series (parkour, social stealth, conspiracy plots, etc) would've still be retained in one way or another exactly like how AC4 did it, but now that they can just blatantly have few to nothing to do with assassins those aspects are non-existent, non-functional, or crippled.
Agreed.
Well it is still technically about that. It's more like this third party in fucking with the Assassins and Tenplars for some money, and eventually learns his lesson and becomes an Assassin after redeeming himself.
For me as well. IMO, attaching the 'Assassin's Creed'-title to Odyssey and Valhalla especially, is bordering on false advertisement
After black flag it's really obvious what happened They pick a historical period (without thinking how well it fits the franchise) then shoehorn the assassins, it worked well for black flag mainly because of how well the assassin-Templar conflict fits a pirate setting but for other games it just doesn't work
Ac4 is good but I honestly didn’t think it was as good as it was a lot slower and started the bloated nature that would come later with the RPG series, I agree it’s the starting point. But it’s for a negative reason for me. It seems a lot of people love Black Flag though for good reason so that’s just my experience though
I feel like if Unity wasnt so buggy it would have been a complete revival of the series as a whole. The Co-Op past patch was a really fun experience and I enjoyed how much territory there was to explore. Plus, my fav setting they ever did
I even enjoyed it in its buggy state. I lost interest after syndicate.
Unity is great, they patched all the bugs by the time I played it and I enjoyed it a lot.
Aassasin franchise was always bad, its just that people who grow up, now see that
It needed at least another year in the oven, they tried to be ambitious but the yearly release thing made it impossible
@@dragon_ball_sucks_video Mid ass take. It WAS actually great. You can't convince me AC2, brotherhood and revelations, black flag and unity AREN'T great and were bad. They were series at it's best.
Black flag was one of my favorites. Also syndicate is so underrated. I would love to see it remastered
I wish all the ones for 360 would be remastered. Especially since I really want to 100% the first one, but Xbox One just won't allow that
I couldn’t finish Syndicate. A truly horrendous game.
Why tf would they remaster it? It looks fine
@@loganatori6117 Because You can't play it on PS5
Syndicate is one of the worst games I've ever played. Any redeeming qualities were far outweighed by the bad
the origins music creeping in at 29:18 was awesome lol
the origins sound track is so good
@@KazingaSarah Schachner is a goated composer
Origins is eye candy. It has some of the best vistas, and views. Cannot beat ancient Egypt imo. Not the best AC at all but I'll play it just to look at the pyramids in the distance
I just love how ubisoft trying to make the fourth main ac game resulted in the best pirate game. It was such a miraculous stumble
But I feel like it is also why they decided to make the series less about assassins but toher gimmicks, like combat, big damage numbers and other stuff that would make any fan of the Ezio trilogy cringe on sight
Even crazier after the launch of skull and bones showing that when they try to make a pirate game it sucks, even AFTER making the BEST pirate game
Syndicate was the cutoff for me, as up to that point, it felt like we were still building on the things Desmond and crew set in motion with Juno looming in the very near future. But then Origins came along, and we were left with the whole "Wait... What happened to the Juno plotline!?", only to find out that a multi-game plot, set up all the way back around AC2 and Brotherhood, was resolved in a damn COMIC that basicly no one bothered reading, and Ubisoft didn't even bother promoting as essential to that plot! And after that, every game just feels like filler, to a story that not even the writers seem to know where it's going. And if they DO have a plan for where the story is going now with Basim and such, they CERTAINLY didn't bother to make that intent obvious to the audience...
Yea the fantastic games stopped at syndicate i agree buttt i do like origins and valhalla valhalla as an assassin’s creed spinoff and origins was great the second play through the first it was very meh
well i think AC started off bad and gradually got better. Brotherhood actually made me give a fuck about AC. i thought Syndacite was pretty good. loved jacob and Enie. havent played them all yet.
@@donkeylips8252 I can't fault your opinion, but it's definitly the opposite of mine...
also syndicate for me because the story and characters were so bad
@@donkeylips8252 I do like syndicate too. But I was disappointed because it could be better. They have the right settings. Industrial revolution was a perfect time and place for the story. Jacob and evie could've been better characters too. I didn't like that I have to build my own street gang 😤. That was completely pointless. They could add more gameplay mechanics where you hide in plain sight more. Armed with a crutch with hidden blade, taking out the enemies and maintaining poise like one of those british spy flick. Just wave, cherio! It'd still be an assassin's game, but it doesn't need to be the same type of assassin's every time. I mean, they tried. Like there's one mission where it plays like a hitman game and it was poorly done.
odessy was where i thought it had gone stale but ...that sparta kick and all the powerup was so good to play
This was great, and also really heavy. You make a really good point. for me, AC2 was the pinnacle, and Unity was where my patience ran out. I think of Odyssey as an entirely different franchise, though I enjoyed it in a way that Valhalla has failed to rekindle. Thanks!
valhalla is sooo clunky
As a kid I only played 2, 3, and 4. I don't intend on ever playing any of the newer games.
I love odyseey, but valhalla was pretty bad, especially the weapon system.
I realized I wasn't having fun with Assassin's Creed during Origins when I had been playing for like 50 hours and was still being forced to grind out side missions to complete the main story because I was 'underleveled'. I realized they were just padding out the experience.
Or they want you to pay more money for overpowered weapons that turn the game to easy mode
Yes. Jesus Christ. It didn’t help that they aren’t even enjoyable side quests. It really just devolved into “help me, medjay, I lost my hippos, can you go kill them for me?”. It’s really indicative of the shift to quantity over quality. Don’t even get me started on the fucking auto horse travel. If your game has a portion so boring that you need an auto pilot, you’re doing something wrong.
I had the completely opposite experience. AC origins is one of the most immersive games I have ever played with a perfect combat system and I thought it ended way too soon
Odyssey was the same way. I hated the ship combat so it was a long grind to level up both my character and ship. By the end of the game, I was so burnt out that I quit and never replayed it
@@DoubleU159 i hated horsetravel in rdr2. made me jut quit it
I loved Desmond’s story. AC3 was my last AC game because I felt that the story stopped mattering when they decided to not continue what happened after AC3.
They "kinda" did continue the Desmond's story in the AC4, when ubi had some plans about consequences after the end of AC3. Let's just say, it didn't last long, new arc only lasted in the AC4, and the finale was shown in a comic book. But honestly, it was a time when AC as a franchise were to hit dust.
Agreed. Don't get me wrong, the modern-day aspect of AC was the weakest part of the games but it was also the core of the series. The element that was tying history together with the present. I remember thinking that AC 3 or AC 4 would be Desmond's game, utilizing all of the skills he learned from his ancestors in the modern setting with his own twists. But instead of improving that part of the game Ubisoft took the lazy way out and just decided to get rid of that part of the game entirely.
They should just cut it out, all it does it waste time.
@alexblake5369 Yeah, they should never have removed that part of the game. It was the "boring" part, but it served as the reason for being in the Animus in the first place. They had a whole storyline with a first civilization thing going that they kind of just threw away. I was actually hoping that after AC3 they would introduce a female counterpart to Desmond as a way to pick up the story with new characters, but they didn't go that route.
@@alexblake5369 I always thought that as the games went on, the modern day segments would evolve from the AC1-2 pacing sims into free running like Brotherhood, into full modern day missions interwoven with the past story. It seemed like such a natural progression of the gameplay that I just assumed that's where it was all going.
A team showing their plan for one great game instead of some guy in a suit showing a road map for 10. Hits deep man.
My short oversimplified answer: when they stopped caring about the present day aspect of the series. The common narrative ended, and it became just an episodic Assassins' Creed theme park. Thanks for your videos!
On the contrary I always felt the modern day element was incredibly contrived and the series would be way better without it.
@@MZ99698 It was contrived, sure. But it also added boundaries to what they could or couldn't do with the in-animus part of the game. As I said, it became a theme park: as long as you have available (but not necessarily strongly featured) parkour mechanics, and the iconic hidden blades, now anything goes. They even added strong supernatural elements, therefore dropping any idea of historic accuracy. In my opinion (i.e. one person's opinion, I'm not saying this is "the truth"), these changes already signed the end for the original series. Independently from the added RP elements, the open field group battles, the fort conquering scenarios, etc. Thanks for your opinion!
@@Pedone_RossoI agree with you. Personally I would have liked to see a 4th game starring Desmond in modern times, since you did get a few assassinations as Desmond in 3.
yes definitely this. now there are rumours they are again dumping layla, basim, etc and doing the bullshit faceless abstergo employee thing. It ruins the identity of the series
Just cuz they didnt pay off properly to juno doesnt mean they gave up The build up set from origins is payed off in valhala I assume u r aware of layla's fate and bassim's impact
After a decade, i still get goosebumps when the Ezio's theme started playing. AC2 was such a great game.
and they milk it
The spirit of AC died after 2
@@Snaaake_Beater I want them to milk my pocket with a proper Remaster/Remake for AC 2, Brotherhood and Revelation for PC as this is the most important platform.
@@MirelRC pc is for me not the most important platform. ive never had one and never need one. consoles are for games. pc for work
@@Snaaake_Beater Who asked?
The Problem is also that we get a New Character every Time. I wanted to see more of Edward, Connor, Arno and Bayek. These Guys deserved Screentime like Altaïr and Ezio did.
This is my main problem as well. We had 3!! Games with Ezio. We saw his whole journey from birth to death. It was personal. They don’t give the new characters enough long term development like they did with Ezio. Edward Arno and Bayek were the perfect candidates.
Bayek deserved another game. Or at least Amunet in Greece and Rome.
Ending of AC Origins was a good setup for a trilogy for Bayek.@@AlbertoGarcia-wd7sc
Bayek is easily top 3 Assassins for me
Agree I would have loved to see a trilogy of Edward or Connor those characters had(or still have) great potential for a trilogy
This is the first video of yours that I've watched and I think you have a great narration voice. Keep up the good work.
I'm so glad I discovered your channel, I've been binging for a while. You articulate your points on your videos very well, articulate, and have a respectable opinion on each topic. Keep up the amazing work!
For me, the initial draw of the Assassin's Creed games was the parkour and cool city environments. It was fun to run across rooftops and climb tall towers. As the series went on, the buildings got smaller and further apart. Rome was much more fun to parkour around than colonial Boston.
I can sort of agree there but the whole focus in 3 was the Frontier which imo was actually pretty fun to traverse along with the hunting but Boston and new York were lacking.
And by Origins, even the parkour had effectively disappeared. Just run up every surface like you've got sticky spider feet!
the problem with 3 was that their yearly release periods didnt fare well with massive changes such as a new game engine introduction. From the top of my head, Connor was supposed to visit NY before the fire and explore it, giving the NY fire a whole mission. The present missions were also supposed to be bigger i think, not just linear path thru "cool sights". Ubi shot themselves in a leg when making it and deciding to commit to release before the end of the world in 2012 date.
Also been to Florence, Italy irl and you could see how the AC games made parkour through the city seem plausible
Idk if that's exactly the draw considering the two most beloved are black flag and unity, in the former parkour is really only used in Havana while the latter it's all about parkour
In the original AC, you had clothes that mimicked what people wore so you could blend in. It was hard to fight many opponents, so you were encouraged to hit and run, use your skills to escape rather than slaughter your way through the city. The problems started when the hidden blades became “everything”, the outfit became a uniform no matter what the crowd wears, and combat became a cakewalk. Even when they tried to walk back “instant kill combat”, they did so poorly, like how in unity there are a plethora of weapons that all play the same, but shouldn’t. I think what needs to happen for AC to get back to form is to reconsider what an assassin is, and how they would act in any given era, and think about how leaving a sea of corpses would draw attention to the Brotherhood. For that matter, scratch AC altogether, start making games about Musketeers, swashbucklers and that sort of things.
This is kinda what happened to the Star Wars prequels, Ben wore robes cuz he was an old hermit in the desert, and then the prequels had every jedi wearing those same robes. Sometimes the wrong elements become icons, the context is forgotten, all in favor of having a wider audience.
This is what happens when ubisoft just can't stay on track. It's why I enjoy the older games so much more.
Wouldn't be fun though, an assassin's creed game without the Iconic Peaked Hooded robes is like an AC game without a hidden Blade
this is why I actually really loved Odyssey. it's so far back in time that the Assassins and Templars were in their very baby foundations, so the gameplay was a lot more whatever you wanted it to be, and there was a lot less fan service and janky story shit than in Origins (I HATED for example, having to play as Aya in forced stealth because the game was like YOU'RE AN ASSASSIN NOW ACT LIKE IT, when I had spent the previous 40 hours developing Bayek.) Odyssey has such a loose connection to the modern Assassins by Altair's time, that it has more freedom to be its own entity and not be so slavishly beholden to the series' tropes. and like... I'm old ok I was around for the first two games way back when, and I got tired of the series by 3 lol
@@K.C-2049 I hated Odyssey, I couldn’t play more than a few days before I got so pissed off I uninstalled. Greeks without shields is like cowboys without guns. And the levelling was so slow people had to make homemade quests that gave huge xp just so you didn’t have to grind like a maniac because Ubisoft wanted to sell “time-savers”.
Great vid! For me I think narratively the franchise started to dip in quality when Patrice Désilets 'left' Ubisoft. I still wonder what the original story would have been if he was able to complete the originally planned trilogy. I remember being quite dissapointed by the way Desmond's arch was handelled in AC III, but I still enjoyed the various Assassin's Creed games that came out after AC III (some more than others), but felt from a narrative standpoint that the games failed to live up to AC 1 and the Ezio trilogy. Like you said in your vid, I also was so excited during the cliff hanger endings of II and Brotherhood only for the conclusions to be thrown away or haphazardly answered in the Revelations DLC - I know some of this was addressed in Valhalla but that was probably not the original story plan. I stopped caring about the Meta narrative after AC III and I just enjoyed the indivdual stories of next few Assassins Creed games. I heard they ended up continuing the cliff hanger of AC III in the comics for some reason rather than the future games. When AC Unity came out I waited for patches to be released and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it despite a number of reviews warning players about the glitches - but during my playthrough I only encountered one glitch on the final mission. I feel like AC had a narrative death by ACIII, but also because of reviewers complaining about glitches in Unity, I think that was the second time that AC died. While I enjoyed Origins it felt more like a new IP with the Assassins Creed name on it. To me, the new games that are coming out feel like a new Itellectual Prorperty (I mean it has changed genre from Action - Stealth Adventure to pure western RPG) that just have the Assassins Creed name on it for profit reasons. I just wish we ended up with the original story trilogy and then Ubisoft probably still could have continued to release AC titles annually after that without having to worry about the out of Animus overarching story. Well, I wrote more than I intended to write! I was meant to write a sentence or two.
I clicked this video thinking "oh great, another one of those 'the game's not like ACII, so it's bad' guys" but, I found this quite an enjoyable video. You analyzed everything from an objective standpoint while slipping in your personal thoughts here and there. Great video.
I'm 28. It's just painful to remember games from the 2007-2011 time period. It gives me an intense feeling of loss and grief every time.
Just wish AC1 still holds up well cause I can go back to most Valve Games of the time (TF2, Portal, L4D2) and they hold up extremely well but AC1 just feels off :(
I'm right there with. I remember saving money when I was about 13 for ac1 and loving every moment of the game. Same for ac2. What a time
Also 28 and same, 2009 was incredible. So many people in my life have passed away since, so that was the last time everything felt simple.
We lived through THE GOLDEN AGE OF GAMING. Cherish it.
Funny. I'm 32, and I think that was probably the worst period in video game history for as long as I've been alive. The 7th console generation was an absolute shitshow. 2006-2012 or so was one of the darkest periods in gaming, with basically all of my favorite genres barely getting any games, and PC gaming going through a period of intense decline.
Ac3 was the last one I played, outside of replaying the ezio trilogy, but the death of Desmond kinda ended the story, it was HIS story even when you played as Altair, ezio and Connor, it was all to further the goals of Desmond and the modern assassins which has since gone nowhere
I feel like the entire modern assassin timeline kinda died when Desmond did. Since AC3 they definitely are just milking the name and “lore”
"My name is Desmond Miles and I'm an assassin" While the Desmond part of the story was not... Well, good, they put so much emphasis on him and his development that it is impossible to just let him go. Killing him off was just a poor choice. No one cared for the modern plot enough so that they could not have just dealt with the apocalpyse and conitnued with Desmond regardless, researching other things through his ancestors. In fact, the Templer vs Assassin thing is so much more liked that some poeple just hate the whole apocalypse aspect anyway.
I liked the ac3 modern day missions. I would have loved a modern day ac game with a setting and some mechanics they put in Watch Dogs.
@@MrSmitejr Watch Dogs legion is essentially modern day assassins creed btw. Worth a try imo if you want that itch scratched.
really you cared about the modern day storylines? cuz I pretty much instantly forgot about them as soon as desmond went into the animus each time. only to be reminded every time I got one of those boring modern day or animus levels and as you mentioned these storylines never really went anywhere.
I remember stepping out of the franchise at Unity. That one burned me hard, because I was huge into the French Revolution at the time. I specifically remember my heart dropping after watching a video of some developer of something talking about how detailed they were when crafting Notre Dame, and then when I climb it I saw copy-pasted assets around the cathedral. Plus all the bigger issues. I don’t remember why I didn’t step back in at Origins, although I think it clicked for me that the plot was basically Ancient Aliens/Atlanteans bullshit which kinda pissed me off. Then I specifically remembering just feeling absolutely turned off by the goofy giant god statues in Odyssey, and how goofy it is to have hidden blades in a Viking setting (and how much obvious visual inspiration they took from the tv show and Nordic metal bands and something felt just off for me at that point. Plus the criticisms of micro transactions if I remember correctly and some gameplay artificial lengthening through grinding bullshit I think, which I don’t know if that’s present in Valhalla but I’m pretty sure was present in Odyssey. Now I’m older and in grad school and honestly there are much more interesting things to spend my time on than another Marvel-esque oversaturated franchise. Also having gotten into indigenous studies in college I bet there’s some funny shit going on about AC3 if I went back to it but who knows lol.
The game for me started to really decline after they abandoned the alien storyline. Black Flag was the last
@@user-ze3sg6ix1uhard agree. but the newer games are bringing back those interesting bits, they were just rpgs hence did not gel well with a lot of people
i am 1:08 in and already your pov, calm demeanor, frst class music choice and editing has made me a subscriber. Thank you, whoever you are. I appreciate all your effort, truely, because i now look forward to hearing the rest of this video. :) Bless you!
The story told over the time of Ezio Auditore's trilogy is what drew me to Assassin Creed. The best games are usually the games with the best stories and I hope that that is reflected in future entries.
Less charming 80s cartoons isn't what I call "best stories".
AC2 was my favorite. And then Origins. I’ve always been obsessed with ancient Egypt, mix in the Roman’s and a fantastic protagonist. And my god, the world. It’s the best. Big enough to truly feel like you are discovering an entire state with each area but not so big it feels like filler…
Facts Ezio Auditore's story and trilogy got me into playing more of AC. Ezio also being one of the more humble and wiser next with Altair and that Ezio had three freaking game series of him. Which goes to show Ezio played a massive part in Italy and Roma because the Templar Influence was in Rome and the Bishop and the Borga family. AC brotherhood or was it AC2 I forgot, the French got involved
The whole issue is the RPG Witcher style of games is just that it’s a different game not the linear assassin based story game with RPG elements we fell in love with. Ghost of Tsushima is a perfect example of what a modern assassins creed game should be.
My issue with the rpg ones is mostly how they aren't about Assassins Origins showed a good story about how their order started with Bayek and Aya Odyssey... despite having a fun story and setting, I forgot I was even in an AC game, the templar-like group was secondary and that shouldn't be the case in an assassin's creed game. Not to mention Cassandra or Alexios aren't even Hidden Ones. What's worse is Ubisoft's decision to advertise Alexios as the main character yet say it's Cass Valhalla suffers from the same weaknesses as Odyssey in terms of lacking an assassin/hidden one protag, the Templar villains being secondary, or tertiary, but what else is the map being HUGE so it's hard to replay for how much traveling is needed. Plus WAY too many quests Odyssey and Valhalla are fun games but as continuations to the AC lore and timeline, they aren't needed. They could have just been stand alone games without tagging on the AC IP
@@theanimeunderworld8338 You are so right about lacking of assasins in new games but for me its also that Ubi is going way overboard with protagonist's sex i mean you CANT show us so many times male protagonist in adds and then make SIKE bit*h women power and not expect people to be angry about it
The whole point of the Animus experience is that you're suposed to be reliving past events. Therefore you cannot roleplay, change characters, gender or have multiple choices in dialogue options or endings. They're nothing like the original games.
@@RafaelSantos-pi8py Let's be honest ubi sacrifised whole ac soul for woke-pseudo_rpg-money
No, ghost of tushima would be what assasins creed games are now, origins, oddessy, Valhalla.
Assassins Creed 1 is what I consider to be part of the dividing line between retro and modern games. A lot of the games of that time feel like they have served as the framework for how things are done today, for better or for worse.
Great retrospective, your content is amazing.
After Ezio's story ended, I genuinely believe that the problems with Assassin's Creed started to show. I love the mechanical ideas that Black Flag(Naval combat/travel), Unity( parkour system despite its bugs), Rogue (being a Templar), and Origins(Its RPG set-up) had, but what lost me with the series was the unique and compelling narratives ceased to exist. Ezio and Altair remain my favorite assassins because their stories are so unique. Desmond was a blast to play as and didn't take away from the stories in the past, rather I think they interwove pretty well. Nowadays, the modern-day sections are boring af and a lot of the assassins' character and stories feel incredibly similar
bro the problem is you lmao, tf?. You are too damn picky. fam the assassin creed games stopped being good after unity. Ac 1,2,3,4 and unity were great. stop being picky and enjoy the shits.
@@JL32506 I agree such a shame they cut some dialogue like Connor's monologue speech
@@JL32506 I feel like AC3 is held back by its protagonist. Connor comes off more as a passenger than a protagonist.
@@Cklert Tldr i think ezio is super overrated until revalations see and i loved connor. I didnt like ezio until revalations. The first assassins creed was so unique with the antagonists and their interactions with the protagonist. 2 and brotherhood felt way too...bad guys bad and then coupled with them both just basically being revenge plots. Im one of the few who feel like 2 and brotherhood were big steps down. Also i didnt care for his swag honestly. Jersey shore was too big at the time and suave italian just felt meh. Now when he had that grey beard it was way cooler. His wisdom in his older years was also super cool to see play out in his interactions
Indeed, i have always argued that assassin's creed died with Desmond. He was the one that was driving the story, and the story was the best thing about assassin's creed. Lots of open world games exist, but none with the incredible setup and story of AC. The historical exploration was just a positive side effect derived from the story, it was never the real value of the games. AC3 ended with the apocalypse, and black flag at least acknowledged it happened but was extremely underwhelming and went nowhere with it, and all the following games ignore that an apocalypse happened at all. So the soul of AC which was Desmond and the story got killed off and now only an empty husk remains.
Before the video starts, Im at the end of the intro. Where the series lost me was the leveling system. I really loved the feeling that all I needed was good tactics and knowledge to take down any foe. Leveling is what killed that feeling for me cause now I had to go grind just to take down whoever even if tactics would still win. It just made it a slog. Tho I will say they dont miss when it comes to their environments. Alwways fun to explore and see the world they give us.
Yeah kind of a bad thing when your an assassin and the reason you don’t kill your target is because despite doing everything perfect your a couple levels lower and you target instantly backhands you after your light graze
To be fair earlier assassins creed games didn’t have a leveling system but as far back as assassins creed 2 you were grinding for better weapons unlocking new tools in your arsenal getting armor upgrades for more health etc it may not have been a leveling system but there was a clear progresssion in etzios capabilities depending on where you were in the game
@@rose.i yes, pretty much all video games have a progression system in some way. That's not the issue. You could still figure out ways to complete your objectives without "grinding" for weapons and gadgets, most of which were unlocked with regular story progression anyway. The problem is Ubi tried to follow trends and shoehorned a crap Rpg system into assassin's creed making it a totally different game. The rpg titles may be alright as rpgs (still not really imo) but they're crap AC games. They literally made it mandatory to grind in order to kill a normal foot soldier just because the number above his head is higher than yours. And the reason why they did this? Money. It pushes people to buy their stupid in-game currency because people don't want to grind their ridiculously bloated games and empty worlds for 100+ hours.
Yeah big turn down factor in odyssey.
@@Funko777 thank you sir! I cant stand this rpg-style combat system they implemented in ac origins. Its almost not even worth exploring. Guess ill just follow the story to a T like chores until they say im strong enough to explore the next territory. Borrrrring
Splendid work, great and informative summary!
I think this franchise is at it's strongest, when either they are building on it's characters (The ezio trilogy developing Ezio's character, but also exploring Altair at the same time) or when they go completely bonkers with the assassin concept ( Being a Pirate assassin in the case of Black Flag or being a former Assassin turned Templar when it comes to Rogue). I appreciate the fact they sorta attempt being historically accurate and whatnot, but I don't think Assassin’s creed, but in another country during an important historical moment is an interesting enough hook. Doesn't help they pretty much removed the assassin aspect of the games, when they made the rpg trilogy. ( Not being able to stealth kill someone, because they have a bigger level then you is just stupid). That's why I especially dislike assassin's creed 3, instead of fully controlling Desmond in modern day, and doing the spaceship ending stuff, pretty much doing something bonkers that might work and pays of the boring modern day framing device. They did a boring revenge story with a boring protagonist, and only being a little bit darring, with Haytem's character. The best way to course correct this franchise, and make people fully invested again. Is either A hire a good writer and make a trilogy with one main character and a bunch of recurring characters, or B go completely bonkers, disregard the Anibus completely and also throw out the window the historical accuracy. Make Vampire hunter assassins, make nazi hunting assassins and the templars helping nazis. Jump the Shark completely and have actual fun, instead of remaining serious or becoming completely different games.
You are onto something. You mentioned Vampire Hunter Assassins and I already feel engaged
I personally never really found Connor or his story boring. Especially when it came to his relationship with Haytham, with both of them trying to turn each other to their own side.
Narratively, I also believe they should choose a canon protagonist instead of going with the player choice, tailor your story to the charcter you chose and explore it fully. It feels a little bit robotic having the same story while changing your character.
That's why Black Flag was more compelling than titles like Odysee and Valhalla. You were just as invested in the main character's story as the rest of the plot.
They’ve been doing it with Far Cry too. I don’t care if I can customize my character or choose genders if it negatively affects the story. The Witcher 3 you can’t create your own character but I’m 10000x more invested in Geralt and the story in that game than Odyssey
Imo this is a game that should limit choices, your living history, the big events shouldn’t change because of your choices. I feel like they put the whole concept of the game on the back burner, going into the past memories of ancestors to figure out how to stop catastrophe. Playing the games it feels like there’s no purpose.
@@mainernation5197 they don't make games like Witcher anymore. :(
@@zawarudo8991 I know bro I know. Last game anything close to being as good of a story driven open world game like Witcher was Red Dead Redemption 2 and that was almost 5 years ago. I’m a sad gamer
In my opinion the rpg games can be fun they are just too bloated if they scaled them back and focused on the story more they could have been way better
I am not the biggest fan of Valhalla but I like Origins and Odyssey a lot
@@sosaysjay totally origins was great
You can just ignore all the bloat tho? Like Arkham games and Riddle trophies?
@@mrperson8321 i really love that you can feel your ability points in odyssey in the form of powers and the combat system that needs effort and thought put into it instead of spamming x and omg its beautiful.
Ac1 was the best story and setting wise
Despite the many many flaws of AC Odyssey. I still think it was an amazing experience. There is no game that I've ever seen that was able recreate the literal Greece and in the Peloponnese wars. The same thing can be said of Valhalla
They tripped with 3, fell with Unity, rebounded with Origins, stagnated with Odyssey, and finally died with Valhalla. Mirage is just a half baked DLC for Valhalla that I didn't even bother playing.
My all time favorite game is the series was Black Flag. I have fond memories of fighting the 4 boss ships, especially the ram ship. My dad sat and watched me try to beat that one ship for a couple of hours, and right as I was about to give it up for the night, I was in the last fight with the ship. It was storming, that boss and I were nearly both dead and far enough apart to where we couldn't immediately do damage to each other, and then I saw it. It was preparing to do its main ram attack, and when it does that, it starts going ungodly fast and makes a beeline toward you, and if I took that, I would've died again. I just started to try to outturn it, and I started lighting it up with the broadsides and mortars, just trying to kill it on its way to me. One of the waves from the storm came up to my side and blocked my view and my cannons for a couple of crucial seconds, and then it came over the wave, its bow was practically right above me, if I had waited a second later, I would've been dead. But I shot, right into the damned thing's hull, and it stopped, it looked like it had just frozen, and as I passed it, its ram touched the side of my ship and did no damage, and then I realized it was dead, and dad and I both jumped off the couch and cheered and I had my first beer with him. One of my favorite memories with my dad ever.
I wish my dad also saw me play...
Cool story mate 👍
indeed fighting the Man O' war was Exciting
Black Flag was garbage. After 3 the games weren't worth playing. I can not wait for this series to die.
Sure its a good pirate game. Its not an Assassins Creed game though.
Thing i liked about the older assassins creed is had a conspiracy vibe to it with the glyphs & templars weaving events, why ive always wanted an ac in ww2, all the conspiracies they can use, it would be mindblowing
Dude, imagine a Cold War Assassin's Creed
@@retrodarktrooper6372 Was going to suggest this. I would set up the story as a civil war between two sets of Templars and Assassins; the Western branch of both vs the Eastern branch of both, with the Western branches of the Templars and Assassins winning, and ending up in a kill stroke by the Templars allowing them to maintain control of the US government, and forcing out any power the Western assassins had. A setup for the bad state the brotherhood was in in AC1. And yes, I can see how the US and USSR would appeal to bits of the Assassins and Templars, which is why I would have each in an East-West civil war, with the East and West being cohesive blocks for the duration
They'd never have the balls to set an AC game in WW2. Well, at least back when they were going with the original design philosophy of AC. Maybe they'd do it now, but originally a big part of Assassin's Creed was that what we knew as history was a lie and all too often the people sold to us as the good guys were in fact the villains. Can you imagine a histrionic company like Ubisoft having the courage to portray the Germans of the time as ordinary people, let alone as misunderstood heroes? Let alone what terminal social-media addicts might do, up to and including violence.
Bruh what also The last teilogy had cospiranvies, even more you tripping
Lol yes 2012 end of the world trash
Liked your pov on Assassin's Creed series, very well done. Loved your tone.
My favorite AC is still Black Flag. The most fun parts of that game are the things we’re we’re not doing regular Assassin stuff
Actually I realised how you can find out... As i'm trying to 100% AC Rogue, it gave me a lot of contemplation time and I realised that back in AC1, that the health bar in the HUD was explained as a syncronisation bar not a health bar. So I guess when they started calling it a health bar is when they started losing their way.
So…black flag?
Black Flag is really where the assassin parts of assassins creed start to feel really tacked on. The more modern games make that absurdly evident. They're all about character design and raiding britain and have absolutely nothing to say about the assassinating part of Assassins Creed.@@urticantspoon9960
@@urticantspoon9960The peak of the series, also the beginning of the decline . Thats how you remain the peak lol
When I was 17 I volunteered at a charity thrift shop in Cambridgeshire with a friend, college work experience type deal. The manager was a French woman, very lovely, but she overheard us talking about Assassin's Creed and said "You guys like assassin's creed? My husband was the lead writer for Syndicate" We were polite, but man was it difficult to pretend he did a good job lmao.
He probably did a phenomenal job and was restrained by executive meddling, like often in triple AAA development
@@ArkenwayInteresting and very good point sir.
Syndicate was awesome most of you fanbois can't see a good game even if it hits you the face.
@@Arkenway Very fair point.
Syndicate is the only really good game in the entire series, IMO.
3:13 It's crazy to think that past Ubisoft was bold to make Assassin's Creed a new IP instead of a Prince of Persia sequel, but now they won't budge from the Assassin's Creed IP and the consequence is that it has become diluted.
A fantastic analysis. For me, as a long-time fan of the games, Unity was what started to let me down in the series. I know opinions are divided on AC3, and I can see why, but I personally adored how well it tied the main character's story to the historical events. The game did a fantastic job of showing how each side in the war could pull on and manipulate Templar and Assassin loyalties and ideals - Connor ends up basically getting used by the patriots for the same idealism that brought him to the Assassin cause, which makes for a heart-wrenching story. I was so excited for Unity because the French Revolution is one of my favourite periods in history, with such a rich potential to do something similar to AC3, and then it just... didn't. AC3 was more nuanced, showing historical figures and events realistically and with a genuinely critical eye. We saw their virtues and their flaws based on actual fact. Connor's story was intrinsically tied to the time in which it took place. Unity barely seemed to interact with the Revolution at all, and when it did, it just became lazy stuff about Robespierre being a secret Templar with minimal explanation as to why. And they made Saint-Just into such a maniacal cartoon villain that there's literally a side quest where you find out he's making coats out of human skin. There's really no engagement with the actual ideas of the Revolution or how Arno feels about it. Sometimes you help the Revolutionaries, sometimes you help the counter-Revolutionaries. Why? Uhhhhhhhh.... don't worry about that, look, Arno's sad about his girlfriend again! Exactly as you said, they pushed aside what could have been a really interesting Revolutionary storyline in favour of a half-baked romance. Overall, that's the game that made me feel like neither the setting nor the character motivation really mattered anymore. Whatever faults the earlier games had, they made me care about both. Arno was the first protagonist who just felt empty to me, severed from both his historical setting and the Assassin storyline, and that feeling persisted through the rest of the subsequent games. And to clarify, I'm in the same boat of playing and enjoying the newer games. I love open world RPGs, so I've sunk hours into Odyssey and Valhalla just for that. They're fun. But they're barely Assassin's Creed to me. They're kind of just... like you said, popcorn entertainment. I run around doing side quests and exploring the world, but I don't find myself caring much at all about the main story. They don't feel connected to what the earlier games once were, and I miss that. I miss when I really cared about the conflict between the two sides and how it could fit in with epochs of history. I hope we might get back to that someday, but at this point, I'm not sure we will.
AC1 is so undervalued. It might had not been for everyone, but It was an unique experience despite it's flaws. The game had such personality that even now, after so many years; I often find myself listening to the conversations between Altaïr and Al-Mualim. None other AC has been able to speak to me in such a profound way as the first game did, not even the second one which is hold as the best for most of the fanbase.
The first game holds actual wisdom, and I've still yet to see anyone anywhere reference the friendship Altair builds with Malik, or just generally the sense of Altair needing to humble himself by getting permission of the den leaders. It was ironically this journey of humility AL Mualim sent him on that gave him the understanding to know the apple was not meant just for him.
@@vgfan4ever so true. Honestly, none other game has been half as meaningful in my life as AC1. It opened my eyes in some way, to a deeper understanding of things.
Could not agree more. The Altaïr - Al Mualim and Desmond - doc. Vidic conversations are practically a treatise on philosophy, with theses and antitheses, about freedom and control. It makes you ask yourself a lot of questions
The first one is my favorite I come back to it on the pc every few years. I only beat the second game once. It lost a lot of the luster and charm of the first and to be honest the same mechanics got old. I tried to play the third game, but gave up. I was bored. I played like 10 minutes of the American game, but was board. I haven’t played any other games in the series. It’s played out.
And reading AC the secret crusade was sooo good, Oliver did such an good job
"Franchise fatigue" is definitely the phrase that comes to mind when I think of Assassin's Creed. Like you, there used to be a time when I looked forward to how they would end the series... But it goes on and on and on. I remember playing the first game and thinking how cool it would be if they did AC in X or Y historical setting. I suppose Ubisoft saw the money potential in that idea. The templar vs assassins conflict spans the globe and history. You could throw two darts to land on location and historical period and have your AC game. I remember thinking it would be cool if they used X or Y setting for an AC game. Not so much anymore...
It sucks that Valhalla is such an inauthentic recreation of viking culture
I was waiting for the game that took place entirely in the modern day. It seemed to be the natural way for the story to end. They could have gotten so creative with technologies which help the assassin's traverse modern architecture and cities, included driving, guns, flying between several cities around the world...like say New York and Tokyo or a modern day revisits of cities from the original games like Rome or Damascus. They could have even included gadgets which counteract modern day technology like cloaking to say climb skyscrapers in broad daylight without attractive attention.
When I completed the codex in AC2, I was so excited to see games taking place in all the locations on the map, all taking place at the same time, working together to avert the templars before 2012 hit. Then it just… didn’t.
Exactly. The same thing happened with the NFS franchise too. They're trying everything with street and pro racing but no one really cares about it anymore.
@@MattrickBT This is what I wanted back during the Ezio trilogy. Something like Cyberpunk 2077 but based on Assassin's and Templars... God talking about it makes me want it still, too bad it'll never happen.
Very fair and comprehensive take. I've played every single mainline game other than Valhalla, and I loved both Origin and Odyssey. What always ticked me off was, the people crapping all over Origin and Odyssey were, in most cases, the exact same people crapping on the OG AC formula for growing stale. They cried out for change, ended up getting it, then went back to complaining about wanting the thing they originally complained about.
ODYSSEY BEST GAME EVEEER MADE 😂😂😂...
I loved Origins, I did not like Odyssey. It wasn't a matter of trying something new, Odyssey just felt way too disconnected from the actual franchise for me, in a narrative sense. And it was way more bloated than Origins. I feel like it would have gone over much better if they just didn't try to tack Assassin's Creed onto that title, because it does have some good parts to it I've been playing since AC1, always given the franchise a shot with trying new things. Odyssey simply didn't work for me. I actually liked Origins direction, I didn't want them to go back to the original formula because change was necessary. Odyssey, for my personal liking, took the changes too far to the point where it felt disjointed and bloated. I would never hate on someone for loving the game, but I think there are plenty of people who share my opinion and don't do that Origins is in my top 3. It's not an issue with changing the franchise it's an issue of execution and narrative
When Desmond was killed off
The biggest draw for this series for me has always been the historical settings, and on that note the series has never missed the mark in my opinion. Generally speaking I do prefer the older games gameplay wise and am not a fan of the RPG elements in the most recent titles, but I can't deny the sheer joy I felt when I first saw the Great Pyramids and met characters like Cleopatra and Julius Caesar in Origins, or having the "Father of History", Herodotus, join as my travel companion while sailing through Greece in Odyssey. Despite its many flaws, Assassins Creed is still one of my favorite franchises and I'm very excited to explore Baghdad in Mirage later this year.
The toughest pill to swallow for me was Desmond’s death and as a result, the end of his story. Desmond and his ancestors worked together phenomenally for the games, like your left and right hands. Killing him off in AC3 felt extremely final, meaning that for me, later installations of the franchise felt like trying to breathe air back into a dead animal. It didn’t work, the stories held no weight, and didn’t feel true to the basic principles that made the franchise feel alive, gritty and significant. Each newer game feels more like a money grab. Hopefully later games will move back to those core ideas, and that’s why I’m more excited for Mirage than the games we’ve had over the past couple years.
Desmond's death definitely killed any interest in modern day stories, to the point, that subsequent entries might as well have excised all modern day story segments. Like, do we need to continue to view the dead Assassin's memories through an Animus anymore?
part of it was the modern stories were not that great. It would have been better if the series never had them.
I played these games for the Desmond story. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I was 100% bought into what that was all leading up to. Killing him off was what burried the franchise for me
I just had a thought. Desmond is the player, we watch everything 'through his eyes', so they killed him and us. He was the glue that kept it all together.
PERFECT SUMMARY TBH. Black flag was great though but every entry from that felt like it had no identity and some of the new assassins creed games have cool gameplay elements like unitys parkour but nothing captivating storywise.
Saving this one for later. I definitely felt that coming off of 3 and going into unity was were I was having difficulty jiving with the game personally because it didn’t feel like anything progressed in the story. Syndicate rejuvenated my love for the series and for personal biases my favorite game is Valhalla.
it's sad to me that syndicate was overshadowed by unity's failure so badly, it's probably my favorite game in the series (Im a bit biased though cause it was the most recent release when i started getting into assassin's creed) and now that I'm finally getting to play it years later (I didn't have the latest console or a good pc to run it) I've been thouroughly enjoying it. I do wish the combat had some more detail, but I've enjoyed treating it more as a challenge to get the timing as precise as possible with keeping up combos and taking on multiple guys at once in a fight. It's satisfying to watch at times, but then again that could be said for the combat in almost all of these games. I am glad though that syndicate is still treated as a good assassin's creed game, the last of the old formula. Awesome video though!
I've been spending the last couple years playing through every AC game, most of them for the first time (I did play AC2, Brotherhood, and AC3 during the years they came out, but lost interest despite loving 2 and Brotherhood due to feeling bored with AC3's setting and ending) and your analysis is spot on. From the games I hadn't played before, AC1 honestly surprised me the most, as it felt like it had a very distinct vision for certain themes and ideas that were just never explored or concluded beyond its end credits. A lot of the moral complexity inherent to the first game's Assassins vs. Templars conflict felt gradually sucked out of the series for the sake of appeasing the widest AAA market possible. It felt like a couple of games tried to backpedal back to blurring the lines between the two groups (mostly Rogue and Unity), but their stories just came off as shallow and flavorless to me, as though the writers weren't sure what made the original pitch of "two opposing groups lurking in the shadows of history fighting for their own ideals" interesting to explore through a video game in the first place. After playing all of them, Black Flag is now probably my favorite game in the franchise due to how much I adored its historical story, but even then I could sense the contrast between how it and AC1 treated its overarching conflict. I could tell they were immediately treading water with the modern plot to keep churning out games set in profitable historical settings (which, I'll admit, is also very funny considering how much you could tell the writers saw Abstergo's entertainment division as an in-universe excuse to make fun of Ubisoft).
The moral complexity was sucked out by AC2. AC2 is just cartoon villains. AC3 brought it back but it was dropped by Origins. What a shame
Thats a lot of time you wasted that you could have been playing all the Shin Megami Tensei games
@@PrimulaXRin Bruh!
Sad how AC1 was the last time the templars were actually a group with goals, focus, and real thought to their actions instead of just evil schemers up to no good
@@Minority119 Eh Ac3 had some of that, but by then AC2 already happened :p
“Whatever Ubisoft thought the success of Origins could be attributed to, they certainly did not think it was the extra dev time.” Biting, witty and wonderful. What a great video essay
Dejando de lado la jugabilidad... la histotia de AC I, II y III fue un hito. Tanto presente y pasado. Genial como balancearon ambas lineas temporales. De ahí para adelante fue mas marketing que la intención de vendernos una buena historia. Aunque me encanta Unity, Origins y BFlag... Se da cuenta uno de como Ubisoft se abrumó con la presión de continuar ambas lineas de tiempo de forma coherente, por vendernos mas hicieron menos. Pero bueno... No se si sepas español jajaja pero me encantó tu analisis. Saludos!
Answer: After Black Flag. Everything past that point is missable.
Dude. I’ve felt like a crazy person for voicing similar sentiments for years now! Back when Brotherhood was revealed and Ubisoft announced that they were planning on releasing a new AC every year, I immediately knew it was the beginning of the end. I’m also a huge fan of the series overall and I love a lot of entries in the franchise (including AC titles that are commonly shat all over) But man… once they decided to follow Call Of Duty’s release model Assassin’s Creed lost all heart, soul, love, care, and purpose behind it. It’s a game made by committee now. A franchise created by corporate suits that manages to luck out and release a pretty solid product every few years. Unfortunately, they will never blow audiences away like they did with AC1 & AC2 ever again.
I still remember how I discovered this series. I was reading a gameinformer magazine that my dad had gotten, and as I was turning the pages with my dad watching beside me, I saw a page for Assassin's Creed 2. It gave me an idea of what the game was gonna be like, and I wanted to play. So my dad got the first game and I was impressed. Then I got Assassin's Creed 2 and I was addicted to playing the game as much I could. I vividly remember playing through the game over and over again. From then on, I continued to keep playing. And for the most part I was enjoying it. Slowly over time however, I grew to fall out of love with the newer games. They just didn't feel the same as AC2 did when I was a kid. It started to become a drag to play newer games, and it hit it's peak when Odyssey came out. I didn't even bother playing Valhalla. Maybe Mirage could potentially give me something that I've been looking for in the series for a long time, but who knows. Update: It's been 7 months, and while I've yet to try out Mirage, some of what I've seen has made me wanting to give it a go. But then Ubisoft says something dumb and it makes me change my mind. Maybe I'll jump the gun eventually and try it. Also, I wanted to point out that Assassin's Creed started dying for me with AC4. Back then I couldn't figure out the navel combat and I hated how big the map was and how it was mostly water. Even though it was basically a pirate game. Now I long for a new awesome pirate game. Times really do change.
Ditto, except my first AC game was II when it came out, not AC I.
SAME! 😫❤
Valhalla is a long game, but it is way better than odyssey, the fight sequence in odyssey out me off pretty quickly. Again Valhalla has some really really great parts about it! Give it a go
Excellent video my man
I tried the 2nd and 3rd games, and I definitely was not a fan of the series. Origins raised my interest and Odyssey cemented it. But then Valhalla and Mirage demolished it. I still play Odyssey and it is one of my first 3 preferred games of all time. Probably because I am a fan of Ancient Greek mythology since childhood, I love that country and it’s history. And the scale of that game in every aspect is phenomenal. I really want an Odyssey 2, who knows, Ancient Rome? Lots of juicy historical events during those times.
Absolutely agree, you’ve got great taste
ODYSSEY best game eveeer made...
@@zicuvalentin2251 agree with that
@@andrew4982 hey broo...you know next A.C RED is made by UBISOFT QUEBEC from team ODYSSEY I am Glad because we need a good game...
In my opinion it started to fall when we got more into the *Gods* and precivilization. Ac was mostly about the Assassins vs TemplaRd with the precivilization being in the back with what they've done/made affecting the present. The rpg element could've been decent if it was more fleshed out. There's also the story we've been in the same Revenge plot for so long
false.. Isu and the first civilisation is a reflection of the Assassin/Templar battle. Assassin vs Templar is only a pretext that the devs chose in a contemporary world in order to explain in an abstract way the fight of the first civilization and its impact in the contemporary world (the end of the world etc..). People think that Assassins/Templars is the heart of the game: it's not true. The heart of the game is the modern plot with the Animus.
@@astronotics531wrong the heart of the game is not the modern story. All the Isu stuff is just an explanation and the modern day stuff can be erased and nobody would care because the modern day stuff isn’t interesting enough to warrant it to be a thing
@@BabyGirlTinyIf it were a simple explanation and unimportant they wouldn’t have started delving into it clear back in AC2. It’s an important part of the series, regardless of how little you personally care for it.
I don't agree with that the Isu story has been a thing since AC1 and even further developed in AC 2. I think that people are just sick of not playing as actual Assasins of the Creed. Black Flag and Origins went as far as you could go with that. Like even if we had an assasin of the creed but still be a reincarnation of the ISU I feel people wouldn't be as mad as they are but we went full ISU and left the Assasin Order protagonist behind and people don't want that
the rpg could be decent? brother have you played origins??? that game has way better systems than the witcher 3 (have this shit installed and is so boring that im trying so damn hard to continue just because people say is good... so im kinda ''if so many people say is good then is going to get good at some point right'' well it has not) origins is one of the most fun to play game in this damn series, and the story and characters in odyssey are trash but it is very fun to play with all the different builds that game has
Your summary of Assassin's Creed Unity is the best I've ever heard. The ideas and ambition from the developers were there, but corporate greed and a lack of time got in the way of what should have been the best game in the franchise. Not only did Ubisoft screw this one up, they overcorrected and completely changed the direction of the series and not in a good way.
fantastic video - well done
I wish Ubisoft would take your video to heart. AC 2 was more than a game - it was an experience people never forgot. It was a work of art in many ways. For me it felt like a step back in time. I heard of colleges where the game was used to teach about Renaissance architecture. And the story of deep loss and revenge, plus Desmond reviewing it in the present was mentally engaging beyond gameplay. Ezio's story was meaningful and I wanted to see how it would come out for him across the three games with real interest. But Ubisoft let us down. All the subsequent games gave less and less to story, then less and less to game play all in favor of graphics that honestly were of very minor importance to me. I enjoyed Black Flag for the naval combat and Edward, also,liked Rogue, but gave up on the franchise after that. From what I hear the series now is all about how to get people to spend money online and little else. The only draw is the graphics. Main characters with stories no one really cares about, places that squander parkour, and combat that is not worth mastering have followed. Why do people still have an interest? It's the history and the chance to go back in time. That Ubisoft can't really wreck. I wish they cared about making art again, rather than money.
I still remember what a unique experience it was to play ACII. The moment the Ezio theme started playing and the title popped up on screen I knew I was in for one special game. It's been a while since a game has had that effect on me. And it's tragic how my feelings towards this franchise could go from that to complete indifference. It's a classic case of the law of diminishing returns. Whenever a big company strikes gold with a franchise, they do everything they can to squeeze every penny out of it.
Changing the core mechanic of the series might be participating in it feeling alien. Mechanics reflect the story, most AC games feel like a list of fetch quests rather than actual Assassin gameplay.
I loved odyssey. Not really for being a assassin’s creed game but for being a game set around the Greek mythology and I love the time period.
Same. I've never actually liked AC games much, but Odyssey hit my buttons perfectly. Rare for me to burn through a game as I did with that one.
I like it too it's not a bad game
I agree. Odyssey was for me miles better than AC Origins. It's repeatative and doesn't feel like an AC game but the storyline, the art design and game setting, and ship portions felt like was a solid Ubisoft game. Also loved locating mercenaries to rise up the ranks.
same for black flag. they were good games, but not really good assassin games
Definitely a decent game, but Ubisoft really shouldn't have labeled it an AC game.
watching this as I am currently playing Odyssey for the 2nd time and yes my thoughts on one of the things i dont like the map is MASSIVE but I'm having fun and I am unsure if I will pick up Mirage as ... it doesnt look good might pick up later like I did with unity once things get fixed up a bit
ODYSSEY best game eveeer made...
I agree with your point that has started to get bad after brotherhood Because when I played revelations, it was significantly shorter and had less missions than brotherhood, so I totally understand although in my opinion, I believe it started falling apart when they ended Desmond story poorly, and when black flag came out, I was a big fan of the silent protagonist and also in my opinion,Ezio is still the best character throughout the entire franchise. His story was born, flushed out out of all. The other characters had a short movie about him, ending his story the way he died, but with that being said, then again, I totally understand your statement on where it got bad
AC3 is so massively underrated; especially the multiplayer. I don’t know why it gets such a bad wrap. I always had an absolute blast playing it.
i didnt care for the combat all that much i felt it was much harder than previous installments, not sure how it was simplified i went back to revelations and i found the previous entries had simpler combat. i did like the time period i like the revolutionary war period you ran around in
@@Rammkommandoyes the combat was ‘simpler’ in earlier games however combat was ‘simplified’ by allowing the player to chain kills. Ezio and Altair were kind of left spamming counter for a free instant kill, and Connor got one of those off and chained it to massacring an entire crowd, the largest pile I got was probably 30-40 goons in a single chain. Black flag and rogue kept this style of combat, and smoke bombs have remained the most OP item throughout the entire franchise, trivializing combat entirely. People today complain about how you can walk into a room in origins and odyssey and Valhalla and not need to stealth around, plan, and get your target alone after eliminating each guard one by one, forgetting that people did the exact same thing they did in origins, odyssey and Valhalla, only easier, with smoke bombs allowing assassinations mid combat with multiple targets stunned.
It lacked a lot of verticality and was too brown.
The glitched UFO mission robbed me of the 100% achievement. I pretty much lost respect for the series with that...
because its complete garbage and its when ac started to become something else, only good for americans with their garbage patriotism fanatism.
I think Black Flag is where everything changed. They drifted away from actual Assassin’s and started doing Pirates and stuff
Black flag was good though. There isn’t one cutoff point. AC Origins is widely known as one of the best in the series and doesn’t feel like the typical AC game. It’s not really an AC problem but rather a problem with Ubisofts cut/paste franchising style. Checklists of bandit camps to clear off the map. Endless side quests of nothing. Far cry has the same problem. So does watchdogs. Feels too samey game to game.
its a pirate game. ezio's trilogy is AC. not black flag. 4 is so overrated
I never played it until Black Flag. I really enjoyed it. But after, It just felt like the same thing, same missions, just better graphics and a few new things. The ship combat was fun for me, even though it ws a deviation from the normal formula, I found it to be a great addition.
I don't remember if I allready posted this answer but in my oppinion it was somewhere between Warrior Within and Two Thrones :)
It’s too easy for YTers to get huge click for jumping aboard hate/controversy trains, so I really appreciate voices like yours and Asad Anjum who clearly articulate and balance problems through analysis. Best of luck to what we future content you may provide!
I have not watched Asad Anjun before so I will make sure I check out the channel! Thank you for watching, I am glad you liked the video
@@sosaysjay yer doing great for the community as a safe space for discussion about the games.
40:25 I feel like you best explained why they create so many games at once: "I am 100% going to play them as they come out." They make so many games at once, because people will buy them on the name alone, even if those people know that they will probably be rushed.
This exactly.
Welp the games were fun, but the story just killed itself with the whole ancient aliens vibes.
when they decided that it would start being what it is not. And that happened in Egypt
I started with ac2 as a middle schooler and have fond memories of playing it over winter break. I remember coming home from school in the new year to play just a couple hours and I remember pausing the final cutscene just to eat vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup while i watched it. I spend a good about of time pacing around the living room and kitchen thinking about what that ending meant and all the things that could happen. It was a compelling story and great game play. For a couple years it was the only game I had close to a platinum title for ps network and definitely had the most hours by a long shot. I would say I continued the franchise for the story. I remember the nice sign off ezio gave Desmond and I was ready for ac3 to be the final game of the series. At this point game play was good for me, but I was and still am a story gamer, so as many other say, the ending of ac3 was a HUGE let down. I gave ac 1 more chance with black flag and the fact that our modern day self is a nobody with not character development ir real story that worked for abstergo and didn't really have an impact or truly address the almost apocolypse was the final straw for me. Since then I've seen the trailers and presentations for releases and think "oh look. Another pointless 'period piece' that should probably rebrand to distance itself from a series that had a story to it." I'm probably wrong since I never gave another AC game a chance, but I have often found myself wondering if the newer games would be more well recieved if they cut out Templar and assassins and just make period pieces and retelling of humans/myths that did amazing feats. Take out the ac part of Valhalla. Rename origins to Egypt or something, make an odyssey games that cover the Trojan war etc. There is nothing wrong with making a game about Achilles and adding some extra story to stretch it out. There are so many historical figures and do many battles that period piece games can probably thrive on their own without the branding off assassins creed.
I also wish the newer RPG titles weren't connected to AC. I think that connection makes the games and the series both worse for their attempts to accommodate each other. A sister series to AC that is inspired by history but delves more into myths and legends would have been awesome, and if they weren't trying to pretend to be AC games, they would have more freedom to go wild with that premise.
@Firefenex1996 based
I also want to point out Ubisoft's increasingly predatory monetization practices in the modern AC games. Creating problems in the gameplay loop that can be "solved" with XP boosts and such in the cash shop, exploitation of FOMO, making QoL changes purchasable only, and other such practices really only add bad press to those games and contribute to the increasing polarization of the AC community and the derision of the gaming community as a whole.
none of the ac games are balanced around 'xp boosts'. they exist and are a bad thing but it's just false to say the games are designed around them.
Amazing video!
If I had left a company, and then that company bought the one I left them for and fired me pretty soon after acquiring them, I would feel like they were intentionally trying to f*ck with me
For me it's very simple, about the time when the game stopped being about assassins. Most of the latest games feel more like a hack and slash sort of game rather than a game where you are meant to be sneaky, crafty, agile, mysterious you know, like an assassin would be.
It's fighter's creed now not assassin's creed
Fr I miss the mystique that came with being an assassin. Finding old assassin hideouts in Valhalla made me so sad we didn’t truly get to be an assassin in that game
Honestly the worst parts of so many of these games are that they are married to the Assassin thing. Black Flag would have been game of the year if they removed the "assassins creed" part and instead of trying to explain why this poor pirate boy dresses and acts like he has been trained as an assassin from birth they put dev time into making the game fun. Same applies to pretty much every game from 3 onwards - all of the worst parts of the series are because they are still trying to stick to this bs story, convoluted present day sections etc. I know the latest games are the least assassiny, but they are still being held back by being assassins creed games and having to stick to that setting and those ideas etc. We've had a whole decade of AC games that are trying to please AC fans and non-AC fans at the same time. Not being about assassins isn't the issue because the ganes still are at their core and it's holding them back. Ubisoft needed to either go all the way back to AC2 or go way harder than Valhalla and completely ignore and retcon the story of all the others.
If you can't play odyssey as assassin you'd have to be pretty inadequate.
@@boblionia exactly. there's no reason why Black Flag needed to have an assassin coat of paint on it. they just wanted to ensure they made money using the IP instead of creating a brand new pirate themed franchise and marketing the hell out of it.
This is an incredible put together essay that articulates your thoughts into a 46 min video. More than anything, it exists to make people think and open up discussion about where we, as a community, want AC to go. This must have taken dozens of hours to write, capture, put together, edit record, correct. Those 2500 views is just criminal. I am just a single Person but I want you to know that you made me think about what I want in future AC games.
That is very high praise, I really appreciate it
@@sosaysjay Your new video just got recommended to me and I am thrilled that this video hit 580k views from the 2500 it had 3 months ago. Subbed to your channel because all the work and thoughts you put into your videos needs to be supported. You are doing every AC Fan a service here with wanting it to be better than the yearly assembly line games. Cheers, mate.
@@ShinForgotPassxXx That is kind of you, I appreciate you checking back in and I hope you are well.
I’m playing Odyssey currently, really enjoying it. It’s my favorite in the series so far
I fell in love with ancient Greece caz of this game. But it felt so long. I think I stopped at 60%.
6:30 I appreciate that you put Killzone 2 on that caliber. A lot.
ACU's resurgence in popularity honestly makes me think if the game's reputation had swung around from being underrated beneath all the janks and bugs to being overrated because KZhead can't stop pushing choregraphed pakour montages of the game to everyone's timeline. I have been replaying the game lately and looked up a lot of guides of how to make parkour more consistent. I did enjoy the game for a period (I got very close to 100% sync and soloed all of the coop missions), but by the end the bugs and inconsistent parkour despite all my efforts putting into mastering it still puts me off the game. The companion app integration, the absolute content bloat, and only one save file to promote online play also permanently dates it in 2014. I really hope Mirage manages to be what Unity could have been that not only picked up the parkour and stealth systen but also refined the hell out of it to make them consistent and fun.
That's just because the parkour does look cool _when it works._ Most people I've seen (including myself) who like or love Unity indeed praise some aspects to a concerning degree, but *never* fails to mention how flawed and janky the game is. Nobody (at least the honest ones) can ever truly wholeheartedly recommend Unity if they've played the game for a long time, so I wouldn't say that it's ever really been overrated. PS: I really doubt Mirage would be that ambitious. And if it is, Ubi is just repeating their mistake once again.
I think a lot of people get hung up on the idea of Unity, and what the series could have been. It represents the antithesis of Odyssey and Valhalla, and people who don't like those games are able to turn to Unity as an example of what they are looking for in this series, which makes sense. Unfortunately, that dream of a stealth-focused AC game with in depth prep for each assassination is still not something the series has ever really succeeded in creating, even though it is what people think of when they think of the series. I hope Mirage is able to strike a good balance, and I am glad they took extra time to finish it. We will have to wait and see.
I quite like unity, but I have to say, the game can be pretty frustrating, when the parkour works, it's genuinely a masterpiece of animation and movement, however like unity itself, it's janky, and flat-out doesn't work sometimes, the same way I feel about the combat, it's my favorite from the AC games I've played, but it's also affected by bugs I feel like unity is probably one of the most interesting moments of the franchise, the game feels like it ran a marathon and then feel a few meters behind the finish line (mainly due to story and bugs), it's so sad seeing the amazing game we could have had, but we don't
The worst part about Unity's resurgence is that on Xbox the servers are in a horrible mess. You can matchmake but can't privately invite people into games. It's also very frustrating when you and a friend both start matchmaking for a mission and instead of being put into the same mission you're instead put in it alone. As mentioned you can't invite anyone nor forcibly join their game via the xbox menu. Doesn't help either that for all of 2021 and 2022 the servers didn't work. at all. The aspect that was unique to Unity (until Mirage comes out) doesn't even work at all on one platform.
The only things Unity has going for itself are graphics and a smooth looking parkour. And I say smooth looking because it barely works, all those stunts are severely choreographed as you said and in no way represent what the actual gameplay feels like. Everything else, from side content to the story, is garbage.
My biggest problem with the open world adventure rpg thing is there is almost no feeling of progression. And this i think is because of enemy scaling. You just repeat the same thing over and over and you never feel more powerful when you level up. Black Flag feels great with the progression. Especially with ship upgrading. As you make it better, you can take on bigger badder ships. The smaller ships that were tough earlier were like flies when you had an upgraded ship.
I loved AC multiplayer. And it died for me when Black Flag came out and they split the multiplayer playerbase between console generations. The playerbase for AC multiplayer was already very low. But I maintain that gameplay style was one of a kind and I’ve never seen anything come close to having that tension of being hunted by someone while hunting someone else. Or the emphasis on getting a difficult kill awarding more points than simply running at people slashing.
Assassins Creed 2 is still in my top 5 favourite games ever. Just hearing the music gives me chills
Strongly Agreed!!
why do u hate ac odyssey?
@@shonenhikada9254 how can you ask somebody why they hate Assassin's Creed Odyssey you don't even play it as an assassin. and when you try to assassinate somebody they don't even die
except they can die. There are assassin builds in the game. The lovely thing about assassin creed odyssey is that there is more than one way to play the game.@@mrloverboy2142
@@shonenhikada9254 I take it that you love Odyssey. I have spent 100+ hours in Odyssey and then simply moved on to something else leaving the game incomplete. Parkour and assassination is one thing while RPG is completely another thing. Trying to blending those together is indeed innovative and I am supportive of this innovation. But the thing is Ubisoft got neither of them right. The plot wasn't bad in Odyssey but it got dragged on too much unnecessarily thanks to the large open world. They still had a chance when they made AC Valhalla to introduce a new concept of "survival" focused gameplay (e.g. RDR2, KCD etc.) alongside the AC's trademark assasinations but again they did nothing of that sorts. It was such an ideal setting to try out something new and much more deeper. Instead they decided to bank on callow juveniles who often fall for the pretty graphics and trending themes for their cash grab. To understand why AC Odyssey sucks, I recommend you to play two games (if you haven't already): AC 2 (or Brotherhood) and Risen 1 (or Risen 3). One is a pretty good assassination game (its still not the Hitman), another is an exemplary RPG.