We don't know about you, but we don't think that the lack of modern day content was Assassin's Creed Unity's biggest problem. Sure, it was almost non-existent and consisted of little more than a few daft cutscenes, but at least this meant that it didn't really get in the way of the historical story or its pacing.
This particular author has been very critical of the franchise's modern day escapades before, and in truth, we'd rather Ubisoft stick to a formula more in line with Unity's inoffensive approach, but according to series writer Darby McDevitt, the studio plans on reusing assets to create a more "robust modern day".
Indeed, McDevitt stated during a recent livestream that "there was a plan for a little more modern day in Unity, [but] nothing that was actually cut". The reason that the plan never came to fruition was due to the amount of time and effort that it would have taken to create such a feature, he explains: "To create a city, for instance, or even part of a city, would require six months of work by many, many artists, designers, modellers." Of course, given how unfinished Unity was when it actually launched, we dare not even think of how bad things might have been if the developer had spent time on this, too.
Fortunately, things may not end up quite as maddening as Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's pretentious modern day drivel, as the writer mentions that his personal favourite modern day component was the town of Monterrigioni from Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, which, we suppose, didn't detract too much from Ezio's tale.
The scary part, though, is that McDevitt reveals that the team has "created 500, 600, 700 years worth of history that we hope to start teasing out for the next 10, 20 years or however long we're around". If that's not planning ahead, then we don't know what is.
Now, don't get us wrong – if Ubisoft can craft an engaging modern day storyline that doesn't drag you kicking and screaming from the always interesting historical settings, then we'd be up for giving it a go, but looking back at the property's previous attempts, it's never really managed that. Desmond's tale was limp and anticlimactic, Black Flag's Abstergo offices felt horribly overdone, and Unity's may as well not have been there to begin with. As such, we're not really sure how fans are going to take this news – after all, surely we'd much rather the developer focus on getting the core of its game right next time around?
What do you make of this? Do you enjoy the modern day sections of Assassin's Creed? Do a Desmond in the comments section below.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 20
But I like the modern bits and are one of my favorite parts of the series.
Am I kicked off the staff yet?
@NicolaHayden
Modern day stuff, oh god no. What they have done in modern day in other AC games has been rubbish, so just leave it well out, please.
@BLPs Exactly! "Time and effort" doesn't fit with the yearly rush out of titles that all top publishers seemingly MUST stick to in order to satisfy the bottom line and their investors. Hence why publishers just release broken games, try to embargo the reviews and hope not too much of it actually connects with the fan.
As much as I agree that the stuff in the more recent games was not my cup of tea, I put myself in the small minority who genuinely enjoyed the modern day sections of the first 2-3 games. From memory I quite liked all the ones up to the bit where he stabs what's-her-face. Don't really remember the ones after that overly well.
I like the modern day bits, I always find them interesting, I kind of hope they bring them back, and they can get a bigger focus, but that's just me.
This is exactly want we don't want! Man, Ubisoft clearly doesn't listen to the fans, do they?!
How can you like the modern sections?, it totally ruins the immersion. Looks like Black Flag will be the last AC for me.
I'm surprised there are any fans left. AC went downhill after making it an annual franchise and the modern day sections in BF only made it worse.
@sub12 I gotta agree. The only AC game I have played was black flag and the modern day parts were just the worst. One minute I'm a pirate sailing and looting in the Caribbean, next minute I'm in some frickin office building. Was by far the worst part of the game IMO.
I'm not really a fan of the present day stuff either. In AC1 it just felt unnecessary, and aside from figuring out Abstergo are jerks (which is probably obvious from the get go), I didn't feel like they added anything. I had Desmond steal a pen from Vidic but I had no idea what it was for, and I beat the game with a pen in my wrist for no reason. Heck I already love AC2 because I haven't had my happy butt thrown out of the Animus after 5 sequences.
Honestly, they should have just made it a pure historical thing with the conspiracy thing going on through the times. If they have to have modern segments, just give us one at the start and one at the end. Considering I've only played the first two games, maybe I don't have the right to judge, but I seriously think you could cut them out and lose almost nothing.
Don't like the modern day stuff at all, Unity's approach worked the best in my eyes
Wrong answer. Try again.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi But "its been done, too overused, generic, etc etc"
Pick one of those as thats always the excuse not to do ninjas.
I have actually only played AC2 out of the series but the modern day stuff was easily my least favorite part about it. It felt so out of place.
Facepalm
Due to this news and franchise fatigue, I think I will swerve the series from here...
@DerMeister you do have the right to judge, as you mentioned you didn't go bk for the last few ac games and that could of been a reason. I agree 100% and I never understood the point of the timehopping rubbish. If AC2 just had ezio running around for the whole game with some references to Altiar from the first game it would of been perfect. As it stood the matrix style animus junk just didn't work. I played the first 3 games and I haven't gone back myself.
I played AC1 & found it to be one of the most overhyped, repetitious games I have ever played. And it had nothing to do with the modern day, Desmond parts.
The game just wasn't that good. I have heard AC2 is, apparently, great........but how this series went annual & still sells, I have no idea. Especially after the Driveclub-like debacle known as Unity.
@Godsire- ac2 was one of the best games at the time, 1 was weak and repetitive. Everything about 2 screamed quality, had a great story (minus the animus), amazing architecture, new game mechanics (which have now been copy and pasted to every ubi game) good controls and it was relatively easy to finish with no massive difficulty spikes. Most importantly there was a lot of variety. Going back to it now - it isn't so fresh and the core mechanics have been copied and refined in farcry and watchdogs so don't bother.
I've only played the first AC game (which I still need to beat), but from what I can remember the modern day segments weren't that bad.
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