Assassin's Creed Japan

 

I'm sure there are many out there who heard about the recent announcement, paid a little glance over the shoulder at it and faintly smiled in the dreamy way we acknowledge that old wayward car tire lodged in the gnarled body of the park's local tree that has been there since childhood. An ugly thing objectively, overdue for correction, but some halcyon sliver of the thing we call 'Nostalgia' confines errant respect for the thing that reminds us of simpler, uncluttered days. Not many out there have been tuned in on the barking and cawing the creative suction well that represents Ubisoft studio to see what this actually says about the Assassin's Creed brand- because for whatever dark reason it is the words of the Ubisoft from yester year haunt the recess' of my mind like the knell of the dead clocking ever closer with each fraught night. With the announcement of this game, confirmed beyond a shadow by the reveal trailer, Ubisoft have finally admitted that they are out of ideas.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Ubisoft are out of ideas? What was your first clue- did you even play the 100+ hour sleepwalk that was Valhalla?" But I've been tracking their decent into mediocrity much longer than that, seeing their collapse into the mid masters that now defines modern Ubisoft so spectacularly that it is a common sight to see any member of the community with any amount of investment in the industry scoff at the sight of their name. Just look at the like/to dislike ratio sitting under any of their YouTube announcements, the tide has turned- Ubisoft are being recognised for the backwards dinosaurs they dedicated the past decade congealing into. Now their entire business model is to serve as blackened coal fuelling the most most lazy and derivative aspects of the industry so slavishly that they were the first big studio to actively posit their dreams of throwing AI into the mix to do the devs jobs for them. (As if Watch_Dogs Legion didn't prove their games are soulless enough with active developers!)

You see, I remember all the way back in the halcyon, and long buried, days of Assassin's Creed 2 when we still used to think this was a franchise with direction and purpose worth speculating about. Do you remember that? When the creators still had grand plans about what the franchise represented, how it would explore itself going forward and what fans could expect. Yves even claimed the franchise had an expiry date, like the liar he's always been, implying that ever entry would serve as a stepping stone on an ultimate journey to completion. In that I remember very clearly an easter egg placed within the game by the developers hinting at directions they wouldn't take the franchise because they would be 'too obvious', and I'm sure you can see where this is going.

First off they've been very clear about how they don't want to go to any era in history overstuffed with Guns. Rebecca famously spouts how boring shooting is, and in the brief moments throughout the franchise we've dabbled in World War 1 and 2, the player has never been strapped up to the nines. Cars are also a no-no, as explained in some diatribe about how the trance-state of driving interferes with the animus data recall process of some other such trite- they don't want to get to modern, is what I'm getting at. And what else? Well they don't want to go to any time period that has been done to death such as- Feudal Japan. Because that would be a sign that this series which is based around exploring the wonders of history with a fantastical story stitched atop it- is losing it's touch and going for the low hanging fruit. Whelp- Ubisoft meet fruit.

Assassin's Creed codename red was revealed as 'Assassins Creed Shadows' in a CG trailer that I just can't bring myself to watch. Ubisoft stopped making interesting trailers around about the time of Unity, they've been wastes of time ever since. The point of the matter is it's going to star the Blue Eyed Black Samurai, as featured in the recent anime of that name, and a Kunoichi- because Kunoichi are awesome. (Unsure how historically accurate they are, but since when has Modern AC dev teams ever cared about 'historical accuracy'?) And you can bet your bottom dollar this reveal came with another patented Ubisoft collectors edition worth over a £100 because Yves hates us all and he wants us to know it. (Don't worry man, the feeling is mutual.) And needless to say, I have some thoughts.

First off, I couldn't care less to even engage with the miniscule outrage about the depiction of a black samurai- I've seen a tiny smidge of people even commenting on that and those who feed that nothing of a minority are actually doing more harm than they are even capable of when just ignored. Besides, such discourse distracts from the real concerns, such as- is this an actual game this time? I have to ask because the last such title, Valhalla, was a exercise in virtual torture stretched across over a 100 torturous hours of mind numbing nothingness. There was about 5 hours of narrative sprinkled across that disastrously bloated corpse of a game, and that was supposed to be the teams response to people's grumbles about how overstuffed Odyssey was! This one might just kill me off! (If I even get around to it. Don't even know if I can stomach this crap anymore, to be honest.)

And on a more nuanced note- splitting up the combat and the stealth gameplay between two protagonists is a mightily ambitious move for a team that historically struggle to make any single play style feel substantive even when they come as a package. The last time they tried this, for Syndicate, both Evie and Jacob ended playing near identically to one another aside from functionally arbitrary weapon restriction. What has transpired within the development of then to now that they feel comfortable trying it all again? I don't trust them. Unless they've brought their systems so far up to scratch we're looking at Phantom Blood level of AI advancement- I can already taste the half-assed disappointment.

Some part of me took solace in the quiet between Mirage and now, hoping that the franchise had finally given up and we'd get a few years off at the very least. Of course that wouldn't be the case. Of course Shadows is out later this year. Of course it comes with prototypical Ubisoft nickle and diming. Of course it's going to be a disappointment. Only this time around this game has plenty of competition to contend with in it's genre so we can contrast and compare all the ways this feudal Japan will feel wanting. Ghost of Tsushima, Rise of the Ronin, hell- even Like a Dragon Ishin! I'll eat my hat if Ubisoft's Japan is anywhere close to as detailed as those that came before.