Assassin’s Creed is such a long-running franchise now that we’ve seen countless titles launch. Some of these games were massive hits, while others failed to deliver in some fans’ eyes. That said, with a game franchise that has gone as long as this one has, there was bound to be some changes to the formula. Developers want to keep things fresh for players, and sometimes that can eventually bring them right back to the franchise roots.
With Assassin’s Creed, we’ve seen a few notable changes over the years. It went from more linear, stealth-focused games to grand open-world RPG experiences. Now that Ubisoft has shipped its latest installment, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, some players might be wondering what’s next. Fortunately, we have at least one aspect that Ubisoft developers want to readjust for future releases, and it stems back to the IP’s earlier installments.
Assassin’s Creed Parkour Overhaul
Again, if we look back at the earlier installment of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, one element that was prominent for the series was parkour. Players could scale buildings and quickly traverse rooftops. With some of the latest installments, that’s been changed to focus more on open-world elements.
GamesRadar spoke with game director Simon Lemay-Comtois, who noted that they want to pay more attention to parkour in future games. That should be its own pillar for the franchise, and it’s already one aspect that they have been looking to fix with Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Pay more attention to parkour in future games as its own pillar. We’re trying to rectify that in post launch with Shadows and push that narrative internally to say, parkour matters. Let’s really push parkour forward.
That said, if you were hopeful that the Assassin’s Creed franchise would also revisit the idea of making games focused around a single protagonist, that’s not going to happen. Instead, Simon noted that they are still learning about dual protagonists for future games. That’s not to say all games will feature dual protagonists, but if there is a good reason to do so narratively and for the setting, we’ll likely see it again.
Dual protagonists can be divisive along very strange lines, right? It’s not just a ‘well, I prefer a war, therefore I prefer Yasuke.’ Some people just don’t like one character over the other, and they don’t like to spend time with one. It was true with Evie and Jacob, but with Naoe and Yasuke it’s more divisive. And we knew this. We knew going into it, but I think it can split our fan base a little too.
I think the learning for us is that, yes, we could do more dual-protagonist games in the future – if we have a good reason to do it narratively and for the setting.
Now we’ll have to wait and see what Ubisoft has planned for this franchise next. We do know there are games in the works, such as Assassin’s Creed Hexe, set during the witch trials. However, we haven’t seen anything quite yet to piece together the premise of this installment or when we’ll have access to it. Then there’s the ongoing rumor that we’ll see a remake of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Still, it hasn’t been officially announced yet, so that’s another game we’ll be waiting to hear about hopefully sooner rather than later.
