EDIT: Make sure to check the threadmark. Eurogamer's interview with Infinity's lead sheds some light on the team's thought process regarding this change and gives a bit more information on what to expect.
Original post below:
Lots of Assassin's Creed news coming out today, but I think this bit is thread-worthy as well since it's related to a topic that has been a big point of contention within the AC community. Beginning with Mirage, it appears that Ubisoft will no longer be including present-day story segments inside of the main portions of the game. That said, they aren't entirely eliminating the ongoing modern narrative either, though their approach to it will be different between Mirage and Infinity.
First off, regarding Assassin's Creed: Mirage:
And then, regarding Assassin's Creed: Infinity, which will be the hub for all mainline AC games after Mirage:
www.ign.com
Tl;dr:
I'm of two minds on this:
On one hand, this is great news for anyone who has found the modern elements to detract from the game. For the most part, they'll be able to just play the historical stories without having to think much about the other side of the story, to an even bigger degree than games like Unity and Syndicate. And it sounds like since they aren't entirely eliminating that story and are instead just separating it out into its own thing within Infinity, those of us who enjoy the overarching narrative will still have something to follow. It sounds like a win-win, right?
But on the other hand... Ubisoft tried somewhat similar (but not the same) approaches in Unity and Syndicate, and those games' modern stories ended up being pretty lackluster for many of us who were actually interested in it. There was very minimal story presented in them, and what was there was limited to cutscenes and text logs, with nothing being playable. Syndicate's cutscenes were at least more interesting and did actually tell a story, but there was still no gameplay to it, and the cutscenes were only ten minutes in overall length.
Now, to give Ubisoft benefit of the doubt, they haven't said that there won't be any modern gameplay in Infinity, and they say that the way they tell the modern story will "evolve with time". We don't actually know if they're taking inspiration from Unity and Syndicate by only having audio and text logs, a few cutscenes, etc., or if they do have something more involved planned. Perhaps they do intend to have stuff people can actually play if they want to, maybe in the form of limited-time events or something since they like to tell the story in "real-time". However, there have been many points over the years where it's felt like this aspect of the series has become more of an afterthought and a hindrance to what they'd like to do, which is why it instills little confidence to hear that it's being separated from the main games. I feel like the only clear "winners" with this news are people who don't enjoy the modern narrative, while those of us who do like it are, as always, left to wonder if we're going to get something worthwhile or just some more breadcrumbs.
Either way, I'm interested to see how exactly this works in Infinite. I'm at least glad it isn't going away entirely, and I am genuinely happy for those who have fallen off of it or have never enjoyed it. This should help them enjoy each game more.
Original post below:
Lots of Assassin's Creed news coming out today, but I think this bit is thread-worthy as well since it's related to a topic that has been a big point of contention within the AC community. Beginning with Mirage, it appears that Ubisoft will no longer be including present-day story segments inside of the main portions of the game. That said, they aren't entirely eliminating the ongoing modern narrative either, though their approach to it will be different between Mirage and Infinity.
First off, regarding Assassin's Creed: Mirage:
creative director Stephane Boudon said:
And then, regarding Assassin's Creed: Infinity, which will be the hub for all mainline AC games after Mirage:
What Is Assassin’s Creed Infinity? Ubisoft Explains the Next Phase of its Historical Series - IGN
IGN spoke to Ubisoft to learn how Assassin's Creed Infinity will change the series' future, genre, multiplayer, game lengths, and the modern day storyline.
project lead Marc-Alexis Côté said:
Tl;dr:
- In Mirage, while the game will begin with someone entering an Animus to relive Basim's memories and there will be some sort of ending to that part of the game's narrative, there will be no interruptions during the historical story of the game
- In Infinity, the hub is presented as the player's very own Animus, with each game (Red, Hexe, Invictus, etc.) being presented as a memory for the player to explore. Each game will exclusively be set in the past, and any story elements tied to the modern storyline will be part of Infinity rather than the game, with the player serving as the main character in the story
I'm of two minds on this:
On one hand, this is great news for anyone who has found the modern elements to detract from the game. For the most part, they'll be able to just play the historical stories without having to think much about the other side of the story, to an even bigger degree than games like Unity and Syndicate. And it sounds like since they aren't entirely eliminating that story and are instead just separating it out into its own thing within Infinity, those of us who enjoy the overarching narrative will still have something to follow. It sounds like a win-win, right?
But on the other hand... Ubisoft tried somewhat similar (but not the same) approaches in Unity and Syndicate, and those games' modern stories ended up being pretty lackluster for many of us who were actually interested in it. There was very minimal story presented in them, and what was there was limited to cutscenes and text logs, with nothing being playable. Syndicate's cutscenes were at least more interesting and did actually tell a story, but there was still no gameplay to it, and the cutscenes were only ten minutes in overall length.
Now, to give Ubisoft benefit of the doubt, they haven't said that there won't be any modern gameplay in Infinity, and they say that the way they tell the modern story will "evolve with time". We don't actually know if they're taking inspiration from Unity and Syndicate by only having audio and text logs, a few cutscenes, etc., or if they do have something more involved planned. Perhaps they do intend to have stuff people can actually play if they want to, maybe in the form of limited-time events or something since they like to tell the story in "real-time". However, there have been many points over the years where it's felt like this aspect of the series has become more of an afterthought and a hindrance to what they'd like to do, which is why it instills little confidence to hear that it's being separated from the main games. I feel like the only clear "winners" with this news are people who don't enjoy the modern narrative, while those of us who do like it are, as always, left to wonder if we're going to get something worthwhile or just some more breadcrumbs.
Either way, I'm interested to see how exactly this works in Infinite. I'm at least glad it isn't going away entirely, and I am genuinely happy for those who have fallen off of it or have never enjoyed it. This should help them enjoy each game more.
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