In less than a month we will, hopefully,hear from Ubisoft about the next leap for Assassin’s Creed. Whether it will continue with the proven formula of RPG, return to its stealth-action game roots, or forgo the establishment altogether and venture anew, remains a mystery. The spotlight of the showcase though, will likely be on the rumored spin-off codenamed ‘Rift’ - which was originally intended as a DLC for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
It could either be testing waters for all the “newness” Infinity will bring, or a mere filler to meet the publisher’s financial objectives. Even if the title proves to be universally acclaimed, the series has to make strides with Assassin’s Creed Infinity.
If you’re oblivious about the franchise, and where it is heading next, then the main phrase you need to know is ‘live service.’ The last three installments in the series were getting updates for years after their release, and now Ubisoft is taking things a bit farther. Assassin’s Creed Infinity (codename) will be a platform that’s intended to go on for years, and will have you visit multiple kingdoms and empires across the world, with all the tropes the series is familiar with.
Of course, how the developers plan to inaugurate the platform and how it evolves will be pivotal. In recent years, ‘live service’ has seemingly been a convenient excuse to release a game in fragments, filled with issues and bugs, and later plaster with “we are committed, and will continue to improve with feedback.” Ubisoft’s own track record of live service games isn’t great, with the likes of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Hyper Scape, and R6 Extraction. On the other hand, they’ve also put out some solid stuff like Rainbow Six Siege and The Division 2, so it feels like a bit of a coin toss as to whether they’ll be able to pull this one off.
Everything about Infinity is a mystery, even the premise of the platform. The developers can use it to solve what the series has struggled with since Assassin’s Creed 3: making the modern-day aspects of the game - based around the Animus and traveling through memories - more compelling. With Infinity set to take players across multiple epochs, the modern-day part of the game will likely be used to bind all these worlds together, and could very well be the precedent for the “platform.”
But for all the mystery and uncertainty around Infinity, there is potential here to bring everyone on the same page and fix some long-standing issues with the series.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is actually very good. The world is ridiculously beautiful, side quests are fun, and the overarching narrative is brilliantly woven. But` the general consensus for the game is that it overstays its welcome, and I also solemnly agree. The point being, if it was smaller and tighter, Eivor’s adventure could’ve been more than an excellent entry in the franchise - it could have been the best.
The reason the game is bloated is because Ubisoft wants you in its ecosystem for hundreds of hours, dipping more and more money into their massive stock of in-game purchases (which in turn keeps you more invested in the game). The microtransaction isn’t going anywhere with Infinity, but the padded play time could.
After Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey came out, Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemotwas asked about the possibility of the franchise returning to a more dense and smaller experiencelike Assassin’s Creed Unity. He replied with an emphatic “NO.” He instead was shooting for something even more ambitious in scope than Odyssey. He said:
“Our goal is to make sure you may have a Unity within an Odyssey. If you want to have a story of 15 hours, you can have it, but you can also have other stories. You live in that world and you pursue what you want to pursue. You have an experience, many Unity-like experiences.”
The recent games aren’t even close to the claim the head of Ubisoft touted, but perhaps he was talking about Infinity all along? Rather than releasing one huge Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the publisher can release several Assassin’s Creed Unitys, or Syndicates, or Black Flags, over the course of years, and merge them into one huge universe. Visiting different timelines, each with their own narrative, tightly knitted by a single thread of purpose, for our favorite Assassin(s) sounds tantalising, doesn’t it?
At the end of therecent crossover event, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey hero Kassandra is persuaded to put her retirement plans of spending time alone on an island aside and start a hunt for Isu artifacts. Our heroine won’t find all these artifacts in the nearest Athens marketplace, but scattered throughout the world, and possibly across multiple historical eras. Even Assassin’s Creed purists love Kassandra (shame if you don’t), so having her as a main character is always good news.
The crossover could be nothing, or a hint of what’s to come in Infinity. If it is the latter, then there is the potential that Infinity may have her travel through different timelines to chase the artifacts. Each timeline—added on a regular basis with updates—wouldn’t focus on Kassandra, but on the world and characters around her, as she is your typical time-traveler. Over time, living through various wars and periods of prosperity, she would mature, developing her already good character.
I, for one, am optimistic that Assassin’s Creed Infinity will start with a small world and build out from there, rather than throwing players into another oversized oneagain.It seems that the only way Ubisoft knows how to drive engagement for Assassin’s Creed is by making absurdly long games every couple of years or with shorter annual releases. With Infinity, it looks like the publisher will adopt the yearly release model, which will be hidden under the guise of a live service. They have alsocombined two of their biggest Assassin’s Creed teamsto fulfil that ambition.
These decisions are prudent, at least from a financial perspective. Infinity also puts forth a unique opportunity to tie the series back to its roots and simultaneously continue to maintain a lucrative business model that Ubisoft doesn’t want to miss. Maybe, just maybe, both players and publisher could be the winners here.
