I’ve been avoiding the best Assassin’s Creed game since 2014 and that’s all my stupid mistake. In the days and weeks since the release of Assassin’s Creed Unity, I have watched in horror as featureless character models flood social media, dwarfing a release that had already been deafened by lukewarm reviews. Unity has the lowest overall score of any major release in the series according to Metacritic.
To be fair, bugs are very bad. And it’s not just the seemingly creepy, featureless glitch that features poignant cutscenes rendered like something out of Hellraiser, with melting skin and floating eyes enshrouded in a moving basket of tangled, low-poly hair. The more relaxed parkour system and massive overhaul of sword combat have their downsides, and it’s certainly frustrating when protagonist Arno accidentally gets out of a bloody fight or when you’re stuck between several different objects instead of gracefully leaping through spaces. open. window.
But the rest? The rest is arguably the series’ most accomplished expression of gameplay and intent to date. It is one of the best adventure games. And more than any other Assassin’s Creed game, Unity makes you feel like an assassin.
The main missions are usually sandboxes with unguided deaths. You have a single target, a large space to sneak around and find it, and complete freedom in the way you approach your target. The closest thing to holding hands is taking a quick look at the possible entry points and hideouts that drop down at the start of each level – you can either explore them or find your own route, it’s entirely up to you.
And the places themselves deserve a special mention. Vast neoclassical palaces, imposing squares where crowds want blood by hanging or guillotine, even the walls of the Bastille. Each of them presents unique challenges and opportunities. The palaces are dynamic puzzle boxes where you can seamlessly switch between walking the halls and blending in with the crowds by jumping between open windows and easily changing floors to clear different parts of the building. The assassination mission, which takes place during a public execution, is all about using the crowd to your advantage, with almost no vantage point to get up close. In Bastille, however, it’s all about clever parkour, finding blind spots in guard patrol routes, and using a wrist crossbow to take out snipers before attacking the fortress itself.
Even the side quests and collectibles are focused on killing your way. Most of the locked chests are hidden inside buildings or courtyards filled with guards that provide hundreds of miniature shots that you can stumble upon as you explore the city.
The combat is simpler and much more brutal, so you can’t really expect to win when facing a large group of enemies. Instead of being able to safely resort to defensive moves like blocks and counters, Arno can only parry: if you make a mistake, you become completely vulnerable to an attack and cannot get a successful response. perfect stop. Enemies don’t line up to hit you either, so you can deal with multiple hits at once and even a loose pistol shot. The combat looks better, dare I say it, but it’s not a million miles from the exact time of a good Soulslike, but it’s so much more difficult that you can only use it when you’ve already taken out the rest of the guards.
Compared to modern Assassin’s Creed games, your arsenal is also very limited. You can use your crossbow for silent headshots, your pistol to immobilize enemies in a fight, or your poison darts to anger the guards and start attacking you. Smoke bombs give you a quick escape, but these tools are the backbone of your arsenal and you need to think very carefully about how to use them in each mission, as they are not easy to replenish. For example, sending a guard into a crowded ballroom will drag all the other guards in the area into the fray, which has the positive effect of creating a huge distraction and thinning out the herd, but leaving you with a crowded area. enemies to avoid.
Unity’s approach to the team is also surprisingly simple compared to recent RPGs in the series. You get new armor and weapons by collecting chests, completing quests, and visiting merchants, but the main bonuses they give you are pretty straightforward: better health, ranged damage, melee damage, and stealth efficiency. There are plenty of smaller perks you can consider if you want to fine-tune your killer, but it’s entirely possible to ignore it entirely and only shift gears occasionally if you’re up against something more highly rated. It’s all there if you care, but if you don’t need it, you don’t need to think about it.
Syndicate, the sequel to Unity, set the series on a different path. Their combat revolves around quick melee combos that you can use to take out multiple enemies at once, the streets are much less busy to make way for horse-drawn wagons, but make social stealth almost useless, and new traverse devices like the grappling hook make it easier. to navigate through enemy territories. almost too easy. These elements are expanded upon in Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, making Assassin’s Creed Unity the last truly successful assassin experience in the series.
I have high hopes for the next Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which is positioned as a return to the series’ origins, but I’m not sure the series can recreate the perfect evolutionary moment that Unity represents. Sure, there are no sailboats or racehorses, and yes, your Arno will be virtually indistinguishable from my Arno in the credits, but Unity has some of the best stealth sandboxes in the game, and they deserve more respect. than they received in 2014.
Source : PC Gamesn
