Youre given complete creative control over the next Assassins Creed game

yves guillemot, ubi ceo, approaches you. he’s read your posts on system wars and thinks you talk a lot of sense. he tells you he needs someone to freshen up assassin’s creed and wants to give you complete creative control over the next instalment. he’s had to put the previous creative director on administrative leave for reasons he’d rather not get into.

you’ve got the whole of ubisoft at your disposal. subtly tweak the existing formula or radically overhaul the game, he’s not bothered, just make him a hit.

what do you do?

There are some definitive improvements that I would like to see happen

- Remove modern day Layla/Desmond sections and act like they never happened

- Improvements to overall animations (NPC animations, cutscene animations). Up to the standard of TLOU preferably.

- Improvements to story and storytelling

- Make it a condensed 20-30 hour game instead of drawing it out to a 100 hours

Bring back multiplayer. Battle Royale in Firenze.

Cancel this shithole series. Done.

This is what first came to mind. Or start improving from ACU. ACs after that seem to have weird animations. Odyssey look the worst.

Yes, shorter but more memorable and higher quality main objectives.

I'm probably way out of touch with AC though. When I think of the new ones, I just think of tedium.

I would still understand if they prefer the AC systems in terms of objectives though.

Well, the most obvious thing to do first is to remove all the grind walls.

Instead of tech tree hidden behind tech tree, use something like the original Rainbow 6, Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell games where the player used a load-out prior to a mission, with upsides and downsides, with enforced limitations.

Secondly, make it like these games where combat is an option, but generally deterred. No more "press X to win" shit or lazily making difficulty through increased damage sponge enemies.

Something akin to an updated thief.

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I'd take cue from Gothic as well. Do not empower, nor immediately empower the player where everything dwindles into the perfunctory and monotony.

Gothic made the player a nobody, easily destroyed in seconds with a gradual shift over the course of the game towards empowerment. For all Ubisofts graphical powerhouse, it was never as engaging of some Eurojank RPG from 2001.

If it's to use upgrades, simplify it to something like BOTW. Direct rewards for doing specific thing with no incremental shitty bar going up.

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As mentioned above by our dearest of friends, make a game length that is justified. 20-30 hours sounds like the sweet spot.

Always never finish Ubisoft games, not out of difficulty or lack of time, but apathy setting in.

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None of the staff sexually assaulted

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No **** practices on top of that. Microtransactions, a document required for all the DLC shit, timed exclusive wank.

You see game, you buy game. Pretty fucking out there concept.

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And yea, as above mentions either drastically improve the modern day sections or gut it out altogether. It's never been good.

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Modding ability akin to Skyrim. No doubt have a ripple effect on the core game itself beside allowing users to tailor their experience.

Probably a bunch of other stuff missed people will bring up, but that's just top of me head.

Put the idea of original AC game and execute it better.

I mean AC could have been medieval Hitman as you are badass assasssin in big sandbox map and have to assassinate only target and exit. like Hitman do.

Cut the RPG and loot grind, return focus to stealth and stabbing, set the next game in feudal Japan, either cut out the sci-fi stuff entirely or play it up to eleven. If the latter, let's fight some alien robots or monsters, or anything more interesting than dudes in armours.

time to see what the future looks like in AC.

climb to the top of a building?..no thanks i’ll use the rocket boosters on my back..and scan the area myself while i’m up there..so no need for a eagle...futuristic cities built amongst the rubble of what was.

flying vehicles,sex robots..and travel between earth and a huge city on the moon in a 150 hour long 4k/60 (series x)...(1800 on ps5) campaign that embarks the player to time travel to change events that threaten the very existence of the brotherhood

or some shit like that

HaH

I kill the franchise off and kill off the main character's in fact Thanos snaps em all away with his gauntlet, all the ezio's or assassin's or whatever there called just fade away into dust.

The assassin creed fans just don't care cuz the games were trash anyway.

@rzxv04: Unity was a big step up for the franchise. And so was Origins.

But after that all the core elements start to feel the same: the bow combat, melee combat, stealth combat... Nothing wrong with them but if you make more games on the basis of Origins you best make sure that the base gameplay is backed up by good story, memorable characters and powerful emotional moments.

I feel both Valhalla and Odyssey are lacking in these regards.

Every shop you enter in Valhalla the shopkeeper has this animation on a loop.

Whenenever Eivor is talking to someone and there is an emotional moment, his facial treats seem off somehow.

Moving over to TLOU II: If Ellie is in distress, you can turn the camera and tell from her facial anims what her current emotional state is.

It's not all wrong for AC but they need to refine and improve.

Get rid of the modern day stuff the characters are forgettable.

Jup remove the modern day shit, nobody cares about it.

Otherwise just keep doing what they are doing right now its solid. A bit more mythical stuff tho.

@bluestars: you sound like you never played a great game for a while

@blamix:

just 100% cyberpunk on the one x.

but yea i have been slumming it in the 5 and 7 out of 10 scorings games like days gone and ghosts of tsunami.

if futuristic AC doesn’t cut the mustard then what about a Robin Hood AC?

huge forests,inhabited by the gang and sex robots,medieval towns,cities and villages riddled with pox,plague and crime...obviously it will have to keep the famous story but with a twist..maid marion is a sex robot....eh?..what you think?

I probably want a tighter narrative based on real historical events like Ghost of Tsushima and sweet 30h to 40h content. I love the city building mechanics of Ass Creed games so I will expand it very deep, heck I will polish it to same level of main quest.

Also no fetch quest or trailing mission in side missions would be great.

Just set it in Japan. I really don’t have any big issues with any of the other aspects of the games.

I have been wanting a feudal Japan style AC game for a while, Ghost of Tsushima shouldn't get mocked for making an AC game if Ubisoft won't even make it. But it wouldn't surprise me at all for Ubisoft to finally see something succeed then Ubisoft can jump on Ghost of Tsushima's coattails.

Hated Origins.

Give the Unity formula another spin... I was thinking a remake of the 1st one with Unity's engine / gameplay would be interesting.

Cut out all the stupid tedious pointless "gameplay" like slowly following a friendly npc around. It should be a cutscene and a skippable one. Really the story should just be... here's a list of peeps, go kill them.

I agree with most of you, remove the modern element completely.

As far as setting .... I thought the Mediterranean could be interesting. Sailing between North Africa + Rome + Greece + maybe some Middle East as well. Might be a bit too ambitous though

Would be cool. Would be a comepletely different game though. And the masses just want the same thing again with a different skin, so it will never happen.

this would be one of the first things i'd look at.

i can generally take out an area of enemies in ac without every feeling like a master. it's a bit like going bowling with those inflatable buffers in the gutter. mostly just tag an enemy and wait above or in a bush and hold or press a button when prompted. i guess it gets a little bit trickier when there's a groupbut not by much.

the cool mechanics may be buried somewhere in the skill trees waiting to be unlocked, but i can never be bothered sticking around long enough to find out. there's some pretty basic shit locked behind grind walls from what i remember. if there are cool skills hidden away, they need to be brought to the surface and integrated into the core gameplay from the off

yeah the back-to-the-roots idea in principle sounds good. no open world just wide open sandbox levels, hitman and dishonored style.

but as you say, the question is how to tap into that formula and create mainstream appeal. which means there's got to be more than stealth, but how to gel action without it feeling shoehorned. there's got to be some middle ground

these things too. but i'd take a tight, focused, well paced 15-20 hour campaign all day long

Hear me out! Assassin’s Creed: Dig Dug!

You no longer climb up things but you dig down! It will take this series in a completely different direction, down! Armed with your hidden blade pump, you’ll be spelunking and blowing up all manner of moles and weird dragon things!

Hmm, I'd hurry up and cancel it and get busy on something new, creative and compelling. :P

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep it the way it is, just so the people who don't play it on here can continue to bitch about all the things they hate about it LOL.

Currently playing Valhalla.

Well when you got no exclusives on x-series x you play trash like assassin creed, xb1 owners did with unity too that there big console seller

$329 xb1 with unity and unbundled kinect this is all you got you take what you got.

If all you got is Grape juice you drink it like its grape flavored cough syrup it tastes like trash but what else you gonna do thats all you got.

Were playing demon souls were playing bowsers fury there playing unity. Like this guy. Its broken its trash thats what there going with.

Thanks for your bitching and thus proving my point.

Change the name of Beyond Good and Evil 2 to Assassins Creed: Endgame or something, so Ubisoft will actually finish and release the thing.

Take all those people and make a NEW GAME.

Mexico of course !!! Prehispanic Mexico to be precise.

Would love to tackle the idea of an Assassin being recruited by the "conquistadores" in order to take on the savages in this new world they found. You would be able to infiltrate the cities as some sort of double agent while reporting to the Spanish people, doing missions, exploring cities and meeting characters on both sides.

As the story moves forward, you start to realice that this so called savages, are actually quite advanced in their own way, they are very spiritual, very noble and brave. On the other hand, the spanish start to give quests that always end up being cruel or just unfair for the natives.

In the end and as you may be guessing, is up to our Assassin to try to fix his mistakes and save this dying civilization before it's too late.

Hmmm good question. I would:

• Add more stealth mechanics.
  • Add in a Splinter Cell/ Thief-style system of shadows and noise.
  • Make open combat more punishing to encourage stealth and ambush.
  • More Hitman-like "hiding in plain sight" opportunities.
• Shrink the levels to about 1/4 the size they are now, but add some more verticality. Make more levels with diverse locations.
• Plan on closing the series in three or so games. I'd have them travel to:
  • Ancient China.
  • Fuedal Japan, maybe around 1800 or during the Meiji restoration era when Samurai and guns and the West were colliding.
  • Finally, end it on a modern setting or new future.
• Bring back more Isu stuff. I really liked that aspect of the games because it was so unifying to the whole series, to a point. I feel like that has been lost.

Complete control? Cancel it.

Lol, this 😂

I can definitely get behind that, strengthening the stealth mechanics would make them better games imo.

Get rid of the whole animus storyline. It's crap and it needs to go.

i'd have thought given all the moaning you do about the game and ubisoft you'd be a great person to ask to fix it. that's the strategy 343 took with halo 4 and hired a load of people that didn't like halo with the idea they'd bring new innovation to the series, and look at how well that worked for them lol

cmon arch there's got to be one or two things you'd shake up about the game surely?

You're given complete creative control over the next Assassins Creed game

Its simple. I merge with Sucker Punch + Ubisoft and wit that, we make AC great again :P

Well, I remember when the first one was coming out they went on and on in some interview about the inspirations they took from Thief - and then there wasn't an ounce of that to be seen. IMO, they went down the wrong path with the series entirely. Make it a serious stealth 'n assasinate game. All this unlock-the-map crap and bland world building with rpg-lite stuff could easily be ditched and surpassed by a more intimate, challenging, and immersive design philosophy built around a solid stealth core

I agree with this.

Valhalla is the first AC game I've played since the original. And I've played plenty of other games in between them, and to me Valhalla lacks polish and just heart. I'm enjoying it (Didn't pay $60 for it, got it on sale for $40) but compared to Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, Horizon, Nioh, and plenty of other games, Valhalla sticks out like a sore thumb in regards to animations, story, COMBAT, and just overall heart and effort from the devs.

@mrbojangles25: exactly this

@madsnakehhh: that's a cool setting and theme.

I like the overall mechanics, I mean they are fine just as they have been fine since AC: Origins.

The games before AC: Unity really suffered from having no dedicated stealth elements other than 'hiding in the bush'.

But yeah I feel that Valhalla could've been so much more when it comes to its story, characters and especially animations.

Sometimes the animations in story cutscenes are bad, sometimes they are laughable and most of the times I just feel Eivor is showing the wrong emotions or movements...

I'm still going to play more of this game, and I'm looking forward to the cool DLC showing historical moments for the vikings (siege of Paris). But yeah I really hope for massive improvements in the next AC games.

@Macutchi: Sadly no.

It’s not like I’m necessarily opposed to them changing anything up in the franchise, it’s just that I kind of like what they’re doing with the games right. Of course it could just be that I’m too lazy to try and think of what they could do differently as well. 😅

What others have said before me:

• Remove the grind and get rid of all RPG elements
• 20-25 hours of content
• At least respect the name of the franchise and make the protagonist like an Assassin instead of Superman or whatever mythical creature they have now
• Get rid of all the mythical elements
• Get rid of Animus crap
• Even if they want to encourage encounters over pure stealth than at least make it difficult and the combat interesting. No more automatic blocks, counter in the previous games or like the spongy enemies of the later RPG ACs
• Remove the damn clutter and UI icons for every fucking thing. Make the UI as minimal as possible
• Hell even get rid of open world completely and have levels like Hitman

Changes I would make:

The story and setting is based on the actual historical Assassins.

The setting is the origin of the historical Assassins: medieval Persia.

The story is about a Persian prince raised by the Assassins.

The open world is removed and replaced with a tightly-designed linear game world.

The gameplay is a puzzle-platformer with stealth elements.

The title would be... Assassin Prince of Persia.

That too.

I'd punch him in the face.

Wait.... what were we talking about???? I don't want to be associated with Ubi.

Fire all the higher-ups, dismantle Ubi and sell the Rayman franchise to some small no-name studio who likes the IP.

Well said. instead make a new Twisted Metal game.

In general, I like the overall design of AC Valhalla, its just the execution that is lacking in some areas. It needs to be heavily edited (40 hours instead of 80), tighter combat, more engaging story with better pacing, variety and urgency, more interesting and tense stealth, smarter AI and less bugs.

I do like the Witcher 3-ish direction they've been going in, they just need to execute better.