First things first…
The Kaas Happy dance.
Okay…now that, that is over with and I’m done flirting with cardiac arrest, I have to thank a certain Hairy Ewok for getting my curiosity and hopes going and making me delve deeper, and YES!!!! IT’S TRUE!!!
It is no secret that I’m a huge fan of the later entries to the series, Origins and Odyssey. They veered off the road a bit with Valhalla, and despite it being wildly popular, I’m still in two minds about it. It’s good, very good, in fact. But I preferred the recipe they had with the previous two instalments.
Ubisoft wants to take Assassins Creed into the nether realm of live-service games. Something I deeply mistrust (thank you, Outriders), but that Ubisoft has done very well, after initial hiccups of course, through Massive Entertainment, with the Division series.
As if the latest Assassins Creed games aren’t big enough, with tons to do and explore, they want to make a never-ending (cue the music from, well, The Never Ending Stohooorrrrryyyyy, bahaha….hahaha…err, sorry) entry in the series, aptly codenamed (for now) Assassins Creed Infinity.
The idea is that the game will expand and evolve over time, according to a report from Bloomberg. Instead of just running around, killing and looting in an isolated historical period, Infinity will stitch historical periods and settings together with room to expand and develop post launch.
The folks at Bloomberg reckon that Ubisoft has been inspired by the money making machines that is Vrotnite…errr…sorry, Fortnite and GTA5. It’s all about the smackaroos after all!
Infinity will also be a joined effort by Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Quebec, who usually took turns in churning out instalments, with Quebec’s Marc-Alexis Côté taking charge. Each Studio will still have its own creative director, in this case Jonathan Dumont for Quebec and Clint Hocking for Montreal.
The game is currently in the very early stages of development.
This is what Ubisoft had to say:
“Rather than continuing to pass the baton from game to game, we profoundly believe this is an opportunity for one of Ubisoft’s most beloved franchises to evolve in a more integrated and collaborative manner that’s less centered on studios and more focused on talent and leadership, no matter where they are within Ubisoft.”
So, what are your thoughts? Would you delve into a live-service, shadowy world of the Assassin? Would you come run around with Kaas in the vast reaches of history and watch him pick his nails with his wristy weapon thingy? That is if Co-op is available.
Let us know by mouthing off smartly, as usual, in the comments.
Last Updated: July 8, 2021
Krabby Paddy
July 10, 2021 at 10:45
Live service will make it dead to me.
Hammersteyn
July 12, 2021 at 01:38
They’ve already stuffed the other games with microtransactions like a Thanksgiving turkey.
Krabby Paddy
July 12, 2021 at 02:21
They win because people like their stuffed Thanksgiving turkey and will keep buying them. Then for the seller the more stuffing there is the better. The stuffing by weight makes more money than the turkey itself. It also makes the turkey look fatter and bigger … Even though in truth it is only trying to hide how hollow the turkey is and how little meat is on the bones.
Mandalorian Jim
July 11, 2021 at 04:55
The promise of a persistent Assassin Creed sounds very interesting, but as we’ve seen with other live-service experiments, it gets messy very quickly. Ubisoft has been perfecting it though, and there seems to be a real attempt at balancing content, microtransactions etc. But, I can’t say it’s one of my favourite new features of modern gaming.
What I would like to see though, is Ubisoft acknowledging that everything that happens in their games are all happening in the same universe. Especially, Farcry and Assassins Creed… the potential for overlap is there.
Mandalorian Jim
July 11, 2021 at 05:10
I’ll just add one major annoyance about live service games, the fact that a single player game (with co-op), but one that can be played all on your lonesome, needs to be constantly connected to a server. I kind of just took a deep breath, sighed as hard as I could with Outriders, but there’s not reason why a single player game should force gamers to constantly be online.
I know it’s no longer 2008 and many of us have been blessed by the Fibre gods, but still… it’s the one thing that influences whether or not I will buy a game. Single player and always online —> Bargain bin – and maybe I’ll check it out in a couple of months when the price is reasonable, and the patches have rolled out to fix the most mundane or the most serious of issues.
Kind of like how I ended up enjoying Anthem – it was in the bargain bin at BT games, and I didn’t pay more than R50 for it. At that point, I didn’t mind, because I didn’t spend R1000 or R1500 on an online-only (practicaly) single player game with optional co-op.
Hammersteyn
July 12, 2021 at 01:46
The fun thing about Assassin Creed games is the different time periods. I loved Syndicate’s portrayal of England, but it’s fun exploring Egypt or Greece as well. Not sure how long before people get tired of the same setting
DarthofZA
July 12, 2021 at 03:19
Part of the announcement is literally that then they will cover different time periods. Think the future world is the main hub, and as the story unfolds, they’re constantly adding different places where you can go back to.
The one benefit I see from this is that they’ll probably start adding smaller hub worlds in some periods where it makes sense.
Mandalorian Jim
July 12, 2021 at 09:27
I guess, I’ll have to see them put it into practice. I’m not going to completely write it off, but like many I’m still sceptical of live service games.
Jonah Cash
July 16, 2021 at 03:02
So basically have a Desmond that have links with ancestors and he can travel back to different time periods as his lineage is all over history? Wow, we have come full circle with this game… Hahahaha