The firstAssassin’s Creedgame is far from perfect, and I’ll probably never forgive it for giving us Ubisoft towers. That said, I’ve always held a soft spot for the game, and have found myself lamenting how much of a departure some recent entries in the series are from the originalAssassin’s Creedconcept. Not knowing if I was simply blinded by nostalgia, I watched a few gameplay videos of the original game afterAssassin’s Creed Shadowsgot delayed, and was pleasantly surprised to see I wasn’t fully wrong about the series having lost something special.
Grabbing theAssassin’s Creed Director’s Cut Editionon Steam, I decided to return to the game myself. While I wouldn’t say that it was the best time I’ve ever had, there were aspects of the game that held up better than I expected. While I didn’t fully finish the game on my revisit, it did take me longer to put it down than some recentAssassin’s Creedtitles, which have struggled to capture my interest. It may be too late for theAssassin’s Creedseriesto revisit its roots, but I think it’s still worth acknowledging them.
Assassin’s Creed’s Original Tone Was Much More Engaging
I’ll be honest, I never used to like the Animus sections ofAssassin’s Creed, and in most games, I still don’t. I actually forgot they existed after taking an extended hiatus from the series, and when I revisitedAssassin’s Creed 4: Black Flagand was tasked with touring Abstergo before I was allowed to sail my pirate ship, my eyes rolled so hard I nearly did a cartwheel. So, I was very surprised to find thatI was actually interested in the present-day sections ofAssassin’s Creedwhen I revisited the game.
The atmosphere in the Abstergo building in the firstAssassin’s Creedgame is wonderfully creepy, and the mystery elements helped keep me interested in Desmond’s story. Similar to something likeLost, I can still appreciate the craft of setting up an interesting mystery, even if I know the payoff is going to ultimately disappoint me. The slow drip-feed of information spread between the present and past sections of the game made me eager to switch back in a way I never quite was in laterAssassin’s Creedgames.
Do You Need To Play Any AC Games Before Assassin’s Creed Shadows?
Whether you’re new to Assassin’s Creed or a veteran of the franchise, AC Shadows doesn’t require any special knowledge, though it might help.
I also foundthe gameplay inAssassin’s Creedsomewhat refreshing. The game emphasizes its stealth elements, which feel appropriate for a game where you play as an assassin. As much fun as I used to have taking out a town full of guards with my bare hands inAssassin’s Creed 4, the ease of combat made stealth feel somewhat irrelevant. I like that I often felt I actually needed to hide or approach things more carefully in the first game.
Also, while there are some hints at supernatural elements, and the entire concept of theAssassin’s Creedgame is science fiction,I appreciate how grounded the first game felt. Story elements like the Isu (introduced at the end ofAssassin’s Creed 2) were a bit much for me. It’s not that I don’t like fantasy stories, but I hadn’t really expected or wanted fantasy elements to be such a big part of theAssassin’s Creedgames.
The First AC Game Isn’t The Most Fun
The Gameplay Loop In The First Game Gets A Little Old
While there are elements and concepts from the firstAssassin’s Creedgame that pleasantly surprised me upon revisiting the game,I won’t pretend that it was my favorite of the franchise. I dislikeAssassin’s Creed 4’s overly long introduction, but that’s only because it’s holding me back from some of my favorite bits of gameplay in the series. I don’t like the shiftAssassin’s Creedgames made towards being more combat-heavy and the inclusion of enemy health bars, but I would still rather playAssassin’s Creed Odysseyagain for its settingand story.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Shorter Length Is Great For The Series
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a significantly shorter game that its predecessors, and that’s an important step that’ll hugely benefit the series.
The firstAssassin’s Creedgame’s setting isn’t terribly exciting anymore. Although I was impressed by it when I first playedAssassin’s Creedin 2007,I was disappointed upon revisiting it to find that the game’s cities all felt largely the same, minus some visual cues like color grading to set them apart. And, as much as I appreciate the emphasis on stealth, the basic gameplay loop started to feel a bit too repetitive.
Killing a target, then running through similar-looking streets just to find one of many identical hiding spots got a little old after a while.Assassin’s Creed’s combat also feels somewhat repetitive, even if I do appreciate how quickly enemies go down when compared to the hard modes in games likeAssassin’s Creed Odyssey. Still, despite having a good number of complaints about the original game, I’m not entirely convinced that the series as a whole has gone in the right direction.
Assassin’s Creed’s Evolution Makes It Almost Unrecognizable
Newer Assassin’s Creed Games Feel More Generic
TheAssassin’s Creedfranchise evolved over the course of the last 18 years and nearly as many games. Though the evolution was gradual enough that I didn’t question the changes being made as they were happening,revisiting the firstAssassin’s Creedshows the stark contrast between the series' origins and where it has ended up. Honestly, at this point, the games are so different that even calling recent entries, likeAC OdysseyorAC Valhalla,Assassin’s Creedgames feels more like a marketing decision than anything else.
WhileAssassin’s Creed 2andAssassin’s Creed 3did a good job showing how the original formula could be improved upon without losing its core identity,things started to go downhill withAssassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag(even if it is one of my personal favorites). It’s hard to retain the original game’s emphasis on stealth when you’re spending a good chunk of gameplay time sailing around blowing up boats and even forts with your cannons.
Are Animus Hub Rewards Free For AC Shadows & Other Assassin’s Creed Games?
The Animus Hub is a major addition to the Assassin’s Creed franchise that offers a new avenue for obtaining rewards in AC Shadows and beyond.
The addition of enemy health bars inAssassin’s Creed Originswas perhaps one of the decisions that most changed how I looked at the series. It felt likeAssassin’s Creedwas trying to emulategames likeDark Souls, whichonly stood to highlight how much less satisfying the combat is inACgames. I also found the difficulty settings to be frustrating in these games, since the only real difference seemed to be that making the game “harder” just increased enemies' health totals, turning combat into more of a slog.
I haven’t playedAssassin’s Creed Shadowsyet, so I have some hope that the novel-looking combat mechanics from the new game can recapture my interest in the series a bit. Still, I have a hard time imagining that any new game will be able to fully recreate what made me interested in the originalAssassin’s Creedgame. After all, it’s somewhat hard to go back to grounded, stealth-based gameplay after an entry where players can take out crowds of enemies with the use of Thor’s magical hammer.
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed is an action-adventure stealth game developed by the team at Ubisoft Montreal. The first game in the series and the beginning of protagonist Desmond’s storyline, Assassin’s Creed follows Desmond Miles, a man who is thrust into the middle of a millennia-long conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Knights templar via a mysterious machine known as the Animus. Through this device, players will assume the role of Desmond’s ancestor, Altair, as they battle to stop the Knights Templar from taking control of the land.
