Assassin 39;s Creed Unity |WORK|

Unity's combat system was greatly refined over previous entries in the series, with fencing being used as an inspiration for the new system. The stealth system also saw several improvements with the addition of new features like manual crouching and the Phantom Blade, a variation of the series' signature Hidden Blade which doubles as a silent crossbow.[4] Furthermore, the linear assassination missions from previous Assassin's Creed games were abandoned in favor of a new "Black Box" design, which offers more freedom to the player in how they go about eliminating their target; the player can explore the environment to find different entry points or possibly helpful distractions, allowing them to choose the approach that best suits them. For navigation, the game introduces new "Free-run up" and "Free-run down" commands to make it easier for the player to scale buildings in either direction, allowing them to make controlled ascents and descents at will.[5] With the updated, larger crowds, new interactions with them are also available. The crowd regularly presents many activities, appearing organically, that the player can choose to engage in or not. Examples include scaring a group of bullies by pulling out a weapon, "settling" a fight between two civilians by killing one of them, or chasing down a thief who has just pick pocketed somebody.[6]

assassin 39;s creed unity

There are significant tie-ins with the game's Companion App, a "freemium" click app with limited "direct ties to the overall story of Unity". There are a significant number of treasure chests, assassination targets, and other collectibles that are visible to all players but only accessible to those who have completed certain goals within the app. Following an update in February 2015, this requirement is no longer necessary, meaning players who have downloaded the update, can now collect all the chests in the game without having to play the companion app.[10][11][12]

The Initiate relives the memories of Arno Dorian, a French-Austrian nobleman. Orphaned in 1776 after his father Charles was assassinated, Arno was taken in by François de la Serre, Grand Master of the French Templars. In 1789, Arno is given a message to deliver to de la Serre, but leaves it in his office and goes to meet with his childhood friend Élise, de la Serre's daughter, following her initiation into the Templar Order. Arno later finds de la Serre murdered, and is framed as the killer. He is imprisoned in the Bastille, where he befriends a fellow prisoner, Pierre Bellec (Anthony Lemke), who knew his father. Bellec invites Arno into the Brotherhood after they escape during the Storming of the Bastille.

Returning home, Arno is turned away by Élise, who reveals that the message he failed to deliver was a warning of her father's impending murder. Arno joins the Brotherhood to eliminate the Templars behind de la Serre's death. During his investigation, Arno rescues François-Thomas Germain (Julian Casey), a silversmith held hostage by the acting-Templar Grand Master Lafreniere (Noel Burton). Arno assassinates Lafreniere, only to discover that he was the one trying to warn de la Serre and that Germain is actually a Templar extremist who staged a coup after being banished from the Order by de la Serre. When Germain begins murdering Élise's faction of Templars, Arno persuades her to parley with the Brotherhood. The Assassin Mentor Mirabeau (Harry Standjofski) agrees to help, hoping to broker peace between the Orders, but is later murdered by Bellec, who sought to prevent the alliance and purge the Assassin leadership he saw as weak to allow the Brotherhood to be reborn. Arno is forced to kill Bellec when he tries to defend his actions as a necessary evil and convince Arno to join him.

While searching the Tuileries Palace for potentially damning letters from Mirabeau to King Louis, Arno encounters Napoleon Bonaparte, who helps him escape. Arno realizes that Germain plots to spark a mass revolt against the King, and assassinates the Templars aiding him with Napoleon and Élise's help, rekindling his relationship with the latter in the process. With the Revolution in full swing, Arno tracks Germain to Louis' execution, but chooses to protect Élise rather than pursue him. Élise rejects him for this, and Arno is exiled from the Brotherhood for his rash actions, falling into a drunken depression. Arno languishes for months before he is found in Versailles by Élise, who convinces him to return as Paris is tearing itself apart during the Reign of Terror. With Élise's help, Arno discredits Maximilien Robespierre, whom Germain had placed in charge of maintaining chaos. After Arno and Élise find Robespierre, Élise shoots him in the jaw and makes him write down Germain's location.

Development for the game began shortly after the completion of 2010's Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood,[6] with the core development team splitting off during the early stages of development on Assassin's Creed III.[21] On March 19, 2014, early screenshots of the game were leaked, as well as its title Unity. The leak revealed that Unity would feature a new location and time period, Paris during the French Revolution, a new assassin, and that it would be released in late 2014 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[22] On March 21, Ubisoft confirmed the game's existence, having been in development for more than three years, by releasing pre-alpha game footage. They also confirmed the game's release date of Q4 2014, and that it would also see a release on Windows.[23] Ubisoft writer Jeffrey Yohalem revealed that the French Revolution setting for the game was deliberately teased, along with Assassin's Creed III's American Revolution setting, in symbols seen at the end of Brotherhood.[24] Ubisoft Montreal is the lead developer for the project, with contributing work from the Ubisoft studios in Toronto, Kyiv, Singapore, Shanghai, Annecy, Montpellier, Bucharest, Quebec, and Chengdu.[25]

Chris Carter from Destructoid gave the game 7/10, praising the new movement system, likable lead characters, iconic setting, smooth animation and improved draw distance. New additions such as character customization and huge crowds were also praised. However, he criticized the predictable story, technical issues, and the mission design of co-op multiplayer, as it is impossible to play some missions solo. He stated that "Unity feels like a step back. ... It lacks that grand sense of roaming the uncharted seas in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, or even the open-ended feel of the wilderness in Assassin's Creed III, but it's a journey worth taking if you're already into the series."[48] Tom Bramwell from Eurogamer gave the game 7/10, praised the setting, rich content, inspiring story and interesting side-missions. However, he criticized the over-familiar and unimaginative mission-design, overzealous auto-correct system in the free-running mechanics and the lack of weapon customization. He described the game as a "missed opportunity".[49]

After the cooperative multiplayer mode was revealed at E3 2014, additional information about the mode was revealed by creative director Alex Amancio and technical director James Therien. Amancio stated that the mode did not include the ability to play as a female avatar, due to "the reality of production". Amancio added by saying, "It's double the animations, it's double the voices, all that stuff and double the visual assets. Especially because we have customizable assassins. It was really a lot of extra production work," which was echoed by Therien. Level designer Bruno St-André expanded on this by stating that an estimated 8,000 additional animations would have had to be recreated for a female avatar.[84][85]

This caused dissatisfaction in some video game community outlets. Brenna Hillier of VG247 noted how there were nine development teams working on the game, and said "Ubisoft has here trotted out a tired, stupid, constantly refuted excuse for why it has perpetuated the cycle of sexism and under-representation in the games industry."[86] Tim Clark of PC Gamer made note "that previous Assassin's Creed games have had playable women as part of the multiplayer component, and that Brotherhood had you supported by on-call assassins, many of whom were female, so it's hardly like it can't be done." Clark also looked to the way Amancio and Therien answered the question and felt how they referenced "how much the team wanted to include playable female characters suggests... that this is probably a decision which hasn't gone down well internally."[87] Former Assassin's Creed designer Jonathan Cooper responded by saying, "In my educated opinion, I would estimate this to be a day or two's work. Not a replacement of 8,000 animations." He also revealed that Aveline de Grandpré, the female protagonist of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, "shares more of Connor Kenway's animations than Edward Kenway does."[88] Fans also created petitions urging Ubisoft to change their stance.[89] Additionally, former Assassin's Creed game designer Patrice Désilets commented that Amancio's reasoning was valid, but that Ubisoft should put in the effort to let players have gender options.[90]

Amidst the community response, Insomniac Games published a video of their then-upcoming game Sunset Overdrive. Taking a community question "Can you play as a female character?", the presenter answers positively while the player character is shown as a female dressed up to resemble Ezio Auditore.[91]

This is complicated only slightly by the return of the ongoing Assassin's Creed metaplot. In this game you're playing a VR product produced by the evil Abstergo company, who are searching for the death site of a certain figure in Arno's life. The best thing about this is that it's delivered in brief and very infrequent cutscenes and voiceover skits from a couple of characters based in the present-day. No longer are you pulled out of your exciting assassin adventures to roleplay a more boring person. Instead, the present-day plot influences several quick but very entertaining interludes that leave your assassin faculties intact. I won't spoil them.