Previously known as Assassin’s Creed Victory thanks to leaks, the next game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise has been officially revealed as Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.
Of particular note, is the fact that Syndicate will explore the modern era — as opposed to the historic settings we’ve seen in previous games. It’s set to launch on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC this fall.
Over the past couple of days a lot of information was released about the game, and we even got a peek at some gameplay in a new trailer. Stay tuned past the break for more.
What Do We Know About Assassin’s Creed Syndicate?
Again, the biggest thing you’ll notice is that the game takes place in the modern era — Victorian London, in 1868.
This time around there will be two protagonists, twins Jacob and Evie Frye whom we’re introduced to in the gameplay trailer. Ubisoft says that Jacob is a “more hot headed, brash and rebellious” spirit, while his sister Evie is “a relentless Assassin” and “a master of stealth”. My guess is that Evie will be the more calculated out of the two, acting on skill and experience as opposed to emotion.
The game will offer an open world experience, and players can swap between the two characters freely, while story missions will restrict the choice to one or the other for narrative reasons.
Some of the more interesting changes in the game include:
- GTA-style vehicles specific to the era — We see the Jacob take control of a horse-drawn carriage and the dev commentary mentions other vehicles like trains.
- Gun based grappling launcher — The tool will be used to reach the rooftops quickly, and can even create a zipline to close gaps.
- No Multiplayer or Co-Op — After Unity’s major issues, Ubisoft decided to steer clear of multiplayer for this game.
- Gang based group combat — These may be scripted, but in the gameplay trailer we can see Jacob’s allies taking on a rival gang.
- A new combat system — There seems to be more of an emphasis on bare-fisted hand-to-hand combat.
- Dynamic environment — The player may use conveniently placed objects in the environment to take out enemies.
- A new stealth system — Cover based stealth has been removed and stealth mechanics appear to be more forgiving.
- Pre-order bonuses have been announced.
What Is Syndicate About?
The game takes place during the year 1868 in Victorian London, at the height of the Industrial Revolution. Syndicate follows twins Jacob and Evie Frye as they work to overthrow a secretive Templar power. As you can see in the gameplay trailer, they plan to achieve this by uniting the city’s criminal underground under one large faction.
Building that faction has everything to do with the title of the game, as you’ll be assembling a criminal “syndicate” to take down the Templars. The developers claim that everything you do in the game will be related to this goal.
Each character will have their own skill tree, and aside from the restrictive missions you should be able to freely swap between Jacob and Evie.
Unlike some of the annual Creed installments we’ve gotten in the past, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate has been in development for nearly three years now at Ubisoft’s Quebec City studio. Hopefully, that means it will be a much more polished game.
Why No Last Gen Version?
Ubisoft has confirmed that they will not be releasing Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, similar to what they did with Rogue. Instead, Syndicate will be exclusively for PS4, Xbox One and PC when it launches.
Although they haven’t officially stated as much, this is likely due to power limitations with the older consoles. It’s entirely possible that Ubisoft will launch an older-gen version of the game later — though not guaranteed.
