Grave Gamer News & Views — assassin's creed unity

Assassin’s Creed Unity

by Patrick Brown

Somebody must have tasked Phil Spencer with two missions yesterday when he took to E3’s stage in Los Angeles: 1) Avoid showing off anything regarding, related to, or even remotely reminiscent of TV apps and 2) Slowly strangle anyone who dares utter the word “Kinect” while staring into their eyes as their soul fades from their body like a light dimming.

I say this because Phil made damn sure the only thing that took center stage besides camera-shy, stammering game developers was the games themselves. What ensued was probably one of the better conferences held by the company in quite some time – Microsoft wasn’t going to let Sony blacken their eye again like at last year’s event.

Below, I’ve collected (almost) every title named at the Xbox presser. Be sure to click on each game’s name to peep an accompanying trailer.

See, don’t I take care of you guys?

Everybody Wants to Rule the World in Assassin’s Creed Unity

Four player co-op. Improved mobility. Reworked engine. Eagles.

Creed’s first full next-gen affair seems to have it all. Even a magnificently atmospheric Tears for Fears cover overlaid this stunning (though pre-rendered) trailer.

The masses are quick to lambaste a franchise that rushes out to the Holiday season every year, but I cut Assassin’s Creed some slack because Ubisoft has always experimented with its formula in each major release. The results aren’t always terrific (remember willfully skipping that tower defense mini-game in Revelations?), yet their tenacity has lent to growing and shaping AC into a tightly wound ball of playability and clever ideas.

They had my rapt attention when fellow online players joined lead Arno in hunting down their unknowing prey in yesterday’s gameplay reveal. If you know me, you know competitive multiplayer isn’t always my bag – I’m especially averse to it in third-person games – so a co-op offering is a cup o’ tea I cannot pass up.

Be a buddy and help your friends incite a revolution when Assassin’s Creed Unity releases October 28th, 2014.

Assassin’s Creed: Unity is Officially Official

Just as leaked promotional art forced Ubisoft’s hand into revealing Black Flag early last year, this week’s unofficial info lowdown on a next-gen exclusive Assassin’s Creed sequel has pushed the publisher to publicly unveil the project.

Say hello to Assassin’s Creed: Unity. Disappointingly, the game does not chronicle the efforts of hood-clad rude...

Leaked Assets Reveal New Assassin’s Creed Set During French Revolution

It’s ‘bout that time of year again, folks. And here I was thinking we might actually slip into April without an Assassin’s Creed leak. Alas, I was wrong and should continue not to gamble.

The above images, and more, were sent in to Kotaku (the giant watermark may have given that away) by an anonymous contact. The leaked materials refer to this installment as Assassin’s Creed: Unity, though the moniker is likely a code-name – Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag was called Golden Age throughout development in reference to the game’s pirate theme (i.e. the 'Golden Age of Piracy’).

Pairing hushed internet discussions and conversations with developers, Kotaku has pieced together a clearer picture of Unity to complement these very early-production screens. Unity takes place, at least partly, in 18th-century Paris, smack dab during the French Revolution. You’ll control a new assassin named Arno whose knack for parkour will be a step above his contemporaries’ thanks to new free-running mechanics. 

We’ve caught wind of this rumor before but Kotaku again corroborates that Ubisoft intends on releasing not one, but two separate AC installments in 2014: one designed for current-generation systems and another specifically tailored for next-gen consoles. Unity would fall into the latter category, releasing for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The thought process behind the decision is actually shy of genius; it would mean Unity’s team can fully harness the power of next-gen hardware without the constraints of making sure the game runs on last-gen tech.

From a business standpoint, it appears particularly shrewd to double-up on a proven IP and go after both next-gen adopters looking to pad out their bare-bones libraries as well as the gigantic install base already established on PS3 and Xbox 360. Problem is, franchise fatigue can lay waste to a publisher’s best-laid plans.

I thought Black Flag was brilliant; my favorite sequel since ACII brought on the changes that would cement the series as a prime-time player. Yet I had a helluva time trying to convince my peers it was worth even playing, the malaise of “been there, done that” keeping them from revisiting the historically driven, free-running filled mythos of Assassin’s Creed.

Black Flag proved that Ubisoft understands the formula needs some shaking up to persist, and I’m interested to see if Unity follows suit and introduces a new way to strut around under the hood. We won’t have long to wait for more information, either. Unity and its unrevealed counterpart are said to release this Fall.