Assassin's Creed is a series that I have always loved. The original game may have been extremely repetitive but the overall concept was a fantastic one and since then the sequels have always done the series justice.
Today, Ubisoft announced the next game in the series in the form of 'Assassin's Creed Syndicate', set in the Industrial Revolution, the player will take control of the Assassin 'Jacob Frye' as he begins to free London from the Templars and give more freedom back to the lower class.
Jacob and his sister Evie are both trained as Assassin's, where they have become fed up with how the poor are treated and have begun to rise up against the Templars. In a similar system to the territory control, they will get the lower class to aid them in taking territories and putting them under the Assassin's charge.
The team have done a fantastic job with Jacob's design wise, his long flowing black coat with the white undershirt and waistcoat is very true to that era as well as being dark in colour to fit in with the dank and dreary way of life for many in this time period.
To add more to this detail they even gave him a top hot which he will take off to pull up his hood during stealth. This is a nice touch as many wealthy gentlemen wore top hats as a symbol of status, its very much like Ebonisa Scrooge. Facial wise he is very much like Arno but with a more gruff appearance.
From the glimpse we saw of Jacobs interactions with other characters, he appears very forceful compared to many of the other Assassin's who were very cocky or naive. This is a good indication of how he will act during the game as he appears to be a man to get the job done and possibly for his own gain as noted by something he says to those he freed from the templars 'you will work for us'.
Along with his personality, the combat is extremely brutal compared to older games which were fairly brutal themselves. Jacobs fighting style revolves around quick yet powerful blows with weapons such as the Kukri that he throws through peoples faces, brass knuckles for close range powerful strikes, a revolver for quick shots and throwing knives to quickly take out watchmen in the distance.
All these details when put together have intrigued me greatly about how Jacob's story will play out as he seems very much like an Assassin Enforcer.
Along with combat, Ubisoft also released a few details on some new mechanics. The player is able to ride carriages and trains, allowing them to traverse the city at street level very quickly as well as using them during parkour. They can also fight on the back of these and hide within the carriages to perform stealth kills, which I am sure will be an amazing mechanic to have in, especially on the more stealthy missions.
As well as this, they introduced a grappling hook, Jacob can shoot this at high points on buildings and fly up without the need of climbing, speeding up the process. He can also shoot this to other buildings like a Zip Line and perform aerial kills with ease.
This game appears to have increased the pace greatly, with having close quarters combat, vehicles and faster paced climbing. Personally I am extremely happy with this as I found Unity fairly slow paced, whereas the pace for Syndicate is perfect for the Industrial Revolution.
The time period was an incredible one, going from almost medieval to the birth of the modern world in such a short space of time. Modern medicine, electricity, Rail Roads, Steam Engines, it was a huge boon for many but not so much for the lower classes who found themselves in more squaller then previously imagined. The Thames river became extremely toxic during this time due to the pollution caused by the numerous factories, many fell ill due to this and it fits perfectly as some sort of Templar plot.
Overall I am severely happy with the information we have received thus far on 'Assassin's Creed Syndicate' and I cannot wait to play it for myself in October!
