One of the most popular sagas that emerged in the seventh generation of consoles is without a doubt Assassin’s Creed. Since its surprising debut in 2007 Ubisoft hasn’t stopped releasing chapters at the rate of a year for almost a decade. And this for the main saga, since there were quite a few spin-offs.
With so much Assassin’s Creed gameplay It is logical that the franchise of the French company suffered wear and tear by not making revolutionary changes so that this money-making machine does not slow down its flow, since it was complemented with another series of products far from the world of video games, such as books or even a movie that was released curiously in 2016. And we say “curious” because it was the year no Assassin’s Creed video game was released.
More than an open-world Prince of Persia …
To understand its exploitation and subsequent wear until it needs a 180 degree turn to refresh its mechanics, it is convenient to remember its origins. You have to go back to 2003, when the development of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Patrice Désilets, director of said timeless classic, was tasked with creating a new Prince of Persia game for the seventh generation of consoles. But due to the precarious information on PS3 and Xbox 360 at that time, work began on PS2 until finally it was thought about an open world game (this time yes) for the new consoles.
The name of this initial work was called Prince of Persia: Assassin, being inspired by both the life of Hassan-i Sabbah and the novel Alamut by Vladimir Bartol. The rest, as they say, is history, despite not being in the end a Prince of Persia, but something else entirely: Assassin’s Creed. Assassins, Templars, time travel through the Animus … Pure fantasy and science fiction. An explosive cocktail that captivated millions of players despite having much room for improvement, reaching its zenith in Assassin’s Creed II in 2009.
Ubisoft had found the ideal successor to the Prince of Persia, a saga that would go fallow after Prince of Persia (2008) and The forgotten sands (2010) waiting for him to regain his former reign with the (delayed) remake from The Sands of Time, the work that most marked us for its originality, with permission from the classic Prince of Persia, an icon in its time along with Another World.
From the first Assassin’s Creed in 2007 the saga did not miss its annual appointment until 2015, inclusive. Because before its award-winning sequel, for example, it was released in 2008 for the Nintendo DS. Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles, prequel to Desmond / Altaïr’s first adventure. And if we talk about the main saga, since the sequel of 2009, chapters have been coming out year after year, varying the location and little else, except for the change that the naval battles entailed in Assassin’s Creed III (2012), successfully exploited in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (2013).
Previously, between 2010 and 2011, they continued betting on the history of Ezio Auditore with The Brotherhood and its closure in Revelations. While in 2014 an unusual event occurred: two games of the main saga in the same year. On the one hand, Assassin’s Creed Rogue; and on the other, Assassin’s Creed Unity, the first of the eighth generation of consoles. However, that jump was not up to the task, partly because it was weighed down by the countless bugs despite renewed parkour.
His online cooperative mode mattered little, since the saga did not bring truly revolutionary novelties to its formula, reaching its most absolute wear in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. And what you got Slightly more positive reviews than previous Unity. Ubisoft was aware that the glory years of the series, where it reaped outstanding left and right, had been forgotten and that it needed a radical turn. And took a year off.
Because it is said soon, but since 2007 nine chapters of the main saga were released along with eight spin-offs, among them that nod to the classic Prince of Persia started with Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China en 2015. It is true that between January and February 2016 the rest of these chronicles (India and Russia) were released, but they are not part of the main saga. For something they are called spin-offs, Wow.
Assassin’s Creed Origins, a new RPG course
And October 2017 arrived and with this date the premiere of Assassin’s Creed Origins, an adventure in which Ubisoft fully embraced the RPG component in an Assassin’s Creed. It was the revolution that needed to be renewed, although this change did not please all the public equally, especially the most purists.
At heart he was still an Assassin’s Creed, with all that this implies in terms of history, development and setting, but under a series of new mechanics, with more demanding combats and a typical evolution of role-playing games, with a level for the character and enemies, different rarities for objects and much more. Apart from the fact that the choice of ancient Egypt, of undeniable beauty, was a success for this chapter that showed us the origin of the Assassins.
Given its good reception compared to previous chapters, Ubisoft continued to delve into this new style to the point of perfecting it in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in 2018, a game that this time took us to ancient Greece, full of mysticism. And with content to the gates, to the point of cause another “hiatus” by not releasing any Assassin’s Creed in 2019 for its expansions. The good? What thanks to a bug in that “Odyssey” that pleasant surprise arose to claim call Immortals Fenyx Rising in 2020, coincidentally.
And this brings us to the recent Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, also from 2020. An adventure set in the time of the Vikings that stood out, among other things, for the implementation of skills, in case it was not clear at this point the approach of RPG in the saga since 2017. On a personal level I continue to stay with this course in Assassin’s Creed, although I would not dislike someday revisiting the first installments with renewed airs … What stage do you stay with?
As for the future of the saga, there is still a lot left until it hits the market Assassin’s Creed Infinity, where I know will bet on a platform as a service.
