Assassin's Creed has become one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, and its blend of sci-fi and history has helped set it apart for years. The historical aspects of Assassin's Creed continue to be fascinating, but the modern-day story has stayed disappointing throughout each release.
Over the years, Assassin's Creed had doubled-down on the historical stories, but Ubisoft has floundered figuring out what to do with the modern narrative. Some games have put players in the shoes of a nameless Abstergo employee in first-person exploration, while others bring in new protagonists with platforming segments.
Assassin's Creed simply can't continue doing the same thing, as something needs to change. The modern-day story needs serious fixing, or it needs to fall by the wayside.
Assassin's Creed Modern Story Feels Half-Baked
The first Assassin's Creed was an interesting experience that combined a crazy sci-fi story with historical conspiracies. The modern story in the first three games wasn't nearly as fleshed out as the historical one, but each game did at least make improvements and add more gameplay. Unfortunately, after Assassin's Creed 3 Ubisoft simply had no idea what to do with the modern story. Since then it's been a mashup of ideas, tacked on story, and even some instances where the modern story wasn't even featured. The series' timeline and overall narrative are hard enough to follow, but the modern stuff is even more baffling.
The modern-day segments consistently feel like an afterthought, something that's tacked on because it's always been there. In Assassin's Creed 4 and Rogue awkward gameplay had players exploring the Abstergo office, digging through emails, hacking into s, and searching for info. While there were some interesting details to find, the gameplay stood in stark contrast to the main game and slowed the pacing down to a crawl. The most recent games, Origins and Odyssey, features small playable segments with a new character named Layla Hassan.
Even with a new character the modern story, once again, barely advanced the overall plot and featured nothing more than light platforming and email reading. Ironically, the modern-day story feels stuck in the past, while the historical segments are where the series makes its advancements and innovations. It's not like Ubisoft doesn't have experience with modern stealth gameplay; just look at the likes of Splinter Cell and Watch Dogs. That's what makes the lackluster content even more frustrating.
How Assassin's Creed's Modern Story Can Improve
Assassin's Creed 3 is the closest the series has ever come to having a fully-featured modern story. The segments were lengthy and featured Desmond and crew pulling off heists, breaking into Abstergo facilities, and more. It gave players a decent look at the modern world of Assassin's Creed and featured combat, platforming, stealth, and some unique gameplay. The modern segments certainly weren't perfect, but they showed promise.
It's disappointing that the series only stepped backward from there, but it can get there again. The modern segments need to be more fleshed out and feel more like a natural extension of the main game, rather than something that stands in juxtaposition to it. Tie the modern gameplay to the historical, using similar elements. Modern segments could easily be on the same scale, with massive encampments that players can break into with stealth or combat. The series should also look to other Ubisoft franchises for inspiration, using ideas from Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and more.
Ubisoft needs to get to the point of the modern story as well. Each entry has layered on tiny little hints of where the series is going, but the franchise needs a climax. The modern story needs to be weaved into the entire game better, and most importantly it needs to have an impact on events.
If Ubisoft can't make improvements and make the modern-day more interesting in Assassin's Creed, it should just drop the modern story altogether.