The story of thecanon-confusing AC Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok DLC, is far removed from the main focus of the series at this point, making it superfluous and distracting. What's more, the Assassin's Creed games would become more fun and less restrictive without it.
[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Assassin's Creed.]
Players have been following the story of Desmond Miles and the current-day assassin-templar conflict for almost 15 years now, beginning with the first Assassin's Creed in 2007. Although largely rooted in history, Assassin's Creed has maintained a sci-fi focus since its first entry, beginning with the original protagonist, Desmond, using the Animus to relive the memories of his ancestors. The original games also revealed that the Assassin-Templar conflict spanned tens of thousands of years, with an ancient race known as the Isu creating the Pieces of Eden both factions fight over.
It may not be easy to simply walk away from this plot that has been building for over a decade, but it's also probably not as difficult as it may seem at first glance. In fact, the series' developers might already be looking for an exit. With Assassin's Creed shifting to a live-service model, it may be the perfect time to jump ship.
The Assassin's Creed Story So Far
The premise of the Assassin's Creed world is, put simply, The Matrix with a bit of time travel and mythology thrown into the mix. The first game in the franchise was firmly focused on the mystery of not only the ancient Assassins and Templars, but of modern-day Abstergo and their plan involving Desmond Miles. Desmond was a secondary protagonist behind ancestors Ezio Auditore and Connor Kenway until the end of Assassin's Creed 3, which ended with him being sacrificed to prevent an apocalyptic event.
Since Desmond's death, the modern-day portion of the overarching narrative has taken on a few different forms across multiple mainline games and Assassin's Creed spinoffs. In Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, players control a nameless, faceless protagonist who solves various minor puzzles in an Abstergo office, while Assassin's Creed Unity and Assassin's Creed Syndicate remove the interactivity of the modern-day sequences, presenting it exclusively through cutscenes. It wasn't until Assassin's Creed Origins that the series introduced Layla Hassan, another player-controlled, fully voiced character, although her inclusion is notably less significant than Desmond's.
All of this is to say that the modern-day aspects of the Assassin's Creed narrative lack cohesion, and it almost seems like an afterthought in some titles. During the Desmond Miles era, it seemed like Desmond himself was the only one capable of even accessing these ancestral memories, giving his character a sense of importance and intrigue. As the story went on, however, its sci-fi elements were amended so that just about anyone could jack into an Animus. Assassin's Creed Valhalla's ending hinted at Desmond returning to the franchise in some form, but it also seemingly got rid of Layla, showing how disposable many of these modern-day characters are.
How The Overarching Narrative Is Hurting Assassin's Creed
None of these changes to the modern-day narrative seem to have had any impact on the in-Animus, historical aspect of the franchise, which makes up the overwhelming majority of these games' content. Recent games in the series don't even touch on the modern-day elements of the story until several hours in, as the intriguing parts of the plot are typically only found in the (mostly) self-contained historical fiction segments that comprise the meat of Assassin's Creed. Assassin's Creed Valhalla's modern-day story took place almost entirely in one location, with the only new environment for Layla to visit being one that is reused from the Eivor campaign.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla offered stunning open world design and some interesting gameplay opportunities, but the game could have arguably been so much more had the development team not been distracted by the long-running Assassin's Creed narrative. The modern-day plot with Abstergo and the world-threatening events is getting a bit long in the tooth, and seems to be treated as more of an expected inclusion, a chore, than something that is enriching the franchise. If the Assassin's Creed series is a fine cut of steak, the connective, overarching series narrative is a chunk of fat that is forgettable at best and annoying at worst.
Where Assassin's Creed Could Go After Wrapping Up The Isu
Anyone who has played Assassin's Creed Valhalla might think that the franchise is ramping up to deliver more modern-day story content. After all, the ending of the most recent game tees up a number of new plot threads, even setting up some franchise-spanning Assassin's Creed characters for a new trilogy. However the series' narrative might be reaching a perfect place to wind down.
Basim and Kassandra coming to the modern world were both interesting twists, but the lines between the present day and past storylines are beginning to blur. This means that future games in the series can focus more on the personal narratives of these characters and others, rather than getting wrapped up in how current-era characters are going to leverage fictional technology to commune with mystical beings and prevent a coming apocalypse. Now that Assassin's Creed has developed a cast of beloved and iconic characters from different points in history, the series can put them at the center of more self-contained arcs like the rumored Assassin's Creed spin-off set in Baghdad. With AC Valhalla ending with another crisis being averted, it might be best for the next game in the series to close the book on the modern-day story and shift towards more focused, polished plots centered on the characters players love.
There are certainly fans of Assassin's Creed who are still interested in the long-running series narrative, but it seems like most of the attention (from both players and developers) is paid to the in-Animus, historical fiction plotlines. Characters like Kassandra, Eivor, and Basim are the ones that players are fond of, and Ubisoft should flesh out their stories while introducing new, interesting, historical action RPG content. If Assassin's Creed is able to do this, perhaps the narratives of these games can thrive once more.
