Editorial: Assassin’s Creed Origins and strawberry jam

Assassin’s Creed Origins and strawberry jam

          Last week we talked about how Ubisoft once again screwed the pooch when it came to the deluxe editions of Assassin’s Creed Origins. Today I thought it’d be fun to flip the script and look at how this very same game could have the potential to fix not only the exhausted Assassin’s Creed franchise, but also the notorious company it’s being made by.

          Assassin’s Creed is one of the biggest franchises that’s suffered from what I like to call Madden Syndrome. A series afflicted by said illness releases at least one game a year, has minimal to no changes to the formula whatsoever, and bares more than a passing resemblance in gameplay to the most recently released installment. While games by EA Sports (like NBA, FIFA and the previously mentioned Madden) can usually get away with this considering they need to update the real life rosters each year and, let’s be honest, nobody’s going to change the rules of basketball anytime soon, other companies have been cashing in on this annual release nonsense, with Ubisoft giving the same treatment to their golden goose franchise.

          This led to a mass of games featuring everyone’s favourite white-hooded hoodlums arriving in game stores every November. There were some winners in the bunch, such as the unanimously praised Black Flag, but what initially looked to be a promising franchise was quickly turning into a game series with each new installment becoming more and more similar to the last.

          Things reached a tipping point in 2014. Assassin’s Creed: Rogue failed to turn many heads, and people were really starting to grow tired of the now-stale formula the games had repeated. And then it all went horribly wrong. Assassin’s Creed Unity launched clearly unfinished and rushed out the door. Characters not rendering was considered a normality in the game, falling through the world was no real surprise, and many said that they never had a session with the game without encountering a bug or glitch of some kind. This was one of the first games to really drive home the point that pre-ordering games isn’t such a great idea.

          One more forgettable installment later, and in 2016 Ubisoft announced that the mainline Assassin’s Creed games would be taking the year off for the first time since 2008. Instead of being disappointed, most were pleased. Fans were glad that Ubisoft was taking their time with the next game, and others were just happy they didn’t have to deal with another one of these games exactly the same as the last one.

          So now we’ve arrived at present day, and Assassin’s Creed Origins looks like the most promising installment in the franchise since Black Flag took us to the high seas. This new installment seems to be taking inspiration from the franchise’s spiritual predecessor, Prince of Persia, instead of the more recent Creed games. Bosses appear to be a big focus this time around, a first for the franchise, including what look to be giant monsters inspired by Ancient Egyptian mythology. The setting way back at the dawn of Civilization in Egypt is also a much more creative setting than yet another old Renaissance-era city. If Ubisoft pulls this one off, this long-since exhausted franchise could find new life.

          And I think this variety is exactly what the company needs to pull itself out of the garbage hole it’s gotten so comfortable in and become a respectable company again. One of the biggest problems with Assassin’s Creed is that people got tired of the same game over and over and over again every year. Having this unique setting plus some cool tweaks to the gameplay is exactly what they need to get people excited for it again.

          It’s like going to the supermarket to buy jam. If you get tired of strawberry jam, you’ll stop buying strawberry jam. Maybe you’ll try raspberry or blueberry or grape instead. Ubisoft’s problem for years is that all they’ve been offering is strawberry jam to people sick and tired of it. Origins throwing series conventions out the window and trying something new is exactly the blueberry jam people have been wanting for years now.

Song of the Week

          Randy Dandy Oh – Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag