How Assassin's Creed Syndicate reinvents stealth and combat in the series
Combat and stealth have gotten a whole new makeover for the latest Assassin's Creed.
We've broken up our preview into two parts. If you want our spoiler-free impression of the combat, keep reading. Check out part two for a full run-down of the story, setting and characters in Syndicate.
In addition to bringing the franchise to an all-new location with a new set of heroes, Assassin's Creed Syndicate is retooling the franchise's long-standing combat system.
It's clear that developer Ubisoft Quebec has invested much in its vision of 1868 London, creating a world that is as boisterous as protagonists Jacob and Evie Frye. Players will explore the city's seven boroughs, overthrowing opposing crime lords and building an underground Assassin-led network hellbent on destroying Templar control. It's the first title in the series set in the modern era, giving developers a perfect opportunity to modernize the game's systems as well.
Feeding back into the new stealth mechanics, creative director Marc-Alexis Cote noted that navigation has been developed to be smoother in order to accommodate the removal of cover-based sneaking and the addition of new items like the rope launcher. Cote also noted that, after complaints about windows being too hard to move over and into in Unity, windows in Syndicate have been retooled for smoother use. You'll also be able to climb up more things; chimneys, for one, offer an excellent point from which to get a great view of the city.
During a presentation of the game, I watched protagonist Jacob climb up one such chimney to get a good look at his next objective. As the camera turned to take in the white beacon shooting into the sky that indicated his next mission, I saw St. Paul's Cathedral in the distance. Nearer, the factory district was crowned in black smoke, a tiny forest of black chimneys poking into the sullen sky. After one last look Jacob took a leap of faith into a cart full of hay, then trotted out on his way to a brawl.
As for combat, everything has been brought into close quarters. Syndicate focuses on melee combat, with Jacob and his street gang pulling enemies into fist fights on the city streets. The birth of organized crime saw the uptick in use of concealed weapons, making Jacob's arsenal the perfect set of tools for the time. Combat is no less brutal than in previous games, but bringing fights between you and your enemies closer allows for some seriously cool-looking fast-paced skirmishes. It also shifts the initiative from the AI to the player; you won't be expecting them to react to you sniping a target or have to wait for them to take turns attacking. Multiple enemies can converge on Jacob simultaneously, making brawls more about crowd control than taking out everyone. Opponents can be stunned or manipulated into taking one another out for you -- this is where throwing knives into fire sources can spark fights among your enemy groups. It's a significantly greater test of the player's reflexes than it has been in previous games.
Another promising feature is the reworking on all side activities. Rather than have certain fetch quests or mini-missions to gather items or do something frivolous, every activity within the game -- every main quest mission and side mission -- will feed back into your goal of controlling the city. That means everything you do has some impact, in some small way, on what you're striving to accomplish. The storyline and the sidequests will intertwine as one, developers say, creating a smooth experience that doesn't throw any curveballs that break you out of the narrative.
Recruitment goals are back as well, because your ultimate goal is to build Jacob's underground army of the poor and scrappy of London. Once you've amassed followers, you can participate in gang wars, giant group brawls that take up whole city blocks and soak the cobblestones in blood. The leaders of the boroughs -- Templars, of course -- will notice when you take over one of their strongholds and show up with their minions to challenge you.
During the presentation, I watched Bloody Nora -- the badass leader of one of the boroughs -- hunt down Jacob and challenge him to a fight. As she drew her gun to shoot Jacob down in cold blood, his sister Evie, materializing seemingly from nowhere on a rooftop, shot the gun out of Nora's hand with her rope launcher, prompting Nora to call her gang to her aid.
For more details on Assassin's Creed Syndicate, read up on everything GameSpot knows so far.