A Look Inside the Massive World of Assassin’s Creed Unity
October 13, 2014It’s been four years in the making and on November 11th, Assassin’s Creed Unity will hit the shelves for all enthusiastic gamers to pick up.
With every game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, the plots get more in depth and the worlds expand exponentially. Travelling the high seas and exploring islands on foot and by ship in Black Flag were incredible, but Unity offers an even bigger experience.
In fact, it’s the largest they’ve ever built, and everything looks absolutely stunning. As we sat in on a walkthrough, one of the developers brought Arno up to a peak to view the entire city that seemed to stretch out forever into the horizon. Every single landmark can be explored and they have full interiors; of all the houses in Paris, one quarter of them have interiors as well.
How about Notre Dame? Simply put, it’s beautiful. The Anvil lighting engine that they used does wonders for the games atmosphere and the rays of light that stream through the huge strained glass windows of the cathedral. It took the development team eight months to design and perfect the building on an almost 1:1 scale.
But wait, there’s more! You can also take Arno into the sewers and the vast catacombs system that can be found underneath the Paris streets (if you dare). Down there you’ll come across some pretty unique side stories and other unusual things, but it’s a great place to hide out or travel through if you need a fast and sneaky escape. The heavy crowds in some areas make it easy to avoid suspicion and detection; some crowds even number in the thousands, and there is sometimes an opportunity for side missions among the civilians.
The developers have also made touring Paris easy; on the Xbox One just hit RT+B to parkour your way up or down buildings with ease. There are still the random bales of hay to offer you your “Leap of Faith” if that’s your preferred method of getting down to street level.
But what about the assassinations?
This time, you’ll have an opening cinematic before you set out on your merry way. This will give you pertinent information about your target, and why they’re a target in the first place. At the end of the cinematic, you’ll get a photo of your target so you know exactly who you are going after. Once the job is done, high profile assassinations will trigger another cinematic so you can learn more about what’s going on in the city that’s filled with chaos during the revolution.
The new crouch mechanics make it even easier to sneak up on a target undetected and avoid being seen by people who may be looking for you. This means you no longer have to hop from rooftop to rooftop to follow a target (though with the new parkour moves, it’ll be hard not to).
Lastly, we asked the developers about the present day; with Desmond long gone, will there be someone to take his place? Well, essentially you’ll play yourself, but that’s not to say the devs don’t have a couple of surprises up their sleeves…
With four years in development in Montreal and two spent in Toronto, a total of ten studios took on this game; a massive undertaking. But, rest assured, AC fans, this is the game you’ve been waiting for. It’s stunningly beautiful, well-scripted, and puts the technology of current-gen consoles to good use. You can pick up Assassin’s Creed Unity in stores November 11th.
