The whole history is Ubisoft's canvas, so what about Assassin's Creed V: The Third Reich?
The next gen is less than a month away and from what I am foreseeing this will not be really a console war, PS4 vs Xbox One (even thought the fanboys will b*tch about for years to come), but a war between games and publishers for supremacy. Both of the next gen consoles are great and have some amazing features and many more will be added in the future, so really there is no point in trashing and bashing either one of them.
What I am foreseeing is a war between games and publishers for supremacy. Black Flag just released and I have seen some reviews on Youtube and I don't know what to make of it. I kinda like the pirate theme, gameplay tweaks, new features, the improved naval system, but I feel it kinda lost what made all of the other Assassin's Creed games very interesting: the intriguing story, the conspiracies, Templars vs Assassins, world domination, shedding some new light on the historical events and figures with that sweet Assassin's Creed coating.
Now I haven't played Black Flag yet, so I may be totally wrong about everything, but my copy should arrive really really soon and I'll see what's all the deal with the Absergo Entertainment, conspiracies and such.
But enough about Black Flag, this is an article about what I want from the next Assassin's Creed game. Now people over forums, discussion boards and comment section give their opinion about the setting of the next Assassin's Creed game. Some like medieval Japan or China, some the French revolution, some ancient Egypt, some an American Wild West setting and I can see how some of these can work for an Assassin's Creed game and some sound really stupid. I mean medieval Japan, really? Ancient Egypt? What the f*ck would you do in those places during those time periods? Or better ask, do you know any historical figures that can be tied in the story? Emperor Fukuwhatever and Faraoh Tutanoonecares? Also think about the gameplay elements? Chase down Templars riding camels? Be part of the slaves building the pyramids? Drink sake and draw circles with a rake on your Zen garden? Hmmm, now that I think about the possibilities a ancient Egypt has like ride camels into battle, climb the pyramids, liberate slaves, hide under the sand and jump kill enemies...that sounds awesome! But if you think one of these setting would perfectly fit in the AC universe, leave a comment down below explaining why.
Now I've been thinking about this possible setting for quite some time now and when I saw the image one very talented Deviantart user made I thought "Damn they should do that if they aren't already". I am talking about an Assassin's Creed game set during WW2. Think about it: Nazis, Hitler, conspiracies, Hitler's assassination attempts (20 or so), freaky alien/paranormal shit the Nazis were into, world domination ideology etc. In a past Assassin's Creed, I don't remember in which correctly, during one of the "seeing signs on the walls using Eagle Vision and finding the hidden thing" sequences whatever it was called, I saw Hitler holding a Apple of Eden so I think an Assassin's Creed game with him has been in Ubisoft's mind for a long time. There is a ton of material to work with and there is probably a limitless number of possibilities where the geniuses at Ubisoft can take it. Down here I will list some ideas of my own that could totally work within the boundaries of the fiction.
As I previously said I have not played Black Flag and I don't know how they continue the story ****SPOILERS**** of the very pissed Juno at the end of Assassin's Creed 3, what happens next, what are the repercussions of Desmond's actions, the fate of the world etc. And after seeing a couple of review for Black Flag where no one even mentioned it, I don't know what to make of it. Maybe they abandoned it, forgot about it, didn't care about it or they could have totally explained it in Black Flag. Now we know that there are currently 2 or maybe 3 other Assassin's Creed games in development cause they said so and we know that Ubisoft said they are thinking of ending the series, but we also know that they may "merge" the Assassin's Creed universe with another game or IP they have and that got me thinking. Currently Ubisoft has quite a few games that might "merge" quite nicely with the AC universe. They've got Splinter Cell, Far Cry (which I have some cool ideas of how this merging might work, but that's for another article), Watch Dogs, The Division and who the hell knows what other sweet ace they got up their sleeves. Splinter Cell might work, but that franchise is more bound to "reality" than the other ones, so that's a no. Far Cry well, yes ( for another time). Watch Dogs, open world, badass vigilante dude, very skillfull, CtOS, war for control, hell yes. But I also think The Division would be also perfect for the "merge" with AC universe and I will explain it down below. Now please understand that this is a work of my fiction, there are no rumors, nothing from Ubisoft, only a work of my imagination.
We very little about The Division's story, a deadly virus spreads on Black Friday and decimates the human population. That's why the group called "The Division" emerges and their task is to "save what remains". Going back to how Assassin's Creed might follow up or "merge with it": The Assassins find that the origin of the virus dates back in WW2 and I think you understand what happens next.
That connection I made above works (at least in my imagination), but enough speculation about with which other universe can the AC one work. Lets speculate about the possible storylines of what I like to call Assassin's Creed V: The Third Reich can have. First, Hitler and the Nazis are the Templars who want world domination and you as an Assassin have to stop them. This works, but it's too easy, not very intriguing and not very Assassin's Creed-y. But what about this, what if the Nazis are the third "group" which contain both renegade Assassin's and Templars from both factions and these two factions, Assassins and Templars, join forces to stop them? For me this works and has that Assassin's Creed feel to it. Also another thing I am thinking about is having two protagonists, GTAV style, one from each of the factions who work together to bring the Nazis down. How does this sound?
Or Ubisoft can go as crazy as possible and raise a shit ton of controversy, making the Nazis the good guys or at least your character an ex-Nazi. Or ( and this is the craziest thing they could do**) they could make Hitler just the "fall guy", the scapegoat of the Templar's conspiracy to conquer the world through war economy. Or they could go "alternate history" altogether like they did in "The Tyranny of King Washington".** These are some of my ideas and I think that the excellent team of writers over at Ubisoft can come up with something way way cooler that these plausible storylines.
The possibilities are endless, the whole history is their canvas. I started this article by saying this will be a war between games for supremacy and what I meant by that is Ubisoft and all of the other developers/publisher should go big or go home. This motto, I think should be the motto for next gen games, "Go Big or Go Home". Rockstar Games changed everything with GTAV and that scared a shit ton of devs and publishers, Ubisoft and Kojima being among them. The scale of GTAV is immense, probably is the best game I have ever played and to think it's on current gen...that blows my mind. I cannot wait to see what they come up next.
Ubisoft got scared and delayed, probably one of the most anticipated next gen launch titles, Watch Dogs cause and I quote: "We needed to take the extra time to polish and fine tune every detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience." I totally get it and there is no shame in what they did. They hyped and sold Watch Dogs as an "open world game", but we didn't really see that on trailers, previews etc. I doubt Aiden can go to a strip club or go home and watch TV while smoking a joint or go pick up cows with a bulldozer etc. I think it was as "open world" as Mafia 2 was, open world but extremely limited in terms of activities and things to do. Still Watch Dogs looks fantastic and it's premise is fu*king amazing. So with Watch Dogs out of the picture the only game that can "compete" with GTAV in terms of content and stuff to see or to do is an Assassin's Creed game.
First thing, it must be only next-gen, this way they can go all in since the power of Xbox One, PS4 and PC is immense and there is no point in limiting cause of "shitty" current gen. Second thing, it must be big, really really big in both terms of content,map size, everything. I want to see and travel to at least four big cities like Rome, London, Paris and Berlin and all of the cities between them. Is it possible? Well, when I see The Crew map size, I think so, but if I take in consideration that everything should be climbable, that might not be possible. It also needs a new (or two) epic character(s) to be remembered for years to come like Ezio, with interesting and dark background stories. Parkour should return cause that's the essence of an Assassin's Creed game, but I think it's time to say goodbye to the sword/axe combat (or have it, but not as the main system) and say hello to guns. We see that they are trying to implement this system already in Black Flag with free aiming of pistols and other weapons. Also they should dial down the annoying and out of place and logic side missions. Collecting flying pieces of paper or tailing people to eavesdrop the conversation...ughh. Cars, hell yes. Airplanes and parachutes, hell yes. New experimental equipment and gadgets, hell yes. We know that the Nazis where into freaky shit and created some unique tech back in the day and that should be present in the game. Activities, they probably should include as much as they can that fit the time and setting. Battles, f*ck yes! In AC3 they said that the engine, Anvil Next, could render up to 2000 characters at once in current-gen, but in next-gen? OMG... There is also a ton of other things that they could do and add (but I can't think of any more right now cause I got to excited writing this) to make things interesting for at least 70 hours of single player (or more!). There was a game that I really enjoyed that practically was an Assassin's Creed wanabe called The Saboteur. It had some cool mechanics and some neat ideas, but it had also a ton of flaws. Check it out, it's worth the time.
Also they need to redesign the whole multiplayer part. It has been the same thing since Brotherhood and quite frankly it is not that interesting to play, it get really boring really quickly. Maybe add Free Roam 24 players GTA Online style, even though I have no idea how that might work. But the important thing is for them to do something new, not the same thing over and over again and expect different results each time.
So do you agree with my opinion of where should the next Assassin's Creed game should take place? If you have any more ideas regarding Assassin's Creed V: The Third Reich or just Assassin's Creed V, we would love to hear them.
