Radio Towers, And Other Mechanics Ubisoft Popularized In Gaming

by

Ubisoft has been making games since the late 1990s, and over the years, they’ve significantly shaped the video game industry. They’ve become so well-known that many games, even those made by other companies, now share a recognizable ‘Ubisoft Style.’ When people say a game follows the ‘Ubisoft formula,’ they mean it includes certain features and gameplay elements that have become closely associated with their development approach.

These concepts quickly gained widespread appeal, leading developers across various game genres to adopt them, aiming to create more enjoyable and user-friendly experiences. Predictably, Ubisoft consistently includes these elements in its new games. But what specific ideas did Ubisoft introduce, and why have they become so common throughout the gaming industry?

Radio Towers

Clear Out The Fog Of War To Get A Better Look At The Environment

  • The Game That Popularized It: Far Cry 3

Early open-world games faced a challenge: how to make the world feel mysterious and exciting without immediately showing players everything on the map. Many developers eventually adopted a solution popularized by Ubisoft’s *Far Cry 3*: radio towers. These towers encourage players to climb to a high vantage point, where they can survey the surrounding area and discover weapons, enemy locations, and interesting places nearby.

This design choice allowed the developers to keep the game map a mystery at the start, enhancing the feeling of discovery. Instead of the game telling players where to go, it encourages them to explore and find things on their own. This “radio tower” system – where players unlock map sections by finding towers – has become incredibly popular, with many other open-world games like *Atomfall*, *Horizon Zero Dawn*, and *Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth* using similar mechanics.

Parkour Movement

Everyone Wanted To Vault Over Walls And Climb Up Towers Like Altair

  • The Game That Popularized It: Assassin’s Creed

Honestly, making characters move realistically in games was already a huge challenge for developers. But then Ubisoft really upped the ante. They were messing around with parkour-style movement way back in *Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time* – lots of running on walls to get around! But it was the first *Assassin’s Creed* in 2007 that *really* blew up the idea of parkour in games. Instead of just walking around, you could control Altair and have him leap, climb, and vault all over the place, and he never even seemed tired! It made even those simple side missions way more fun just because of how fluid and cool the movement felt.

A year after Prince of Persia, Mirror’s Edge came out, proving that the idea of using parkour in games was gaining popularity. More recently, Dying Light also uses parkour to create fast-paced, exciting gameplay. While not every game does it as smoothly as the Assassin’s Creed series, it’s still a really enjoyable experience for players to move around the game world in such a dynamic and fun way.

Naval Combat

Ubisoft Struck Gold With Its Ship Combat In Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag

  • The Game That Popularized It: Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag

Whenever a new game includes ship battles, people immediately wonder if it will be as good as *Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag*. That game set the standard for fun and realistic ship combat. Before *Black Flag*, many thought ship battles would be slow and uninteresting. But Ubisoft proved them wrong, creating a system that was easy to learn, engaging to play, and allowed players to fully customize their ships.

After its release, the thought of commanding a ship across the ocean and engaging in naval battles became much more appealing to gamers. Games like *World of Warships*, *War Thunder*, and the recent *Yakuza* pirate adventure all include combat at sea that strongly resembles what players experienced in *Black Flag*. This isn’t a negative – if something works well, there’s no need to change it.

Attention To Sound In Online Shooters

Siege’s Intimate Style Of Gameplay Puts The Audio Front And Center

  • The Game That Popularized It: Rainbow Six Siege

For a long time, sound design wasn’t a major focus in online shooting games. That changed with the release of Ubisoft’s *Rainbow Six Siege* in 2015. Unlike faster-paced shooters, *Siege* is slower and more strategic. Because players carefully move through buildings to surprise opponents, sound is crucial. Listening for footsteps and other noises helps players gather information and gain an advantage.

This makes the game much more intense, and many other online shooters have copied this feature since Siege came out. Players who pay close attention to sound in games like Valorant and Fortnite can gain a significant edge, letting them surprise enemies before they’re spotted.

‘Sixth Sense’ Vision

Many Video Game Protagonists Will Be Able To View The World From Their Own Unique Viewpoint

  • The Game That Popularized It: Assassin’s Creed

The original *Assassin’s Creed* game introduced a helpful feature called Eagle Vision to simplify finding targets. It would clearly mark characters as either friendly (green) or hostile (red). Despite its simplicity, this feature proved so useful for eliminating enemies that it has been included in every *Assassin’s Creed* game since, and has inspired similar mechanics in many other games developed by different companies.

Many games use special modes to help players find enemies or gather information. For example, The Last of Us has a ‘Listen Mode’ that lets players see through walls, and the Batman Arkham series features ‘Detective Mode’ which does something similar. Cyberpunk 2077 also uses this idea, offering a way to learn about enemies – including their weaknesses and even a bit of their history – before engaging them.

Enemy Tagging System

Spot Targets From Afar To Keep Track Of Enemy Movements

  • The Game That Popularized It: Far Cry 3

In Far Cry 3, players explore a large open world and will encounter enemy camps that they need to capture to earn experience and advance the story. While rushing in with weapons is an option, the game strongly encourages players to use their camera to identify and mark enemies before entering the camp, allowing them to keep track of their positions. Though it briefly pulls you out of the moment, this system proved incredibly popular and is now a common feature in many stealth-based games.

Games like *Metal Gear Solid 5* let players mark enemies – in that game, Kaz frequently reminds Big Boss to scan for targets to stay hidden and succeed. This isn’t limited to stealth games, though. Popular online shooters like *Apex Legends* and *Overwatch* also use systems to alert teammates to nearby enemies, often called ‘pinging.’ This enemy-tagging feature has shown up in many games, and it’s become so common that it’s likely to remain a staple of game design for a long time.

Read More

2025-09-22 10:35