What Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Co-Op Mode Should/Shouldn’t Take From Unity

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What Assassin's Creed Shadows' Co-Op Mode Should/Shouldn't Take From Unity

As a seasoned Assassin’s Creed player with years of stealthy exploits and historical explorations under my belt, I can’t help but feel a pang of nostalgia at the rumors of a co-op mode coming back to the franchise in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. While I’ve been through the trials and tribulations of the multiplayer systems in previous games, from the grandeur of Brotherhood to the disappointing Unity, I can’t help but hope that Ubisoft learns from their past mistakes to craft a truly immersive co-op experience this time around.

The anticipated release of “Assassin’s Creed Shadows”, set for February 2025, is said to revive an infrequently used aspect from the Assassin’s Creed series: cooperative play. Although delays have pushed its launch date back, whispers suggest that the co-op mode, code-named LEAGUE, was in development prior to the delay. Despite limited information about this mode, it is expected to be released after the game’s debut. Interestingly, Ubisoft might draw inspiration from their previous Assassin’s Creed game that included cooperative play, “Assassin’s Creed Unity”, to shape the co-op mode in Shadows, both positively and negatively.

The History of Assassin’s Creed Multiplayer Systems

From its beginnings, the game known as Assassin’s Creed was primarily created for a single-player experience, where players would stealthily traverse historical locations to find their targets. However, this single-player focus was only maintained until the third main installment in the series, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. This is when the franchise introduced a multiplayer mode for the first time, where players took on the role of modern-day Templars from Abstergo, using the Animus to practice assassination techniques, learn about genetic memory, and hone skills for taking down contemporary Assassins. This multiplayer feature was subsequently included in every Assassin’s Creed game until Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag.

In contrast to the series’ usual multiplayer format, Assassin’s Creed Unity opted for a more straightforward cooperative mode instead. The game’s promotional materials, such as its cover depicting four Assassins and its TV Spot trailer showcasing numerous Assassins roaming 18th-century France, emphasized this mode. Additionally, the E3 2014 Co-Op Demo for Unity demonstrated a smooth incorporation of four-player co-op within the game’s main storyline.

What Assassin’s Creed Shadows Should Take From Unity’s Co-Op Mode

In the absence of the free-for-all multiplayer from earlier Assassin’s Creed games, which was removed in Unity, the game provided an opportunity for players to join up with other gamers through cooperative matchmaking. This meant that even if a player’s friends were offline, they could still participate in cooperative missions. Ubisoft should aim to incorporate this cooperative matchmaking feature in Shadows as well. Regardless of the level or skill of players in Unity, the cooperative element enabled each participant to exhibit their unique custom Assassin character in multiplayer instead of just being duplicate versions of Arno. In this way, a single co-op mission might include an Assassin dressed in Altair’s outfit, one wearing Edward’s attire, and another sporting a custom yellow dye. Similarly, Shadows should enable players to showcase their personalized Naoe or Yasuke characters in cooperative sessions as well.

What Assassin’s Creed Shadows Shouldn’t Take from Unity’s Co-Op Mode

Although Assassin’s Creed Unity boasted an impressive marketing campaign, it encountered several issues with its cooperative mode from the start and continued throughout the game’s existence. For instance, each player in co-op played as individual versions of Arno instead of various Assassin characters as suggested in Unity’s trailers and cover artwork. Moreover, players couldn’t traverse France’s expansive open world or collaborate on the main storyline in cooperative play. Instead, cooperative play was confined to a handful of brief missions and heists whose narratives had minimal influence on Unity’s overall narrative, with rewards mainly consisting of money to acquire additional cosmetics. To add to these problems, cooperative matches were often plagued by glitches such as players becoming trapped in certain areas while waiting to be revived.

As an avid fan, I fondly remember the collaborative adventure presented in Unity, but it was clear that Ubisoft had to part ways with this feature, making Unity the last mainline Assassin’s Creed game to offer multiplayer. If by chance, Assassin’s Creed Shadows introduces a co-op mode after its release, I fervently suggest Ubisoft dedicates ample time to thoroughly test and refine it to avoid the disappointing glitches that marred Unity’s co-op experience.

Up until now, just five main installments of the Assassin’s Creed series have incorporated multiplayer modes. These include Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Assassin’s Creed 3, Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, and Assassin’s Creed Unity.

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2024-10-11 22:38