TheAssassin’s Creedfranchise has evolved quite a bit over the last 15 years, debuting as a somewhat simplistic action-stealth game, turning into a more open-ended, story-focused series, and eventually becoming an expansive open-world adventure franchise that takes players on 100-hour long campaigns through some of history’s most iconic eras. But whileAssassin’s Creedhas come a long way, some fans long for a return to the franchise’s simpler roots, and it seems as thoughAssassin’s Creed Invictusmay just offer that.
Announced during the recent Ubisoft Forward Showcase a few months ago,Assassin’s Creed Invictusis set to be the first standalone multiplayer game in the franchise. Aside from the game being playable through thelive-serviceAssassin’s Creed Infinityplatform, not much is known aboutInvictus, though some fans are hoping that it borrows multiplayer elements from previous entries in the franchise, in particular,Assassin’s Creed Unity’s co-op game mode.
RELATED:Assassin’s Creed: What is The Grey, Explained
What Assassin’s Creed Invictus Should Take From AC Unity’s Multiplayer
Unlike past multiplayer modes in the franchise,Assassin’s Creed Unity’s mode was solely focused on cooperative gameplay. InUnity, up to four players could squad up together to free-roam their way around the game’s masterfully recreated version of 1790s Paris, scavenging for a range of collectibles along the way, and getting up to all sorts of Assassin shenanigans. But the real meat and potatoes ofAssassin’s Creed Unity’s co-op multiplayer modewere its missions and heists.
Assassin’s Creed Unity’s co-op missionsgave players essentially a new campaign to work through, complete with cutscenes, unique characters, and a story that connected each mission together, albeit quite loosely. These missions had a few different objectives, though most of them boiled down to killing x number of guards before a time limit, or recovering a chest and escorting it out of the enemy territory. Heists, on the other hand, were large-scale scenarios that saw up to four players attempt to steal a large amount of cash from a stronghold. These heists really ramped up the difficulty, throwing a ton of enemies and obstacles at the players, and every time guards were alerted, that cash pool would decrease.
Assassin’s Creed Unity’s heists added a surprising amount of depth to the game’s co-op component and really honed in on the franchise’s stealth elements, which can occasionally be forgotten about in favor of action set-pieces. These heist missions forced players to take their time, coordinate their attacks, and make the very most of their limited arsenal of weapons and gadgets. Strategy was key to doing well inAssassin’s CreedUnity’s heist missions, and that same premise should be carried over toAssassin’s Creed Invictus.
WhileAssassin’s Creed Unity’s co-op multiplayer could be a real blast, it was far from perfect, and there’s plenty thatAssassin’s Creed Invictusshould improve upon if it borrowed the general formula. For a start,AC Invictusneeds to make heists actually worthwhile. Though a large cash payout was a nice reward inUnity, it wasn’t really worth the effort or time, with large amounts being readily available elsewhere. To make heists worthwhile,Invictusshould add loot-based rewards to its hypothetical heists, such as new armor, weapons, and gadgets. On top of this,Invictus' potential co-op mode should ensure that its mission objectives are much more varied thanUnity’s, and that they require a little more thought and planning to succeed.Assassin’s Creed Unityoffered a co-op multiplayer experience like no other game in the franchise, and fans would go mad for a similar, but improved mode inAssassin’s Creed Invictus.
