The next flagship entry in the long-running Assassin’s Creed franchise is Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, previously known through content leaks as Assassin’s Creed Victory.
In accordance with the series’ evolution through the ages, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate brings the franchise into the modern era.
Throughout and since its reveal, we’ve learned tons of new information about the game and had a closer look at what’s to the come from the sneaky franchise.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate conveys some serious atmosphere in this screenshot.
1. Two playable characters
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate’s demo only gave us a brief look at the franchise’s new hero, Jacob Frye, but players will also be given control of Jacob’s sister, Evie Frye.
Born in a small town just outside of London, these twin assassins were raised to follow the Creed. Together, the Fryes head to London with the ultimate goal of taking it back from Templar control.
Great as that may sound in theory, they both have very different ideas on how to go about this – where Evie is tactical and resourceful, Jacob is brutal and impulsive.
The twins will have to use their unique skills to unite the London underworld under one banner and remove the stain the Templars have left on the great city, because whoever controlled London during the Industrial Revolution controlled the world.
Jacob Frye is easily one of the most interesting protagonists of late.
2. An overpopulated, diverse London
At the beginning of the 19th century, London’s population was around one million people. By the time the 20th century rolled around, it had skyrocketed to roughly six million people.
There was huge progress and innovation, of course. But there were also extremely harsh working conditions, child labor, appalling hygiene and sanitation.
When the twins arrive in London, they are seeing everything for the very first time. They have never been to this city before and must learn all of its secrets alongside the player.
As you travel through each of the areas of London, you’ll not only be able to see and hear a difference in your surroundings, you’ll also feel it in the way you interact with your surroundings.
In a wealthy area like Westminster (where you’ll find Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey), the streets will be crawling with police. You’ll need to take your fights into the dark alleys of the city in order to avoid their watchful eyes.
But if you head over into Whitechapel, for example, rampant crime has practically caused the police to abandon the area. If you hijack someone’s carriage and kill a few enemy gang members, chances are no police will be around to catch you.
Stealth is the one thing we doubt Ubisoft could get wrong at this point, but there’s definitely room for improvement.
3. Gangs of London
In order to take on this massive city, Jacob and Evie are going to need an army.
On their journey to wrestle control from the Templars, the twins will unite the street gangs of London under a single banner, the Rooks. The Rooks will be the Fryes’ ears, eyes and blades in the deadly underworld.
Assassins Creed Syndicate’s demo saw Jacob taking on a hideout where the Templar-controlled Blighters are hiding out.
Once you clear enough of the enemy gang members out of a district and remove their influence, their their Templar leaders will ambush you and challenge you to a Gang War.
You’ll face off in iconic locations in one final struggle for control over the district.
Take out the Templar gang leader (in the demo, this gang leader was a rough-and-tumble woman called Bloody Nora) and the district will belong to the Rooks.
Gang wars is an interesting prospect, certainly, but it’ll all come down to the execution.
4. Stealth and brutality is the name of the game
Gone are the good ol’ days where you could walk down the streets with a sword at your side and no one would bat an eye. Concealment is now key.
In the world of organized crime, it’s smarter to hide your advantage until the moment of attack.
Combat is more about getting in close and fighting dirty. In order to support this brutal new style, the Assassins will need some more clever weapons: weapons like the brutish brass knuckles and the compact revolver, or the gentleman’s cane sword and the exotic kukri knife.
These fiercely efficient weapons come together to form the perfect arsenal for an Assassin in the Industrial Revolution.
Ubisoft has almost certainly borrowed a number of ideas from the Batman Arkham series.
5. An Assassin’s Toy Box
The world of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is like no world you’ve ever seen in the franchise. Carriages fill the streets, which in turn need to be made much wider to support the new traffic flow.
The buildings are taller than ever and dense crowds pack the sidewalks. You’ll need some help getting around the city. That’s where the introduction of the rope launcher comes in.
A new addition to the Assassin gauntlet, the rope launcher will propel you to new heights at a faster pace or even let you create a zipline between buildings and avoid the streets altogether.
The rope launcher can be used at any time, on any building and becomes a very powerful tool in the hands of either Jacob or Evie.
The Assassin’s gauntlet is getting cooler and cooler with every game.
6. Fancy a ride?
Why walk when you can ride in style? Any carriage you see on the busy streets of London can be yours. Yes, even if they are already occupied.
You can knock someone out of the driver’s seat or hide in the actual carriage itself to escape from your pursuers.
In the recent demo, Jacob hijacks a carriage to chase after a fleeing target, but is quickly noticed by the local police.
After his carriage begins to take too much damage, he makes a daring leap into another nearby vehicle and neatly kicks the driver out before continuing his chase.
Of course, if you can do all of this, you can be sure your enemies can as well. They’re able board your ride and rip you right out of your seat for a good old fashioned brawl on the roof of the carriage.
Square off against your foes or leap to the relative safety of another carriage top, performing an intricate dance over the vehicles of London.
Horsies!
7. Bat-sassin?
As Jacob enters a restricted area in the demo, he slips effortlessly into stealth mode, whipping off his stylish top hat and pulling up the familiar hood of his brethren.
He uses his rope launcher to rapidly propel himself to a nearby rooftop and get a quick layout of the guards in the area, much like that of Batman in the Arkham series.
From there, he locks onto a guard patrolling another rooftop, sends a zipline out over the guards head and quietly moves into place above him, before dropping down off the rope and effortlessly silencing the watchman.
After that, it’s a matter of working his way through the base and freeing imprisoned recruits for the Rooks.
Down on the ground level, Jacob can swiftly slide into cover and make his way through enemy territory.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate moves away from the hard snap cover function of Unity in favor of a more modern, softer snap to give the players a more natural transition from stealth to navigation.
Remember what we said about the Batman Arkham series before…
Is there anything you’re keen on testing for yourself, or are you done with the franchise? Let us know.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate launches on 23 October 2015 on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
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