Assassin's Creed Syndicate Hands On and Chat With Game Director Scott Phillips

Ubisoft brought Assassin’s Creed Syndicate to EB Expo in a big way, first up was the massive coach sitting in the middle of their booth, with Jacob and Evie Fry around it, then there was the insane number of consoles that had the game playable on it and to top it off, the games director Scott Phillips was in town to help build more hype for the game.

I was lucky enough to be able to play a new section of the game and this time it was Evie that I took control of as she went about the task of assassinating Lucy Thorne. One of the things I noted right away was just how many options were presented to me. Upon arriving at the dock near the castle I was set to infiltrate, there were people milling about doing a variety of tasks and when I put my hood on right in front of them, they stopped and started to question what was going on. It was a nice sign of things to come.

Game Director Scott Phillips explained that the choice by London was by setting in 1868, they were able to bring in modern elements like vehicles, though powered by horses and the advent of rifles and other modern equipment. It also changed up the dynamic of the game as people no longer walked around the world with swords hanging from their hips, weapons like that need to be hidden and items such as brass knuckles became a favourite of the criminal type. By choosing a more modern setting than in the past, the team was able to shake up the gameplay that people had come complacent with.

Back in the game, I used a carriage to get closer to the destination I was meant to reach and upon climbing in it, I was hidden from my enemies and able to still move around the city, something not available to do before. Once I reached my vantage point, a cutscene swept the area, showing various points of interest which would help me get inside and to my target. At E3 I played as Jacob and now as Evie I did notice they played differently from one another and I asked why there were two main characters this time. By offering up two characters they were able to provide two different sides of the same tale, Jacob a more headstrong character and Evie and more strong minded one, were able to help tell a story in a way never done before.

Jacob and Evie are brother and sister and if you have one of those, you will know there is a banter, a sense of mockery that transpires between them, these characters are no different. Evie is the more serious of the two, but is able to see the larger picture and of Jacob, he is the more relatable fool, but still someone that can be relied upon in times of crisis. Once my options were laid out before me, I was able to make my way down to the ground level and set about choosing one. I ended up helping a guard who noticed that there was another guard who was not a real one, upon hearing his request, he offered to assist me in getting inside.

But before he would do that, there was a matter of other fake guards knowing who he was and if they were allowed to roam the plan would not work. So I went about the task of eliminating those guards, which resulted in my being spotted by other guards and that then lead to a mighty chase are the manor grounds. Eventually, after disabling a few guards and avoiding a lot of the others, I was able to take out the fake guards and have my ally lead me inside.

It was here that I was shown, the first new method of sneaking around, fake capture, which was quite easy, Evie had her arm held behind her, but was still leading the direction they were moving in, as long as I did not try to rush them, the guards would believe I was captured. After navigating the inside of the manor, I was brought before Lucy Thorne, who did the typical bad guy thing of demanding I speak, I waited and because of the way I approached the mission, I was given a prompt to attack when her and her guards were not focused upon myself.

What really surprised me here, is with every single other game, when someone dies they long to confess their sins, telling you one final piece of the puzzle, which in turn helps your character out, here though, Lucy out right refused. It really shocked me, as I had expected something to happen as it had in past games, but it didn’t and having had time to think about it, the change is a good thing.

I asked Scott, what it meant for Toronto to be the lead studio on this latest main version of Assassin’s Creed, a job that has been held by Montreal up until now. He said the entire studio was excited at the chance to bring their own flavor to the series, they had worked upon sections of the other games in the past, so they know some parts really well, but being the lead studio, meant they were able to bring their own ideas to the front more and now have other studios bring their talents to bare, such as a studio that has had a lot of practice with driving games, working on the horse and carriage elements.

In this game, Alexander Graham Bell is your Di Vinci, the man who helps by creating and upgrading the gadgets that you will need to be a successful assassin. Most people will know Bell as the man who created the Telephone, the original style of course, but he also specialized in hydrofoils and aeronautics. For Scott and his team, it was a chance to take a person most people know, but show them in a new light and with all the experiments that Bell was involved with, there is a lot of potential there for some really fun mechanics. The conversation then switched to the modifications players can expect regarding the multiplayer, app integration and such, this year there is none of that at all.

Last year Unity suffered from an overabundance of chests and in game prompts that asked you to connect to the companion App that was available for the game, for Syndicate the team have worked to ensure that none of that is present, which means if you find some goodies in the game, then you will be able to collect in the game. Multiplayer, which has become a staple of the series over the years is also something that is gone, rather than split the focus, the team wanted to ensure they were delivering the most polished and comprehensive Assassin’s Creed game they could, so players could have as much fun as possible.

This brought up the question of performance, as last year Unity did have some issues and again Scott was adamant that the team back at Ubisoft Toronto and the other studios around the world are working as hard as they can to ensure the game meets the expectation of players. That is also another reason that the other elements have been removed, by choosing to focus on the core game, they are hoping to release a game that exceeds the previous games wherever possible.

As I wrapped up my chat, I wanted to know what Scott’s biggest win was, the one thing that made it into the game that he was proudest of and for him it was the game world itself, the stealth gameplay, combined with the new AI system. Enemies will no longer just give up, they will look and search as if they were really looking, the denizens of the world will also react more intuitively to what is happening around them, weather that be directly through player actions or a byproduct of those same actions. The horses will behave like horses are expected to, while you can tell them to go, if they are startled they may break away causing chaos, which will again lead to different results depending on how the AI chooses to react.

I have played Assassin’s Creed Syndicate twice now, both times finding new things to like about the game and sadly somethings to worry about, but that split is really 98/2. Scott and his team and the studios worldwide are really working hard to do something new for the series and I like it, time will tell if pays off, but so far things are on the up and up.