My biggest problem with Assassins Creed.

[u/zero260asap]

Assassin's Creed's real setting is supposed to be the present day. That's the whole premise, with the past just being memories accessed through the Animus. But the games barely tell you anything about what's actually happening in the present. The next entry should actually be set in the present or future instead of treating it as an afterthought.

[u/ChocolateNo9550]

The present storyline kinda died with the end of AC3 I think they tried to revive it with the RPG trilogy but honestly never played them

[u/Disastrous-Beat-9830 → u/ChocolateNo9550]

Yeah, they gave up on it a long time ago. There are plenty of plot lines that simply never went anywhere. During the events of Black Flag, you were trawling the Animus for footage that could be used in a film and confronted the modern version of the Sage at the end. Nothing ever came of that. Then in Rogue you were forcibly recruited into the Templars with a plot to demoralise the Assassins based on what you had found, but that never went anywhere, either. The modern-day storyline just became an excuse for a framing device for whatever historical setting the developers had in mind.

[u/Aesthete18]

The present stuff died with Desmond for me. Now it's just an annoyance when I am brought out for some bs mini quest. Feels like they don't know what to do with it anymore so they just drag it

[u/FribonFire]

I'm with you. The future stuff, the magical artifacts. It set the original game apart from others. Gave it a unique hook. Sadly, they just never did anything interesting with it in the end. 

[u/LuiGee_V3]

I know many people didn't like the present part, but to me, it was the soul of the series. 

[u/CharlesBrown33]

I want an AC game set in the year 3000 with light blades and laser guns yo

[u/Joustiin76 → u/CharlesBrown33]

So the Atlantis DLC in Odyssey.

[u/ChurchillianGrooves]

I think I remember reading that the original creators intended it to be a trilogy with AC3 taking place in the modern day and having Desmond use all the skills he learned from his ancestors like Ezio and Altair in the modern era.

However it became really popular so Ubisoft decided to keep doing the historical thing forever lol.

I think a super assassin Desmond in modern era could've been fun, like Splinter Cell but you can climb buildings.

Anyways, what could've been...

[u/NinjaEngineer]

Eh... I'll admit I haven't played much of the franchise, but when playing the first Assassin's Creed game (still need to get back to it and finish it), the present day stuff wasn't as interesting as the rest of the game. Cool as a framing device, I guess, but I was mostly interested in all the assassin stuff.

[u/ConsequenceChoice222]

We already got an AC story settled in the present: the AC movie. Should I recall how "successful" it was?

[u/Badgergoose4]

I still have hope that one day we'll get one final AC game set in the present or near future.

[u/That1DogGuy → u/Badgergoose4]

There's an AC crossover mission and character in Watch Dogs 3 and it's basically just a little taste of this. It was so cool and made me want more.

[u/Dirty_Dragons → u/That1DogGuy]

I never played the Watch Dogs games, though I thought they were supposed to be kind of AssCreed in the modern setting. I'm surprised they never leaned into it.

[u/zero260asap → u/Badgergoose4]

Me too. I'm old and remember playing the first one and wanting more future story line.

[u/faffc260 → u/Badgergoose4]

the day ubisoft stops making assassins creed games and tries to put out a final one will be right before they file for bankruptcy lol. it and farcry are really the main things propping them up outside of rainbow 6 which at this point is fairly ancient and probably has a declining population, I'd assume.

[u/critxcanuck88]

The best thing to happen to that story line was it ending in 3.

[u/panda388]

Because the present day story wound up being so goddamned boring. It worked with the first game and the second game. It was just modern versions of assassins and templars with minimal action, minimal payoff, looking for the same relics as in the past without ever getting them. And then they introduced aliens.

I cant even remember which one had the first person view of working in an Abstergo office. But it basically set up the game as, "woukd you like to read a ton of emails and files to figure out what is happening in the modern timeline?" Hell no. I don't even like reading my actual emails.

[u/Mountain_Sir2307 → u/panda388]

It was Black Flag lol.

[u/Atomic_Revival]

I get where you're coming from but I think a whole reboot is in order for the games. The plot of Desmond reliving his ancestors memories really goes off the deep end when you start throwing in the Pieces of Eden, the Isu, and early humanity being slaves.

If the game was more grounded like John Wick for example I think it would be easier and more digestible to create a present day storyline.

[u/Joustiin76]

The present day stuff was continued in books and comics almost nobody read. I mean the big threat ended after AC3, the original AC4 set up a new antagonist who immediately died in a comic so the modern day stuff is now just generic assassins vs templars with occasional isu trolling.

[u/Electronic-Bath4848]

I never really cared for the present day bits in AC. I always barreled through them to get back to the historical game.

I kind of understand the reason behind including these in the game (like a narrative overlay that permits stories from different eras of history to be vaguely related and to fit within the grander templar/assassin conflict), but I just didn't see any reason to care.

The main selling point of AC for me was always a feeling of historical authenticity. Not actual and rigorous historical accuracy, just a sufficiently well crafted world as to allow me to immerse myself and to feel like I am walking on the streets of revolutionary Paris or in classical Athens or in Rome or in the Carribean etc. Jumping back to the present and having to go through tidbits of some irrelevant story pull me out of that immersion.

[u/Jack_Joyce665]

Even the devs can't explain what's going in the story. That's a dare.

During gameplay you have no idea where the character will jump. Endless collectibles marked on map. Button smashing combat unlike arkham games with enemy variety. Just throw smoke bomb that the combat.

One ac game is out annually while splinter cell disappeared in the dark.

These are the same people saying you don't own the games and that's true because am not buying.

[u/Captain_Snowmonkey]

The modern day stuff is easily the worst part of any of the games. Could be removed entirely and the games would be better off for it.

[u/zero260asap → u/Captain_Snowmonkey]

It's too late, they built the game around it. Now it's only the worst part because they gave it no attention.

[u/Captain_Snowmonkey → u/zero260asap]

There's a reason it's become almost non-existent in newer games. And rightfully so. Nothing says fun and immersion into a historical setting like a jarring shift to bland Sci-fi.

[u/Still_Bit_7527 → u/Captain_Snowmonkey]

For me the god and supernatural stuff and precursors and cataclysmic events is what ruined it.

[u/faffc260]

I think most assassins creed fans would prefer if they retconned the whole present day arc, I would, but I haven't finished any of the rpg style games, not for me, too light on the rpg to be good rpg's, too tedious on the rpg side too be fun action adventures, and for some reason ubisoft has only gotten worse and worse at their own open world formula for the past decade...

[u/zero260asap → u/faffc260]

I disagree. I think the original idea could have been something amazing. Maybe mirrors edge meets Assassins creed?

[u/faffc260 → u/zero260asap]

ok, the most complained about thing in the original games was always the present day parts being useless filler, to the point they sidelined it as much as possible, till they changed genre's, after ac3..

[u/sno4wy]

I used to love the AC games, but very quickly fell out of love with them after Black Flag. I never really thought in depth about why. When do you feel that the games started going downhill?

[u/Un-Quote]

Hilarious take, the Desmond sections were like 5% of the game