1. A Genius Modern-Day Plot Device
The following is a minor spoiler for what has happened to the post-Desmond present-day sections of the game. There no specific character or plot-spoilers, but if youd like to have this part of the game unveiled in your own time, then by all means do so. Anyway, hopefully the majority of you guys are still with me. So any who played the entirety of AC IIIs opening sequence will remember the How Dya Like Them Apples? Achievement, and what a brilliant moment that was. Well theyve essentially done it again, albeit without so much self back-patting. In a move that sees Ubisoft acknowledge just how asinine and ridiculous the Desmond sections of the game had become i.e. stopping the world from an impending apocalypse, dealing with glowing bits of futuristic technology that was actually from eons ago etc. whats been done here is to set the events of AC IVs real-world sections in...the real world! You now play essentially a game tester for Abstergo, who (in the game) make it clear they partnered with Ubisoft (again, in the game) to produce the Assassins Creed games based on the memories Desmond has produced. So whilst your wandering through your office, giant posters of Kenway adorn the walls, as do figures and memorabilia from the first games, much resembling the actual offices of Ubisoft at this stage I'm sure. Its a move that genuinely decimates the fourth wall, freeing up the studio to make games (in the game) that could deal with any time-period they see fit, and also allows the horrifically bad Desmond sections to finally be put to rest. Whilst I was genuinely impressed they managed to think of any way out of the ridiculous corner theyd backed themselves into with all the prophetic philosophical mumbo-jumbo, this is a solution that keeps gameplay intact, and still allows the actual studio full creative freedom of where the franchise goes from here. So what do you guys think? Have you picked up Assassin's Creed IV almost out of some sort of routine, or were you drawn to it for any of the reasons above? Maybe series-fatigue has settled in so much that youre waiting for a complete animation overhaul before getting stuck in again? Let us know in the comments!