Assassin's Creed: The Wasted Open-World

Parkour, Treasure Hunts And Assassinations, Oh My!

Fans of the Assassin’s Creed franchise will agree that the games just perfectly scratch that completionist itch. If gamers want to roam an expansive map, snatch up collectables and watch their 100% ranking creep ever closer --all while having a lot of fun-- these games have been at the forefront of that.

In Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Victorian London was open to explore. In Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, various islands around the Caribbean made for beautiful, varied backdrops for rewarding pillaging. These are just two examples of the series’ long-held tradition for liberating, high-octane, collectables-aplenty gameplay.

What was so important about these earlier adventures was that the player wasn’t simply running from waypoint to waypoint on an empty map to grab said secrets. Climbing, swinging and parkour-ing to the top of a building in order to activate that Synchronize spot felt enjoyable, like players were achieving something in the process.

At the same time, though, the fact that almost all these things were clearly marked on the map did devalue the hunt a little. As in Marvel’s Spider-Man, the sheer joy of controlling these nimble characters was undercut by the fact that players were simply going through the motions in order to tick a side-objective off a list.