Assassin's Creed Victory: The Game That Could Have Been

[@ActuallyAlask]

I wish for once we would get a protagonist who was actually brooding, dark, and gritty. These characters are murderers. Some of them BRUTALLY kill without remorse before even becoming an assassin, yet they're cracking jokes in the cutscenes. Edward Kenway, Arno, the frye twins, and a few others perfect exemplify this tonal clash.

[@severussnape1906]

You see unfortunately when we don't get a marvel movie wisecracking, charmer i.e. Connor or Altair(though many never experienced AC1) people lose it, me personally I prefer a more grounded, serious "Batman", like assassin

[@dawsynasay4841]

I agree. Connor is my favorite because he’s not a wise cracking asshole, and his backstory explains why he is who he is. I’ve had enough of characters who are charming or light hearted. Give us a dark, brooding assassin!

[@viewtifuljacob]

I mean, Edward kinda makes sense. He had his pirate humor and didn't reflect on the value of a human life until the end when he realized his gold means nothing over the lives of his friends lost. Arno's method of assassination involved being quick, clean, and precise. He doesn't really seem to enjoy it and was forced into the situation to save himself. Frye twins go for exaggerated flashy brutal kills while seemingly having a blast but then again gameplay wise, we might be a little bored if we didn't have to massacre a squad of goons before making it to the target.

[@masterassassin791]

I agree and it's kind of a trope in video games in general I feel like. A lot of these video game protagonists are mass murderers but still make jokes or quips, and there's no consequences or toll on them for what they've done. Maybe it's because it's a video game and technically the "player" is the one doing the killing but it does kind of feel like a clash in tone when it comes to the story. There are a few game series out there that don't do this like The Last of Us, but you definitely make a great point a lot of the AC games and Ubisoft Games in general feed that trope (except maybe the rare exceptions of Far Cry 3, AC1, AC3, and Watch Dogs 1)

[@viewtifuljacob]

@@severussnape1906 I would love Rocksteady to make an AC game. They made combat smooth without trying to bloat it with wannabe RPG mechanics like the newer AC. Connor really was dealt the worst hand in my opinion in the world of AC. You can tell he makes the best out of it through the homestead quests which unfortunately many didn't complete and instead only know him for screaming "Charles Lee" at everyone. I wish they'd give us a sequel where Connor shows his other side in the main series but maybe it's best if modern Ubisoft leaves the Kenway saga alone.

[@kayeff7155]

I definitely agree about the tone of Syndicate. Victorian London should be dark and gritty. There was little atmosphere in the environment compared to Unity. It was too clean, too empty, too repetitive (the same building graphics repeated over and over). And you're absolutely right about the dual protagonists not being much different from one another, making it pretty pointless. Good video. 😊

[@Kratos_Messi7050]

Imagine a darker and gritty london settings, with a ruthless jacob as our main protagonist solving london's weird ass mysteries, assassinating targets, and overall sherlock holmes vibes

[@josuerestrepo1476]

When i finally could play Syndicate, Unity feels incomplete and repetitive in comparison.

[@kayeff7155]

@@josuerestrepo1476 I felt it was the other way around 😅

[@jtw2018]

⁠​⁠@@josuerestrepo1476I completely agree. I played Syndicate before Unity, and I honestly prefer Syndicate.

[@jtw2018]

I don’t think it should’ve been dark and gritty. If it was, it would’ve lessened the impact of Jack the Ripper. The DLC was meant to be in stark contrast with its tone, highlighting an infamous murderer and an arguably darker time in London’s history 20 years later. Regardless of anyone’s opinions on the DLC, if the base game had a dark and gritty tone it would’ve lessened the impact of the Ripper. I love the contrast between Syndicate and Jack the Ripper, and I like getting to see two totally different views on Victorian London.

[@AssassinsCreed_Victory_Project]

Hello, AC Victory modder here. The maker of the project that's been mentioned here. While I'm not working on the project like I explained on nexus for personal reasons, I may some day return to it, as of now I see some people have doubts about the truth, so let me explain, I had access to all files of the game thanks to modding tools, and I managed to see some screenshots, here are pure facts, undeniable, here goes: 1. Jacob indeed was a single protagonist, no doubt about it, skill menu screenshot proves it, Evie was the masked assassin, if it was Evie at all, but for sure she wasn't planned as first protagonist. She was added later. So anyone who is telling otherwise is spreading false information. 2. Evie was still wearing mask in early stages of development, I found a picture where you switch characters in game files, UI design was different back then, but Evie was pickable early on, but with exactly the same mask, broken in half but with healed face, and she was wearing normal outfit with assassin pendant however from Lydia Frye's outfit, you can use Kamzik's tools to find the files, if anyone doesn't believe me 3. Killable main targets, templars, were different in design, Roth was blind and pearl attaway was Lucy Thorne, also Ned Wynert was killable templar, he replaced David Brewster, some targets were the same, like Rupert Ferris, but with slight differences in design, I'm not sure if they were from Syndicate or still Victory though, that is unknown 4. There were informants for each district planned, Maxwell Roth was one of them, he had a dog and was blind, Clara O'dea was supposed to be an adult woman instead of an urchin, she would govern Lambeth, there also was Assassin woman as one of district informant, similar in design to Aveline in her social outfit. I don't know if it was Evie or not. 5. Big ben's clock tower interrior was accessible originally, concept arts prove it, but it was scrapped 6. There were boat races, probably similar to the cart races in the final game, you would be able to sail boats, probably like in Liberation or Origins. 7. Jacob and Evie were about to have a confrontation in the graveyard at the end of the game, whether she would betray him or not is unknown. Jacob's VA confirmed it in podcast. 8. Lydia Frye outfit indeed belonged to Evie Frye(masked woman), Lydia did not exist back then, she was added later on, like George Westhouse, the outfits were moddeled earlier and developers wanted to show them to the public, they didn't want them gone, no wonder, they are fantastic. Masked woman also has scarred face in the earliest stages of development, hence the mask 9. Gangs did not exist at first or weren't a major part of the game like in final version, instead of gang upgrades, there were London upgrades, Jacob would purchase upgrades to the city itself, this feature was still in but as a gang feature instead 10. Phantom blade was still usable in early stages of the game 11. Co-op was planned early on, concept art shows it, but that was probably quickly scrapped 12. Guards were on the rooftops, it was possible to use interactive elements like chimneys to kill them, at least on concept arts 13. Cane swords were retractable, I don't know how it would work, you would probably be able to use them from a distance? 14. The assassin council played some role in the game, also main character would be imprisoned at some point That's the most of it that I've gathered, however, I did not mention everything here, but there really is a lot one can discover about this game with proper research.

[@gabrielandjavierpinales3689]

I wish we had Victory instead of Syndicate. You work hard to make the tone and setting of Victorian London accurate as it should be. The Assassins and Templars look cool in this. If it wasn't the complaints of the fans demanding a female lead. The plans you developers had for a good game wouldn't have change.

[@h.roosevelt6426]

Appreciate the info dump! Although I personally have mixed feelings on the final product that is Assassin's Creed Syndicate, I'm sort of glad just a few of these early concepts did not make it. Of course, characters such as Ned Wynert are severely underutilized while I can't think if a more pointless one than George Westhouse. Evie Frye being a playable character is certainly an evolution in development I think was for the best yet her role compared to Jacob does leave a bit to be desired in some areas. In the first gameplay trailer, there seemed to be the implication that Henry Green and the Frye twins were the last members of the British Assassin Order left by the time of the setting. While that may be based on fans simply assuming solely based on the trailer itself, I would've preferred this as George Westhouse and the mentioned-only council do not play much of a role aside from the main plot being kicked off with the Frye twins defying their orders. In addition, Clara O'Dea appeared to still be connected to the pub featured in the trailer, Seven Bells, much like how concept art in the official art book for the game described her as being a waitress there. Regardless, the trailers certainly did make the game seem as though it would be far more gritty and this certainly would've been welcomed by the community, it seems.

[@chrismoore5333]

I knew much of this, but not all of it. Unfortunately I have difficult news in regards to why the game changed. A woman called Kim belair who now works in a company called "sweet baby" as their CEO, is one of the people responsible for removing the original plans for Syndicate/Victory. Unfortunately Syndicate was an early and somewhat hidden victim of another company hijacking ubisoft's victory/syndicate project, and turning it into something worse. This explains why those venomous jack the ripper devs, chose to have Jacob defeated in the graveyard by Jack. They were just salty that Jacob was the protagonist and not a new female character, so they made the ripper dlc as something of an insult to the original vision of the game, and the men and women who worked with passion on Jacob and his story. Evie is a lifeless character and a false protagonist. She is everything wrong with syndicate, and honestly, the ripper dlc and anything where you can choose to play as evie, shouldn't be canon. Jacob should be canon in all the missions you can choose who yo play as, (many of them he is canon for anyway, but ubisoft ignore this fact) and evie should be forgotten, so that the vision for AC victory and Jacob's original narrative can be given life. In any case, thank you for saying all of this. I struggle to show people the truth, but I always try. I sometimes wonder if I should try and help in some way, but I'm bad with technology sadly. I thing the victory mod would absolutely save the game, but I understand the situation preventing the mods continued work, and I respect that.

[@aidenp6001]

That’s quite the story @chrismoore5333, do you have a link to the source so I can look it up myself?

[@chrismoore5333]

@@aidenp6001 I can't give a source outright for many reasons, but I'll share all the info I've been sharing with others lately. There are some bits relating to where to find some of this info. And I've learned more about the games development than I knew back when I posted what you've replied to. Originally, Jacob was indeed the only playable protagonist in the game, and evie didn't even exist as she is today. The game looked much darker and Jacob had the same outfit as George. This bit is important context. A woman called Kim belair and her friends got involved in the games development, fairly late, and they are somewhat famous for changing games to be more "inclusive" but that really just translates to more female and less white. Jacob was actually always supposed to be bisexual, and the games lead writer is in fact a gay man himself. The deep hypocrisy of Kim belair is that she doesn't care about that being inclusive, because she only values inclusion for people like her. And so she essentially blackmailed the syndicate team into creating evie as a playable twin protagonist. During an interview she can be heard complaining that her fellow devs told her Jacob is the main character, and she responded by saying she could manipulate people into thinking evie was the protagonist, by misrepresenting the twins online. You see, Kim belair was originally hired because she is a marketing expert, and so she knows how to manipulate what people think of a product. You can find this interview on a AC sisterhood KZbin video, titled after the woman who I am referring to here. Anyway, the games development ended up going through hell, and the team had to work backwards and cut a lot out, in order to add evie on time for launch. Kim belair went on to be the founder of the company called "sweet baby inc" who are currently in a lot of controversial conversation for similar reasons as we are discussing now. Kim belair since said "if they (they meaning the development team she is working with) don't see the value in what I want for a game, then I'll scare them with what might happen if they don't do as I ask." She actually said that. You can find her saying this in a variety of articles and videos about her. Just look her up and see for yourself, however take note, many journalists are her allies and lie for her. Jacob is the character shown in every single bit of leaked gameplay, screenshots, videos, development notes, artworks showing story moments are almost always shown with Jacob, and Jacob has 3 times as many concept arts that are all dated sometimes years older than the artworks for evie. Jacob also has artworks of the exact character shown in thr AC victory leaks, and this character is described as "Jacob frye." We can see on a website (if I use its name the comment will he removed for some reason) that is used for game devs to share their work together, and network, and this website has a variety of AC victory stuff. From menus screens to gameplay render screenshots, and even a display of the room people would sit in, when the team would reveal the game. It all shows Jacob frye as the protagonist, both in description, and visibly the "victory protagonist" has Jacob's face, exactly the same as it is in syndicate. The only reason the victory outfit isn't used for Jacob now, is because the art team wanted something that reflects Jacob's gang underworld story better, for his main look. Hence the victory outfit was given to George instead. If your interested, you can also find some cool black flag development stuff on that website as well. Originally, Pearl wasn't a character in syndicate/victory. Roth was, but he had a very different look and narrative role. The character that eventually got split to creat Roth as he is now, nd pearl, was Jacob's mentor. An older lady with grey hair, a black and red version of Lydia's outfit, and a silver mask to hide a badly injured face. She was the late games plot twist main villain. And the idea behind her character was later recycled into watch dogs legion's Sabine. Legion launched on the first big anniversary for Syndicate, and so many of it's ideas were actually restorations of cut syndicate narrative ideas. Evie eventually replaced thus mysterious mentor/villain to Jacob, but the narrative role of this mentor character was given to Roth and pearl, while evie would be instead, a good guy in the story. You can even spot the necklace thus mysterious mentor character had, on both Lydia, and evie but only on the box art, as evie didn't have it in the actual game. I hope you see for yourself, as I have put a lot of effort into trying to share this, but it isn't easy, as journalists rarely talk about it honestly, and those who support belair, tell lies about reduced female characters, despite the reality being opposite. Note also that the "AC victory project" mod, is a mod to restore that original version of the game. The mod team have seen all the files in game, and researched the games development extensively. They also say Jacob was the only protagonist in AC Victory, and it was indeed Jacob. Evie wasn't a playable character at all. You can check on their nexus page.

[@mikeo9074]

I was so excited for the Victorian london setting, then so disappointed when I saw how much they failed recreating it. It feels like a disney take on Victorian London.

[@justinadams7824]

Fighting Crime with Darwin is such a weird and ridiculous idea you know lol.

[@RG-xl7ql]

The atmosphere is my biggest issue with syndicate. I feel like they decided to go for a “Sherlock Holmes tv show” vibe because it was marketable to a larger audience, but something closer to a Dishonored 1 vibe would’ve worked far more; as the DLC proved

[@unicorntomboy9736]

I always thought it was more like Peaky Blinders

[@chrismoore5333]

Sadly the DLC was written terribly, and was just utterly awful in the narrative department.

[@BuryTheLight-tds]

This felt less like Sherlock Holmes and more like Peaky Blinders as the person above said, them again I haven't watched or read the new SH stuff so I can't really tell if they're as dark as the old ones. A classic SH vibe would've been cool imo

[@JosephineSheesley]

Both Dishonored settings are excellent.

[@Watchmanskey]

@@chrismoore5333 I agree, but the fear mechanic is absolutely well done. I remember actually getting goosebumps when I first use the ability with Jack. But no, we gotta play as Evie most of the time and Evie's skill is nonlethal. It's not like Evie hasn't killed hundreds of men 20 years ago 🙄

[@seanw8005]

I just heard some Victory prototype gameplay popped up on reddit today, I'd love to see MasterAssassin's take on it! (In case MasterAssassin actually sees this, I sent an email just in case he hadn't heard about it), fingers crossed a full gameplay video pops up someday because imo there's some really interesting details in there including a "report to the Assassin council after being framed for murder" mission objective, being able to buy/equip rifles as weapons and a peek at the menus including a "stealth choke" ability and one of the assassination targets :)

[@lucasgrey9794]

I had a theory that AC Victory was supposed to have the grittiness of the Jack the Ripper DLC, with the protagonist wearing George Westhouse's robes and the protagonist's character model was supposed to be Starrick's character model. He was also supposed to be called Samuel Fey who was a wealthy businessman in his 40s similar to Giovanni Auditore (Ezio's father). I think this story would've been far more interesting.

[@chrismoore5333]

Samuel Fey is just an early name for Jacob frye. Jacob was always the main character. Samuel isnt a different "lost" character. And his evil mentor with the mask? She is just early development evie. Evie was the bad guy, Jacob was the only protagonist. You can thank evie for ruining AC Victory. You see, during development, the original plan was to have only Jacob as the main protagonist. Evie was to be his mentor. She was originally going to betray Jacob. Unfortunately the creative team were forced to change the story in order to include evie as a playable good guy. This of course meant they needed to change more elements of the games story. Among the changes, Roth and Pearl were created to replace evie's original narrative role. Jacob lost the "fix mistakes levels" which went to evie in order to extend her narrative as she didn't really have much story. The tone was also changed to be more light hearted. Jacob was then left as a twin protagonist in his own game, just because some short sighted people couldn't allow a male main character. Jacob was also supposed to be the first lgbtq main protagonist. He still is, as he is bisexual, but this element of his character was made less clear, around about the time evie was being changed into a playable good guy. It is funny that people complain about Jacob, because it isn't his fault the game was ruined compared to original plans. It is evie's fault. This is why evie is so dull and 2D. Because the creative team actually didn't want her.

[@lucasgrey9794]

@@chrismoore5333Whoa! I didn't know this. Where did you learn this information?

[@chrismoore5333]

@@lucasgrey9794 an interview with the lead writer, conceot art across the Internet and in books with notes and info, a short leaked clip you can find on KZbin, leaked images, and a lot of late nights of research into the games development. For example, you may not have realised that the game is based on a sort of underground victorian society pagan mythology? I can explain that one but it'd take time as it was originally done to play into the main story and that story was obviously cut to make room for boring old snooty evie. Anyway, go onto the website "behance" and look up assassin's creed syndicate. You'll find some stuff of Jacob in the victory outfit, early ideas for the pause menu, the none playable mentor version of evie can be seen on a screen that is trying to depict her giving Jacob a mission to hunt a templar down. Notably, Evie hid in a carriage to meet jacob like Pearl does in the game today. Jacob can also be seen without the victory outfit, but in what looks like a starting outfit? Or something similar. I recommend looking at the images on there anyway. I may also make a video, as I've been asked to do so in the past a few times, and it'd be easier to show you how I found this than it is to try and tell you all the research and obscure places you can find the info.

[@pajdovelicanstveni]

He just made it up. It's been 8 years since the release of this game. I've watched numerous videos and read a whole lot of articles and forums. Nowhere is this mentioned.@@lucasgrey9794

[@sadcamel]

@@lucasgrey9794 it seems like it's literally made up lmao. There's nothing on the internet about anything like that.

[@darthrevan7242]

Syndicate is actually one of my favourite AC games in many ways and I really like the idea of having both a male and female protagonist. The Characters we got and the story were pretty low compared to the other games tho and I'm wondering if that would have been different in the original version of the game.

[@Specter2016]

Syndicate = 💩

[@elleari89]

I'm still playing it and I enjoy the both characters.. Men don't get how much women yearn to play as bad ass females since almost all games are made with men leads. We only see how much it matters when men have to play as females and dislike it... Yeah, we got true that too.. I very much enjoy syndicate compared to unity.

[@huyvouc9785]

"Ubisoft is the King of Missed Opportunities" That is true on so many levels that I feel sad for them. Take the Rope Launcher in Syndicate for example, they could have expand it mechanics so that it could be used mid-air, or on top of a vehicle to the roof. And it would be nice if we can used it as sth like the Rope dart in Kenway games, for example, pulling enemies from afar, hanging enemies from a ledge,...Not to mention, they could do sth as cool as using the rope to attach enemies together, binding them for a while (like the Remote Claw in Arkham Origins). Also, if we can use the Rope Launcher at any time we want, there could have been creative parkour snippets where players use the Rope launcher to consecutively swinging between buildings, parkour between vehicles and quickly swing back to buildings, than chain those moves with more flashy ejects...

[@tarnishedhunter222]

It’s so fun looking at the early concepts vs. the end product

[@verguco6051]

i think i talk for the majority when i said all of us always used evie the majority of the time, doing the secondary missions and only used jacob when the main missions forced us to play with him. i loved sindicate, maybe is not the dark victorian game some may want but i loved the birght tone, london is beautiful the clothes of the leaked footage looks awsome but ridiculous for the victorian era, assasins have to blend in the crowd, he looks so stupid with leather raincoats and a hodie, i like how jacob uses a proper hat and then take it when using the hood and tries to be stealthy

[@Pravakar628]

2:45 The game that comes to my mind when anyone mentions dual protagonists is Yakuza 0. The way it handles its two protagonists is so good. The way when you play as one character end at a suspense get the answer of the suspense as the another character but there is a bigger suspense now is so amazing and having to work with a version of a fan favorite character the fans had never seen must've been difficult but its so well done. Game devs should definitely take some notes from Ryu Ga Gotoku studio.

[@idontknow8935]

Personally I’ve always loved ac syndicate even if that’s an unpopular opinion, but I’ve always been interested in what the game could have looked like/how different it would have been compared to what we got when I first heard about ac victory. Personally I’m still happy with what we got but it definitely would have been interesting to see ac victory in full.

[@JosephineSheesley]

Same. I guess it’s because I can relate to the characters more than most people can because I’m a triplet. As for tone, I would have liked a bit more of a darker setting. I do remember MasterAssassin mentioning that the soundtrack feels too light for the game, but I would point out that the music is actually quite dark for classical and matches the quick and vicious tone that the composer felt represented the Assassins.

[@vaudeville-villain]

you got negative taste

[@JosephineSheesley]

@@vaudeville-villain You absolutely despise Syndicate?

[@chrismoore5333]

I love Syndicate and jacob is one of my favourite characters in the franchise, however i wish we had the original game... Samuel Fey is just the early development name for Jacob Frye. He isnt a different "lost" character. And his evil mentor with the mask? She is just early development evie. Evie was the bad guy, Jacob was the only protagonist. You can thank evie for ruining AC Victory. You see, during development, the original plan was to have only Jacob as the main protagonist. Evie was to be his mentor. She was originally going to betray Jacob. Unfortunately the creative team were forced to change the story in order to include evie as a playable good guy. This of course meant they needed to change more elements of the games story. Among the changes, Roth and Pearl were created to replace evie's original narrative role. Jacob lost the "fix mistakes levels" which went to evie in order to extend her narrative as she didn't really have much story. The tone was also changed to be more light hearted. Jacob was then left as a twin protagonist in his own game, just because some short sighted people couldn't allow a male main character. Jacob was also supposed to be the first lgbtq main protagonist. He still is, as he is bisexual, but this element of his character was made less clear, around about the time evie was being changed into a playable good guy. It is funny that people complain about Jacob, because it isn't his fault the game was ruined compared to original plans. It is evie's fault. This is why evie is so dull and 2D. Because the creative team actually didn't want her.

[@idontknow8935]

@@vaudeville-villain so people can’t have opinions?

[@ThePotatoPolice]

I always thought Victorian Liverpool and it's surrounding areas would have been a good idea for an AC map. It obviously was never going to be made over London but as the second city of the empire combined with it's history and the opportunity of Naval combat; Liverpool stands out to me.

[@MrSpawn229]

Some guy on discord told us background for Assassin's creed Victory. There supposed be Samuel Fye Assassin Mentor (dark tone Lydia outfit) she covers her face with metal mask because when she was young there was a fire accident, that burns her face. In the end she betray Samuel, and become last boss.

[@chrismoore5333]

Thus is the actual truth. You can thank evie for ruining AC Victory. You see, during development, the original plan was to have only Jacob as the main protagonist. Evie was to be his mentor. She was originally going to betray Jacob. Unfortunately the creative team were forced to change the story in order to include evie as a playable good guy. This of course meant they needed to change the games story. Among the changes, Roth and Pearl were created to replace evie's original narrative role. Jacob lost the "fix mistakes levels" which went to evie in order to extend her narrative as she didn't really have much story. The tone was also changed to be more light hearted. Jacob was then left as a twin protagonist in his own game, just because some short sighted people couldn't allow a male main character. Jacob was also supposed to be the first lgbtq main protagonist. He still is, as he is bisexual, but this element of his character was made less clear, around about the time evie was being changed into a playable good guy. It is funny that people complain about Jacob, because it isn't his fault the game was ruined compared to original plans. It is evie's fault. This is why evie is so dull and 2D. Because the creative team actually didn't want her. Evie had a silver mask and grey hair and an injured face. Jacob had George's outfit and was the only protagonist. The story and game haven't change much beyond the removal of evie as a villain. The tone changed a lot however.

[@jeremy123577]

I definitely feel like the ripper dlc was kind a close to what victory was suppose to be dark, mature and taken more seriously hell those few moments with Jacob i like him more then in the main game

[@BuryTheLight-tds]

Agreed, Jacob in those opening few minutes was better than Jacob in the entirety of the main story

[@kyntyr5474]

The tone matches the personality of londoners, which was trying to be cheery in the worst of situations, but does not accurately represent the tone of the era, which was objectively entrenched with class issues and mass poverty. A better representation of this would be a more dark theme, with more brutal character development and scenes, whilst having some moments of respite in the duality of the twins and the brotherhood, making them seem more hopeful than anything else, with then, the ultimate realisation that they can change nothing and that their murderous efforts only stain themselves red. Basically a sense of optimism heavily underpinned by growing pessimism/realism would have been more fitting: gritty theme with some comic relief.

[@sickgypo]

Syndicate was perfect for me. Brightness was fine. I still think about that game whenever I play any AC game. I also loved the twins.

[@AshMenon]

I guess I'm in the minority, but I absolutely loved Syndicate's theme. It was very consistent with dark British humour, the kind where one can't help but laugh and crack light-toned jokes at one's grim surroundings. My favourite example of this is the Queen Mother (Q Elizabeth's mother). Stayed cheerful and chirpy even when London was getting bombed.

[@NcboreasVapes]

The game is flawless other than maybe having a darker tone. Graphically, Ubisoft should be applauded for their efforts. Best stealth game I've played in a long time.

[@TheFirstCurse1]

And the characters are too similar. Jacob and Evie should play VERY different from each other. Hoping that AC Red won't make the same mistake.

[@lucasbelmonte2832]

@@TheFirstCurse1 In red I think they are making it so The male focuses on open combat as a samurai using heavy weapons and the female will focus on stealth as a shinobi, using lighter weapons, kind of like How in ghost of Tsushima you could go the samurai playstyle or the ghost playstyle.

[@TheFirstCurse1]

@@lucasbelmonte2832 Yeah that's what they're doing. But I want it to be like the male and female can only use certain weapons each and have different animations for everything. I think that we'll be happy with it. I don't think they'll do a repeat of Syndicate with almost identical characters.

[@BuryTheLight-tds]

​​@@lucasbelmonte2832I was kind of excited about Red until I heard the name of the Ubisoft subsidiary working on it, it's the same guys that made Syndicate and Odyssey, both of which had a very light hearted tone compared to other games. I just hope Red won't be like that and instead is dark in tone

[@unicorntomboy9736]

@@BuryTheLight-tds Feudal Japan itself wasn't "dark and gritty". I think you have the wrong expectations. It had darker elements to it, such as war and conflict, but if you want a grimdark AC game, that setting isn't going to deliver that

[@mikhailtome1365]

Fully agree. I used a bunch of mods to get this game closure to the look of Victory project. And now it's much more satisfying to play the game, then it's original build. I really like Viktorian setting and the atmosphere of London mystery. But game just doesn't get it right. Everything in the released version of the game looks so cartoonish. Anyway I still love this game because of it's mechanics and setting. I just wish AC gets a little bit darker... In this case I am excited about AC Hexe, maybe this one will get it right.

[@JosephineSheesley]

I’m really curious about Hexe. HRE during the witch hunts is a really intriguing setting.

[@MrTrueCaller619]

Syndicate theme is so amazing, i always find myself humming it 😅

[@JosephineSheesley]

Syndicate’s soundtrack is probably among my favorite video game soundtracks of all time. I guess it’s because I’m a classical music lover, but it’s so beautiful.

[@alexchartre]

Assassin's Creed should be in most cases, a dark and gritty adventure in terms of visuals but also in its story. It's all about balance. A good story should make you feel things with all its nuances.

[@STSGuitar16]

Syndicate is a GREAT game as it is. You shouldn’t dwell on what it could have been, you should enjoy it for what it is, and there is a ton of stuff to enjoy about the game. Definitely more to enjoy than to lament overall, no question about it. I still believe if you go into Syndicate with an open mind, you will have a blast with the game. I truly think people who just don’t like the game don’t like it because it didn’t end up being a dark game, not because it isn’t a fun game, which I don’t really consider to be a valid criticism. You can’t honestly criticize a game because it didn’t turn out exactly how you wanted it. Just because your wishes didn’t come to fruition doesn’t mean the game is automatically bad. I mean, anyone who plays those side quests, for instance, and tells you they don’t enjoy them are just straight up lying. It is a fantastic AC game, no question about it.

[@thelastpersononearth9765]

People already make up their mind not to like a game. Syndicate sufers from it. It's actually a better one ac game. My top 3 easily.

[@STSGuitar16]

@@thelastpersononearth9765 I struggle to name an overall favorite for the series, but Syndicate is absolutely in my top three as well and does actually fluctuate in and out of my number one spot fairly often. When I want to mess around for a little bit on an AC game, Syndicate is always my go to. I do know for certain that it is my absolute favorite side content (I also think it is objectively the best side content in the entire series as well), favorite assassination missions, and probably my favorite map in the series. London is the perfect size and has great architecture and tons of landmarks that I love to see as well. For the record, I think Unity would probably be my favorite map if it took place during a period when the Eiffel Tower was fully constructed or if it was being built throughout the story of the game and eventually reached completion at some point during the story. That one mission in Unity where you climb the tower wasn’t enough to scratch that itch for me. An AC game in Paris where you can’t climb the Eiffel Tower whenever you want doesn’t feel right to me. You can only climb Notre Dame cathedral so many times before it gets old lol. I mean, London had Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and all of those classic English landmarks that just beg to be climbed, which definitely pushes it into my top three maps since I love European architecture during that time period. I also thoroughly enjoyed the grappling gun so much and thought it was perfect for traversing London. The carriages were great as well and are unique to that game. It’s a shame some people are missing out on such a great game because of how much hate it gets. I personally started playing all of the AC games for the first time about two years ago, and I initially had actually planned to just skip Syndicate because a lot of people say it isn’t worth playing. I can’t even say how happy I am that I did decide to play the game. But yeah, Syndicate very well be my favorite AC game. The only things that I don’t really like about it are the costumes, and somewhat the weapon selection. I actually love every other single thing about the game. I’m hoping it will get a bump in popularity like Unity has gotten over the past two or three years. It is absolutely deserving of people giving it a fair shake. There’s no way anyone plays that game and doesn’t have a fun time throughout.

[@thelastpersononearth9765]

@@STSGuitar16 I also loved the map of syndicate. As a stealth lover, it gave us many cool stealth opportunities. Sure the AI isn't the best, but it's not braindead like unity. A lot of people name syndicate as a downgrade to unity due to parkour, npc crowd and graphics. But I think it improved in most aspects.

[@STSGuitar16]

@@thelastpersononearth9765 yeah, stealth was great. I honestly do enjoy the game a lot more than Unity. I understand people not liking the parkour and the lack of good parkour routes going through the streets, but I personally don’t mind it since you have the grappling gun and London isn’t very parkour-friendly anyway. I doubt this was the situation, but if it was a scenario where they had to choose between having slightly simplified Unity-style parkour in order to make room for implementing the grappling gun (which is what we ultimately got in Syndicate) vs the exact same parkour as Unity in London where the streets are wider and there are a ton more open spaces between building, I’m glad we got the slightly simplified parkour with the grappling gun included. Having no grappling gun in Syndicate would basically just mean you’d have to get absolutely everywhere on foot or in a carriage on the streets with no real way to traverse sections of the map going from building top to building top. I also find the argument about the large number of NPCs in Un vs Syn to be nothing more than a cosmetic difference. The NPCs in Un don’t do anything but stand in the streets, nothing more. They literally do absolutely nothing but form large crowds that just stand around and yell lol. That just isn’t that strong of a selling point to me; all you get out of that is just a dense group of NPCs doing nothing. It’d be one thing if they were as advanced as Origins where they all have routines every day and all that, but as they are in Un, they really serve no purpose but to provide the illusion of Paris in the game being a big population. Besides, there are definitely a large number of NPCs in Syn, they just don’t crowd together in big groups. That’s really about the only difference between the NPCs themselves in both games. There are definitely tons of ways it improved on Unity for sure. Like I said, it is objectively the best side content in the whole series, and the black box assassination missions are the best in the whole series as well. Anyone who disagrees with that is just wrong, imo.

[@unscripted3209]

Regarding the gritty tone: I have an idea for an Assassin's Creed game that I think would be amazing. They should make a game in the late 1800s or early 1900s Russia. With 2 large cities that are very different (1 incredibly dirty and dark industrial city like Norilsk or something, and one opulent cultural city like Moskau. Maybe some forest between them like in AC3). The Assassin could be German and act as an undercover spy in a Russian templar order. I don't have a clear idea for his motives, maybe it's politically driven, maybe out of revenge, or maybe he is just blindly dedicated to his creed. However, we should follow his story from his early teenage years and see his training. He starts out as a slimmer, more comedic type of guy and he should also play like this. His combat system and animations are more elegant and flimsy in the beginning, like Arno's for example, because he is less trained and experienced. His climbing looks more elegant too. However, over the course of the story, maybe around his late teens, he experiences mental and physical trauma during combat and turns into a darker type of person and realizes his current strength and skill is not enough to face his enemies. That's when you see him training harder and bulking up. This should also be visible in his silhouette. Over the years he grew taller and became more muscular and stronger. That's when the combat system and animations could turn into something like AC3 where he fights much more offensive and with brutal force. Of course the amounts of animations would be very high but they also did incredible amounts of them in AC3 too. It would be cool to have a strong Assassin like Connor with cool but somewhat realistic looking animations that highlight his mental and physical progression. His main robes should be black leather or something and blend in with the dirty setting. A cool idea is to see him learn Russian perfectly over the course of several years to have him sneak his way into the Russian templar order undercover. Also, the graphics and animations should look amazing and the interface less cluttered and less sci-fi like. AC Unity also looked awesome which is almost 10 years old. Imagine even better graphics and animations than that and more realistic feeling. The parcour system should look cool like in AC U and also show his phyiscial progression over the years. If they did this one right I think it would be incredible.

[@JL32506]

Maybe Ubisoft could pull an AC3 and have an Assassin grow up after/during the Japan-Russian War, leading to them getting involved in WW1, the February/October Revolutions, and the Russian Civil War that resulted. That would be an absolutely FASCINATING timeframe to explore as an Assassin. That said, with Russia being on the world's hit-list, I don't see a lot of Russian-centric games happening. Not in the West anyway.

[@princessmyprincess4284]

I remember back in 2015 seeing those images. Got me hyped as I'd just finished Unity & 4 back to back. Never ended up getting it when it came out.

[@Hicksy0001]

Syndicate was set up to greatly succeed. It had Unity's criticism to build upon, and innovation potential with the twins being the protagonists. There was a chance for Evie and Jacob to have their own flair and expression with their animations, not to mention the ability to have multiple missions where you play as both twins, eventually ending up physically/geographically together where you then finish the mission as one. London was also a much requested location for an AC game, and it does look stunning, but that can't carry a game. Such a shame. Whilst I still don't hate Syndicate, I wish this game was better than it is.

[@rootpower8664]

Ubisoft nailed only two things with Syndicate. London and the stealth gameplay. The story and character development completely shit the bed unfortunately. The idea of playing twins is actually great, too bad they made the bad call of implementing it last minute.

[@the_CosmicSkyheart]

What was crazy to me was how wearing your hood wasn’t “believable” but firing a rope launcher and scaling buildings somehow was. Overall ACS wasn’t a bad game

[@chillyman7340]

The thing was Assassins Creed now is the Fanbase is split, one side(the real fans since AC 1-2-B-R-3-4-U-S) like the old format of AC games, where the games focused more on, gameplay, story and design, now you have the "new fans" the people who's first AC game they ever played was Origins to Mirage, at this point I don't think we ever going to get the OLD STYLE AC games again, the new direction appeals to way more people than the very detailed lore and story of the old AC games, great video man.

[@memecliparchives2254]

Nope, stop with this shallow monolith. The originals are the first four. Rogue, Unity and Syndicate NEVER focused on the story and youre lying to yourself and to everyone that it did.

[@chillyman7340]

@@memecliparchives2254 You do know why Rogue, Unity and Syndicate NEVER focused on the story right? all 3 games never had a modern day protagonist 😂 so there was no proper link to Desmond or the Assassins so I see why you feel that way but After AC 3 they copied the same Style until they got to unity and syndicate, that is where they became lazy.

[@helmenhjelmen1955]

assassins creed victory is the title i heard first for this game. when i saw the leaks through some youtubers. it was the first time in my life where i watched a youtuber show leaks of a game get to have come out. so it is actually pretty close in my heart-

[@crafter7jake874]

I myself absolutely love ac syndicate. Its one of my favorite games. but i do not really like the lighter tones and the story so i would absolutely love the older version. It seems like my dream ac game

[@alliasstar7289]

You absolutely right. Jacob and Evie don't get equal play time, which is why to this day I consider Jacob the main character. This game ultimately about him. How he absolutely had good intentions, but ultimately did alot more harm than good. His reckless assassinations of influential figures in London came close to destroying the City, which would've happened if not for Evie. And after meeting Roth he squares with the flaws in his ideology and matures into a man who no longer just stabs problems away.

[@pickeljarsforhillary102]

No female protagonist? Did people forget Liberation?

[@TheFirstCurse1]

My 2 biggest gripes with Syndicate are the tone/atmosphere and that Jacob and Evie are basically identical in terms of gameplay. Everything else was great to me.

[@Ash-Winchester]

Bart: Mom, why do you keep bringing up assassin's creed syndicate? Marge: I just think it's neat.

[@isuckatgaming1182]

A game with Arno, Connor, Shay, and Aveline would be a delight🙂

[@unicorntomboy9736]

That ship has long since sailed, it's never going to happen I am far more excited for AC Red I'm Feudal Japan, with the protagonist allegedly called Naoi, a female shinobi

[@Hoppelite]

@@unicorntomboy9736 and the diversity inclusion black "samurai". Because you gotta have a black protagonist in a game set in 99.9999% ethnically japanese feudal Japan. Yes i know about Sasuke. That doesnt mean hes the right person to be protagonist. I'm sure there was a Roman hanging around India during the Mauryan Empire's time. Doesn't make a Roman the right choice for the protagonist. And its not a racism thing. I have zero problems with playing as a black character, but so long as it fits the setting and doesnt feel shoehorned.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

@@Hoppelite Who knows, it's not my decision. Personally I think Naoi should be the sole protagonist

[@isuckatgaming1182]

@@Hoppelite I totally understand you, lowkey I feel like Ubisoft doesn’t have faith in any female lead assassins creed game so even when they show up they aren’t the center of the story, or marketing in the case of female Eivor and Kassandra. I don’t mind duo protagonists… but yeah it didn’t have to be Yasuke But yeah I guess they gotta fill their diversity quotas I’m African btw

[@Kai0kenAssassin]

Ok, I haven’t played Syndicate yet, but the outfit for "Samuel Fay" looks really cool. And I do think Syndicate is a little too bright for what the Victorian era was…

[@WideOldDan]

The rope launcher could have been so much cooler. We had a swing mechanic in Liberation and Rogue but I suppose it would be harder for devs to do it anywhere rather than fixed points. They could have done rope dart stuff though, I don't see why not.

[@trippymartian8847]

Fr

[@wingedhussar1453]

if the original dark victorian era setting stayed it would be a better game and more focused. more like the order 1886 which was awesome

[@alfiwardh3113]

in the alternate universe, i can see MasterAssassin making video about Assassin's Creed Syndicate: The Game That Could Have Been, about a groundbreaking Assassin's Creed game that have two protagonist where we have a fresh protagonist who is unlike previous AC games, he is unserious and funny instead of edgy and serious all the time, and have a cooler outfits than AC Victory, and how Victorian London have a bright tone instead of darker tone.

[@Eddieavina123]

Love your video and keep up the great work you are awesome

[@frederickstarks1671]

I wish Syndicate was 2x bigger. Loved Victorian London.

[@-riaa]

They couldve made victory but swap the male protag for a character like eevie, if that controversy was the case. It would still make sense for the game plot since eevie is more serious than jacob. Also haveing a dual protag game would mean to design the game around why I would need to use 2 people as in make the playstyles different. I still like syndicate though, however its a shame they couldn't make it like victory.

[@thevietnamesetree1817]

Ubisoft could've easily make a short dlc, which exploits George Westhouse's backstory and the rise of the Templars in London. It could explain why he so conservative and even considered coward at the beginning of Syndicate. The dlc could include Jacob & Evie's parents (and maybe Edward Kenway's descendants) and the ending we could see that George adopts and trains Jacob & Evie.

[@super_funny3894]

I wish it was more dark and gritty more than “we seemed to have made an unscheduled stop 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣” 😑 but this game had a lot of potential in my opinion. But I still love this game, and love what we still ended up getting even if it’s sort of disappointing!!

[@unicorntomboy9736]

Assassin Christmas is a classic though

[@super_funny3894]

@@unicorntomboy9736 that is very true

[@Mondiale78]

If we being real, the most gritty, dark characters we’ve had was Bayek, Aya & male Eivor tbh

[@HT_MG42]

I agree mostly with what you said, but it didn't appear to me as an irritating element. At the same time, I felt this same "light tone" problem with Battlefield V. There the lack of the real war atmosphere, not being dark and gritty enough caused much harm to that game and that was my biggest complaint with BFV, especially in comparison to Battlefield 1. I know this is an AC video, I just wanted to mention, that this tone problem isn't that big of a deal here, as it is in other games in my opinion.

[@yoshitv9939]

I still don't understand why AC Syndicate didn't take the armor system from Unity. With 5 different Armor pieces and optional Outfits for visuals. In Unity they even added two concept outfits for Arno, so it really doesn't make sense they didn't put the victory outfit in the game. AC Unity>AC Syndicate

[@unicorntomboy9736]

It was a system I hated

[@RholynjayLim]

Probably the missed opportunity of Assassin's Creed. Victory would be similar to Arkham games, in terms of tone and grittiness.

[@Mr.Sax.]

This is the first time I've heard about this and I've played every Assassin's Creed game ever since I got a PS3 in 2008. It makes me a bit sad because this idea with proper development time could have convinced Ubisoft of not taking the generic RPG route for the main games.

[@machr01]

Its a good game and the tone is colorful but i wouldnt change it much, maybe just a little bit. The time was rough but that doesn’t mean the real life then didnt have colors. Rope launcher is just a cheat for traversal although it makes sense to make climbing easier for these very tall buildings. The differences between protagonists should have been bigger. I remember the hype from the leaks. I knew unity had even greater hype and failed at that time. But i had faith regardless. Some models and mechanics should have stayed.

[@LarryWater]

1868 London is the most chill AC setting.

[@r3gret2079]

From AC Victory, to AC Defeat. Edit: woooah wtf? That AC3 footage was insane! Wtf? How did we not end up with ANY of that?

[@Dark2857]

I absolutely agree about the dual protagonist bit, they were way to similar and what was worse is sometimes when I was forced to play Evie her enhanced stealth mechanics just wouldn't function properly and I noticed that I vastly preferred Jacobs overall tankiness because that did function correctly, also moding in the victory outfit for jacob feels so nice, a bit of a shame the hidden blade doesn't actually exist on the outfit but if you can get past that and do the game with it 10/10 experience. I always found Evie extremely annoying anyways constantly critical of jacob unable to take accountability for her own mistakes even when jacob puts the reverse on her, honestly if she was scrapped entirely I think the game could have been improved, in short I think Evie is overrated but hey thats just me.

[@chrismoore5333]

Evie is the most over hyped character. She sucks. She is 2D and dull and annoying. You can also thank evie for ruining AC Victory. You see, during development, the original plan was to have only Jacob as the main protagonist. Evie was to be his mentor. She was originally going to betray Jacob. Unfortunately the creative team were forced to change the story in order to include evie as a playable good guy. This of course meant they needed to change the games story. Among the changes, Roth and Pearl were created to replace evie's original narrative role. Jacob lost the "fix mistakes levels" which went to evie in order to extend her narrative as she didn't really have much story. The tone was also changed to be more light hearted. Jacob was then left as a twin protagonist in his own game, just because some short sighted people couldn't allow a male main character. Jacob was also supposed to be the first lgbtq main protagonist. He still is, as he is bisexual, but this element of his character was made less clear, around about the time evie was being changed into a playable good guy. It is funny that people complain about Jacob, because it isn't his fault the game was ruined compared to original plans. It is evie's fault. This is why evie is so dull and 2D. Because the creative team actually didn't want her.

[@BuryTheLight-tds]

Even on my first playthrough I installed the victory outfit mod and played stealthily as Jacob

[@Dark2857]

@@chrismoore5333 Wow I actually didn't know most of that thanks for that...sincerely, makes the game make a whole lot more sense tbh. Edit: This is more a hind-sight note but there is a mission after the Bank Assassinate, imagine if it was Jacob doing it rather then Evie and hes just like "Man I really screwed this one up...oh well lets try to mend some fences then get back to tracking templars". It just feels like it was only there to give Evie ammo to throw in Jacobs face at the final act, because we need drama and conflict between the main cast, its not like hunting down the templar grand master is going to take ALL of our focus or anything...

[@chrismoore5333]

@@Dark2857 exactly! The lead writer in an interview once said this in regards to why Jacob and Evie exist. "We have the story we wanted to tell, and then there was the story that some of them wanted to tell." He is saying that the story he and the rest of the creative team wanted to tell, is the story about Jacob. A story that was planned as the only story in AC Victory. The creative team are always the ones responsible for a story in any game. They are the team that created Ezio and his story for example. The story that "some of them" wanted to tell, is referring to a group of angry devs who wanted evie and her story. That is among the reasons why evie has a different writer much of the time. It lines up as well. Angry devs kist shout "we want a lady as the lead" even if that lady is a bad character. They seem to have had similar issues with Origins, but there is no evidence to support the idea that aya was planned instead of bayek. None at all. I can find physical evidence that kassandra was planned. But nothing for aya? Considering that we now know for a fact that only Jacob was planned for syndicate, it makes you wonder how many times some of these devs have lied to push their own desires.

[@chrismoore5333]

@@BuryTheLight-tds Jacob is pretty stealthy in canon, anyway. Despite what evie says. Jacob actually has more stealth levels and better stealth gameplay than anyone apart from his sister, when the game first came out. Regardless, I'm glad you enjoyed it with the victory outfit mod! I really want that mod but I don't have the money to own a gaming computer yet.

[@kyle2kyletroii]

it still pisses me off that syndicate is one of the most light hearted games in the series and it’s set in possibly the darkest time period in all of history

[@jtw2018]

The World Wars, the Black Plague, and even the previous game is set during the French Revolution (all of which are much darker time periods). I get what you’re saying, but Victorian London is FAR from the darkest period in history.

[@kyle2kyletroii]

@@jtw2018 one of certainly. it’s dark enough to the point where the game warrants a dark tone and not a happy one

[@unicorntomboy9736]

Not really, I'd say the Black Death was

[@kyle2kyletroii]

@@unicorntomboy9736 victorian london is still dark enough of a setting to warrant a grim tone

[@chrismoore5333]

It is actually evie's fault the game is light hearted, ironically. Allow me to explain some stuff that the video wasn't clear on or got wrong. Samuel Fey is just the early development name for Jacob Frye. He isnt a different "lost" character. And his evil mentor with the mask? She is just early development evie. Evie was the bad guy, Jacob was the only protagonist. You can thank evie for ruining AC Victory. You see, during development, the original plan was to have only Jacob as the main protagonist. Evie was to be his mentor. She was originally going to betray Jacob. Unfortunately the creative team were forced to change the story in order to include evie as a playable good guy. This of course meant they needed to change more elements of the games story. Among the changes, Roth and Pearl were created to replace evie's original narrative role. Jacob lost the "fix mistakes levels" which went to evie in order to extend her narrative as she didn't really have much story. The tone was also changed to be more light hearted. Jacob was then left as a twin protagonist in his own game, just because some short sighted people couldn't allow a male main character. Jacob was also supposed to be the first lgbtq main protagonist. He still is, as he is bisexual, but this element of his character was made less clear, around about the time evie was being changed into a playable good guy. It is funny that people complain about Jacob, because it isn't his fault the game was ruined compared to original plans. It is evie's fault. This is why evie is so dull and 2D. Because the creative team actually didn't want her.

[@DoMe-ic6im]

I definitly would have prefered Victory over what we got simply cuz the setting would have fit better and the screenshots hooked me. Really disappointing. But i got really triggered when i first saw the raw gameplay for ac 3 that would have been peak gameplay

[@chrismoore5333]

For a start, Samuel Fey is just the early development name for Jacob Frye. He isnt a different "lost" character. And his evil mentor with the mask? She is just early development evie. Evie was the bad guy, Jacob was the only protagonist. You can thank evie for ruining AC Victory. You see, during development, the original plan was to have only Jacob as the main protagonist. Evie was to be his mentor. She was originally going to betray Jacob. Unfortunately the creative team were forced to change the story in order to include evie as a playable good guy. This of course meant they needed to change more elements of the games story. Among the changes, Roth and Pearl were created to replace evie's original narrative role. Jacob lost the "fix mistakes levels" which went to evie in order to extend her narrative as she didn't really have much story. The tone was also changed to be more light hearted. Jacob was then left as a twin protagonist in his own game, just because some short sighted people couldn't allow a male main character. Jacob was also supposed to be the first lgbtq main protagonist. He still is, as he is bisexual, but this element of his character was made less clear, around about the time evie was being changed into a playable good guy. It is funny that people complain about Jacob, because it isn't his fault the game was ruined compared to original plans. It is evie's fault. This is why evie is so dull and 2D. Because the creative team actually didn't want her.

[@chrismoore5333]

UPDATE: I should now highlight a matter in regards to a company called "sweet baby" that personally upsets me on multiple levels, and I believe the fans should know the truth and hypocrisy behind ubisoft's worst character, evie. This is a lesser known situation that bothers me as a huge assassin's creed fan. Essentially, assassin's creed syndicate was largely finished before the inclusion of evie as a playable character. As in, the game only featured Jacob frye. Here's where things get hypocritical. The games lead writer is a gay man called Jeffery Yohalem, and he lead AC brotherhood, and worked on many other AC games as well. He had always written about various demographics, but this time with syndicate, Jacob frye was a bisexual man, similar to how Jeffery is a gay man. Now, you'd think that this was "inclusive" enough for Kim belair, who herself got a writing role on the project "late into development" by her own words. But spoiler, it wasn't enough for her and her buddies. You see, syndicate was right before Kim belair left to head her own company "sweet baby." It didn't matter that a man of a minority group wanted to write atleast one game about his own minority demographic. To Belair, anything white and male is "privileged" and therefore, she and others such as Melissa, were behind undermining Jacob as a character, shoehorning evie into the game as a "twin protagonist" despite that not being the original plan at all. Kim belair got what she wanted, but of course it wasn't enough, and so she then joined the "AC sisterhood" where she voiced that she felt annoyed that people were telling her the games main character is Jacob, and she said "we can change what people think, and if people think evie was supposed to be the main character, then she'll become the main character." This is highly hypocritical as she talks about inclusion, yet she fights to remove and undermine a minority group simply because they are white and male as well. We see this trend continue as all of the gay/bisexual male playable characters are now "none canon" or in Jacob's case, forced to share their game with evie as she is constantly pushed to replace him as a soul protagonist. But this is also interesting, as all the claims that literally every single female character was "the original intended protagonist" have no evidence to back them up at all, and it fits right into Kim belair's claim that telling people evie was planned would make her popular, and to some level she was right, unfortunately. It appears the same tactics have been used for Aya, Kassandra and Eivor as well. Eivor is even a unisex name, and yet these people have everyone thinking it is a woman's name only. Kim belair also went on to admit she worked on the home base and certain notes in the game AC valhalla. This is significant because the only times Kassandra and female were "canon" at the games launch were due to in game notes, and an obvious head swap of a hidden optional cinimatic where Odin as an old man was supposed to appear, but in the final game he has female eivor's head. (Yes I'm serious, crazy right?) I don't want game devs to feel they have to force into their storylines lgbtq men, women, or ethnic minorities or anything. That said, as a gay man myself, I feel frustrated that my minority group has been victim of real gatekeeping by the very group sweet baby and their associates, while they tell the world that they are fighting for diversity!? They are hypocritical and they lie. I think the truth about the hypocrisy that created the 2D terrible character that is evie frye, should be exposed. And I think that it's time games just went back to being just that. Games, that are made to be fun and none political. I hope you took the time to read this all, and if you did, I'm thankful. I've been bullied and abused, and I even have an online stalker who has been gaslighting me for around 3 years now! All because I said it was wrong to remove the only representation a minority group has, in favour of the ever growing list of female representation.

[@stadion6789]

Will you make a video about what would be your perfect ac game? Like take samples from old games or characters and make it your own ac story

[@Charcharbink]

I also like this idea, I want to hear his opinion on this since he’s my favorite AC KZbinr.

[@stadion6789]

@@Charcharbink we only hear his dislikes and bits of what should’ve been but not what his desire is

[@BuryTheLight-tds]

​@@CharcharbinkHe has already done that with an early video of his, basically he wants an Arno vs Shay game

[@PeRaDoM]

I just want that amazing Victory outfit in the game

[@senneschreurs9588]

I would buy a gaming PC just to install the mod with the victory outfit. It's so cool!

[@TheAmazingSpiderPrime]

I never really liked syndicate. I started playing it around 3 years ago and I didn't know what i had to do, so i ended up just running around doing nothing. It never really crossed my mind about the tone of syndicate because i was quite young and i hadn't studied the victorians. But coming back to it now after Unity I think I might like it more now I know more about the Assassins Creed franchise.

[@wodar2741]

Imagine Ubisoft took care for their AC series as rockstar did for GTA. Every game would have been huge leap and we would get DMC like treatment for their systems for example in case of AC Parkour.

[@J__T]

We all know why Evie was included at all given even today's political fantasy connections but if this was the sole reason, why couldn't Ubisoft just switch Evie's and Simon's roles? I have a, I guess, world-building question for Unity: if Shay killed Arno's father and Shay was originally an Assassin under Achilles and then a Templar under Haytham, why is neither Shay nor Conner at all present in France? Conner would've certainly been able to get there and would still have been decently young too.

[@soapandbutter]

I wish they just took franciade's atmosphere and stuck it into syndicate. Franciade was dark and depressing even when it's daytime, exactly how I would imagine victorian london.

[@thelionofnorth1053]

I think worst things about syndicate is npcs . And secondly as u said duale character is meaning less . They probably wanted to just bring a women to the series although aveline existed and is so great and adorable and etc but they wasn't satisfied yet . So they gave us an idot assassin that always missed up and his twin smart beautiful... Save the day all the time. It was mostly to show a woman in series

[@OpDownfall93]

while i agree that AC Victory is a massive missed opportunity, i must say, the bigger one for me was them not setting the third AC RPG game in Ancient Rome, or, more likely, the Italian Peninsula--not only would it have provided a more coherent sense of continuity with the other two RPG titles, it would have also served as a big wrap around for the entire series, bringing players back to one of the most acclaimed settings in the franchise.

[@cubanog213]

I wish they did one in new york during the Victorian era also as a assassin in the five points and have bill the butcher as a Templar

[@GabrielBelmont4727]

Ubisoft should scrap this light tone thing they are going for in all of their recent games... no fan of that at all...

[@redcobra6016]

I’m glad I’m not the only one complaining about this. I strongly believe Ubisoft has been trying to copy the MCU which is why the games feel lighter toned and more comedic than dark and serious. Edit: forgot to mention the writing in recent games feel so safe and neutered compared to older games which felt like they had balls.

[@jimmymurphy898]

Didn't love the lighthearted tone of Syndicate

[@ianism3]

what makes you think Sam Faye was the original protagonist? multiple interviews with devs indicate that they originally had a female one until Ubisoft higher-ups literally screamed at them to have a white male, and they had to fight to keep Evie as a playable character. honestly I am much more interested in a game with Aya set in ancient Rome than whatever Syndicate was originally planned to be

[@MacCarell]

TLDW: he wishes they used a darker tone, had a single protagonist, included the promo outfit, and incorporated the ability to swing with the rope launcher as shown in the promo

[@blyt7]

I loved Syndicate, its in my top 5 AC games, but Victory would've brought it even closer to number 1

[@roninkahn4033]

Yeah people rag on connor for being boring since he doesnt crack jokes but the guy had way bigger stakes than most other assasins and did it while being the only full fledged assassin before the end of the game. All that struggle just for it to be in vain and was basically betrayed by the same people he fought for. That sort of grounded and serious story has been missing for too long. A wisecracking light hearted tone is perfectly fine if we can get more serious every once in awhile.

[@inthecloudz1272]

So much f'ing potential

[@Tattletale97]

There is a Victory project mod, but Evie got the Ubisoft treatment even in mod 💀

[@Airblade101]

MA, it's super easy to fix the low FPS capes btw. You just have to open one of the files and change a single number. I can't remember which file it is though.

[@MiBrCo4177]

i was talking to a friend of mine the other day while i played origins. I want an AC game where we have more stealth mechanics. I get it.. hide in plain sight. tall bushes, benches blending in with the crowd, hiding in hay bails. but I want an AC game where we creep against walls like metal gear. crawl on the ground, hang from walls like splinter cell. use more of the environment to our advantage. I found myself in origins just slowly walking around a hideout of baddies, coming to a wall and turning the damn camera to see whats around the corner lol. thats not stealth, that is just using the cam to your advantage lol. give us more to trick guards with. throw rocks, blow out torches, use every means imaginable.

[@orelyosif5852]

Damn, I was just thinking about it today. Is KZbin algorithm in my head?

[@Paradox-es3bl]

Syndicate is my favorite since 2 so I'm fine with what we got.

[@obsidianwarrior5580]

Would've loved a more serious version of Syndicate, it's one of the reasons why I'm nervous about AC Red, is because it's made by Quebec and their AC games are notoriously goofy.

[@Linchpin_TF]

ubisoft should include this tech trailers as a bonus like in AC3 remastered. even in unity ubisoft release arno's outfit from the alpha version as DLC.

[@helmenhjelmen1955]

i believe that they scrapped some of their ideas because they where afraid that their game was gonna be forgetfull unless they suddenly created a gimmick that would not return in a later game

[@NeroTheHellspawn]

Evie was supposed to be different, more stealth-focused, until Serge Hascoët told the devs to minimize her role in the game (and that ended up with her and Jacob being pretty much the same). He did the same thing with Aya in AC Origins, thinking women wouldn't sell the games. If it wasn't for a sexist exec, a lot of games would've played out differently.

[@patrycjadutkowska8576]

I would’ve rather if instead of syndicate it had victory like that just sounds way better

[@cookdislander4372]

They need to make the game like Hitman or Tencgu where the less you get spotted or less unnesesary murders, the higher your score

[@allendean9807]

Chase scenes, tailing, horse chases, cart chases, ship battles, all of it should be optional. Drives me right out of the game when i have to spend forever chasing someone down, racing in a carriage, or forced to battle in a boat. I’d love to just play the game i want to play it. This is why mirage is so refreshing; none of that filler nonsense- just killing, hiding, sneaking and exploring the world.

[@trippymartian8847]

Mirage looks mid, go play Dishonored

[@allendean9807]

@@trippymartian8847 first person games aren’t fun to me. To each their own, i guess

[@wahidohee9923]

I worked hard to acquire the outfit which required cameras I was hugely disappointed when there was only one for Evie I was like, "Why didn't these MFs make Evie the main character then?!" I didn't get MC vibes from Jacob at any point.

[@rishav_killerx6011]

I wish they make future AC games like Unity and Syndicate gaming Mechanics...Rest talkin' about history' of london the Darkness, Grittyness should be there and the Outfits looked fire 🔥🔥 they should have given that but there must be a Reason for that

[@themagicalblingbling]

I'd argue Assassin's Creed still hasn't had a proper female protagonist. Sure, we've had Evie, who consistently plays second fiddle to (the ever insufferable) Jacob. We've had Aya, though Bayek is clearly the lead in AC Origins. And we've had Kassandra and Eivor as the "canonical" female leads in their respective games, but even then Ubisoft put Alexios and male Eivor on the box art and merchandise and made playing as a woman optional. We have to date still not had a main AC game featuring a female lead character, without any backdoors.

[@DakaloMaedza-z4m]

what about aveline?

[@BatMane95]

​​@@DakaloMaedza-z4m That was a PS Vita launch title, so I'd count that as a backdoor. Also Shao Jun, but that was also in a 2D stealth platformer, so another backdoor.

[@themagicalblingbling]

@@DakaloMaedza-z4m Liberations is not a main AC entry, merely a sidegame. Same for Shao Jun in AC Chronicles China.

[@DakaloMaedza-z4m]

@@BatMane95 fair enough but unlike shao jun, arbaaz and nikolai her character had a lot of development in comparison for being a side game

[@DakaloMaedza-z4m]

@@themagicalblingbling fair enough point but unlike shao jun, arbaaz and nikolai her character had alot of development in comparison for being a side game

[@saadkhaion9234]

Ac syndicate was my first ac game and what put me in the series, I was shocked when I found the game is all about ancient civilizations and cartoonishly advanced technologies, the entire series didn't have the balls to take itself seriously into the political / religious conflicts it intended to put itself in and rather relide on alternatives (no god, no science, religions and science are all wrong) and also tends to have pure good assassins and pure evil templars (no, there's no grayeshness, do never try it), the game also never really focused on historical accuracy neither for the events or the settings it involves in but kept its own reality using the phrase of "nothing is real, every thing is permitted" and I somewhat started to accept that in a good way.... So that's being said, as long as I enjoy the game, admire the aesthetics, and as long as I can relate to the characters and feel myself in, then I have no problem whether the game is batman's dark atmosphere or spiderman's delightful tune :)

[@saadkhaion9234]

And here's yall quick reminder that assassin's creed is set in an alternative reality and also seeing things how the protagonists saw it throughout the animus and not how you know it, (spoiler alert: like how we know that father borgia died in cholera but in the game you see that his son killed him, end spoiler), so yeah we see that victorian London was a lightfull city through Jacob's eyes and not like how historians have told as :)

[@sofajockeyUK]

Syndicate's one of my favourites. Evie particularly is excellent. Except the JtR DLC which I hate for it's tone and will never play again.

[@chrispoici666]

Why not to do an "which assassin can blend in better on his world" based on the most civilian like outfits?

[@Wwker]

If I'm not wrong, unity was suppose to be a female protagonist, but when the ac unity writer left the team instead of female protagonist we got Arno, that's probably why we got different story then early developments syndicate

[@chrismoore5333]

Elise was considered as a protagonist, but it was never decided. Arno was also supposed to either die in Elise's game, or she was to die in his. However there was a third idea where Arno was the main character again, but the focus was on Arno looking after a orphan instead. In any case, syndicate was indeed always planned to feature Jacob as the soul protagonist. Samuel is just the development name for Jacob.

[@KNIGHTczech]

tbh, I would be more happy about AC Victory, dont get me wrong, I like Fry twins, but for me AC was more darkish drama and after big drama that was AC Unity, I was expecting another one like AC victory, which could be so good.

[@luxpog]

Love your content bro 🤟🤟

[@thebatmanofneo-gotham5667]

What makes the tone of AC Syndicate even worse, if you ask me, is that it conflicts with the concept of viewing an ancestor's memories through the Animus. It's a generation of how the character in that time period saw the world at the time, and the person using the Animus is seeing that persepctive through their eyes. So naturally, when you have a silly and lighthearted tone given to you through the lens of Jacob and Evie, it gives you the impression that that's how they viewed the world during Victorian London, which, in-universe, doesn't make sense, because the Frye Twins are each grown adults at 21 years old. The fact that someone of that age demographic living in that time period would have a lighthearted, adventurous outlook ruins the suspension of disbelief for me, Iand it just throws me off.

[@chrismoore5333]

For a start, Samuel Fey is just the early development name for Jacob Frye. He isnt a different "lost" character. And his evil mentor with the mask? She is just early development evie. Evie was the bad guy, Jacob was the only protagonist. You can thank evie for ruining AC Victory. You see, during development, the original plan was to have only Jacob as the main protagonist. Evie was to be his mentor. She was originally going to betray Jacob. Unfortunately the creative team were forced to change the story in order to include evie as a playable good guy. This of course meant they needed to change more elements of the games story. Among the changes, Roth and Pearl were created to replace evie's original narrative role. Jacob lost the "fix mistakes levels" which went to evie in order to extend her narrative as she didn't really have much story. The tone was also changed to be more light hearted. Jacob was then left as a twin protagonist in his own game, just because some short sighted people couldn't allow a male main character. Jacob was also supposed to be the first lgbtq main protagonist. He still is, as he is bisexual, but this element of his character was made less clear, around about the time evie was being changed into a playable good guy. It is funny that people complain about Jacob, because it isn't his fault the game was ruined compared to original plans. It is evie's fault. This is why evie is so dull and 2D. Because the creative team actually didn't want her.

[@Luckas9]

Prince of Persia Kindred Blades the history behind be like

[@leon-y5w5r]

I mean its all about execution in the end Ubisoft is always known to have great ideas and failing in execution

[@ulas.mortas]

there were leaks ubi got pissed and didn't add the og outfit in the game only out of spite. my theory.