Navigation: This time around, our idea with navigation was to deliver a greater feeling of freedom to the player by allowing him to go anywhere he wants, anyway he wants. As the player will discover and explore the dense city of Paris, we didn’t want to restrain him to a certain numbers of predefined paths that our designers created especially for him. By rethinking navigation, we have added more control and precision, giving the player a ton of options to move within the city at all levels, interior and exterior. For instance, it is now possible to free run up and down on any side of any building which makes navigation more efficient. In Unity, you don’t have to use a haystack in order to reach the ground level anymore, you can now take the path you fancy!
Combat: We have completely re-invented the combat based on a new philosophy. For us, fighting was two things: the player deals with several enemies or the player deals with one enemy. Before Unity, we focused on the latter but discarded the former. When an enemy was attacking while we were fighting another one, the only possible move was the counter and the only thing the player could do was to switch to a new enemy. Now, we have built a new system where the player can deal with different enemies (move away from one, get close to another…). It makes combat easier to learn but at the same time it’s deeper: attack, dodge, and parry.
And then another layer is the different types of enemies (“archetypes”). For example, the player will not be able to parry, only to dodge a certain type. When fighting several enemies of different kinds, all with unique strengths and weaknesses, we wanted the player to enter the flow state and make each fight unique and challenging. This makes fighting more difficult, because we wanted to go back to the roots of the game, which remains a stealth game.
The end result is that enemies truly attack in groups, making the combat more challenging yet more rewarding. The strategy of “waiting in line to get countered” is no more. You have to be pro-active. You have to adapt yourself. And sometimes, you’ll have to retreat before you die – and this is where our Stealth Mode comes into effect.
Stealth: Stealth has always been the main AC pillar. We have re-designed all the pillars, but we are particularly proud of what we have managed to achieve on this one, because this element reinforces the very heart of Assassin’s Creed.
First of all, we have added what we call Stealth Mode, which is triggered at the touch of a button. When the player enters Stealth Mode, all his actions are stealthier. The player will make less noise and will be less likely to be detected.
Secondly, we have added a cover system to allow our players to feel more connected to their direct environment. You can now use the various architectural elements present in the game to hide.
Thirdly, we have rethought the stealth within the crowd. Now that we have real crowds with more than thousands of NPCs, if the player tries to hide, he can do so simply by entering the crowd. The player now has more tools and more possibilities to act stealthily.
The result is that in Unity, the player has the stealth levers to use this pillar exclusively. It was very important for us that the player could act like a true Assassin: attack, disappear in the shadows, let the enemy panic and take advantage of his confusion to strike again.
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