Assassin's Creed Unity From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Assassin's Creed Unity Developer(s) Ubisoft Montreal [a] Publisher(s) Ubisoft Director(s) Alexandre Amancio Writer(s) Travis Stout[1] Composer(s) Chris Tilton [2] Sarah Schachner[2] Ryan Amon[3] Series Assassin's Creed Engine AnvilNext Platform(s) Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One Release date(s) NA November 11, 2014[4] AUS November 13, 2014[5] EU November 13, 2014 UK November 14, 2014[6] JP November 20, 2014 Genre(s) Action-adventure, stealth Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer Distribution Optical disc, download Assassin's Creed Unity is a 2014 historical fiction action-adventure open world stealth video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released in November 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game is the seventh major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, and the successor to 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag with ties to 2014's Assassin's Creed Rogue. Set within Paris during the French Revolution, the single- player story follows Arno Dorian in his efforts to expose the true powers behind the Revolution. The game retains the series' third-person open world exploration as well as introducing a revamped combat, parkour and stealth system. The game also introducescooperative multiplayer to the Assassin's Creed series, letting up to four players engage in narrative-driven missions and explore the open-world map. Assassin's Creed Unity received generally mixed reviews upon its release. Praise was aimed towards its visual upgrades and multiplayer-oriented format, while negative attention was drawn towards its weak storyline, unrefined gameplay, and numerous graphics issues and other bugs upon release. Because of the high amount of initial bugs, Ubisoft issued an apology; season pass sales were suspended, current season pass holders were offered a free digital copy of one of several recent Ubisoft games, and announced that the game's first downloadable content campaign would be made available for free. Contents [hide] 1 Gameplay 2 Synopsis o 2.1 Characters o 2.2 Setting o 2.3 Plot 3 Development o 3.1 Historical consulting 4 Release 5 Controversies o 5.1 Gender options in cooperative mode o 5.2 Platform parity 6 Reception o 6.1 Critical response o 6.2 Ubisoft's responses o 6.3 Criticism by French Left Party 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links Gameplay[edit] Combat for the game was rebuilt, with fencing being used as an inspiration for the new system. In addition to returning weapons from previous games, Assassin's Creed Unity introduces the Phantom Blade. The Phantom Blade uses the mechanics of a crossbow to fire a silent projectile a great distance, while still serving the same role as the Hidden Blade in previous Assassin's Creed games. [7] Navigation for the game was also overhauled: new "Free-run up" and "Free-run down" commands were added to make it easier for the player to scale buildings in either direction. Additionally, Arno learns new parkour moves throughout the game, but the player can also purchase new skills as well. [8] With the updated, larger crowds, new interactions with them are also available. The crowd regularly presents many activities, appearing organically, that the player can choose to engage with at their leisure. Examples include interfering in a fistfight, or chasing down a pickpocket.[9] For the first time, the series allows players to customize the characters abilities, adopting a skill tree that enables players to assign points earned through gameplay to improve their skills in stealth, mêlée & ranged combat, and health.[10] Players are also able to customise their weapons, armour and equipment to further complement their individual style of play.[11] They will also have a wider selection of weapons available, including swords, axes, spears, polearms, pistols and incendiary devices.[citation needed] Assassin's Creed Unity also introduces cooperative multiplayer to the series. Players can enter taverns, which act as social hubs in the game, where you can see if any friends are playing the game at the current time. If they are currently in a mission, they will appear as a "ghost" version of their player, allowing you to approach it to request to join their mission. If accepted, you are transitioned to their game and both of you reset to the most recent checkpoint, and continue on from there. Up to four players can join together in this fashion. The player will take on the role of Arno, customized within their own game, with other players appearing as their own customized version of Arno in their own sets of equipment, weapons, and armor. Many missions and activities will be available for cooperative play (which the player can also complete on their own), but there are some story missions that are set aside to be single player only.[9] There are significant tie-ins with the Assassins Creed Unity Companion App, a freemium click app with limited direct ties to the overall story of Unity. There are a significant number of chests and assassination targets and other collectibles that are visible to all players but only accessible to those who've completed certain goals within the app. Synopsis[edit] Characters[edit] The main character of the game is Arno Dorian (Dan Jeannotte),[12][13] a native Frenchman who was born in Versailles to an Assassin father. After his father is killed by Shay Patrick Cormac at the end of Assassin's Creed Rogue, Arno is adopted, unaware that his new family holds a senior position within the Templar Order, with his new father figure the Templar Grandmaster.[9][14][15] Arno blames himself when his adoptive father is murdered, and so sets out on a quest of redemption that brings him into the Brotherhood of Assassins, where he slowly rises through the ranks, much like Altaïr Ibn- La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore as seen in previous games.[9][15] Arno's love interest is a Templar named Elise De LaSerre (Catherine Bérubé),[16] the daughter of the Templar Grandmaster who adopted Arno, who also sets out to investigate more about her father's death and its role in a growing ideological change within the Templar Order that threatens its core values.[14][15][17] Additional characters include Marquis de Sade (Alex Ivanovici), Napoleon Bonaparte (Brent Skagford) and Maximilien de Robespierre (Bruce Dinsmore).[16] Setting[edit] Arno's story starts in Versailles as a child, but for most of the story he is in Paris. His adventure in Paris starts on the eve of the French Revolution in 1789 up to the Thermidorian Reaction in 1794. [12] The modern day setting focuses on the Assassins contacting the player and requesting their help to explore Arno in the past, as well as helping in the present.[18] Co-operative multiplayer missions follow the development of the Brotherhood of Assassins during the French Revolution.[14] In addition, "time anomalies" are introduced during the story. Accessing them takes Arno to various points of Parisian history, such as its occupation byNazi Germany during World War II.[19] Plot[edit] The "player" is implied to be a player of a gaming device called Helix produced by Abstergo that allows for many different genetic memories to be accessed. The story begins with the player playing through a memory of the sacking of the Paris Temple and the capture of Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay in 1307. During the sack, de Molay entrusts another Templar with a Sword and a book, which the Templar hides within a French crypt. The memory then fast forwards to de Molay's death at the stake, and his curse towards King Phillip IV and Pope Clement V. At this point, the Assassins hijack the memory sequence and implore the player to join them as an initiate after providing an internal Abstergo video memo, in which Abstergo describes the capture of a Sage, who contains precursor DNA which is in a triple rather than a double helix form, and the Phoenix Project whereby Abstergo hopes to compile a whole precursor genome for unclear purposes. The Assassin contact provides access to another memory segment and directs the new initiate to find the location of what the Assassins believe to be another Sage, whose corpse they hope to recover. The memory then segues to Arno Dorian, a French nobleman's son who meets Elise, daughter of the Templar Grand Master at Versailles in 1776. After his father is murdered at the palace, the Grand Master De La Serre adopts Dorian despite knowing his father was an Assassin, a fact of which Arno is totally oblivious. The story skips forward to Elise's initiation into the Templar order at age 21 in 1789. Arno is given a message to deliver to Msr. De La Serre, but puts it in his office in order to sneak into the party to meet with Elise. After meeting her, Arno sneaks out, and after nearly being caught, finds De La Serre murdered in the courtyard. Arno, mistaken to be De La Serre's killer, is captured by the gendarmerie and imprisoned in the Bastille. There he finds apocalyptic writings on the wall and impresses a fellow captive, the Assassin Bellec, with his fighting skills. Bellec invites Arno into the Brotherhood when they escape during the Storming of the Bastille. Arno returns home first and is turned away by Elise, who reveals that the message Arno was supposed to deliver to her father was a warning of his impending murder, and reveals herself as a Templar. Arno joins the Brotherhood and begs for the opportunity to find and eliminate the other Templars involved in De La Serre's death, including La Roi de Thumes ("The King of Beggars"), and is granted this by Mirabeau, who was attempting to broker peace between the Orders with De La Serre.