Ubisoft Will Ruin Their Next-Gen Games, Including Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
Assassins Creed: Valhalla looks awesome, and it probably will be for the first 30 minutes of gameplay. | Source: Ubisoft
- Ubisoft’s repetitive formula will continue into next-generation.
- The future of Assassin’s Creed is bleak.
- In this case, bigger is the opposite of better.
Ubisoft games are full of crap. Some have intriguing plotlines but they’re surrounded by utterly useless side missions and hundreds of boring collectibles.
This is all to pad out a game’s length. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is worth $60 if it has hundreds of hours of content, right? Even if 80% of those hours are filler, it’s still great marketing speak!
It works, too. This generation, ten titles have sold over 10 million units. These sales mean Ubisoft won’t stop littering future games with boring towers and worthless filler content.
Ubisoft’s Gross Filling
It’s because of this gross filling that I’m worried about next-gen. Ubisoft has already said their games will be bigger on the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.
But bigger doesn’t translate to better.
Take something like The Last of Us or Hellblade or even the earlier Assassin’s Creed games. These are more linear experiences, with the latter being a segmented, reasonably filled open world.
These are all fantastic titles, each without their share of ridiculous padding to sound better on paper.
But as open-world games became the trend, something gamers dub “The Ubisoft Formula ” came to ruin everything.
Ubisoft lures players in with an absorbing opening and some over-the-top enemy to hold their attention. The game then devolves into checklists and bottom-of-the-barrel filler.
Is Checking off Boxes Really Fun?
This formula works the first time. It might even work the second time. But eventually, players tire of the same repetitive mechanics.
One Redditor puts this best:
While skinning an animal in the jungle in order to craft a larger ammo sack, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of deja vu and for an anxious moment I wasn’t even sure which game I was playing. It was far cry primal and I haven’t picked up a Ubisoft game since that moment.
Ubisoft dupes players with the promise of a compelling narrative, only to lock off progression with the banalest of tasks. Next-gen Ubisoft will magnify the problem.
What’s worse, it doesn’t have to be this way. CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3 has actual plotlines instead of the half-assed nonsense in Ubisoft games.
But the Assassin’s Creed developer insists on pushing out copy-and-paste drivel. Imagine a condensed Watch Dogs title that delves deep into the relationship between humans and technology. Instead, we have a game that touches on that but stuffs it full of irrelevant fluff.
I’m already cringing at the thought of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’s runtime.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
