Ubisoft today revealed the next big release in the Assassin’s Creed franchise – Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, with a gameplay demo and trailer.
Developed by Ubisoft Quebec, Syndicate will take place in Victorian London at the height of the Industrial Revolution and will star new protagonist Jacob Frye and his twin sister Evie.
According to the press release, the game will be a single-player-only affair.
“The ability to lead an underground gang, commandeer any vehicle on hand and use modern tools to take on an expansive and fast-paced Victorian London sets this game apart,” said creative director Marc-Alexis Cote.
New features
Ubisoft showed off quite a bit of gameplay and some new features during its reveal live-stream. Here are a few that stood out for us:
Faster combat: Syndicate will feature the fastest combat the series has seen and appears to have a strong emphasis on hand-to-hand combat, since Frye is a brawler by nature. The attention to combat is welcome as its always been one of the series’ weaker facets.
New traffic system: London will be full of busy, crowded streets teeming with horse-drawn carriages. The game will also feature the railways in a big way. The new transport system will let players not only commandeer vehicles but also incorporate them while free-running, during chases and in combat.
The boroughs: While London is the centrepiece of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate and the only one to feature horse carriages, it is only one of seven boroughs in the game. Unfortunately, none of the others were shown in the gameplay demo.
Rope launcher: Syndicate will feature a pretty cool looking rope launcher that works a bit like Spider-man’s web. Frye can use it to scale buildings within seconds and to also zip-line across rooftops and get the drop on unsuspecting lookout guards.
Environmental attacks: It’s amazing to think that Assassin’s Creed games haven’t allowed for environmental attacks so far, but better late than never. Syndicate lets players uses objects in the environment to take out enemies. The demo showed Frye cutting a rope that was holding up a bunch of sacks, dropping them on a Templar guard below.
Check out the full gameplay demo from the reveal below, with the the slick announcement trailer at the end of this post.
Five Editions
In typical Ubisoft fashion, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is getting five editions. We’re not sure which ones will be available in India, but here they all are anyway:
Standard Edition
- Preorder bonus: Darwin and Dickens Conspiracy Mission
Gold Edition
- Season Pass
- Baker Street outfit
- Preorder bonus: Darwin and Dickens Conspiracy Mission
Big Ben Collector’s Case
- Exclusive collector’s box
- Jacob’s Machinery Figurine
- Art book
- Souble-sided London Map
- Game soundtrack
- Lithography chosen by the fans who pre-order
- Exclusive FuturPak
- Exclusive premium hip flask
- Two single player missions for an extra hour of gameplay
- Season pass
Charing Cross Edition
- Exclusive collector’s box
- Jacob Cross-Road Figurine
- Art book
- Double-sided London Map
- Game soundtrack
- Two single player missions for an extra hour of gameplay
The Rooks Edition
- Collector’s box
- Art book
- Double sided London Map
- Game soundtrack
- Two single player missions for an extra hour of gameplay
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is set for release on 23rd October for PS4 and Xbox One. The PC version has a vague ‘Autumn 2015’ release window so it shouldn’t be too far from the console release. The standard edition of the game is available for preorder at Games The Shop.