ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY
There was no way Parisian Assassin Arno Dorian was going to let his targets eat cake…
Another story about family ties. Arno Dorian’s Assassin father is murdered, and the boy taken in by Templar Grandmaster François de la Serre, raised alongside his badass daughter Élise. He knows none of this, of course, being a dumb man about town, until he fails to deliver a letter to François warning him of an assassination attempt. Arno is framed, and his life crumbles again. Thrown into the Bastille, Arno’s taken under the wing of fellow prisoner and former friend of his father Pierre Bellec, joining the Assassin Brotherhood after they escape on Bastille Day. For the most part Arno is unfortunately a drab protagonist, especially compared to the more exciting Élise, though their team-ups and relationship that pushes past the traditional opposing Assassin/ Templar dynamics is refreshing.
French Revolution-era Paris was as hectic as it was beautiful. Notre Dame was breathtaking, and Animus “rifts” threw you around time for special missions, including running through
“ASSASSINATION MISSIONS HARKENED BACK TO THE FIRST GAME, AND FELT MORE OPEN.”
the 19th century Metro, and climbing the Eiffel Tower in Nazi-occupied 1944 Paris. The crowds were immense – useful and dangerous in equal measure, as you could use them for cover or exploit tensions to create diversions. Assassination missions harkened back to the first game, and felt more open, with opportunities you could take advantage of – such as picking a key from someone’s pocket to get discreet access to a building. While a neat idea, these were never as deep as, say, Hitman’s missions. Clunky fighting was intended to dissuade open combat, but ended up being annoying – though the introduction of proper interior/exterior building dynamics did create incredible possibilities for chase sequences.