Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed Unity Q&A
Developer Ubisoft
Publisher Ubisoft
Platform Various
Release Date
Why Unity? What does it mean?
Unity refers to the shared experience aspect of the game, the unification of the single player and online mode. With Unity, we are uniting the core pillars of the Assassin’s Creed experience and ushering it online – to be shared amongst four friends. Unity also refers to the new narrative approach that we are taking for present day.
Assassin’s Creed Unity is one of the biggest games so far attempted by Ubisoft. How do you organize such a massive undertaking?
We are aware of the fact that developing games of that magnitude is very challenging. For us, this process compares to an expedition conquering unexplored territories. In order to reach that objective, over the last few years, we have been developing tools that allowed us to automate many redundant elements that used to take a lot of the development team’s time. From now on, the team can focus on quality rather than on functionality. Without these technological evolutions that speed up the process, it would have been technically impossible to create a new universe with the scope of Assassin’s Creed Unity.
Assassin’s Creed is a project developed by studios all over the world. Can you tell us how many studios are involved and who leads the development?
Montreal is the lead studio with support from nine other Ubisoft studios. We also have a dedicated team taking care of the inter-studio collaboration. That means, every minute of the week, somebody is working on Assassin’s Creed Unity somewhere in the world. When they all believe in the vision and all push to achieve it, the results are spectacular J.
What is the story of Assassin’s Creed Unity? Where does it take place?
At the dawn of the 18th century, revolution is brewing. After years of oppression, the people of France rise up against the inept aristocracy. Amidst the chaos of revolution, a young man named Arno embarks on a path of redemption. Driven by guilt for his perceived involvement in the death of his adoptive father, Arno joins the Assassins and sets off on a quest to eradicate the conspirators, a new radical branch of the Templars, who are pulling the strings of the Revolution and preparing the coming of a new world order.
What are the forces at play? What is the Templars’ role in the story?
The French Revolution is not a “clean” revolution. There were a lot of different factions during this period of time and a large majority of the factions that existed at the beginning of the French Revolution had disappeared by the end, since the moderates were often executed for their political views. This happened constantly throughout the Revolution. The more the Revolution progressed, the more extreme it became.
To this day, historians still argue on the actual sequence of events of the French Revolution and on the responsibilities of all the different factions.
In Assassin’s Creed Unity, we have uncluttered our vision of history to focus on the essence of the times. The different factions are the loyalists, the moderates and the revolutionaries. Among each faction, there are nobles and commoners. And above all those factions, working in the shadows, are the Assassins and the Templars, fighting their age-old struggle. The player will notice that an entity is pulling the strings of the Revolution and manipulating the factions to reach its objectives.
As for the Templar side , it is explored a lot in Unity. That’s as much as we’ll say for now.
The French Revolution is a key historical period, what makes this period pivotal in history?
It was far more than a simple rebellion against an unpopular King; it was a total rejection of repressive feudal principles that had endured for centuries. The French Revolution gave the middle finger (and the guillotine) to anyone who supported the old social order of Europe.
The French Revolution was a time of firsts. It included the first-ever assault on the entire concept of organized religion. The first genuinely populist uprising (which was put down by other revolutionaries.) The first modern police state, with show trials, informants, and public executions.
On the brighter side, it included the first clear enunciation of modern liberal principles that we in the West take for granted. For all our focus on the American Bill of Rights, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man predated the American document by a year. The French Revolution saw the birth of the charter of rights; it’s the inauguration of a new world.
It also gave way to Napoléon’s war that changed not only Europe, but also the entire world. It is during that time that the old way was replaced by the new. The other nations kept their monarchic structure, but the French Revolution made everyone realize that this model was doomed. A new system had to be found, and the foundations of that new system were laid.
At the individual level, it was exceptionally bloody; nearly all of the victims were civilian. It was a time of terror in which no one was safe. A man could be sent to the guillotine on his neighbor’s whim. In sum, it was an extraordinarily violent, cruel, and momentous decade that took Europe by surprise. And while we might think we know what happened, there are plenty of stories from that time which have, until now, escaped popular imagination.
In essence, it’s the perfect template for an Assassin’s Creed game. J
The 3 AC pillars (Navigation, fight and stealth) have been completely rebuilt from the ground up. Could you tell us how it affects the player?
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.
With a scope this huge and a world this big, how are you keeping things fresh throughout the experience?
The more we expand the world, the more details we add, and the more the player will want to interact with the environment and do all sorts of interesting things. We soon realized we had to pack the world of Unity with activities so as to make it as rich as possible. For this game, we are not limited to the main story path; there are all sorts of different stories happening in Paris.
In order to fill this universe to the brim, we added ton of side content and activities (murder mysteries, Paris stories, crowd events, treasure hunt, etc.) where the player can feel like being a part of this living and breathing city. In this dense universe of Unity, we wanted the player to feel like he was living during that time. For the first time, it is now possible to cross the path of many unique individuals and learn about their stories and also take part in them. On top of that, the game has a deep progression system. The player can tailor his Assassin according to his wishes, through the skill points or the gear (the equipment and the weapons), that are both strong in terms of player motivation. When exploring the world, the player will discover those stories and once he has completed them, he will be rewarded by improving his character (with more skills points and more advanced gear). Once the player becomes stronger and more skilled, he will gain access to new, more difficult stories and missions that once completed will allow him to unlock new skills. We believe that this game structure will make Unity very fresh for the players.
To conclude, we are very proud to announce that we already have more side content that any existing Assassin’s Creed game. In fact, I could speak at even greater length about how much work has been done to make this world fresh and immersive; but honestly, the moment of truth will be the minute when the player will grab a control pad in his hand. We are sure that he will enjoy the game as much as we did creating it J
Tell us a bit more about the side-quests and missions we can expect to experience in ACU?
Murder Mysteries: In Unity, the player can stumble on a dead body and follow clues or question people, even accuse someone. Players will be able to become true detectives! Once one of those mysteries is solved, it will be possible to get the murder weapon and to use it in the game.
Paris stories (contracts): There are also many contracts because Arno remains an Assassin. But not all contracts are assassination contracts. In Assassin’s Creed Unity, we have decided to push this feature further by creating an original story for each contract. This is the main reason why we decided to call them Paris stories. Now, the player will know the person he is contracted to kill. He will be able to find pieces of information on his target, and to undertake a real investigation. Once the target has been found, everything becomes connected to the way the player approaches the target and executes the contract. We have tried to take what the AC series was doing best, to give more freedom to the player as to which approach is best and adding a story to personify all the different activities the player will engage in.
Crowd Events: The city is in turmoil. There are extremists, police forces… To really bring this effervescence to life, systemic events will happen between different NPCs of the Assassin’s Creed Unity world. For instance, some people will loot churches. All those events will be related to the general context of the French Revolution. Those events will happen at different times in different places. Those events will be directly linked to the district they are happening in.
Investigations/Treasure Hunt: All over Paris, the player will be able to find letters that will give him access to different riddles and mysteries that he’ll be able to solve thanks to the information gathered in the database entries. Once the riddle is solved, the player will obtain new information on the next place to visit, like a real treasure hunt taking place in 18th century Paris!
Side content/Exploration activities: In the huge city of Paris, the player will also find many narrative rewards. We have hidden hundreds of different letters all throughout Paris to give players glimpses on the lives the people. For example, when the player enters an empty abandoned house, he will find out that the people living in it have died of the plague. If the player manages to collect all narrative elements, he will be rewarded.
Assassin’s Creed Unity certainly marks a revolution in Crowd interactions and AI, what exactly pushes it to the next level?
We have been able to increase the amount of NPCs displayed on screen from barely a hundred to more than thousands, but the crowd itself is very systemic. This reduces repetitions and certain elements will occur even if the player is not triggering them. For example, when the player sits on a bench, he will be able to see different factions fight or merchants set up their shops. Everything happens in a more systemic way. These big crowds are also giving more stealth option to players. For instance, if you try to hide, you can do so simply by entering the crowd.
Can you talk about the scale of Paris?
Paris is huge and constantly bustling with activities. With more our massive crowds, interior spaces, underground networks and all the different systemic elements, we have managed to create a rich sandbox with many adventures and rewards. In order to entice players to explore this systemic open-world, we have to make sure that they believe in this world. Immersion is the best and most important technique to achieve this objective.
To achieve this level of immersion, we built Paris to be more lifelike than any previous Assassin’s Creed cities that we built so far.
Additionally, the player will be able to explore a lot of interiors in Assassin’s Creed Unity. There are also monuments, like Notre-Dame, that can be visited and that have been faithfully realized. All in all, the player will be able to explore hundreds of different interiors in Paris. And those interiors will not be empty spaces; they will be full of characters, rewards, stories, social hubs, merchants and what we call Social Clubs.
Moreover, the interior spaces open new navigation routes. In previous Assassin’s Creed games, the player could escape in the streets while climbing walls or reaching rooftops. Now, the player can escape by entering through a window, climbing a flight of stairs and exiting through the first story window before jumping on the rooftop. Even if the interior of the building is empty, there might be a barred door inside. If the player has the necessary skill to open that door, he might find an interesting surprise. It definitely adds an extra layer of exploration.
Ultimately, what is your objective with ACU? And what’s the “take away” you want players to have when they finish the game?
Freedom of choice is the freshest element in this next-generation reinvention of Assassin’s Creed, because it encompasses and focuses all of our other innovations. Not only will players have the freedom to experience their unique gameplay experience by crafting their own custom assassin and choosing their own approach, but they will also be able to share this rich French Revolution setting with up to three friends. In ACU, both Solo and shared missions are available seamlessly within the same massive, multi-layered city of Paris (interiors, catacombs, sewers, landmarks, etc.)! We’re very excited to share this new open-ended approach with our fans.
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