Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Deserved To Be A Huge Hit

The last “traditional” entry in the franchise is worth a re-visit

PS4 Pro Screenshot taken by Alex Rowe.

A few days ago, Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the latest in their long-running and popular game franchise. However, what was once a thrilling open world action/adventure/stealth series is now instead a loot-and-quest-filled RPG that shamelessly borrows from The Witcher 3. The last two entries of this generation, Origins and Odyssey, started that design trend. Valhalla looks to continue and expand upon it with a bigger world, new systems, and a more customizable character.

There’s nothing wrong with that on the surface. I love a good action RPG, and I think that CD Projekt’s Witcher series is a great design template for the genre if you’ve got to pick a game to follow. Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey are both excellent fun to play if you’re into that sort of thing, and each packs in far more high-quality content than most players will ever actually see.

The grappling line gives Syndicate some of the fastest traversal in the series, and it’s really fun. PS4 Pro Screenshot taken by Alex Rowe.

However, the older template for the Assassin’s Creed series had so much good to offer…and most of it has been left by the wayside. The “classic” design of…