The Assassin’s Creed franchise has changed a lot since its beginnings, focusing now on historical events and adding in the classic formula of the competing Assassins and Templars, while still having the Animus as the device that fuels this competition. Since the start, many fans complained that the storyline taking place in the modern world was unnecessary, and as a result, with the launch of Origins, this storyline of Assassin's Creed has taken a back seat. Yet, the Animus and Abstergo still play a role in the story, with the new plot following a group of scientists attempting to prevent the end of the world.
This new plot is stuck in the same boat as the Desmond storyline, with fans feeling little to no connection with the protagonist, and most players skipping through this section. With Assassin’s Creed now heavily focusing on the historical protagonist, like Eivor in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, many are hoping that future titles will remove the Animus and Abstergo and instead give fans a game that completely showcases the historical era the next game is set in.
More Focus On Historical Events
One of the biggest problems with having a modern-day plot and a historical age plot is that neither plotline gets the focus it needs to be captivating and interesting. With the Animus and Abstergo ever-present, the historical age plot which should be the focus of all Assassin’s Creed games is broken up as players are ripped away from that world to play through drawn-out missions in the modern-day. This break can often cause players to lose interest and forces Ubisoft to divert attention away from the game’s main concept.
Removing the modern-day events from future titles would let Ubisoft maintain its focus on providing a better historical age story, and ensure that fans feel completely immersed in that world. This is even more important since the game has started to add many mythical storylines. For instance, in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, players get to play as Odin in Eivor’s dreams and explore a lot of the Norse Mythology. Unlike the Animus and Abstergo, this exploration of mythology furthers the immersion as many people living in the historical era often have close ties with the deities they worship.
No More Confusing Storyline to Connect Past to Present
While Desmond and his fight against Abstergo are considered an important part of the Assassin’s Creed history, it offered some of the most confusing storylines in the series. This confusion only got worse as Ubisoft moved away from Desmond following his death, as new protagonists were introduced, and the world threat moved away from Abstergo and instead focused on complete global annihilation. The quick move from a primordial threat to a threat from the solar flares does not feel connected at all, and it seems more like Ubisoft decided to sweep everything that Desmond had done under a rug.
Following the events of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, it seems as if the modern-day plot has a chance to be removed from the game altogether, with Layla Hassan now seeking to explore as many timelines as possible. This would mean the confusion brought about by this blood connection between the past and present will no longer need to feature in future titles. Instead, future Assassin’s Creed games can now be completely set in the historical world and give players the chance to explore this world without any breaks into the modern age. This could not only help with immersion, but will also let the developers focus the attention on providing a huge world to explore.
More Time as the Protagonist
Assassin’s Creed’s success has always come from the many protagonists it has featured; from Altair, to Ezio, to Edward Kenway, each of the assassins that players control is the highlight of the series. This is the exact reason why the modern-day storyline was destined to drag the series along since there was a divide in attention between the famed assassins and Desmond, or other characters like Layla. The crude connection that the modern-day protagonist shared with the historical figures also meant that fans never truly got a fleshed-out backstory for many of the protagonists following the Ezio trilogy.
Removing the Animus and Abstergo could mean there would be more focus on the historical protagonists, which is ultimately what many fans want. The game has already set itself to be a take on various historical events, and without the problems of the modern-day, it could expand on a single protagonist over a series. To date, Ezio is the only assassin whose story spans multiple titles, and this same formula should be applied to future titles. Rather than having a different protagonist each game, having a single protagonist over a trilogy would give players more of a connection to them, and give that character a chance to become a figure as legendary as Ezio and Altair.
The Assassin’s Creed games have changed a lot and will continue changing as more titles are introduced into the series. As it continues to explore different eras in history, there is still a strong hope that Ubisoft will remove the modern-day story and focus completely on giving each protagonist a complete storyline, and possibly a multi-game series.
There is a reason why many fans still consider Ezio as the best protagonist the series has offered, and this is because he had the most content and fans truly felt a connection with him. Giving the developers and writers more time with the historical protagonist means that these new characters could have the same impact as Ezio did, and could pave the path for a new line of Assassin’s Creed games in the future.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.