Elise Da LaSerre
Setting[edit]
Arno's story starts in Versailles as a child, but for most of the story he is in Paris. His adventure in Paris starts on the eve of the French Revolution in 1789 up to the Thermidorian Reaction in 1794. [12] The modern day setting focuses on the Assassins contacting the player and requesting their help to explore Arno in the past, as well as helping in the present. [18] Co-operative multiplayer missions follow the development of the Brotherhood of Assassins during the French Revolution. [14] In addition, "time anomalies" are introduced during the story. Accessing them takes Arno to various points of Parisian history, such as its occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II. [19]
The "player" is implied to be a player of a gaming device called Helix produced by Abstergo that allows for many different genetic memories to be accessed.
The story begins with the player playing through a memory of the sacking of the Paris Temple and the capture of Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay in 1307. During the sack, de Molay entrusts another Templar with a Sword and a book, which the Templar hides within a French crypt. The memory then fast forwards to de Molay's death at the stake, and his curse towards King Phillip IV and Pope Clement V.
At this point, the Assassins hijack the memory sequence and implore the player to join them as an initiate after providing an internal Abstergo video memo, in which Abstergo describes the capture of a Sage, who contains precursor DNA which is in a triple rather than a double helix form, and the Phoenix Project whereby Abstergo hopes to compile a whole precursor genome for unclear purposes. The Assassin contact provides access to another memory segment and directs the new initiate to find the location of what the Assassins believe to be another Sage, whose corpse they hope to recover.
The memory then segues to Arno Dorian, a French nobleman's son who meets Elise, daughter of the Templar Grand Master at Versailles in 1776. After his father is murdered at the palace, the Grand Master De La Serre adopts Dorian despite knowing his father was an Assassin, a fact of which Arno is totally oblivious. The story skips forward to Elise's initiation into the Templar order at age 21 in 1789. Arno is given a message to deliver to Msr. De La Serre, but puts it in his office in order to sneak into the party to meet with Elise. After meeting her, Arno sneaks out, and after nearly being caught, finds De La Serre murdered in the courtyard. Arno, mistaken to be De La Serre's killer, is captured by the gendarmerie and imprisoned in the Bastille. There he finds apocalyptic writings on the wall and impresses a fellow captive, the Assassin Bellec, with his fighting skills. Bellec invites Arno into the Brotherhood when they escape during the Storming of the Bastille.
Arno returns home first and is turned away by Elise, who reveals that the message Arno was supposed to deliver to her father was a warning of his impending murder, and reveals herself as a Templar. Arno joins the Brotherhood and begs for the opportunity to find and eliminate the other Templars involved in De La Serre's death, including La Roi de Thumes ("The King of Beggars"), and is granted this by Mirabeau, who was attempting to broker peace between the Orders with De La Serre. During the course of his investigation, Arno rescues François-Thomas Germain, a silversmith being held hostage by the Templar Grandmaster Lafreniere. After killing Lafreniere, who had actually been the one to try to warn De La Serre, Arno runs into Elise, and realizes Germain was the one who was in fact the Sage who ordered De La Serre's murder.
Realizing that Germain's plot is intended to spark a mass revolt against the King of France, Arno assassinates two more central figures, one of whom was organizing a prisoner revolt (Captain Frederic Rouille) and another who was hoarding food (merchant Marie Levesque) to create the impression that the nobility was squandering resources as France starved. Arno also crosses paths with Napoleon Bonaparte, an artillery officer, while searching the Tuileries Palace for letters from his mentor Mirabeau to King Louis, which the Templars could use as an excuse to purge the Assassins' agents across France. Bonaparte later helped him in taking down Captain Rouille, who served under his command during the September Massacres of September 1792. During this time, Elise is brought to the Brotherhood HQ and begs their assistance, her own faction of the Templars killed by a schism led by the Sage. Mirabeau agrees, hoping to gain a massive favor from the potential future Grand Master of the Templars, and is murdered by Bellec, who intends to purge the Assassin leadership for beginning to agree with Templar beliefs. Refusing to join him, Arno kills Bellec, and escapes from the food riots and the assassination of Levesque shortly thereafter with Elise in a hot air balloon. Arno confesses he still loves Elise.
With the Revolution in full swing, and following the execution of Louis XVI in January 1793, Arno is exiled by the Assassin Brotherhood for his rash behavior, and goes into a drunken depression until Elise arrives to tell him that Paris is tearing itself apart during the Reign of Terror. Arno returns to Paris and, with Elise's help, discredits the reputation of Maximilien de Robespierre, whom Germain, now Grand Master of the Templars, had placed in charge of maintaining chaos during the Revolution. After Arno and Elise find Robespierre, who had locked himself in his office in an attempt to avoid arrest, Elise shoots Robespierre in the jaw and makes him write down the location of Germain.
Arno confronts Germain at the top of the Temple, only to find he now has the Sword of Eden. The fight eventually ends in the same Templar crypt in which the game began, where Arno strikes Germain only to have the Sword blow him backwards and trap him under rubble. Elise attempts to take on Germain by herself, but as Arno escapes the Sword explodes, killing Elise and mortally wounding Germain. Arno then kills Germain, who in his memories confirms he is the Sage and that he wanted to purge the Templar Order of all who had forgotten the teachings of de Molay.
The game closes with Arno explaining how his understanding of the Creed has changed, and promising to watch over Paris and keep Elise's memory alive. It is also revealed that Germain's body was laid to rest in the Catacombs of Paris, much to the relief of the player's Assassin handlers, who are now confident that Abstergo won't be able to find it.
Development[edit]
Development for the game began shortly after the completion of 2010's Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, [9] with the core development team splitting off during the early stages of development on Assassin's Creed III. [20] On March 19, 2014, early screenshots of the game were leaked, as well as its title Unity. The leak revealed that Unity would feature a new location and time period, Paris during the French Revolution, a new assassin, and that it would be released in late 2014 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. [21] On March 21, Ubisoft confirmed the game's existence, having been in development for more than three years, by releasing pre-alpha game footage. They also confirmed the game's release date of Q4 2014, and that it would also see a release on Windows. [22] Ubisoft writer Jeffrey Yohalem revealed that the French Revolution setting for the game was deliberately teased, along with Assassin's Creed III 's American Revolution setting, in symbols seen at the end of Brotherhood. [23] Ubisoft Montreal is the lead developer for the project, with contributing work from the Ubisoft studios in Toronto, Kiev, Singapore, Shanghai, Annecy, Montpellier, Bucharest, Quebec, and Chengdu. [24]
At E3 2014, trailers were released for the game, demonstrating the game's cooperative multiplayer mode for up to four players, a first for the series. [25] The trailer featured Lorde's cover of Everybody Wants to Rule the World, which was produced by Michael A. Levine and Lucas Cantor. [26] The development team was able to use the new power of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One to improve the NPC crowds. Up to 1000 individual AI characters can appear in a crowd, each acting independently and reacting to each other as well as the player's actions. [9] The PC version of the game uses Nvidia's GameWorks technology such as TXAA anti-aliasing, advanced DX11 tessellation and Nvidia PhysX technology, due to a partnership between Ubisoft and Nvidia. [27][28]
Lead game designer Benjamin Plich has said this game will be more difficult than previous entries thanks to the removal of the counter button and more aggressive guards. [29] Plich also said that the game will feature synchronized Double Assassinations. [30]
Historical consulting[edit]
On October 6, 2014, Ubisoft announced that they had enlisted the help of academic historians such as Laurent Turcot, professor at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières for daily life of 18th-century Paris and Jean Clement Martin professor at the Sorbonne, to revise the script. [31]
Release[edit]
The game was originally intended to be released worldwide on October 28, 2014. [34] However, on August 28, 2014, it was delayed until November 11, 2014 in North America and November 13, 2014 in PAL regions. On the delay, Vincent Pontbriand, senior producer at Ubisoft, said, "As we got close to the finish, we realized we were near the target but still needed a bit more time to hone some of the details to make sure Assassin’s Creed Unity is exceptional.” Additionally, the game received a day one patch with further updates to the game. [4]
Controversies[edit]
Gender options in cooperative mode[edit]
"We recognize the valid concern around diversity in video game narrative.Assassin's Creed is developed by a multicultural team of various faiths and beliefs and we hope this attention to diversity is reflected in the settings of our games and our characters. Assassin's Creed Unity is focused on the story of the lead character, Arno. Whether playing by yourself or with the co-op Shared Experiences, you the gamer will always be playing as Arno, complete with his broad range of gear and skill sets that will make you feel unique. With regard to diversity in our playable Assassins, we've featured Aveline, Connor, Adewale and Altaïr in Assassin's Creed games and we continue to look at showcasing diverse characters. We look forward to introducing you to some of the strong female characters in Assassin's Creed Unity."
—Ubisoft's response to the all-male character models for the cooperative mode. [35]
After the cooperative multiplayer mode was revealed at E3 2014, additional information about the mode was revealed by creative director Alex Amancio and technical director James Therien. Amancio stated that the mode did not include the ability to play as a female avatar, due to "the reality of production". Amancio added by saying, "It's double the animations, it's double the voices, all that stuff and double the visual assets. Especially because we have customizable assassins. It was really a lot of extra production work," which was echoed by Therien. Level designer Bruno St-André expanded on this by stating that an estimated 8,000 additional animations would have had to be recreated for a female avatar. [36][37]
This caused dissatisfaction in some video game community outlets. Brenna Hillier of VG247 noted how there were nine development teams working on the game, and said "Ubisoft has here trotted out a tired, stupid, constantly refuted excuse for why it has perpetuated the cycle of sexism and under-representation in the games industry." [38] Tim Clark of PC Gamer made note "that previous Assassin's Creedgames have had playable women as part of the multiplayer component, [and] that Brotherhood had you supported by on-call assassins, many of whom were female, so it’s hardly like it can’t be done." Clark also looked to the way Amancio and Therien answered the question and felt how they referenced "how much the team wanted to include playable female characters suggests... that this is probably a decision which hasn’t gone down well internally." [39] Former Assassin's Creed designer Jonathan Cooper responded by saying, "In my educated opinion, I would estimate this to be a day or two's work. Not a replacement of 8,000 animations." He also revealed that Aveline de Grandpré, the female protagonist of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, "shares more of Connor Kenway's animations than Edward Kenway does." [40] Fans also created petitions urging Ubisoft to change their stance. [41] Additionally, former Assassin's Creed game designer Patrice Désilets commented that Amancio's reasoning was valid, but that Ubisoft should put in the effort to let players have gender options. [42]
Amancio attempted to clear up any confusion, by stating, "I understand the issue, I understand the cause, and it is a noble one, but I don't think it's relevant in the case of Unity. In Unity you play this character called Arno, and when you're playing co-op you're also playing Arno – everybody is. It's like Aiden Pearce in Watch Dogs... Arno has different skills - you select skill points in the game, there are gear elements that have an impact and all these weapons that make the character you make your own. But you're always playing Arno... The reason we're just changing the face and keeping the bodies is we want people to show off the gear that they pick up in the game through exploration. That's why we kept that." [41]
Platform parity[edit]
In October 2014, Ubisoft's senior producer Vincent Pontbriand made a statement that all console versions of the game would be locked at the same resolution of 900p. This was done "...to avoid all the debates and stuff." [43] Many readers took this in reference to how the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are constantly compared in the media for raw power, presuming that the PlayStation 4 version of the game's resolution was lowered to reach parity with the Xbox One's, but Ubisoft later denied that this was the reason. [44]
Instead, Pontbriand stated that the decision for parity came from the limitations of the consoles' CPUs. The number of NPCs and generally amount of AI was tantamount to keeping the game locked at 30 frames per second. [45]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Assassin's Creed Unity received mixed reviews from critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 73.33% based on 3 reviews and 71/100 based on 9 reviews, [46][50] the Xbox One version 70.64% based on 44 reviews and 73/100 based on 58 reviews [47][49] and the PlayStation 4 version 68.11% based on 27 reviews and 70/100 based on 40 reviews. [48][51] Matt Miller from Game Informer gave the game 8/10, praising the detailed environment and architecture, decent voice acting, strategy-required missions, challenging gameplay and well-paced story missions, but criticizing problems in term of control and balance, as well as game-breaking technical issues. He also stated that both the navigation system and the combat system still needed to be improved. [54] Louise Blain from GamesRadar gave the game 4/5, praising the dense and atmospheric game world, character-focused mission design, overhauled free-running mechanics, in-depth character customization and satisfying combat. However, she criticized the game's framerate and poor enemy AI design. [55]
Chris Carter from Destructoid gave the game 7/10, praising the new movement system, likable lead characters, iconic setting, smooth animation and improved draw distance. New additions such as character customization and huge crowds is also praised. However, he criticized the predictable story, technical issues, and the mission design of co-op multiplayer, as it is impossible to play some missions solo. He stated that " Unity feels like a step back. ... It lacks that grand sense of roaming the uncharted seas in Assassin's Creed IV, or even the open-ended feel of the wilderness in Assassin's Creed III, but it's a journey worth taking if you're already into the series." [52] Tom Bramwell from Eurogamer gave the game 7/10, praised the setting, rich content, inspiring story and interesting side-missions. However, he criticized the over-familiar and unimaginative mission-design, overzealous auto-correct system in the free-running mechanics and the lack of weapon customization. He described the game as a "missed opportunity". [53]
Marty Silva from IGN gave the game 7.8/10, praising the recreation of Paris and ambitious ideas presented in the multiplayer, but criticizing the unrefined stealth, weak story and lack of a strong lead character. He stated that "the true new-gen Assassin’s Creed game is a gorgeous, entertaining, and successful proof of concept for what lies ahead for the series, though it isn’t what I’d call revolutionary." [59]
Tom Senior from PC Gamer gave the game 65/100, saying that " Unity could become a perfectly enjoyable part of the Assassin's Creed canon. It's a solid campaign elevated by quality assassination missions and an extraordinary setting that might just push the big number at the bottom of this review into the 80s, but with a big selling point out of operation, a raft of technical issues, performance problems, microtransactions and stilted combat and freerunning systems, Unity—in its current state—can only be considered a failed revolution." [62] Sam Prell from Joystiq gave the game 2.5/5, saying that "It's hard not to appreciate everything that it [Unity] gets right, and you'll have a good time if you can wrangle some friends for co-op, but it's impossible to ignore where Unity falls tragically short." [60] PC World stated that the game "is a new low for the Assassin's Creed series." [65] The review also criticized Assassin's Creed Unity for its small scale, poor gameplay, and high minimum system requirements. Similarly, CNET stated that "[w]hile it will likely suffice for Assassin's Creed core fans, Unity stumbles throughout and never really finds its footing." [66]
Ubisoft's responses[edit]
Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallet apologized on behalf of the studio in regards to the poor launch of Unity, stating that the "overall quality of the game was diminished by bugs and unexpected technical issues", and prevented users from "experiencing the game at its fullest potential". In response to the issues, Ubisoft announced that it would halt sales of the game's season pass and Gold Edition, and offer the game's first DLC campaign, Dead Kings, for free. As compensation, those who bought the season pass received a free digital download of one of six Ubisoft games ( Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, The Crew, Far Cry 4, Just Dance 2015, Rayman Legends, or Watch Dogs), and would also "continue to have access to a variety of additional content [for Unity], including Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China". [67][68] To claim the game, however, users must forfeit their right to sue Ubisoft in regards to the game and the devaluation of the season pass. [69]
Criticism by French Left Party[edit]
Alexis Corbière, national secretary of the Left Party, said that "the game was conveying all the counter-revolutionary clichés that have been forged for two centuries". [71] He added "To everyone who's gonna buy Assassin's Creed Unity, I wish you a nice time. But I also tell you that having fun doesn't prevent you from thinking. Just play it, but don't let yourself be manipulated by the propaganda". [72]
Without mentioning the criticism specifically, in an interview published on 6 October 2014 by Time, the game's creative director Alex Amancio said "What we actually try to do, and I think this is just a personal belief that we have, is to avoid reducing history... We try very hard to portray things as factually as possible." [73] Despite this, game producer Antoine Vimal du Monteil answered that, ultimately, " Assassin's Creed Unity is a mainstream video game, not a history lesson." [74] | 
Arm yourself with Arno's explosive new Guillotine Gun and take on the secretive Raider faction that's desecrating the catacombs. Discover new side missions and solve puzzles in the depths of the catacombs.[3]
