Navigation woes like these cause problems even when trying to stealthily reach an assassination target. Running from bayonet-wielding guards that can kill you in just a couple of stabs? Heading straight down the street and up your theater headquarters’ roof seems like a good strategy, but Arno may decide to climb the nearby streetlight instead, shuffling in a circle around it while you slam the O button trying to get him to drop.

In practice, Arno constantly snags on inconvenient pieces of the world. There are actually two options for running: holding X on the Dualshock 4 while running sends Arno up, while holding O signals him to go down, sliding under tables or lightly hopping over ledges rather than climbing them. Running through the extremely crowded streets – there are massive hordes of nicely detailed Parisians everywhere you go – Arno rarely ends up where you want him to because of the dense architecture. The free-running controls that were so deliciously versatile when they debuted in Assassin’s Creed are infuriating in Unity‘s hyper-detailed Paris. That he’s the most unlikable, most thinly developed member of the centuries-spanning Brotherhood is troubling, certainly, but it’s his body that most frequently causes headaches. Unity is a beautiful place, full of busy little icons to walk awkwardly towards until there aren’t any left.Īrno himself is arguably Unity‘s biggest problem. Once you have to actually start playing the game, the artistry of Arno’s Paris becomes impossible to enjoy. As a story, as a playground for wild digital tumbling, as a venue for playing with friends, and as good old-fashioned history porn, Unity fails. Every piece of stone in Notre Dame every cobble in the guillotine-ruled square that is now home to the Place de l’hôtel de ville even the regular old roof tiles that new assassin Arno Dorian clambers over carry a visual tactility that marks Unity as a work of modern technical prowess.Īssassin’s Creed Unity may be an incredible piece of architecture, but that’s sadly all it is. The game’s yawning, French Revolution-era Paris, captured as it was at the tail end of the 18th century, is detailed to a mad degree. “Created by ten studios, taking four years, Assassin’s Creed Unity is the most innovative leap forward for next-gen gaming,” intones a trailer for the twelfth Assassin’s Creed game in seven years.Īll that manpower is certainly visible in Unity.

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