Assassin's Creed Fans Voice Concerns Over Next Game's Size and Scope
With E3 2021 kicking into high gear, fans of the Assassins Creed franchise have been waiting expectantly for information about a new game in the series at Ubisoft's conference on June 12. There is currently very little information about a new title in the series, however, with a leak suggesting that the newest Assassin's Creed could have an even larger map than previous iterations, fans have taken to Reddit to express their concerns.
The last two games in Ubisoft's hit franchise, Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Odyssey, have had more expansive maps than previous instalments and have performed incredibly well. Valhalla had the strongest opening week of any game in the franchise, and with help from bonus content added to Odyssey, 2021 saw record-breaking sales for the series as of March 31. While the global pandemic has likely had an impact on sales figures, the direction of the franchise's most recent titles should be taken into account as well.
While the continually expanding map size of Assassin's Creed titles has clearly helped to propel the franchise to greater sales figures than ever, fans of the games are concerned that this constant striving for more in-game space may detract from the once story-driven series. Many people suggested that they would rather experience a smaller, more detailed space than a more expansive, but ultimately emptier sandbox. Several commenters weren't impressed with Valhalla's gameplay space in particular, saying the game is full of "empty fluff" and that it felt "unpolished" due to its size.
Others did defend Ubisoft though, with many people enjoying Valhalla's world and stating that it was detailed enough, while still having an expansive feel to it, and others simply saying that they "actually want larger maps." While many commenters suggested that they don't have hundreds of hours to spend on gigantic RPGs, others were happy to get more bang for their buck, as it were. The divide in the community over the size of the next Assassin's Creed game's world is certainly obvious, however, with so little information out there about the game, these concerns may be slightly premature.
Newer Assassin's Creed games have certainly changed the formula of the franchise, with a focus on RPG mechanics such as tech trees and levelling systems, many fans seem to be calling for a return to the tighter focus of the first few games in the series. There is certainly an argument to be made against developers making huge game worlds that are mostly empty space, with very little detail or content. However, with recent titles outperforming the older games in terms of sales, it is arguable that Ubisoft is, from their perspective, giving the fans what they want.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available right now for Google Stadia, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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