Players offer feedback on Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

By Gabe Gurwin August 1, 2015

Ubisoft hasn’t exactly beaten around the bush when it comes to Assassin’s Creed Unity’s negative reception. When its follow-up, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, was announced back in May, the development team made mention of several issues plaguing 2014’s entry in the series. But Syndicate looks to right these wrongs, and Ubisoft has conducted extensive playtesting with the community to ensure that there will never be another Unity again.

In a video posted on the official Assassin’s Creed YouTube channel, Ubisoft user research project manager Jonathan Dankoff takes a demo of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate to E3 and San Diego Comic-Con to gather player feedback on the game’s progress so far.

“You’re not doing me any favors if you tell me you loved everything,” Dankoff tells one of the fans. “So we’re looking really for your honest feedback as a player.”

The feedback the team received was mostly positive, especially in regard to the improved stealth (the whistle is back!) and combat, which one player compared more to Black Flag than the methodical, somewhat frustrating system used in Unity.

However, there were still a few issues that cropped up. While the new zipline mechanic — think Batman: Arkham but not quite as ridiculous — received praise, the inability to change your character’s destination on the fly was criticized; Dankoff responds to the remark by stating that the team “will look into” solving this, and since it made it into the video, it’s safe to say that this feature will be in the final game.

The traversal, which underwent a major overhaul in Unity, could also be changing based on the feedback the team received. One player says that was he was frustrated with having to press the “up” or “down” button while navigating buildings, and would rather have the process be slightly more automated. Such a change would bring the traversal back to something more like Assassin’s Creed III and Black Flag, relying on the game to determine where you want to go at any given time.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate launches on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 23, with a PC release following later.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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