With Assassin’s Creed Shadows, It’s Time To Stop Repeating One Promise That Will Never Come True

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The last two entries to the franchise, including, have continued to promise a return to the franchise’s roots. While some elements of this promise have come true, it is impossible for the franchise to progress backward. The game will never quite be the game the original trilogy of games was, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s time for the developers to accept that and move forward.

The return to stealth-focused gameplay in was generally well accepted, and in many ways, did feel like a return to form in that the map was smaller, the weaponry was more limited, and the way stealth worked felt more intuitive. But that didn’t mean that the franchise returned to its roots. In fact, the series moved forward in a pleasant way.

Both and have promised a return to the franchise roots, but that is never going to happen. The series is a long way past the first few games, and gameplay mechanics have evolved beyond what those games were capable of. And, if those games were to be remade today, it would likely look a lot like the, where some of the mechanics and plot stay, but the gameplay itself is updated, and key choices are changed to appeal to a modern audience.

Assassin's Creed Shadows adds some smart ideas to the formula, and spending some time with the game reveals just how well these pay off.

This isn’t a bad thing, the ended up being nominated for the Game of the Year title. Any series attempting to stay too rooted in the past is never going to progress forward, and the standards for a good game have changed. Even with a focus on stealth and a much smaller map, still incorporated some RPG elements, a refined upgrade tree, and some key gameplay mechanics that were very different from the earlier games.

The franchise has moved on to being more open, with a lot more RPG elements, and a more refined combat system. While many may mourn the loss of the original games, there’s never going to be a time when they feel the same way again. And the developers should be