Assassin’s Creed Invictusis currently shrouded in mystery, but the concept has a good bit of promise. This codenamedAssassin’s Creedproject will be bringing multiplayer backto the franchise, which should come as a welcome surprise for those who enjoyed the older, short-lived multiplayer experiences of the series' adolescence.
Though it never picked up quite as much steam as Ubisoft likely hoped, theAssassin’s Creedmultiplayer modes had a good amount going for them. Ubisoft avoided the awkward hurdle of translating combat to a multiplayer framework by making these multiplayer modes more about perception than reaction time or complex fighting mechanics. This sort of slow-paced, thoughtful competitive multiplayer formula shares some DNA withAmong Us' mechanics, and Ubisoft should keep these similarities in mind withAssassin’s Creed Invictus.
Assassin’s Creed Unityincluded co-op features, butBlack Flagwas the last game to offer traditional, separate multiplayer modes.
The Assassin’s Creed Formula Is a Natural Fit for Among Us Features
Assassin’s Creed’s Social Stealth Could Gel with Among Us' Premise
Among Usis all about deceiving other players, using straightforward stealth elements to sabotage a group effort. This relatively simple framework is what allowed the game to reach such a wide audience, as it’s easy to grasp, addictive, and relies heavily on player communication—something that facilitated its explosion in popularity at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When comparingAmong Us' premise to earlyAssassin’s Creedmultiplayer, it’s easy to see the parallels.Assassin’s Creed’s competitive multiplayer revolves around subterfuge and deception, albeit with less of a focus on cooperation and teamwork. However,the fun ofAssassin’s Creed’s older multiplayer modesstems from outsmarting other players, being patient, and taking advantage of certain stealth opportunities to trick competitors. AlthoughAssassin’s Creedmay be more mechanically complex and layered thanAmong Us,Invictuscan learn from the latter’s more effective gameplay and communication systems to provide an idealAssassin’s Creedmultiplayer experience.
How Ubisoft Can Adapt Among Us' Gameplay to Assassin’s Creed Invictus
Assassin’s Creed Invictusis swimming in an ocean of potential, but it needs to play to its strengths. Ubisoft may be tempted to abandonthe systems of olderAssassin’s Creedmultiplayer modes, perhaps adopting the ubiquitous features of the industry’s leading live-service RPGs, putting things like a loot and XP grind front-and-center. However, this is arguably the worst routeInvictuscould take.
Among Usmay actually be the best representation of what makesAssassin’s Creed’s gameplay work, and this shouldn’t be lost on Ubisoft. Core principles like player-to-player communication would be a natural fit for anyAssassin’s Creedcat-and-mouse multiplayer mode, as players could lie and mislead their fellow players, making them think that they are on their side. SpecificAmong Usstaples, like having all players work together to achieve a common goal, but with one or a handful of “impostors” in their midst, would easily translate to the social stealth framework of theAssassin’s Creedseries.
What exactly these communal goals could be is a different story, asAssassin’s Creeddoesn’t necessarily lend itself to the same confined, mini-game-centric premise ofAmong Us, but this could actually be more of a blessing than a curse: the fundamental differences betweenAssassin’s CreedandAmong Usmeans that Ubisoft would have to innovate, as a simple copy-paste of the latter’s formula wouldn’t be possible.
There are a lot of things thatAssassin’s Creed Invictusneeds to do to succeed, including taking inspiration from the right sources.Among Us, with its focus on deception and clever subterfuge, is one of them.
