Commentary: Changing Seasons Is Exactly What ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Needed
by Frank Martin
When a video game series consists of as many installments as Assassin’s Creed, it becomes extremely difficult to introduce new elements and change the format. Sometimes games will think of big picture ideas to do something drastically new and different. In the case of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, they introduced the samurai Yasuke (Tongayi Chirisa), who adds a completely different type of gameplay style to the game. However, sometimes a simple change can make a world of difference. Shadows also adds the season cycle — a relatively small addition in the grand scheme of things, but one that adds a tremendous improvement to the experience.
The mechanism is quite simple; the change of the seasons operates on a timer that accelerates when fast traveling. After the time is up, the season will change automatically, making the environment for stealth gameplay slightly different. For instance: when there’s snow on the ground, it’s easier for enemy NPCs to track the player’s movements. Also, it rains more in springtime, thus making combat a little more difficult, too. The appearance of seasons is also a refresh as it eliminates any alarms and restocks the player’s scouts, which they can use to locate new objectives and steal more resources.
But there’s an entire aspect of the seasonal change that improves upon the game separately from its effects on gameplay. It’s important to remember that the Assassin’s Creed story takes place over years. It’s a journey of one character’s mission of vengeance and justice. (In the case of Shadows, it’s two characters.) But in previous AC games, the seasons never change. It’s one continuous environment for the entire story. It doesn’t seem like much, but there’s a real growth aspect to experiencing the seasons while playing. The player is able to feel that this is a long journey the characters are on. Time doesn’t standstill. It allows the player to feel the length and breath of the mission in a way that they never had before.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is now available from Ubisoft.
