Assassin's Creed Syndicate: 8 Years Later
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- Assassin's Creed Syndicate is nearly 8 years old...The Assassin's Creed series looks very different from how it did when Syndicate was released in 2015. So how has our perspective of it changed over the years? Assassin's Creed Syndicate is a game with many flaws but has some solid redeeming qualities that make it enjoyable to replay in 2023...
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Mods Used in this Video
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AC Victory Mod by Lordofthe9
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Hood up Free Roam For all Outfits by Lordofthe9
www.nexusmods.com/assassinscr...
Ac Victory Concept Art Outfits Texture Pack by Shariq143
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00:00 Introduction
04:06 Ubisoft Quebec
07:23 The Clash of Tone
11:42 Hints of an RPG
14:05 The Dual Protagonists
18:01 Black Box Missions
20:13 Stealth
24:36 Combat
30:04 The Rooks
30:59 Progression
31:57 Customization
34:09 Traversal
38:34 Liberating London
41:45 Visuals
44:07 Soundtrack
45:16 Jacob Frye
48:36 Lack of Consequences & Exposition
50:47 Evie Frye
51:36 Crawford Starrick
52:59 Side Villains
53:28 Ending
54:53 Modern Day
56:09 Conclusion - Hry
I had a blast exploring Victorian London, It really felt true to the history, Meeting people like Dickens, Darwin, Queen Vicky, Marx etc.
I kept shooting Marx during that one mission. It was satisfying.
@@choppyhaze2 Marx did nothing wrong
@@JamesSmith-ny2gb Moses Mordecai Levy was a second cousin to the Rothschild’s, he was nothing more than a shill that perpetuated the masses with the bullshit rhetoric behind communism/zionism
@@JamesSmith-ny2gb
Look at who he's subscribed to lol say no more
@@TihetrisWeathersbywtf u on about marx did nothing wrong
Syndicate has one of the better open worlds in any Assassin's Creed games. It's VERY sandboxy and smooth to play.
I wish Syndicate had a coop mode like Unity. Where players can play as the twins. That could've been great opportunity to explore about their personalities, as they talk to each other during missions about them and we get to know their families ties to Assassin's.
Honestly
Syndicate co-op would've been so fun!
The coop in Unity had completely silent characters, the mission was narrated by a modern day lame character and it robbed the single player part of the game of the narrative related to the revolution. The coop in Unity was complete garbage, how can you want that shit in Syndicate and actually think it would've been used to explore the twins's personalities? No coop mission, hell no coop game has a good narrative.
@@moonknightish Unity's co op is no where near as bad as you make it out to be lol. I'm sure it was dysfunctional at launch but running around doing missions with friends was def fun
@@astropup9980 we are talking about the narrative, not gameplay. Coop can't carry anything of any narrative substance (like expanding on the twins characters) and you can't shove in a single player game.
Part of the reason why they went with the style of weapons that they did in Syndicate just comes down to what was acceptable in society at the time. It was beyond the point where carrying a sword was something that you could just do so you needed weapons that were more easily concealed and given the setting, kukri made a good amount of sense as this was kind of the height of the British Empire.
One of my favorite things was the weapons you could use, loved the brass knuckles
True, Syndicate takes place at the end of the 18th century in the middle of the Second Industrial Revolution so that was reflected in the outfits, weapons and architecture.
It’s funny walking around in the legacy outfits because they basically look like party costumes in what is a quite modern era.
In Unity they still looked fitting but the difference only 100 makes is quite a leap.
Im with you ! Syndicated is very closed to modern day era that you cant wear you weapons visibles and in my eyes jacob is more of hide in plain site the ANY assassin ! Even ezio! Ezio look cool but his outfits is not hide in plain site ezio outfit scream im an assassin while jacob even though i hate i cant wear the hood standing he look like a normal person of london.
Still doesn't explain why you need to slash and stab at enemies for five minutes straight to kill them, Unity would have been peak AC regarding combat, movement and build variety. if only it had been playable at launch...
@@alessandrocubisino9954 maybe if you’re fighting overleveled enemies. Enemies I fight die in 4-5 hits.
This was my first introduction to Assassins Creed and bought it solely on the setting. I live in a Pittsburgh neighborhood that was built in the late 1800's and thanks to the Historic Society of Pittsburgh most of the buildings still retain the same exteriors they were first built with. So the feel and the buildings in Syndicate are very similar to my neighborhood. During the time I played this, every time I was out and about in my neighborhood I was constantly looking at the tops of buildings thinking how I could totally parkour on the rooftops.
Hehe sick
My grand mothers house is in unity
I'm a big history guy and in my opinion any AC is worth it, Syndicate especially because of the Victorian London location. Also a big Charles Dickens fan and it was cool helping him out.
I am a big history guy to and I would always have loved to back to victorian London.
One of the best, if not the best franchise to ever do surreal historical locations anyone could adore
That is the only reason i keep playing them.
I love history so odyssey was much liked by me.
Valhallas ok but england is boring and empty but that is how it was and kinda still is.
Victorian London is such an visually stunning setting, much like France (Unity). I actually liked Jacob's easygoing demeanor, which I think holds much more depth than what people give it credit for. Thanks for this brilliant video!
Jacob has way more depth and character development than evie. That's just simply a fact.
AsSaSsInS ChRiStMaS 🥴🥴
@@AbeLuvsTheatres and? All evie dose is shout "HenRY!!" Instead of being an actual assassin.
@@AbeLuvsTheatres weebs always like evie better. Why I bother on you all is beyond me.
@@chrismoore5333 I don’t like either of them you fucking fruitcake. Syndicate is and always will be hot garbage.
I'm not even going to lie. AC Syndicate was my first ever AC game that I played fully and completed and I remember enjoying it a ton. I have since played and beaten every AC game but I still think, as I did back then, that Syndicate is by far one of my favorites.
I was an AC veteran when it came out and I too found it to be one of the very best in the series.
Same as well, they could have made syndicate better, but for what it is, it's one of the best ac games easily
i agree with the point made in the clash of tone section. I enjoyed my time with Syndicate but the lighter tone definitely had me dragging my feet through the story a little bit. Having a more gritty and more serious tone for me will always be my preference in AC games as the whole story arc is serious. i hope Red does take a more serious look at the world of japan during that time period because they're competing with GOT and it will be very tough.
Syndicate literally reminds me of “aging like wine” it caught me by surprise when I got to pick between two assassins when I first opened the game. I love the setting and the features in the game are very underrated
Shame that the main protagonist, Jacob, gets so badly treated and misunderstood. It is ironic because Jacob is meant to be misunderstood and badly treated by his father and sister in the story. And that is exactly how many fans treat him as well.
Syndicate is one of my favorite AC games, giving you way more ways to assassinate people with the grapple, and the music is on point with each mission. In my opinion, they perfected the parcour system to be able to move way more smoothly then the previous and now AC games
The dlc and ubisoft's refusal to recognise the games' main protagonist Jacob really hurts syndicate. None the less however, syndicate is one of my favourite games.
Yeah, weird how many people (Master Assassin included) complain about Syndicate's parkour when it improves so much on Unity's jank. Same with the hood - Syndicate did far more to have you actually blend in than everything else after AC Revelations.
@@kainscion9085 yeah the hood thing is very true, they actually only put it on in stealth which makes sense. And the parkour was better than unity, although it may not have been as flashy, it is much more smooth and stable
@@HMCuber Exactly! I understand that people think of it as iconic, but it really doesn't blend well, especially in London.
There's so much jank in Unity, but I wish they kept this engine of parkor instead of the RPG era's.
@@kainscion9085glad people actually like syndicate
never understand why hardcore nerd hate it so much, unity way more fun than rpg era .. totally lost assassin's vibr
Under rated game one of my favourites! Also love your videos
I thought it was well polished. Good map, stealth, combat, parkour fluidity, throwing knives, smoke grenades, quick shot pistols. It has everything you need in a classic ac game. The grapple hook is also really cool and I genuinely enjoy swinging around with it. Also, the cane-sword is very fun.
I have to say: Syndicate is not just my favourite AC, but my favourite game in general. When Evie and Jacob were first shown, I identified with them immediately. The relationship between these two is such fun to explore. The light tone fits the game well for me, epspecially because it can get pretty dark in certain moments. Plus this game has the best open world I've seen up to this day. Everything you do is subordinate to the mainstory.
Besides ezio games, ac syndicate is my favorite ac game. It's checks so many boxes. It could have been better, but its still amazing in all aspects.
@@HMCuberI'm happy you go and backup all the positive feedback
i think people are way too harsh and petty on syndicate
it's actually way more fun than rpg era
@@1607Adi_Manz Thanks, and I definitely agree with you that syndicate is very fun. I enjoyed the rpgs, but I definitely prefer games like thr ezio games or syndicate more! Syndicate is my top 2 or 3 favorite assasins games easily.
You mentioned Syndicate doesn't have the murder mystery missions, but they do. It's a DLC called "dreadful crimes" released 6 months after it's launch. When i installed the game about a month ago, it was installed automatically. I assume you must have had the game installed for a long time, so you need to install it manually. Try it out and great video!
It’s a massive shame they weren’t on xbox
@@JohnMargherita69420 really? I didn't know there was a dlc for syndicate
54:10 This is kinda why I like this game. It’s doesn’t lead to some big history lesson or consequence (although that’s fine), but it’s just two siblings hashing things out and the average day of an assassin. A much more relaxed change of pace that I liked.
You put so much effort in these videos. U really show interest in making the best content possible. U rock
Wow I just started replaying it again, the most underrated AC by far and in my second favourite after II. It would be my favourite if the story was a little better and more intriguing
Originally, the game was only about Jacob, and evie was his mentor. She would become one of the main villains. She had a mask, grey hair, and a scared face. These traits and the narrative role of an old ally turned villain were given to Roth in the final game instead of evie. Jacob used to wear the same outfit that we see George using in the final game.
So it could've had a better story, but the narrative was ruined to suit evie.
@@chrismoore5333 which I prefer honestly because evie is my favorite to play out of the two twins.
@@HMCuber evie is a snooty, hypocritical posh girl who can't be bothered to be a proper assassin and hunt templars. She is boring and adds so little to the franchise, she may as well have not been there at all. But hey, glad you liked her.
I recently just played syndicate and so far it is one of my favorite AC games
Im playing through syndicate right now again and let me tell you. It has aged so well. Def top 3
What platform?
@@MasterJangleLeg PC I finally got a GOOD pc if ya know what im sayin ;)
In regards to Syndicate's tone and what people usually get wrong with it, it's that it doesn't have a Lighthearted or Dark tone, it has a blend/mix of both depending on the situation and its gravity. Some content especially the side stuff, or the stuff that delves deeper into the problems of the society is dark, while on the surface you have jacob being his happy go luck self. People's gripes with this is that the Era the game is set in (industrial revolution/Victorian era London) is plagued with stuff like that, crime, poverty, child labour, disease and so on and so forth. However it's also one of the most prosperous eras of London ever, the world was bussing with new inventions and progress and the rich were enjoying lavish lives filled with glamour and balls. And Syndicate paints this exact depiction of London perfectly. Smoke and fog is everywhere, people are in pain and agony living in dirt, fighting and arguing in the streets, health, especially mental health is in dismey. Until you get to the royal area of the town, where Big Ben and Buckingham Palace are and you can see a completely different London, and similarly our protagonists, especially Jacob since we spend mor time with him get more and more agitated as the game goes on. He is constantly on edge with Mrs Disreali and since the Cure assassination and Pearl Attaway he has become less and less trusworthy this culminating with Roth. The game tackles incredibly heavy subjects in an easy manner and paints a picture that is perfectly suited for the Victorian era. It's an incredible love letter to the setting
Love your video and keep up the great work
What a great video! Consider doing more like this, of this length. Even though I don't agree with all of your statements about the game, there were valid argumentx there.
Syndicate was my first assassins creed and because of that, it’s my favorite. I loved the setting so much. There was definitely problems but the nostalgia for me alone is why it’s my fav
Why is it almost every time its "oh,well a mod makes this better."
Only just discovered Syndicate this year, great game. Grew up with the original AC games up to Black Flag.
The string of games after this just came a time in my life when I was leaving Uni and had bigger stuff going on. I never got a PS4 etc.
I don’t regret focusing on me and my career. It paid off. I’m enjoying playing through them now.
I lived and worked in the city (i.e. London) for some time and I really got to know the map area in real life over lockdown. The map in this game is surprisingly accurate and I pretty much knew where I was going a lot of the time.
Would highly recommend even if you just want to use it to visit London virtually!
Great video man, keep up the good work!
I've actually played it this past 2 weeks and I still enjoy it. Love the setting of London and the personality of Jacob
Love your videos and for me this game is really good.
Hey love the vids! I do feel like hidden blades for this time are realistic… if you think about it, if they can make a complex pocket watch, they could probably figure out a dual action hidden blade!
Now the rope launcher is impossible now so that’s just definitely out there but still sweet
hi!! great video but i was curious if you'll ever do a video on the modern day from the new games with Layla? I'd really like to hear ur opinion on that
Great video essay 👍🏻
I have only played one AC game and that was Black Flag, and I really enjoyed it. My second AC game happened to be Syndicate. I enjoy the game so far. I'm really interested about the victorian era so this game is more or less a feast to my eyes. But when I play AC Syndicate I also think of games like Dishonored and Bloodborne. Man, imagine an AC game mixed with either Dishonored or Bloodborne 😍🤘
I never really understood the hate for this game. I absolutely had a blast the first time I played. Idk I feel like the grappler made the gameplay better
The setting needed something like that to make parkour smoother
The only problem with parkour was the problem in manual jump added, it felt clunky and not smooth, couldn't jump off the height as I wanted and as such.
@@zenoafro That is true. I was playing Black Flag right after Syndicate and the manual jump made me feel like I had more freedom
Believe it or not: Syndicate is what got me invested in Assassin's Creed in the first place. It'll remain one of my favorites
simply amazing such and easy and quick fix thank you
During my playthrough of Syndicate I gave myself the challenge to take out some of the harder strongholds during early-mid game. It gave more of a challenge but you could still assassinate higher tier enemies if you weren't spotted yet
finally someone with brain
i literally conquered Westminster way earlier in games
back when fighting the templar unit was actually tough task
Picture from thumbnail of Jacob is my PC background probably around 2 years now, such a cool picture of Jacob (like every jacob picture)
Good or bad , it's settings is exceptionally awesome
I just bought and i am playing Syndicate right now, and you are revisiting it lol how fitting
Good review I really enjoyed it this was the last ac game I played.
man, it hurts to think how much potential that game had if it had the dark tone, the manual jump and the unity combat
Sadly lote of the game changed for the worse. Jacob was the only protagonist originally, and evie was his mentor. She was also a hidden villain. This idea was later recycled into Sabine in watch dogs legion. Fun fact, legion launched on syndicate's anniversary.
this would've been cool. But also it's a repetition of the first ac
@@LostAccount404 exactly. Syndicate is the last game that had any of the creative team from the original. It was supposed to be like the original. Jacob is supposed to be lime Altier. They are both reckless for that reason. And even in the form the game takes to this day, the level where Jacob kills Roth is a mirror of the original final boss.
Unity has awful janky combat
@@Skyrim_Thaliawell its literally known for having the best stealth in the franchise not for its combat
This was my first AC after that I completed the whole series. It‘s still my fav AC game because I love victorian London! Maybe because Sherlock Holmes died here in Switzerland 🇨🇭
Hey I like your stuff, wanted to point out a few things.
1) Having the phantom blade be in Syndicate would imply that it is a golbal custom to have it among assassins which would make an issue with continuity as no modern day assassins are seen using it, so the "historically possible" point gets messy
2) the game does have murder mystery, which although I didn't think were that good, I preferred to Unity's, especially the final one which was admittedly great
Wasn't sure on this when I played it on release. However I picked it up again in a PS Store sale. Going to give it another go before Mirage releases.
41:35 I'm not sure what you mean here cuz there are murder investigations in Syndicate, and they are still pretty fun. Overall I liked this game, it falls short in certain areas like combat and story, but there is a lot of charm and care put into the setting that sort of makes up for it. It has the best stealth in the series imo, and the black box missions are the best part about it. It's not my favorite in the series but it's still pretty good.
Murder investigations are only in the PS4 version. I think Master Assassin played this on PC.
@@knifeofdunwall No pretty sure they are also available on PC as well. Maybe there was a timed exclusivity thing but I'm pretty sure it's expired now.
@@Death13Horseman hmm ok then. Perhaps Master Assassin didn't download the Dreadful Crimes DLC.
It was a DLC expansion but was offered to PS4 for free, pre-order bonus or free exclusivity that Sony and Ubi had at the time. Either way, they aren't in the base game like they were in Unity so his statement holds true.
Currently replaying it and I’m lovin it
I personally started with Syndicate being my first Assassin’s Creed Game, and I have to say, it really was a good game. I personally loved exploring Victorian Era London and meeting many famous figures of that time frame. The game also got me into the franchise and from there I started playing everything else so Syndicate will always hold a special place in my heart
I remember playing syndicate and i had a blast with it, walking around London in the Victorian era and driving wagons and using the grappling hook was cool, another thing i loved was how you could switch between eve and jacob was a nice touch since both have different personalities and fighting style, jacob isn't serious but loves to fight recklessly whereas eve is more serious and goes stealth, taking over districts was alright but one thing that always bothered me was that failing a certain objective during the takeover would reset your progress of that battle, but other than that it's pretty cool, the jack the ripper dlc was my favorite since it was a little more serious
I hated that dlc. So disrespectful and badly written.
I've been looking forward to this
My pros and cons with Syndicate are:
+London (The best part of the game for me. It's one of my favorite settings in the series and one of the main reasons I have Syndicate over Unity though Paris is mind blowing, too. The Thames River is really alive plus there's the Kenway Manor and the club fights.)
+Black box missions return (The best mission structures in the series)
+Side missions with historical figures were fun
+Whistling returns
+The rope launcher (Yeah I know it's hated but it helps with getting around quicker)
+Riding carriages is fun, though it's a little weird you can run over civilians and not get penalized for it
+Some great main missions like the Pearl Attaway missions and the Kenway Manor mission
+Lots of tools like the bombs and the berserk darts. Not to mention the environment resources like the crates of dynamite and the hanging barrels.
+Playing 2 different characters in the base game as well as playing as Lydia Frye in the World War 1 time period
+The reward for doing the riddles is better than the reward for doing the riddles in Unity
+Getting to have allies to help
-The gang takeovers are grindy and repetitive (The worst part of the game for me.)
-Not much for customization for outfits, which is a shame compared to Unity's customization.
-Probably my least favorite choice of weapons in the series, though the kukri knives are great and the cane sword fits the assassin London vibe. Again, a downgrade from Unity.
-The combat gets repetitive. Though it is more challenging than blocking and attacking to get a kill and getting to do 4 multi finishers is cool.
-Not much variety between how the blighters look between each other plus they are the same as the Rooks.
-Barely any character development and exploration with Jacob and Evie. Also yeah their father and the brotherhood should have either been brought up more or made an actual appearance. Plus I hate how Jacob just suddenly admits to Evie he messed up after the final boss fight.
-Switching between Jacob and Evie made the story confusing
-Jacob gets more missions than Evie when it should have been more balanced
-Probably the 3rd most annoying bonus objectives in the series to get in the series, with 3 having the worst and the second being Brotherhood
Overall, I'd say the setting, the black box missions, having a different tools, using carriages, and the missions where you interact with characters are the highlights of this game, while the gang takeovers, Jacob and Evie not getting much character exploration and development, not having much for customization and weapons, and the combat being repetitive hold the game back for me.
For me, Syndicate was my favorite Creed game, next to the amazing Ezio Trilogy, (which for me is my favorite storyline of the franchise, so good!), this game had fast paced combat, a brilliant storyline, and the world and characters in it made it feel so alive, haven't gotten to play through it fully, but, an planning on doing a platinum play through soon. 💯😃
syndicate is the reason I got introduced to the Assassins Creed franchise and it will always remain close to my heart although I didn't have the system to run it back in 2015 I was rocking a pentium4 that time XD but in 2017 I played my first AC game which was AC1 ( that game was hard AF ) and after that I immediately started AC Brotherhood and boy oh boy the best experience of my life and in 2018 epic games gave ACS for free and fast forward to 2021 i got my first gaming pc and i played it for the very first time and that shift from Brotherhood to syndicate daym I was blown away the combat stealth parkour I adored it altho I still can't understand when eve and green fell in love with eachother that kiss in the end really caught me off guard i have mixed feelings about the main story but the Jack the Ripper DLC was sick I loved it
- in short, ACS was the last AC game I enjoyed to the fullest
Syndicate is an awesome game. I'm 100% certain if Unity wasn't released as a bug filled mess and all the polarizing reviews when it was released, Synidcate would have performed better in the sales. For those that missed out or never played, I'd say def give it a shot. It's the last of the AC games before they went full RPG mode and it's a fun time.
This is my favorite assassin's creed game. I had a great time when I played syndicate and was the first creed game I played. I played it a few days ago, and it was still fun to play.
I'm having a blast with the hood on mod on PC + The Creature's Rags outfit, it's so badass when you get to keep the hood on outside of stealth👀
Totally agree with the tone clash commentary. Especially in the game's score music. The most crucial side element for setting mood was at all times working utterly against the mood of perilous, sinister, and ruthless cloak & dagger insurgency I wanted to feel for the experience of playing an AC game in this period and setting. It was so off. Like the whole crusade was really just a game of bridge in some posh tea parlor.
Syndicate is we the first ac I got on my own console, I grew up playing them on my dads ps3 beating the games for him, and i loved it the grapple hook was soo much fun, it even got me into just cause
I played Syndicate twice last year, and I admit I had more fun with it in 2022 than I did in the last decade. There are still plenty of gripes I have with the game, and you listed many of them here (tone, parkour, characterizations, and the modern day may be my least favorite in a game not called Odyssey), but one of my biggest gripes is still the carriage races. The rubber-banding is intolerable, though it wouldn't surprise me if I found out they dialed it back between then and now. Maybe I'm just more skilled at them now, I don't know. But it's still infinitely frustrating to finally get a sizable lead only to have the AI suddenly break the laws of time and space to catch up with me (and, of course, it never works the other way around).
I didn't find Jacob's personality AS frustratingly wry as I did in the first couple of years after it came out for some reason, and-chiefly and critically-I wasn't as bored with freeing districts from Templar control as I had been on earlier playthroughs. The whole process went by much more quickly and painlessly, and I really have no idea why. Being unexpectedly _boring_ was always my primary complaint with Syndicate, and I just *wasn't* as much these times through. Enough so that after that first re-play, I immediately wanted to go back and do it again more efficiently, which has always been a primary draw of this series to me...one that Syndicate didn't have for me until last year. I used to say that if you'd told me a decade ago that I'd enjoy a game set in the French Revolution infinitely more than one set in Victorian England, I'd've laughed in your face or called you a liar; it's... still true, but via my experience in 2022 with it, far less egregiously than usual.
EDIT: Oh, I will say that I don't think that the level-gating is that bad in Syndicate. You can still liberate higher-level districts at lower personal levels, you just have to really focus on getting your headshots and stealth assassinations. That, in and of itself, is why I still rank Syndicate above the RPG games (mechanically speaking). I'm not a fan of level-gating _at all_ regardless of which game is doing it, be it the Ezio games _literally_ gating certain areas off, AC1 or AC3 just not letting you go where they don't want to you go yet (particularly frustrating for AC3's New York), or the methods they've used to do it from Unity forward. But at least Syndicate and Valhalla got this right by making survival in higher areas entirely a matter a skill.
I don’t know if anyone else played though this but there is a side mission where you can play as Jacob’s child. She is an assassin during the time of WWl the time jump was odd to say the least but really cool also.
Lydia is Jacobs granddaughter. In canon, Jacob never has a wife, and his son is likely called Emmet frye, who was listed in a list of assassins in the first modern day cinimatic.
i played it for the first time this year. it's now become one of the most fun games i have played in years
While I understand your thoughts on the game's tone, I think it being a comedy was kind of the point. A lot of people disliked Unity's revenge story and Arno's brooding post-prologue personality, so the developers decided to try something more lighthearted for a change. The result was a game with a wacky story, cartoonish protagonists, slapstick combat, and an all but literal mustache-twirling villain. You're not supposed to take the story seriously, you're supposed to laugh at its absurdity. Likewise, you're not meant to fear Starrick, you're meant to laugh at the sight of a villain who looks like a more handsome version of Waluigi and acts like something out of a Saturday-morning cartoon. While I don't want every game to be like this, it's a nice breath of fresh air after playing Origins, where every other line in the main story seems to be Bayek shrieking to the heavens that he is going to flay someone and leave them to bake to death in the sand. It's not to everyone's taste, but I don't blame the writers for trying something new.
As for the gameplay: yeah, I agree that there were a lot of downgrades. I got Unity and Syndicate on Steam recently for the mods, and it's very jarring to go from the fairly complex parkour and combat of Unity to the streamlined but simple gameplay of Syndicate. However, I think the reason for this change is fairly obvious. Syndicate, as you said, had a shorter development time than Unity, and they coped with this by building on Unity's systems. Unfortunately, Unity's parkour and combat were and still are so buggy and temperamental that it's ridiculous. In Unity, the combat can be fine one moment, and the next you'll be unable to attack or defend yourself in any way because the spaghetti code finally broke down due to some minor scripting conflict (this often happens when I attack an enemy at the same moment that an NPC ally kills them, for example). Likewise, Unity's parkour is way too responsive on a controller, with every bump of the joystick sending you careening off in the wrong direction, while with a mouse and keyboard, it's not responsive enough due to the decreased directional controls. Even worse, the path finding is so nonsensical that, instead of jumping to another balcony, Arno will often dive for a random milk crate on the ground. Because of these problems, changes had to be made, but the developers didn't have the time required fix the problems to a satisfactory level or make new systems. As such, they just eviscerated the combat and parkour systems, carving out all of the problematic elements and leaving behind bare bones but functional versions of them. It's certainly a shame that they had to do this, but I can understand why it was necessary.
The only gameplay elements that baffle me are the removal of the jump button (along with the nerfing of the back eject) and the nerfed projectiles. The jump button and back eject are self-explanatory: it's infuriating to be unable to jump across a small gap, let alone jump or eject to the ground from the side of a building. As for the projectiles: in Unity, I always play using a ranged build, because it feels so satisfying to gun down enemies with a rifle and the phantom blade, both of which really feel powerful. In Syndicate, however, every gun feels like the Kolibri, seemingly unable to kill high-level enemies in one hit, even with headshots at level 10, and the throwing knives are no better. The lack of a hood toggle also annoys me, but that's just personal preference.
On a sidenote, your complaints about the skill tree and "damage sponges" confused me. The skill tree is basically identical to how it worked in Unity. The only notable difference is that in Syndicate, you can get skill points just by gaining exp from combat and other gameplay, whereas in Unity, you can only get them by progressing through the story or doing the multiplayer missions (which are infuriatingly difficult to play solo). As long as you keep yourself near the level of the enemies you are fighting and acquire the skills that increase damage, you should never have any trouble taking an enemy down. In my experience, it's only an issue if I'm fighting enemies who are at least four levels above me. Even if I'm fighting level 10 enemies with a level 3 weapon, they go down easily, so long as I'm at a similar level and have the mutilate, first strike, and other combat skills. That's one of the things I like about this game: no matter what gear I'm using, I can still play the game without difficulty, unlike in Unity, where I have to sacrifice stats for looks (or vice versa). As a wise man once said, "Drip is more important than stats," and I don't want to have to wear a hideous outfit or waste my time unpacking, altering, replacing, and repacking the clothing files just so I can play the way I want to. Speaking of altering files, you can make Syndicate's cloth physics look a lot better by changing one option in the ini file; just look up "AC Syndicate cloth physics fix" for a guide if the low fps physics I saw in your gameplay bother you.
the investigation DLC missions were fun and i replayed them many times
I have personally always felt Syndicate gets overlooked way too much. Around this time last year I began a journey to play all the AC games for the first time. Played all of Ezio, AC3, BF, playing through Rogue right now (wanted a break from the Naval games before I went into Rogue), Unity, Syndicate, most of Origins, and parts of both Odyssey and Valhalla, and next to the Ezio games, I had the most fun playing Syndicate. The whole city feels like a playground where you never go more than thirty seconds without having some in-world event you can do, like stealing a carriage or clearing the factories and freeing the children, that I found more engaging and fun than any other world up to that point. I get that the Syndicate story just isn’t as great as others, but that’s not really the most important thing for me. I find the world fun and engaging and the story missions to be a ton of fun as well. I don’t get why it gets the hate that it does.
This is my favourite of all the collection and I still play today. They need to make a second one.
A bit old but syndicate does have murder mysteries, it for some odd reason at launch was made a platform exclusive for PS and then later made accessible to pc(i think) and does missions was damn fun to do
You really have to do a ranking video on all of the ac games since you have so much comparison videos
It took me 6 years after released to play this game bcus I thought it was too bland, this game proved me wrong bcus I'm genuinely having fun with Evie and Jacob. Btw what mod you used on Evie? The Shao Jun outfit
52:47 "STANDING HERE, I REALIZE..."
I love syndicate and rogue . Actually some of my favorites in the series among revelations, 2, and origins ! I’ve never gotten to play brotherhood and I do not like the ones after origins so far
Thank you,mentor.
41:41 in fact there were murder mysteries in Syndicate but as far as I’m concerned they were part of an expansion called ‚The Dreadful Crimes‘. I’m not too sure whether they costed money or whether they were downloadable for free. On PS4 I believe they were included by default and on PC you have to download them
Just bought it after this video, downloading now
I think the game really holds up, at least for me. It might not have the best story but I love replaying it because I loved the setting and it might be one of my favorites
I quite enjoy Syndicate. Experimenting with two protagonists who are active across the story and with their own active contributions to the story was promising but still needed a lot of polish. Similarly the characterisation of Jacob and Evie, as for the first time since Altaïr we have protagonists who grew up within and fully engaging with the Brotherhood. They both react differently to being in charge of how they can act without the oversight they’re used to, Jacob finally able to indulge himself and Evie tracking down the Shroud of Eden. The problem is that the writers don’t use the playtime each character has to fully develop them so Jacob can come off very childish and like III it’s a case of the novelisation actually being a prequel with another character rather than with the characters who needs more room to develop.
The relatively tight timeframe of the story too is something new for the series, or at least where it plays a direct impact on events. The speed at which Jacob and Evie take down the London Templars means they and Starrick don’t have people in place to fill the gaps quickly enough to keep the wider consequences stable. There’s more of an urgency because of this.
Syndicate is still one of my faves. i agree with you about the tone not being dark enough. I'm also still not a fan of switching between two characters in an AC game coz I'd love to have just played as Evie only because I now know of her and love her style compared to Jacob's. Minus all that I would have just loved if they had an NG+. I'm tired of getting all the skills and cosmetics all over again. That is my only deterrent at the moment. And no I don't want to reselect a memory to play again. It doesn't feel the same as free form exploration, saving boroughs and other side content.
A separate video talking about the Jack the Ripper dlc would be cool!
Just yestarday i was looking for a review for this game. Just finished it and thought about what is your opinion on it as i saw there are many mixed reviews.
Playing it for the first time now, I'm pleasantly surprised with it! Having a great time.
I also love a darker tone, but adding some lighters elements is oke and like you said it has to fit the moment. There is a time and place.
To me it is like watching a marvel movie. Joke al you want on you're spaceship as some kind of stres release before saving the world. But when you're in the middel of making a plan to save the world, universe ore midst battle i think you should not joke.
I just love the kidnap feature in this game. It's very useful and it's always fun to push enemies off buildings or into the river
Syndicate actually happens to be my favourite AC game, and Jacob ismy favourite protagonist. There's much more about him than meets the eye.
Journalists misrepresented Jacob on purpose in order to give evie the spotlight. Evie is lacking in depth and growth compared to Jacob. And that makes sense, because Jacob is the main protagonist in the end of the day. Jacob has way more about him than most people know.
Syndicate is one of my favorite games and I’m replaying it right now.
Syndicate is still my favourite game of the series. I play it at least once a year and I haven’t gotten bored of it yet.
I loved Syndicate, maybe because it was my re-introduction to AC. I redownloaded Syndicate for my PC, alongside Origin's and Odyssey.
Syndicate is one of my favorite ac games. Jacob fry was a fun character that wanted to make a gang. Enjoyable story.
Thought the story isn’t the best I loved the environment and interactions I had with people and events, one of my favorite ac games
The part of the game i loved was the WW1 part. It was a really fun change of pace
And that Jack the Ripper DLC? Actually scary!!
I absolutely love this game, I played it recently and I’m on ps4 I enjoyed it so much that I ended up getting the platinum trophy for it and I absolutely reccomend to anyone on playstation
Ac syndicate has a special place in my heart as it is the first ever ac game I owned and played. And for that I just cant say that it is a bad game. It did a really good job of introducing me to the ac world so for that I am happy and grateful. I really think it is a good game, and I think that most of the reason why is because it just was the first ac game I ever played.
They did bring back the murder mysteries from Unity. They're called the Dreadful Crimes and they were originally only for PlayStation but came to PC sometime later. Never came to Xbox, though. They're really good and it's so crazy to me that they cut out a huge chunck of the game just to sell more copies on PS4.
About liberating London part... There was something very similar in AC Brotherhood with Borgia Towers, if I recall correctly? I think that Ubisoft flirted with idea of making AC games RPGs long before they actually did.
Syndicate is my favourite game in general not just out of AC games
Darn the tone was something I hoped would be consistent given the dark setting, I'll still pick it up though.
Excited for Jack the ripper vidoe
Syndicate is one of my top favorites. I don’t know why people say this game is trash. Far from it.
I just love your videos, and I recently gave Syndicate a new (and last) chance, since I haven`t finished it yet. But I kind a like it, it`s not Unity (which after playing it at last on ps5 kind a blew my mind) but Syndicate isn`t that bad. I enjoy it, but mostly playing it waiting for Mirage.
Unity blew your mind, but syndicate was just meh? OK, I don't believe you, if I'm honest.
@@chrismoore5333 Did I write ”meh”? Can you read? And yes, Unity is way better, and I don’t think I’m the only one with that opinion. Besides, the setting i Unity is more interresting.
@@geirydp oh unity is fat better. Better at glitches, better at breaking, better at less depth in it's black box levels, better at a bad hud... that sort of thing.
I love both games, but dishonest "fans" who just copy what they think is the popular viewpoint, are what kills game community.
@@chrismoore5333 So everyone has to agree with you, otherwise you go to bed crying? Ok, I couldn’t care less what you think. Bye 👋
@@geirydp "so everyone has to agree with you, otherwise you go to bed crying?" Couldn't have chosen those words better. Thank you. You got your "opinion" online, I got mine via experience on the games.
In my fantasy reimagining of Syndicate, the game would retain it’s Victorian theme but add to it a modern day map of London similar to WD legion.
Past and future shifting maps.
I just finished my platinum trophy in syndicate a few days ago. Syndicate was a bad game back in the days. But nowadays It feels so nostalgic. The story is not the best but it's good. I like starrick a lot. The twin dynamic and the train base is a cool idea. The city is beautiful and the made a good job as always for a good representation of the settings time. Over all it's a fantastic game. Not the best ac game but not the worst one. And it's truly a ac game not like Valhalla and Odyssey
A week ago I completed re-sealing it again, as usual it was a great experience for the last real Assassin's Creed game,
and yes... Jacob Frye is legend
Jacob frye is the most annoying assassin
@@Runtzz6he may be but he’s my annoying assassin😂
Jacob is a great protagonist, ans there is a reason he is the main protagonist. Jacob has better character development, and more depth than his sister. That's just a fact. Jacob is simply misrepresented and misunderstood.