Assassin’s Creed games have often been strong-selling titles for Ubisoft — but it’s no secret that the series doesn’t quite demand the attention that it once did. Instead, the series has seen diminishing returns in terms of critical reception and commercial sales for some time. That’s partly why fans have been clamoring for a remake of Black Flag, often regarded as a highlight of the series: in lieu of new entries in the series that set the industry on fire, fans will at least accept an old favorite.
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Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced is earning solid reviews and generating positive feedback from players, likely making it one of the best-received games in the series in years. However, there’s a downside to that success, which highlights just how much the series has struggled in recent years to remain as relevant as it once was. With the future of the franchise in question, it’s crucial for the series to come back from its lull period.
Assassin’s Creed Won’t Be Able To Repeat Its Latest Success
Assassin’s Creed got some very good bit of news with Black Flag Resynced, which has earned some of the best reviews the series has gotten in a while. In fact, the last game in the series to achieve those kinds of reviews was the original version of Black Flag, which was released in 2013. While that’s a win for the franchise and publisher Ubisoft, it does underscore a conundrum the series has been facing for a while; despite ambitious new settings and tweaks on the gameplay, the series has been seen as diminishing returns in recent years. While some entries of the series have been well-received, none of them have been able to actually earn the kind of reception that could bring the series back to its former heights. Instead, glitchy elements and repetitive game design have seen the reputation of the series fall by the wayside compared to the rest of the industry.
That also means that, despite Resynced proving that reprisals of old hits can still be a success, there aren’t enough of those later successes to really justify other modern remakes. None of the more recent Assassin’s Creed games have gotten the kind of fan reception that could make for an exciting remake. The better entries in the series since Black Flag, like Assassin’s Creed Shadows, weren’t the kind of financial hits that could bring older fans back for new adventures. In fact, it’s hard to think of another entry in the franchise that has been getting calls for a remake quite like Black Flag. Now that it’s been done, it’s unclear where the series can go but forward — itself a risky proposition, given the blows to the franchise’s reputation over the years and the reportedly tricky development of new games like Assassin’s Creed Hexe. Resynced‘s success may inspire more gamers to revisit earlier entries in the franchise or give new games a chance. However, Ubisoft will be hard-pressed to find an easy fan-favorite approach to do now that they’ve remade what is often considered the high point of the franchise.
How Does Ubisoft Fix Assassin’s Creed?
Assassin’s Creed is the sort of franchise that has a certain degree of pedigree afforded to it by name alone. The series will likely live on in some form for as long as Ubisoft is able to publish it, which is probably why there are multiple iterations of the series currently in development. However, it’s unclear if any of them have the natural means of matching the success of Black Flag or Resynced, which has already seen some of its development team laid off by Ubisoft. The failure of the series to ever match the critical heights of the former, a 13-year-old game at the time of writing, highlights how gamers have grown tired of the formula of the series. While old favorites might be able to reinspire some excitement, it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for the franchise’s future that it took a remake to get those kinds of reviews.
This is one of the reasons the horror tone and supernatural elements of Assassin’s Creed Hexe were so exciting, as it offered the opportunity for the game to become something different and unique from other entries. However, those elements have been reportedly toned down, placing the series more in line with other entries. That means the game may suffer from the same formula that players have grown increasingly tired of. Despite the level of craft in the world design and the intrigue of exploring a new historical setting with each game, the Assassin’s Creed series has felt like it’s been in a rut for a while. Especially among players who have grown frustrated with Ubisoft’s decisions, the series has felt like it’s been overshadowed by other games. The publisher may have a hit on their hands, but it’s a card they can only play once. If they want the series to regain the popularity it commanded at its heyday, then Assassin’s Creed needs to break the mold and become something exciting again.
