Assassin's Creed Unity

Assassin's Creed Unity took players on Xbox One to revolutionary Paris at the end of the eighteenth century, where, in the role of the assassin Arno Dorian, political intrigue mixes with bloody street unrest against the backdrop of the fall of the monarchy. The game builds on free movement through a densely built-up city, parkour climbing across the facades of cathedrals and palaces, and stealthily killing guards and targets with a blade as well as other weapons, while for the first time it also offers cooperative play for up to four players in special missions focused on heists and investigations.

Ubisoft Montreal wagered on a significantly reworked movement system that separates climbing up and down and allows more precise control of the character while jumping between rooftops, as well as on the density of crowds in the streets, which during the revolution creates the impression of a living, chaotic city full of protesters, soldiers and merchants. The graphical rendering of Paris was among the most ambitious reconstructions of a historical setting in the series at the time of release, with a faithfully modeled Notre-Dame cathedral and other period buildings, accompanied by atmospheric music that underscores the tension between order and chaos of the revolution, while the player can enter and explore the interiors of many buildings just as thoroughly as the exteriors.

The game's release was marred by technical problems and rough edges, which earned it a mixed reception despite strong foundations, but through gradual patches and free content the state of the game improved significantly. Today Unity is valued especially for the atmosphere of revolutionary Paris and its elaborate parkour, while the initial technical troubles remain a frequently cited lesson about the risks of releasing large-scale open-world titles without sufficient polish, and with the passage of years many players regard them more as an interesting historical footnote to the game's release, while the gameplay itself and the atmosphere of revolutionary Paris have held up far better over time.

Why play it: Despite its troubled launch, Unity is worth attention for the atmosphere of revolutionary Paris and the elaborate parkour, which hold up better today than the technical ailments of its time.