Assassin's Creed: Reviving the Misguided Multiplayer Experience

There are some things in life that simultaneously manage to be both underappreciated and overrated, like sushi. Many people shy away from it because they can't get past the idea of raw fish, making it underrated in their eyes. Meanwhile, there are those who act as if discovering sushi is a grand achievement, overhyping it as though it's the ultimate culinary experience. Assassin's Creed multiplayer is a bit like sushi in that regard, and now it appears that this divisive experience might be making a comeback.

According to recent leaks, Assassin's Creed Shadows might introduce a co-op mode after its initial release. On one hand, this makes sense—it features two protagonists with distinct play styles, allowing for different approaches to missions. However, when you think about it, the idea of integrating co-op into the gameplay feels like a mismatch for a couple of reasons.

Does Co-op Fit into Assassin's Creed Shadows?

Considering the limited information we've received about Assassin's Creed Shadows—especially after its last-minute delay—there seems to be no option to switch between the two main characters, Naoe and Yasuke, during gameplay. Instead, players choose one character at the start of a mission and proceed according to that character's unique abilities. Whether this means you're locked into your choice until the mission's end or can switch only at specific points in the open world remains unclear.

Previous games, like Assassin's Creed Syndicate, allowed seamless character switching in free-roam but often limited mission-specific choices to either Jacob or Evie. Shadows seems to expand on this concept by letting you choose your character before missions, yet the narrative once underway restricts switching. This setup makes it hard to envision a smooth co-op experience. How would it make sense for one player to adopt a stealthy strategy as Naoe while the other charges in headfirst as Yasuke? The two contrasting play styles, while effective individually, don't appear to complement each other in a cooperative format.

Sure, co-op could have some potential in open-world scenarios, where teaming up with a friend might make the grind of traveling across vast areas more enjoyable. It might even allow one player to tackle side quests as Naoe while the other handles different objectives as Yasuke, bringing back the fun of chatting with friends like in the early days of online gaming.

Assassin's Creed's Co-op Past and Possible Future

Assassin's Creed previously explored co-op in Unity, but the implementation was limited to specific missions that didn't add much to the overall experience. If the upcoming co-op mode in Shadows follows this same formula, it risks being a lackluster addition that doesn’t significantly enhance the gameplay. For this new mode to shine, it needs to offer more than just a series of obligatory team-based missions.

The timing of this possible co-op addition is also questionable. If it’s a feature that’s been in the works from the beginning, great. But if it's a last-minute idea thrown in during the game's recent delay, then it raises concerns. With limited development time, squeezing in a new gameplay element could shift focus away from refining the core game—fixing bugs, improving animations, and enhancing combat mechanics. It would be a risky move for Ubisoft to prioritize co-op when there are other aspects of the game that need polish.

Ubisoft is Reviving the Wrong Multiplayer Experience

If Ubisoft is reintroducing multiplayer because of its popularity in the past, even on short notice, they might be doing so for the wrong reasons. The more appropriate question is—why this type of multiplayer? This isn't the game mode that fans have been waiting for.

The original multiplayer experience, which debuted in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, was a unique blend of stealth and strategy. Players chose avatars and moved through a town, blending in with NPCs while hunting down their targets and avoiding being caught by other players. It was a tense, cat-and-mouse experience that required players to think quickly and move cleverly, with the thrill of either evading capture or successfully eliminating their prey.

This multiplayer style evolved through titles like Revelations, Assassin's Creed III, and Black Flag—each refining the formula but never deviating from what made it so compelling. The naval warfare-themed Black Flag could have added even more to the multiplayer mode, yet it ended just as the concept seemed to hit its stride. While this style of multiplayer was popular back then, it's uncertain how it would be received today amid the broader range of multiplayer games available.

The real question is whether this co-op mode was a part of the original vision for Shadows or just a hasty addition to appease the player base. If it was planned all along and the game is truly designed to support it, then it might just work. However, if this multiplayer element is a last-minute attempt to create buzz, it’s bound to feel out of place. For a game that needs a hit to regain its momentum, Ubisoft might be bringing back the wrong kind of multiplayer magic.