Highlights

  • Removing the crossbow from the original Assassin's Creed was a proper choice to maintain gameplay balance.
  • The crossbow in AC Brotherhood became overpowered, trivializing some encounters and reducing challenge for players.
  • Ubisoft's June showcase could reveal new Assassin's Creed projects and details for fans to look forward to.

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series has been a tent pole in the AAA stealth-action genre since its inception in 2008. Throughout the course of over a decade and just as many main titles and multiple spin-offs, Assassin's Creed has continued to be a successful juggernaut franchise, although perhaps sometimes at the risk of oversaturation and fan fatigue. Nevertheless, AC iterated and expanded on its lore, characters, and gameplay, usually adding in options and items to make its loops more engaging and keep players on their toes.

While earlier entries started out smaller in scope and scale, as they progressed, the Assassin's Creed games became more massive open-world experiences. Each one also featured an increasing variety of weapons beyond the iconic hidden blade for players to utilize. In an interesting case, though, one that was supposed to be in the very first game ended up absent from the final product. Marketing material for AC 1 clearly showed protagonist Altair wielding a crossbow in the promotional trailers, implying it would be included in-game. This turned out not to be true, and some fans were disappointed when it didn't actually appear in the release version. But leaving the crossbow on the cutting room floor for AC 1, in retrospect, was the proper choice.

The next Ubisoft Forward showcase , happening this June, is likely set to give fans closer looks at the latest various Assassin's Creed projects that are currently in development.

Assassins From The Assassin's Creed Franchise
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7 Awesome Things That Were Cut From The Assassin's Creed Series

The Assassin's Creed games have spanned centuries and contain a lot of material, but there is even more that was left out of the franchise.

The Original Assassin's Creed Cutting the Crossbow Was the Correct Call

The Crossbow in Assassin's Creed and Other Titles

Numerous games across varied genres have often included a crossbow, as its sheer coolness factor and versatility make it a perennial fan favorite. Sometimes they also come with fun alternate ammo types like fire or poison, increasing their popularity further. Historical records indicate the weapon was known to be in fairly wide use during the time period of the 12th century Crusades that the first Assassin's Creed is set in. Thus, while not anachronistic, it also arguably goes against the spirit and style of the Assassins and AC's core gameplay. It was noted by playtesters that the crossbow quickly unbalanced the difficulty, and it was allegedly removed later in development.

Instead, getting up close and personal with targets served the mechanics better as well as being more cinematic and dramatic, allowing for monologues and poignant exchanges between characters as they drew their last breaths. In lieu of the crossbow, AC1 had throwing knives, which were deadly unto themselves and served as the long-range option. The crossbow would eventually make it into Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and the issues of it possibly being in the original were made clear there.

Assassin's Creed's Crossbow Verged on Being Overpowered

As Assassin's Creed moved forward, its initially limited array of weapons expanded ever more to provide players with a much larger range of tools and gadgets, with ones like smoke bombs, shrapnel traps, and blowguns. By the time of AC Brotherhood during the series' "Ezio trilogy," the titular Master Assassin was given one during the course of his quest to hunt down the Templars of the Borgia family troubling him and his homeland. Once the crossbow was unlocked, it swiftly became apparent that it was perhaps too efficient, especially in a title that otherwise tasked players to meticulously stalk and methodically eliminate foes. It was a one-hit kill on almost any enemy type, could be fired silently and unseen at great range, and ammo for it was hardly rare, with fans also being able to upgrade the quiver to carry more bolts.

Among Assassin's Creed's weapons, the crossbow in AC Brotherhood could end up trivializing many encounters, almost as if it were a cheat weapon, and reduced much of the challenge even in setpiece scenarios. While it is a satisfying and powerful tool, at the same time it could be too much so and ruin some of the intended design. Ubisoft later incorporated other cool and useful weapons, but never ones that approached the outright dominance of the crossbow. It seems a solid choice then that it was removed from the original, and was only briefly available in one latter entry. Hopefully, the studio will continue to find ways to allow for a variety of weapons and items that are still fun, but fair, in future games.