Ubisoft has recently announced the sunsetting of online services for a litany of games reaching their end-of-life for multiplayer and online functionality. While many of these games' online capability were phased out already, these changes apply to some of the most iconic franchises released by the publisher. Among those are some of the best Assassin's Creed games, and while these services will still be available on several platforms after this, these older games don't see nearly the same amount of players compared to launch. That's a shame, because despite the multiplayer modes being particularly simplistic in nature, it was unlike anything else around at the time.
To some extent that's still true today, even though plenty of other multiplayer genres have risen in popularity in its place. Asymmetrical multiplayer games like Dead by Daylight or the upcoming Evil Dead: The Game, as well as social deduction games like Among Us, are just a few new genres that have proven popular beyond their niche genres. That being said, there aren't too many games out there that have managed to capture a similar gameplay loop as Brotherhood and Revelations' PvP multiplayer. Especially if Ubisoft is taking on a greater live service approach for future titles, Assassin's Creed's PvP multiplayer should return.
Assassin's Creed PvP Multiplayer Was Underrated
Starting with Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Ubisoft began a successful experiment in adapting the "social stealth" aspects of its single-player stories into a PvP framework. From there, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Assassin's Creed 3, and Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag iterated on various different competitive modes that had players controlling Templars (posing as Assassins) and honing their killing skills. Whether it was the free-for-all Wanted and Deathmatch modes, the unique team-based Artifact Assault and Manhunt modes, or the Wolfpack cooperative mode, there were plenty of ways assassins could fight and work together in each historic sandbox.
Unlike in the single-player story, each Assassin's Creed PvP mode takes place in curated versions of familiar places like Venice, as well as other condensed versions of international cities like Siena or Mont Saint-Michel. Each stage was a tightly packed parkour playground that simultaneously supplied a litany of hiding spots as well, meaning no two matches were exactly the same. There was plenty of opportunity for hunters to stalk their prey and artfully get their kills before slipping back into incognito to evade their pursuers.
There have been games like Murderous Pursuits, which follows a similar formula, but there aren't too many games like Assassin's Creed's PvP multiplayer. The unique influence from single-player social stealth and utilizing the environment to the player's advantage translated well into a fun, cat-and-mouse gameplay style.
Ubisoft Should Bring Back Assassin's Creed PvP
It is a bit surprising that Ubisoft has not committed to developing a new effort for Assassin's Creed's PvP multiplayer, especially with the publisher's increased push towards live service games. Franchises like Far Cry and Ghost Recon, as well as Assassin's Creed, are all investing in live service releases or spin-offs that are currently in development. The PvP multiplayer in games like Brotherhood or Black Flag were never super popular or mainstream among the majority of Assassin's Creed players, but it still had dedicated fans. If the single-player experience for Assassin's Creed can transition to a live service design, so can its PvP multiplayer as well.
That being said, if Assassin's Creed PvP multiplayer were to ever see a resurgence, it should be an entirely separate experience from the single-player adventures most fans are used to. Obviously it's not unfair to say a majority of Assassin's Creed fans only care about the single-player adventures, especially given the success of the RPG makeover with Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Valhalla. Assassin's Creed Infinity, the live service game in development for the franchise, will undoubtedly focus on the single-player aspect of the series, which certainly has its own potential for success, but that doesn't mean the series has to leave PvP multiplayer behind entirely.
Releasing a modern, free-to-play version of the PvP multiplayer from past Assassin's Creed games could give the previous multiplayer new life, especially given the renewed success of the series thus far. As long as it remains entirely separated from the mainline Assassin's Creed story, aside from some connecting threads like in Brotherhood and Revelations, could certainly keep it interesting for fans of the series looking for something different.
Assassin's Creed's PvP was a unique gameplay experience that has aspects of popular games like Among Us or Dead By Daylight ingrained in its gameplay loop. Releasing a modernized version of that, especially along the same lines as Ubisoft's live service initiative, would seemingly make a lot of sense.
