The upcoming Assassin's Creed Red is one of the franchise's most anticipated inbound titles, with its setting and premise ticking some long-demanded boxes for the IP. With that being said, the scale of the title may see some aspects of it wane in comparison to those within other upcoming releases such as Assassin's Creed Mirage.
In particular, the freerunning and parkour of Assassin's Creed Red are likely to be underwhelming when compared to AC Mirage. Although the title will of course make up for this in other aspects, fans should expect some elements of Assassin's Creed Red to take a hit due to its scale and ambition.
The Cons of Assassin's Creed Red's Size
Assassin's Cred Red is the current codename for arguably the most sizable confirmed upcoming addition for the IP. Being set in one of the most highly-demanded settings for the franchise, the title will finally see Assassin's Creed come to Japan within a dedicated mainline game.
Ubisoft has been very transparent in the fact that Red will be taking on the same gameplay framework as recent RPG Assassin's Creed titles, such as Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. This means that players should expect a sizable map in Assassin's Creed Red, as well as things like skill trees and a wide variety of gear and weapons to use.
This new RPG formula is quite controversial for the Assassin's Creed franchise, with some arguing that it takes away from the layered and intimate environments of the IP's classic games. With these newer titles involving a much larger overall area of travel, many of the settlements and locations can suffer due to the sheer size of the games as a whole. The inbound Assassin's Creed Mirage is taking a completely different approach to Red, and its level of parkour may increase fan expectations before playing the later-released title.
Assassin's Creed Mirage's Parkour Compared to Red's
Assassin's Creed Mirage has amassed a lot of attention thanks to its bold blending of the older and newer identities of the franchise. The game is set to involve characters from fresh titles such as Valhalla's Basim Ibn Ishaq in its protagonist role, while crucially doing away with many RPG mechanics. The game has stressed that it will return to a much smaller environment than recent releases, putting much more focus on its narrative and making its limited environment feel bustling and alive.
One of the biggest reported benefits of this approach lies in how the game will be able to tackle parkour. With Mirage's involved locations being primarily Middle Eastern cities, Ubisoft has stressed how a smaller-scale has fostered much more layered and complexly designed parkour paths. These paths allow for huge variety and flow in arguably the franchise's most defining and iconic mechanic, being more akin to the freerunning of earlier titles like Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.
The regression of parkour is one of the largest criticisms of the new Assassin's Creed identity, and Mirage will provide a perhaps needed breath of fresh air in the complexity and depth of its own freerunning. This may have residual impact on how the parkour of Assassin's Creed Red will be received, with its larger map size making holistically complex parkour a huge ask. Of course, Red will likely impress in its wider scale and unique location, but Ubisoft's flipping between its two approaches for the franchise may seriously impact fan expectations for certain mechanics such as parkour.
Assassin's Creed Red is currently in development.