Back when Assassin's Creed was just starting to become popular, eventually fans started theorycrafting the perfect time periods for the Assassins to visit next. The series has tackled Renaissance Italy, the American Revolution, the Crusades, and far more, and fan requests had no limit. Among the most requested time periods for the series have been Vikings and Feudal Japan. Fans are getting both this year with a little help from Ghost of Tsushima, another historical action-RPG.
Fans have specifically been looking forward to Assassin's Creed's interpretation of Feudal Japan ever since the franchise started jumping between Desmond's ancestors. The Viking Age has also been a time period fans have been asking for as well, almost at the same level as Japanese history but not quite. Even though Assassin's Creed could still follow Feudal Japan in a future release, for now fans will be able to enjoy the best of both Vikings and Feudal Japan by playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Ghost of Tsushima.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Viking Age
For fans of the long running historical fiction adventures in Assassin's Creed, they'll get a taste of the Viking Age this fall. Players will step into Eivor's shoes and guide their fellow Danes to prosperous lands. All the trappings of Viking media are there, like gore and violent raids, but there's also quite a bit of Assassin's Creed's DNA being pumped into the next adventure as well. The Hidden Blade is finally making a return, there's less grinding for experience and better loot like in Odyssey, and managing Eivor's settlement and their allied regions across the world is a core experience.
Assassin's Creed has changed quite a bit in the last few years, with Origins and Odyssey borrowing some inspiration from open world RPGs like The Witcher and Mass Effect. To some extent these changes have made a lot of sense, as time periods like Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece haven't been exactly conducive for the series' typical social stealth mechanics. These weren't tight knit societies like the Renaissance in Assassin's Creed 2, where players marched through the packed cities of Rome and Florence. The Viking Age is slowly bringing back some of the trappings of the usual Assassin's Creed gameplay, but melding it with the depth of the RPG mechanics refined in Odyssey.
Ghost of Tsushima's Feudal Japan
Meanwhile at Sucker Punch Productions, the studio behind the Infamous series has beaten Assassin's Creed to the Feudal Japan punch. Out this week is Ghost of Tsushima, which is also an open world adventure coming out in 2020. Like Ubisoft's historical fiction series, Ghost of Tsushima puts players in the perspective of samurai Jin Sakai as he tries to stop the first Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274. Given the nature of the game's historical setting, of course there will always be comparisons to Assassin's Creed. While that's justified in some regards, Ghost of Tsushima more closely emulates traditional open world stealth. The design of Ghost of Tsushima may be inspired by several open world games, the identity of the Feudal Japan epic is all its own.
The main gameplay loop of Ghost of Tsushima is more about sneaking into encampments and battling a select few enemies. Combat is meant to be brutal and punishing as Jin faces more enemies at once. Ghost of Tsushima is heavily influenced by Kurosawa's legacy, emulating iconic samurai battles and aesthetics highlighted by the Akira Kurosawa filmography. There's no loot or XP grinding that block out certain encounters just for being too low a level. Instead players unlock new abilities over time so they have more options against harder to defeat enemy types like lance users or shields. While Ghost of Tsushima snagged the popular time period before Assassin's Creed, Sucker Punch's version of Feudal Japan is very much its own depiction.
New vs. Established Historical Fiction Games
What's special about Ghost of Tsushima is the game becomes a mix-and-match of mechanics that are present in several open world games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2. Assassin's Creed games like Valhalla feel very familiar for a reason, as the series adopts the time periods to match the franchise's gameplay template, with some miniscule adjustments made over time. Ghost of Tsushima's gameplay mechanics are the exact opposite, where combat and environment design is very much based on the setting's foundations. Combat is methodical and swift, as any solid samurai fighter should be. There are some mythical undertones, but Ghost of Tsushima is largely an adventure grounded in reality, unlike Assassin's Creed games.
While not necessarily a negative aspect, but each Assassin's Creed game carries with it the baggage of the overarching sci-fi story. The present day story about following ancestors through DNA continues to hold a presence over the historical romp Assassin's Creed presents. Ghost of Tsushima's story is entirely engrossed within the historical fiction, with no recurring plot points like the Templars or the First Civilization interrupting the historical context of the game's plot. It is worth pointing out as Assassin's Creed has had trouble with leveraging that dynamic in past games like Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. Either way, Assassin's Creed fans shouldn't be deterred from playing Ghost of Tsushima, even though it's not exactly the same as Ubisoft's flagship franchise.
In the end, both games involve a stealthy assassin-type character who can become a total badass killer. Both games tackle moments of pride and great conflict throughout different parts of history. While a traditional Assassin's Creed game will eventually tackle a Feudal Japan setting, it likely won't be for a while. If fans wish to scratch that itch sooner, Ghost of Tsushima should be able to provide that relief well.
Ghost of Tsushima releases July 17, 2020 on PS4.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla releases on November 17, 2020 on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. PS5 and Xbox Series X versions will be launch games for both.