We were initially bewildered by the Animus Hub when first booting up Assassin's Creed Shadows. The Hub chronologically links a bunch of the more recent games in the series, and if you have the associated games installed, it allows you to launch them. It seemed like standard Ubisoft launcher chicanery, but it seems like the Hub will be the bridge that allows for an exploration of the series' future, too.
Speaking to PSU, Marc-Alexis Côté, head of the Assassin's Creed brand at Ubisoft, was asked about the Animus Hub, which also serves as a platform for the firm's inevitable microtransactions. He said Ubisoft will "use the Hub as a platform to link our different experiences together. [We] have this present-day story that will be told continuously between our games and in between our games, as well."
It's a fascinating idea, and while this particular author hasn't progressed enough in Shadows to know, the game opens with some ominous, modern techno-babble, which we presume will come into play later. But it certainly sounds like the modern day narrative that links the series hasn't been forgotten, in a larger sense: "People who love the modern day [story] will get more of it in our post-launch of Shadows, and our upcoming games, as we use the Hub as a platform to link our different experiences together."
What do you think of the Animus Hub being used as a vehicle to expand the modern-day story of Assassin's Creed? Don't trust the disembodied voices you hear in the comments section below.
[source psu.com]
Comments 38
Hmmm. If they actually follow through with adding in modern day, I may have to rethink my stance on not getting Shadows (1st AC I’ve ever passed on).
"It's a fascinating idea, and while we haven't progressed enough in Shadows to know..."
You guys reviewed the game.
@Lup reviewers don’t need to complete the game to write a review although I believe completing the game before doing a review makes it more authentic.
@Lup You will find that is more common than you think. Sad as it might be.
Another reason I trust YouTube reviews more than the media. The good ones don’t give a review until they finish the game even if that means the review comes late. A late review is certainly better than a preview
I like the idea behind the hub (was pleasantly surprised when it launched installed games) but I need the modern day story to tighten up a bit more. I am curious about how shadows delves into it (i am not far enough along).
So you wrote review and didn't finished game???
@NorrinRadd I'm the exact opposite then. The parts taking place in modern day take me out of the experience. I just wish they would get rid of those parts completely.
Killing Desmond was probably the worst thing they could of done for the modern story line, He just feels like a complete waste of a character. I also never vibed with Layla, found her quite annoying actually.
It would be really cool if we got like special events where we play as a modern assassin similar to how a couple sections in AC3 had. I always wanted those to come back at some point in the series.
@Korgon I think getting rid of Juno as the central antagonist was a bad Idea. Especially since the assassins were on the back foot and mostly losing against the templars by the time the modern day storyline picks up. I still think humanity uniting against a common enemy was the original idea. And given that the story was trying to show both sides while allowing you to play as the assassins I felt that was still the original goal. (Because otherwise it’s just humans squabbling over resources since the Isu are dead and well… we do that now. ) Juno’s comatose husband doesn’t have the same pull as Juno herself. The Sage is imo a poor replacement. But hey since the current Sage is Desmond’s son… who knows.
@djlard @Nem @Boxmonkey @KillerBoy @Lup a different person wrote this news article then the review... it looks like Khayl wrote this story (and hasn't yet completed the game), but Robert Ramsey reviewed the game (and in his review said that he spent over 80 hours with the game).
Push Square isn't just one person writing every review and news article.
The animus hub and current day event parts in all of the AC games were boring and one part that would always make me wish it was just a game as it is without all that nonsense
I don't get why it isn't a seperate app. So if they need to update something in the hub they need to update all supported games?
Also the boot other games when starting shadows is kinda weird. And doesn't work for me as I prefer discs. So in my case. Let's say I want to play Valhalla through the hub.
1. Insert shadows
2. Start shadows
3. Choose valhalla in the hub
4. Eject shadows
5. Insert valhalla
Not sure if that's the way as I haven't tried it yet.
@Shampi battlefield had hub like this since BF4 was released. It's basically a quick way to quit between current bf game and to let's say bf5, but it still boots the game and if you have it in disk, will ask to do exactly what you wrote above.
Basically serving no purpose really.
Sounds to me like the modern story is now an after thought, the whole point of Assassin's Creed is exploring the past to learn more about what's going to happen in the future and the esu, why not make a game where you get to play in the past and the future in the same location, like in Brotherhood where you got to go to the Colosseum in the present day to find what was hidden in the past
@Jenny_Jones 🤔 interesting, however Khayle specifically referenced "we," several times in the article as if to suggest he was referring to Pushsquare at large having not progressed enough into the game to see what the animus hub modern day stuff evolves into....
@KundaliniRising333 It doesn't really help when use of "we" flip-flops across the site depending on context. You are correct that "we" often refers to a collective set of staff for example when referring to prior reviews in a news story.
This isn't a Push Square specific phenomenon, it's prevalent across the games media.
@Dampsponge Frankly I think the modern story died with Desmond. Ok it was alright in Black Flag with its Ubisoft metaphor but I think most people were done with it by then. personally I think it just started getting in the way after that and then they just scaled it back/pushed it into the background. I'm fairly sure the Origin modern day story has a plot point about the historical character that surely isn't possible if you've finished the game and nothing in that modern story actually carries any weight or impact. It was just the usual hiding from Abstergo while carrying around a stolen/cloned Animus.
Now granted I haven't seen much of the modern day after Origin, but that's because in Odyssey they appear to have buried it in DLC I haven't yet played. I can't speak for Valhalla or Shadows having not played them yet but I don't remember any modern day in Mirage.
Even Ubisoft admitted they hadn't kept peoples interest in the modern day aspect. The hub seems partially designed to help with this by providing a central point for it, but they need to have a better plan than simply launching between franchise entries and having a central place to process UbiCoin or whatever they call it.
As maligned as the modern storyline has been among fans, I did find it to be a good central foundation for the series. The idea of experiencing one’s ancestors life through a pseudoscientific DNA extrapolation is actually a really cool concept. The way the modern story and characters were treated was the issue.
I haven’t played most of the post Black Flag content, only Origins (which I liked) and the modern day bits after Desmond seemed to become so trite. I do think that revamping the way the animus and the modern angle intersects with the historical parts can be a great way to differentiate the series from the large number of AC-inspired action games that are now competing with it (like the Ghost of Tsushima/Yotei, HZD/HFW, etc) and frankly do many things better than AC has done.
@Lowdefal the modern day story in Valhalla was on the right track it was just buried behind hours of gameplay and a little bit confusing but it was nice to see Desmond return
Shadows has been lackluster for me.. idk why people hate on Modern Day story when it’s literally the basis of all of the games.. I feel like people who don’t enjoy that part of the AC story don’t really have a true love for the franchise.. if you want something else then play something else ffs
@Lowdefal @KundaliniRising333 lots of websites have in-house style guides where they prefer their writers to use 'we' instead of 'I' (or vice versa). Style guides are used to keep things consistant across different writers and throughout the whole site. I know this as I've occassionally written for Push Square (and other sites) and been asked to use 'we' instead of referring to myself as 'I'.
@KoopaTheGamer Maybe I'm way off but I always assumed you travel back in time and take on the persona of the actual assassin but this duo has me scratching my head, I've not played yet.
Which bird is your companion? Not seen any gameplay of this.
The fact Ubisoft still think the modern day story is anything other than a waste of development time speaks volumes about the company.
The whole premise of the Animus was added in to the first game so they could market a title in the USA, against a backdrop of the ‘war on terror’ where you basically play as a historical Muslim out to kill Christian Invaders. (The premise of the Crusades)
Except you don’t play as the Muslim character; you’re playing as a white American barman in the socks of his ancestor. They even have the same voice!
The ‘Assassins vs Templar’s’ historical conspiracy was enough of a plot driver. It’s what makes AC2 such a compelling game in spite of Desmond. They should have ditched the whole Abstergo premise after AC3. Surely nobody enjoyed the forced breaks in piracy in AC4 where you have to wander through offices of Google?!
@djlard @Boxmonkey @Lup Just like @Jenny_Jones says, Khayl's referring to himself in the article using our stylistic "we".
For the record, I reviewed the game and I've finished it.
I've edited to clarify Khayl was speaking specifically about his own progress in this article.
It would be interesting to see a new take on the modern portions. I didn't love them in previous games, but it seems that this game in particular only very rarely delves into them. Which I think works, especially for a concluding section at the end.
@Jenny_Jones gotcha. Thanks for clarifying.
I dont trust them. Ubisoft is a terrible company. Im 37 h into shadows and they have yet to introduce anything modern day. Disappointing, but expected
@WolfyTn agreed. Zo me its the most interesting part about the ac games. LOVED the cliffhanger endings and the speculations that came with each ending. They lost their ways
@Cry_Zero more like they pandered to the cry babies.. this is definitely the most boring AC yet imo.. it’s beautiful in every way for what it is: a Japanese samurai simulator.. but Japanese culture is boring altogether.. where’s the Japanese gods and demons or the comedy.. sat for an hour nearly falling asleep during some stupid mission about proper tea etiquette
@Jenny_Jones Then he really should use "I" and not "we". It's all fixed now, I see.
But, what I said does not apply to push square in particular. Many reviewers out there don't bother playing the games to the credits or engaging with their systems before writing so called "reviews".
@WolfyTn Not as boring as generic merkin "culture" (if you could even call it that) 🤡💩
@Pleiades ‘Merkin’ culture stemmed from British culture mate.. and our culture is 1000x more interesting than Japanese history
But I get it.. “America Bad”.. not everyone is a fat redneck Trumper ‘bruv’
@WolfyTn I like it, it feels damned if you do and damned if you dont.
They overleant on the series in the PS3 era, and started really dripfeeding the overarching future story so practically nothing of impact happens during the game.
I think Valhalla did the best in recent years with it, so its kind of disappointing that in Shadows its been relegated to next to nothing. Its pretty one note in Mirage as well.
I'd love to see them try and fix it but at this point I think they either need to fully reboot the franchise
@NorrinRadd Why pass on AC Shadows? It’s awesome .
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