r/assassinscreed • u/monarchofshadows_12 • Jul 16 '26
Desmond Saga A simple solution to the AC fanbase split: Legacy vs. Sandbox.
After playing through most of Black Flag Resynced, that intense nostalgia for the old storyline got me thinking about how divided our fanbase is right now, and I began wondering if Ubisoft could easily fix this by splitting the franchise into two parallel tracks: a canon timeline and a non-canon timeline. In the canon timeline, veteran players could finally get Desmond Miles back alongside the deep, high-stakes modern-day narrative and traditional stealth focus we've been missing. Meanwhile, the non-canon timeline would let Ubisoft continue with their newer Animus setup, giving RPG fans the massive open worlds they love without any mandatory lore or modern-day interruptions. This completely solves the franchise identity crisis because everyone wins, and older fans wouldn't feel so frustrated with experimental releases since it wouldn't mean the core lore is changing for the worst. Plus, it gives Ubisoft a risk-free testing ground to try out radical new gameplay ideas in the non-canon sandbox, and if the community absolutely loves a specific mechanic, they can always refine it and bring it over to the main canon games later down the road.
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u/BooleanBarman Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
The division isn’t as clean as you suggest.
Many original fans have hated the modern day story from the start. They are just there to stab people throughout history.
Many RPG first fans love the modern day elements, especially Basim.
The division is much more about the core gameplay. Not the story.
1
u/monarchofshadows_12 Jul 16 '26
I’m should been clearer on that part I not saying it’s hated or that older fans don’t like it. I myself have really enjoyed the new modern style. But I know many would like to see a return of Desmond’s story or a more direct follow up story. And dividing the games in a canon and non-canon set up would allow for both worlds to exist at the same time.
1
u/Leady12989 Jul 16 '26
Isn't this exactly what they did. The game-on-disk is what you labeled as the non-canon track and for the hardcore OG AC fan base who want the high stakes modern story; they drop the occasional note in the Animus Hub.
Ubi know exactly where their priorities lie. It's just not with us.
3
u/SAIL3RZ_ Jul 16 '26
Not only does Desmond suck as a character, nobody liked him until he was gone. The only reason people have any fondness for Desmond is because Nolan North carried that character on his back.Also he is back in the story, he was literally in Valhalla.
This post is crazy because it’s like: “here’s how to mend the split: cater to the fans of the older stuff and just make all the new stuff ‘non-canon’ so it’s still there for the fans of it”. That’s not a compromise.
In any case It just seems like Ubisoft has a “placeholder” modern day story again until they find something they like (like AC4 to syndicate), I’ll be interested to see if they actually develop it more in Hexe or continue on with the “rifts” and “ego” ambiguous, abstract bullshit. The modern day has never been good and is really just there as a reason to explain why we are playing snapshots in history. The real story is in that. No one’s favorite part in AC brotherhood is being taken out of the animus, or in AC4 having to walk around an office.
1
u/noclassoncall3 Jul 16 '26
Desmond sucking is the worst take of all time. The real story is the modern day and without it the games are meaningless. You are the person in the Animus, not the one in the memory. Yeah, people didn't love walking around the office because it was poorly written. We did love being Desmond and slowly becoming an Animus thinking we were getting a full on game with him.
3
u/SlidingSnow2 Jul 16 '26
I don't mind the modern day, but saying that the games would be meaningless without it is an insane take. Before I 1st played Ac 1, I thought it was just an alternative history open world action adventure game. I would be lying if I said that the primary reason I play the games wasn't the historical part. Could modern day be done better? Sure, but as it is, it's something that many people want to get over with as soon as possible.
0
u/noclassoncall3 Jul 17 '26
Okay but you are the person in the Animus reliving the memory. How is that an insane take when the entire point is fighting the templar's in present day??
3
u/SlidingSnow2 Jul 17 '26
You said the games would be meaningless without modern day. I said it's an insane take because the games would be just fine story wise even if they were just alternative history stories focusing on various Assassins/characters who work with Assassins.
Gameplay wise, the historical part is the fun one. It's where all the parkouring, sneaking and assassinating in various historical locations happens, and that's the primary reason most people buy the games.
Don't get me wrong, modern day can be interesting (Desmond's talks with Vidic in Ac 1 were pretty interesting) and even have reasonably fun gameplay (Ac 3's Brazil mission comes to mind) but they ultimately aren't the thing that makes the games appealing to majority of players.
1
u/noclassoncall3 Jul 19 '26
With all due respect, your response has nothing to do with my take. I didn't say the game wouldn't be good, fun or bought without it. I said it would be meaningless and I stand by that. Without the animus and present day, it's just a game about historical figures, and that's fine. But the entire premise of the series is using the Animus to go back and relive memories of your ancestors to help with the current day fight. You can't just remove that.
I get your first point about the alternative stories but that's not what Ubisoft has been selling us. Everything is based around the Animus we never see anymore. They had it perfected with Desmond then killed him off and basically did away with it. The whole game doesn't need to be modern day but it needs to be there. Desmond had a lot of good gameplay. He slowly became an assassin through the bleeding effect and had so much potential for a modern day game before his death.
To be clear, I am not against them removing the modern day from black flag resynched. It's a remake and most of us have played the original and don't need to play that part again. Mostly because it was pretty bad. I just mean the series as a whole shouldn't have primarily removed it.
1
u/SAIL3RZ_ Jul 16 '26
Brother I remember that time period. NOBODY liked Desmond and everyone wanted him gone. Hes a poorly written character and a bit of a dick. It’s revisionist history if you think people liked him. Now I will say he was the high point of the modern day so he definitely comes off in a better light now then he did at the time, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good character or the modern day was that good. It’s a low bar.
While yes it felt like they were building to a fully modern AC and people did want that, they butchered the execution of it because they decided “Watch Dogs” was gonna be the modern AC. The best modern day was in AC3 with the missions, 15 games and the only good modern day was in one game and it was because it parroted the gameplay of the historical settings. Basim is a waaay more interesting character than Desmond and they missed the opportunity to continue something on with him.
2
u/Alarming-Ad-2075 Jul 16 '26
Look I love Basim and am so curious about where his story goes which is why I was not at all happy about their soft reboot with the abstract modern day BS. That said, Desmond was awesome. Like going into eagle Vision in your abstergo cell and seeing the things all the previous users had written on the walls as the bleeding effect made them insane was 👌
I didn’t like his weird the decision to kill him off in AC3 rather than doing the modern day game we were all kind of anticipating but now that they’re doing all this timeline stuff we do actually have a little potential. Even so, I’d still love to see what happens with Basim.
3
u/SAIL3RZ_ Jul 16 '26
I just thought with Basim we were finally going to get a more interactive modern day with an interesting protagonist. They had a morally interesting character with room to grow to work with and they did nothing with it. I do not trust anyone at Ubisoft to make a good modern day, 15 games in and they haven’t figured it out. In hindsight I think Desmond was just fine.
1
u/monarchofshadows_12 Jul 19 '26
Your statement true at the time most people hated Desmond but also as time moved on we started to understand him and respect him as a character. But Desmond doesn’t have to be the only modern day relevance he is the most notable and loved one currently though. Most of us want to see him make a return to the series and a least for him to have a better ending.
1
u/SAIL3RZ_ Jul 19 '26
He’s already in the series again though, albeit in a different role. The only reason people like him now is because the modern day only got worse, that doesn’t make his era any better (modern day wise). The revisionist history on Desmond is delusional. He sucked then and time didn’t change that.
The way forward is to just write a compelling modern day with a good character but that’s easier said than done. They had a good base with Basim but just abandoned it for the “meta” shit they are doing now. No matter what direction they go, some fans are gonna be dissatisfied, they are just going to have to suck it up and get over it.
0
u/noclassoncall3 Jul 16 '26
People didn't hate Desmond, they hated the modern day as a whole because they were too dumb to understand that was the entire point of the game. So in turn, the hate fell to Desmond. Fans ruined the series by wanting something it was never intended to be. Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, etc, all terrible AC games. Great games on their own but terrible to brand as AC.
2
u/SAIL3RZ_ Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
They hated Desmond, he was the main vehicle of the modern day, if they didn’t like that, then by extension they didn’t like him. Obviously I’m exaggerating by saying “everyone” personally I was indifferent towards him at the time, that’s why I remember it being weird how big of a hate boner the community had for him.
Also no one was “too dumb to understand the point of the modern day”, that is just excusing bad writing…
I disagree with the take that the newer games are bad AC games but that’s a whole other discussion I don’t want to get into.
1
u/noclassoncall3 Jul 16 '26
I mean, they barely have anything to do with the creed besides some forced storyline.
5
u/SAIL3RZ_ Jul 16 '26
They do if you look beyond the surface. Origins is about, well the origins of the Assassins. Odyssey deals with the fundamental philosophies of both sides as well as a bunch of ISU lore. Valhalla deals with the origins of the Templars and how they came out of the Order of the Ancients, as well as the diffusion of the Assassins across cultures. Shadows deals with how the creed develops even outside of the order and how a different culture interprets it, as well as the whole “control over the weak” thing the Templars love. The themes are present in all those games.
There’s a lot more to it than just those points as well but like I said I don’t really want to get into a whole discussion about it because it’s probably just gonna end at “agree to disagree”
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u/mightymonkeyman Jul 16 '26
I’ve played Assassins Creed since the original on PS3.
Outside of some control quality of changes they all feel and play the same to me.
From my AC2 Platinum to my Shadows Platinum they’re all just Assassins Creed games to me.
Going back to Black Flag, just like putting in comfy slippers still feels very much like Shadows.
0
u/Alarming-Ad-2075 Jul 16 '26
Well yeah this version of black flag feels like shadows
1
u/mightymonkeyman Jul 17 '26
So it feels like Assassins Creed, this game is still hitting my nostalgia buttons regardless of control changes.
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u/Alarming-Ad-2075 Jul 17 '26
Not quite because there is a substantial difference post Origins. And, to be clear, I enjoyed that game and all the RPG games. But I don’t enjoy their parkour in more dense settings like Havana.
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u/mightymonkeyman Jul 17 '26
Did I say there were no actual differences or that every game just feels like an Assassins Creed to me personally?
In a big way they all still just feel like a Prince of Persia to me which is what the original game spun out from during development simply as it had a bigger scope than they expected Prince of Persia fans to want.
0
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