Assassins' creed syndicate is the Ninth release in the assassin's creed franchise and was released on the 23rd of October 2015. It was also the second major game, (the first being Freedom Cry) to be produced by Ubisoft Quebec rather than Ubisoft Montreal. The main story follows twin assassins Evie and Jacob Frye During the end of the industrial revolution in 1868, taking back control of London which they have returned to find it has been taken over by templars. They are Aided by multiple notable figures of the era such as Charles Darwin, Charles dickens, alexander graham bell, Karl Marx, Florence nightingale and queen Victoria. There is also a separate World War One segment featuring
Jacob's granddaughter, Lydia, who helps
Winston Churchill defend London.
The game also has three story expansions available for players to purchase. First are the dreadful crimes, in which the twins are approached by a writer and his follower to solve a string of murders, eventually being summoned to Buckingham palace to help Queen Victoria. The second and probably most notable of the three is Jack the Ripper, which is set in 1888, 20 years after our main story takes place. Evie investigates the murders of female assassins operating as prostitutes and the ripper has kidnapped Jacob, who is unplayable in this expansion. The third and final is the last maharaja, in which the twins confront Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last maharajah of the Sikh empire, about his lack of commitment to the people of India and they try to persuade him to reclaim his birthright.
Assassins Creed syndicate introduced many new features in the game which made it exciting and groundbreaking for the fans of the game. The most unique feature of Syndicate is that it gives the player the ability to play two protagonists, Jacob, and Evie Frye. Jacob is a rebellious and brash leader, whereas Evie is more stealth orientated and strategic. Both characters are also recognized as milestones of diversity representation: Jacob is the first confirmed bisexual lead character of the assassin's creed franchise and Evie is the first female assassin to lead a main series game. You play as both characters and figure out the benefits and drawbacks to each. This unique playstyle allows fans to have a more dynamic experience of the game and experiment with a more stealth based or combat based experience if they usually gravitate towards one style. Syndicate also brough the introduction of a more fluid and fun combat style. It was more than just spamming one button and more varied in ways of how the player attacks. Executions are better animated and brutal and overall combat wise the game improved its realism and allowed players a more fun and more stylish way to approach combat scenarios. The change in approach to travel was also a unique aspect of Syndicate. The design of mid 1800’s London is well praised by the fans, and with the addition of the zipline/grappling hook making it more enjoyable for players to travel around the way they want to. The game also came with the introduction of a horse and carriage for further travel, which consisted of the player hitchhiking on a horse and cart often having to use violence or sneak tactics to stay on while racing through the streets of London.
Production -
The game in total was funded with 80-85 million dollars and as previously mentioned, the second major entry in the series to be developed by Ubisoft Quebec rather than Ubisoft Montreal. They handed it over to their Quebec Studio as a major investment after their assistance in 6 prior games, Aswell as downloadable content for assassins' creed III and assassins' creed IV: black flag. Marc-Alexis's cote served as creative director after working in various positions on brotherhood, revelations and freedom cry, and Francois Pelland returned as a senior producer after assassins' creed III and has also been an executive director on all three in between. Lydia Andrew was audio director returning from III, black flag and unity and Historian Jean-Vincent Roy served as a consultant. The Quebec team consisted of 350 people at the time of Syndicates announcement and is 600 as of 2019.
2015 was a unique and amazing year for video games, with indie releases such as journey and Undertale reshaping the way we look at gaming, alongside well known critically acclaimed franchises like Grand theft auto, Metal gear solid, The Witcher and the legend of Zelda. Being released on the back end of these games proved an intimidating factor for AC syndicate, however it fit right in with its innovative Graphics and combat mechanics.
Target audience -
A demographic profile for assassin's creed Syndicate would be anyone between ages 18 and 50, stereotypically male and most likely with a previous knowledge of the assassin's creed franchise or even already a fan. Alternatively, the demographic profile could also be female gamers looking to find representation within gaming generally or the Assassins creed series specifically. We can determine assassin's creeds psychographic profile well by looking at young and Rubicam's four C’s model. The game appeals to the mainstreamer due to the reputation of assassin's creed as a franchise being the 11th bestselling games franchise of all time. If the mainstreamer is already a fan the game still appeals to them as the mechanics and overarching storyline of Assassins VS Templars is familiar. Assassins' creed may also appeal to the Aspirer as they wish to fit in with other people and may aim to be in the Assassins creed fandom, again because of its reputation.
Marketing -
The marketing For AC Syndicate was incredibly saturated, such as webpage takeovers and YouTube pre-roll ads, Aswell as Tv streaming ads. The game sponsored many online personalities to broaden its marketing, such as lets plays from Chris Smoove and CaRtOoNz who both disclaim to the audience they are sponsored by Ubisoft. They also even broadened the variety of channels, venturing to various craft channels that made replicas of new objects added to the game.
Ubisoft created probably one of their most adventurous marketing elements for syndicate through a promotional gag search engine based in the 1800’s London to promote syndicate, known as the XIX century search engine. Created with the purpose of hiding a puzzle within it through which fans could get a redeemable code to Edward and Elise's outfits, ps4 exclusive. The search engine had over 30 articles ranging from ‘6 things you were dying to know about queen Victoria’ to ‘Living with Typhus; it's possible!’ to ‘Can a woman propose?’ As well as over 80 unique and intricately designed adverts on the site promoting services, shows, shops and more in the AC syndicate London.
Trailer analysis -
The trailer takes advantage of the innovative year for gaming it is being released in. The trailer shows all aspects of assassin's creed, spying and sneaking, combat, gaining information and following missions and eventually bringing justice. The game has a whole new fighting style completely different to the old one, it is far more dynamic with unique ways to defeat your enemies, appealing to gamers new and old. It shows an intense chase scene on top of the carriages which not only gets people excited for the game, but it is an actual new playable sequence in the game when the player wants to travel long distances, and it is represented perfectly in that sequence. The trailer also introduces the grappling hook, a tool only previously used in spin off AC games. The trailer shows both aspects of 1800’s London. From poverty-stricken areas with orphanages and people suffering to a fancy middle-class London with horses and carts and fancy dress.
Website -
The AC syndicate official website by Ubisoft Highlights three main aspects of the game. Firstly, the character you play. Only mentioning Jacob (for reasons unknown) with his multi-kills and countermoves and improved stealth tactics. It also mentions new weapons such as the kukri knives, brass knuckles, and sword cane. The second thing it mentions is its setting, Industrial London, pointing out landmarks such as Buckingham palace and big ben. Also mentions parkouring from one carriage to another in the travel previously mentioned and highlighted in the trailer. It finally mentions the story/main objective. Playing as Jacob you aim to establish London's fiercest gang to bring freedom to the oppressed masses. Infiltrating enemy strongholds and using an arsenal of weapons to do so.
Social media is used to advertise the game with Youtubers such as Chriss Smoove with 5.08 million subscribers (as of 2024) a widely respected gaming youtuber known very fondly in the assassin's creed fandom. And colin furze, a youtuber based on inventions and experiments who made a two-part series dedicated to the recreation of the grapple gadget in AC syndicate
Synergy -
A good example of synergy in AC syndicate is not only the off-era artistic posters unlike Ubisoft's very sinister and dramatic usual advertising but also the XIX century search engine. Not only did Ubisoft create over 100 unique responses to whatever you searched within the engine, all of the era and beautifully designed, which can be deemed as synergy by itself, but they also created an immersive way for players to gain access to Added content like the outfit unlocks. The XIXth century search engine is such an original, unique, and talented way for players to become involved with the marketing.
What are the appeals of the game to the target audience?
New graphics – new and improved to fit in with the year it is being released in.
New fighting – new and improved combat gameplay
Female playable character! - the first of the main series – she is powerful and independent.
New gear – Grappling hook adds for a bunch of new ways of playing
Success -
sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide, falling short of most over assassin's creed installment sales, as on average they usually sell between 7 and 8 million copies. Assassin Creed Liberation was nominated for various awards in 2015 and 2016. However, it only received multiple awards from one place, The Canadian videogames awards 2015. Assassins' Creed won a whopping 7 awards, they won; Game of the year, Best animation, Best audio, Best New character, Best performance, best visual arts, and Best writing. However, its audience's response doesn't necessarily reflect the awards it won. The audiences general response feels mixed, Mostly positive outlooks on the mechanics and setting the game is set in, however there is quite a lot of criticism of the story, often referring to the villain, Starrick as a ‘literal mustache-twirling cartoon villain with no depth or motive’ and saying there is a very large favoritism towards Jacob as opposed to treating both main characters equally.
Negative reviews/ opposite readings of the game -
‘Syndicate is ultimately let down by a weak villain and overall story. Starrick is atrocious, a literal mustache-twirling cartoon villain with no depth or motivation. It wouldn't even make a difference if they had chosen to make him completely unaffiliated with the Templars’
‘The worst part: the stupid favoritism towards Jacob. Not only does he get way more main missions, but half of Evie's missions don't also really add anything to the story and are just simple cleanup missions to fix the mess Jacob made.’
Positive reviews/ Preferred readings -
‘I love Syndicate. The Victorian setting, the bright Austin Wintory soundtrack, the movement and stealth mechanics, the pugilism, the Frye's themselves, the investigations, the side missions esp. to WW1, driving buggies, YOUR BASE IS A MOVING TRAIN, recruiting temporary friends, controlling territory, participating in the child labor movement, dressing sharply.’
‘Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is a fantastic game. Let me repeat that: It’s a fantastic game. The lingering control issues (and even these are minimized) and some minor pacing issues as a result of the two-protagonist approach can’t taint this gargantuan project’
Twitch TV is an interactive livestreaming service that covers content like sports, entertainment, gaming and more. Millions of people gather there every day to watch people and interact with the streamer and fellow viewers through the chat. It is a subsidiary of amazon. Although I couldn't find evidence of a twitch playthrough on twitch I did find a vod from a channel with currently 194k subscribers playing a 7-hour section of assassin's creed syndicate.
In the Uk and Europe Assassins creed syndicate is rated Pegi 18, indicating that the game is suitable only for players aged 18 and older due to its strong violence and infrequent strong language. I think it is deserving of this rating due to themes such as gangs, gang violence, killings and beatings ect.
Explore how changing social and cultural contexts have changed the relationship between video games and their audience -
Hesmondhalgh –
David Hesmondhalgh states that companies try to minimize risk and maximize audiences through vertical and horizontal integration, and by formatting their cultural products. Assassins' creed minimizes risk through their existing fanbase and is consistently dependent on fans buying and playing their releases regardless of general appeals simply because it is an assassins creed game.Assasins creed syndicate conforms to the typical video game conventions that we see, for example achievements, loot drops, missions with rewards and combat. It is typically accessible to This can allow them to take more risks, for example having more diverse protagonists, Evie being female and Jacob being bisexual.
He also suggests that the radical potential of the internet has been contained to some extent by its partial incorporation into a large, profit orientated set of cultural industries. Ubisoft harnesses the internet as a valuable tool in engaging the audience further with the product. They ask for all feedback and discussion to be submitted onto the official assassin's creed reddit page so they can view it, and they also make use of the way in which the internet is used, most notably through the creation of their promotional XIXth century search engine. The XIXth century search engine allowed players to immerse themselves into the era oof the game and is the perfect mix of satire-poking-fun and beautifully and intricately designed content perfected for fans.
Curran and Seaton –
Curran and Seaton argue that conglomerates limit creativity and do not take many risks. Assassins' creed is difficult to fit into this box as it is an indie company that can technically be considered a big conglomerate due to its popularity and constant successes. Through assassin's creed they limit themselves in terms of creativity and diversity and create games with similar gameplay styles and overarching story, but with different storylines and a different era of history for it to sit in. However, assassin's creed does keep a continuous improvement mindset within each new production of the game. Assassins' creed syndicate had the release of a modern style of combat to harness, as well as the introduction of the grappling hook, which adds new and unique ways for the player to explore the open world, which is a key part of assassin's creeds appeal.
Curran and Seaton also argued that in contrast to the previous point, small companies can take more risks, be diverse and be more creative. Ubisoft is not a small company by any means; however, Assassins creed Syndicate was produced by Ubisoft Quebec, rather than the head office Ubisoft Montreal. This was their first official game release they worked on after doing many expansion packs and spin off games. This may have allowed them to take more risks such as through the characterization of Jacob and Evie. Jacob is a hotheaded stereotypical tough guy, who does appeal to a typical gaming audience. However, he is canonically bisexual and many of his memory sequences are based around his flirtatious relationship with Maxwell Roth, eventually leading to a scene in which they kiss in the final memory sequence. This could lead to large dislike among fans of the franchise as there is a mass underrepresentation of minority groups within videogaming. Similarly, Ubisoft Quebec also took risks with Evie, as a non-optional playable female character. She is also primarily stealth based, so stereotypical fans who simply enjoy beating enemies in violent ways may fail to see the use in having a stealth based female character.
Shirky –
Clay Shirky stated that the internet and digital technologies have had a profound effect on the relations between media and individuals, and through this the conceptualization of audience members as passive consumers of mass media consent is no longer tenable at the age of the internet. Media consumers have now become producers who ‘speak back’ to the media. Assassins' creed inspires its audience so much that they create their own products and content based upon it. The fanbase in turn actively seeks out more content from the series and consumes fan produced content in the same way they would Ubisoft content. Ubisoft is aware of this, and therefore harnesses this power by employing people such as Chris Smoove and Devinsupertramp on YouTube to advertise Assassins Creed Syndicate in more of a ‘fan production manner.’ Chris Smoove has over 5M subscribers and was sponsored to recreate the brand-new grapple introduced in syndicate. Devinsupertramp has been continuously sponsored by Ubisoft since he was first discovered by them to film parkour in real life videos to go along with each game release. Devinsupertramp first created these videos out of admiration for the series and travelled to whichever location the game was set in and filmed professional parkour actors in the costumes/Armours featured in each game. This immerses fans further into the games, making them aware of Ubisoft's attention to detail in creating the perfect scenery to match location and era. The audiences experience of the game is enhanced by what them and other fans create
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