At Ubisoft’sAssassin’s Creedshowcase held earlier this year, there were a lot of interesting announcements for fans of the iconic franchise. These reveals included moreinformation on the upcomingAssassin’s Creed Mirage, a better look at whatAssassin’s Creed Infinityis, and the first few titles that will be available via the platform.Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, Red,andHexeall appear to be interesting developments for the franchise, with each of them focusing on a unique setting.
Assassin’s Creed Red, for example, finally takes the series to Feudal Japan, andHexewill supposedly be set during the witch trials of Europe.Assassin’s Creed Codename Jadereturns the series to China after thesetting first appeared inAssassin’s Creed Chronicles: China. While not much besides promotional images and logos have been unveiled for these games so far, there have been other details for fans to dig into.CodenameJade, for example, will be a mobile game and feature character customization. This latter mechanic isn’t new toAssassin’s Creed, but it does mark an area where Ubisoft could improve.
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Why Character Customization Needs to be Different in Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade
Depending on how anAssassin’s Creedfan defines character customization, it could be seen as appearing as early as the second game of the franchise, as players were allowed to equip Ezio with different armor sets and colors.Assassin’s Creed Unityalso allowed for a lot of customization in its co-op feature; players could tweak their weapons, armor, and even play styles.Assassin’s Creed Valhallahas the most developed character customizationin the franchise to date, though, as it gave fans the chance not only to choose the gender of their character, but change things like hairstyles, tattoos, and more.
However, just becauseAssassin’s Creed Valhallagave players the most in-depth character customization options of the franchise so far, this didn’t mean that this feature was necessarily well-received.Assassin’s Creedoften focuses on narrative, but this became muddied withinValhalla,as it limited how the player could connect to the character they were taking through the Viking era. This means thatAssassin’s Creed Codename Jadehas plenty of options to step up and improve how character customization works in the franchise.
There are two main ways in whichAssassin’s Creed Codename Jadecan improve character customization. Firstly, it can give the player a lot more options when it comes to creating their character, and secondly, the feature shouldn’t come at the cost of the narrative.Assassin’s Creed Valhalladid give fans customization options, but compared to thecharacter creator of other open-world games likeElden Ring, it can be considered lacking. This isn’t to say thatAssassin’s Creedshould adopt FromSoftware’s character creator, but it would be interesting to see additional features appear inAssassin’s Creed Codename Jade’scustomization options, allowing for changes to body shape and facial appearance to really make a character feel unique to the player.
IfAssassin’s Creed Codename Jadereally looks to improve its character creation options, it should also work towards removing the focus from the story’s protagonist, or create a narrative where the leading assassin can be anyone. Again looking toElden Ringas an example, FromSoftware’s action-RPG allows players to be whoever they want because the narrative is dependent on anyone coming to save the Lands Between.Assassin’s Creedinstead usually focuses on one character whose story is integral to the world around them. However, it has been teasing fans with the choice of playing as who they want to be for some time. InAssassin’s Creed Odyssey, there was the option to choose betweenKassandra and Alexios, andValhallahas the custom character Eivor.
However, it seems Ubisoft doesn’t feel ready to depart fromAssassin’s Creedstories being led by a pivotal protagonist. This should change inAssassin’s Creed Codename Jade, finally allowing players to be who they want to be without feeling like the narrative gets muddied because of it.Assassin’s Creed Infinitymarks the future of the franchise, and the games available through it should aim for something more ambitious than its past entires. In-depth character customization options inCodenameJadecould be one way to do this.
Assassin’s Creed: Codename Jadeis currently in development for Mobile devices.
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