This article contains moderate spoilers for the Assassin’s Creed series, not so much The x file.
If The x file taught me something, is that some people don’t know when to stop. I’m not talking about Fox Mulder’s perpetual search for the “truth”, but about creator Chris Carter’s insistence on stitching his alien conspiracy plot through each of the show’s 11 seasons. It was fun at first, to catch a glimpse of some dark extraterrestrial plan; fans, myself included, would take this information, speculating endlessly about the end of the aliens’ game.
But three or four seasons later, the appearance of Cancerous or Brian “Shao Kahn” Thompson was nothing to celebrate. It was an undesirable sign that viewers would be subjected to yet another part of the show’s sinuous conspiracy, rather than the largely monstrous episodes of the week. At each end of the season, I expected Little Green Men to realize how horrible humanity was and to return to their UFOs. Instead, each station added terrible layers and layers to the X Files mythos, like an oyster out of control.
It is the same fatigue of the plot that permeates the Assassin’s Creed series, and it’s time for Ubisoft to stop it. As the X Files‘alien arc, the story of a millennial struggle between the Assassins and the Templars was, at first, captivating. It has made you aware of ancient secrets, not a lone protagonist, but one of many struggling to free the world; putting historical figures in the mix was the icing on the crime cake. And it was a distraction enough to make you ignore that, through Animus, you were experiencing second or even third hand events.
However, as the Assassin’s Creed The series progressed, the games became increasingly mired in their own mythology, to the point of seriously interfering in their fun with these games. Ubisoft doesn’t have its own Chris Carter, the last of Assassin’s Creedthe creators left after Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. But someone at the company doggedly refuses to let the extensive backstory die.
Like The x file, there have been several opportunities for Assassin’s Creed to put the whole story of framing in bed, the completion of Assassin’s Creed III being an obvious starting point. But mythology continued to escalate, with additional ancient artifacts added to the mix, allies and enemies previously unmentioned, with no end in sight.
The presence of Animus virtual reality in Assassin’s Creed it will always be a problem. At the most basic level, it means that your actions cannot have consequences for the game world. You are not really taking revenge on an industrial age factory owner; you are playing a game within a game. The last three Assassin’s Creed the games have strayed a bit, but they will still take you out of the past to convey some modern knowledge that you really don’t care about, an extremely shocking experience.
But Animus is not the only reason Assassin’s Creedthe mythology of must go; it retains the series in other ways. While the idea of the Templars secretly ruling the world is intriguing, it is also a bit insulting, especially when you see the concept intertwined later Assassin’s Creed games. People can be cruel enough without some secret organization behind them, without the excuse that they are hunting for a fragment of an ancient civilization; to say otherwise is to let humanity escape easily.
Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla everyone wisely took a step back from the series’ “big picture”, but the usual Precursor artifacts show off their ugly shiny heads. In addition, there is a highly contentious scene where, regardless of their character’s sexuality, they have a child with a partner of the opposite sex. Why? Just for maintenance Assassin’s Creedit is a long game, although the events you are experiencing are strictly virtual. Instead, it is Assassin’s Creedpersonal stories that really resonate when Kassandra is helping some unhappy islander or struggling to find his father.
Protecting the weak? Absolutely. Taking revenge on those who hurt you? Yes please. Tracking an old staff for the good of future generations? I will miss it. Except this is a choice that you don’t offer; even though you can pretend that your actions have real consequences, Odyssey tells you exactly where Kassandra is going to end up.
For all your extraterrestrial sins, The x file recognized the existence of the supernatural. The series featured a liver-eating serial killer who could crawl through vents, a trapeze artist who could vomit poisonous spiders and a tree-bark creature in place of the skin, just one of which I invented. But by following the premise that anything magical must use old technology, Assassin’s Creed surrounded some of the most interesting legends and monsters in history.
Odyssey begs for an encounter with some giant aquatic beast, but the most you can get is sharks. Compare that to Sea of thieves, which has the pleasure of unleashing the Kraken, the Megalodon, or both, leading to some glorious encounters. Odyssey I managed to squeeze Medusa, but I like Valhalla, the series rarely does more than delve into local mythology, because doing so would mean breaking free from the long-term narrative narrative.
Both The x file and Assassin’s Creed shout for closure. But their respective mythologies have become so terribly complicated that there is no easy way to end things, and with the cancellation of The x file, these many, many threads will forever hang.
There is a lot to love about the Assassin’s Creed series, but there’s no satisfaction in seeing each title add another layer to the fetid lasagna plot. Instead, the joy comes from silently fulfilling the necessary justice, kicking another mercenary down the hill, exploring the world or any other activity that has nothing to do with Assassin’s Creedcomprehensive history of. In addition, it risks making the series impenetrable for newbies.
So stop. Start the next Assassin’s Creed again, forget about Juno and Pieces of Eden, the Staff of Hermes, the Ax of Zantos or whatever MacGuffin would include in the next game. Forget the modern day nonsense that pulls you out of the fun of being a murderer and, in the end, makes your actions meaningless.
I would hate to see Assassin’s Creed follow the path of The x file, but unlike Fox Mulder or Chris Carter, you sometimes need to know when to let go.