Detailed Analysis - Collectible, Environmental & Contextual
Collectibles - Ben Franklins Almanac
When Haytham Kenway first touches down in the Colonies and meets Charles Lee, they quickly come across Benjamin Franklin who has recently lost his Almanac to the winds of Boston. While Haytham tries to make an effort to find some he is unable to but his son Connor later takes up the task, most likely finding one and deciding to continue. The Almanac itself sadly doesn’t hold any narrative values, seemingly only having the purpose of introducing Benjamin Franklin into the story as when we find the pages nothing else happens other than giving the players schematics for interesting items that can be crafted and then placed in the manor.
It seems to be a wasted opportunity to not give Benjamin Franklin a greater impact in the story as he could have served the role Leonardo Da Vinci did for Ezio when he created new tools for him on his journey. In Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Ubisoft cut down on the variety of collectibles, in favour of having them fulfil narrative roles like how the Animus data fragments opened up parts of Desmond’s past. The philosophy seems to be the same for Assassin’s Creed 3 as the variety is cut down but this time around they neglected to add any true narrative rewards.
Environmental - Times of Peace and War
The American Colonies are different to any type of historical era and environment we have been introduced to and we’ve never seen environments that could perfectly reflect the historical context that was happening in the world besides player agency. In Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Revelations, Ezio would be able to renovate buildings in a district that were being closed by the Templars or parties associated with them. In renovating these buildings the economic state of the district greatly improved although there were never any clear signs that showed this besides the shops being open.
In Assassin’s Creed 3, they build on this in a few subtle ways both in player actions and historical context. The Redcoats hold control of forts that are located in the Frontier, Boston and New York, solidifying their presence. As Connor eliminates commanders, reserves and replaces the flags, it stands as a signal that the forts are weak and can be taken by the Patriots. As the Patriots take over the forts they flood the district with their troops ensuring their control and protection from British forces. Boston and New York are marvels of level design as they are incredibly historically accurate yet hold so many hallmarks of what makes an Assassin’s Creed open world special and emphasize ease of navigation.
When Connor recruits people for the Homestead, the Davenport residence becomes much more busy and the walks of life change quite frequently, Before recruiting Oliver and Corrine the sailors wouldn’t walk around the homestead much and then we begin seeing more and more outside visitors. It shows how much work Connor has put in to make the Homestead the place to be. At the homestead when Connor begins his mission to eliminate the Templars he plants a Tomahawk into one of the house posts that can only be removed when his war is finished. As the story comes to a close Connor removes the Tomahawk as his war is done, even though the Patriots have won and the Templars might return, his personal fight is done.
By the end of the main story, Connor returns to his village but finds that everyone has left, most likely forced out for siding with the British. The Kanien'kehá:ka had sided with the British when Charles Lee convinced them to and as the patriots lost the war, they were forced to leave as someone was granted the land by Congress. This only continues to add salt to the wound as Connor was told this would happen but believed in the patriots he was supporting and sadly his decisions came back to haunt him. Ubisoft do a nice job at making the environments reflect the player’s actions and makes us feel like we’ve had true agency in the story and it’s hopeful that Ubisoft will continue and improve upon this trend of giving the players a role in the environment.
Contextual - Interactive Conversations
Through various moments during the story, some of the main and side characters can be spoken to outside of typical cutscenes. Cutscenes are tough to make and sometimes things can go wrong as a game like Assassin’s Creed 3 doesn’t have seamless cutscenes, often with loading screens in between them and some things might not load in fast enough. Creating interactive conversations that can be disguised as gameplay dialogue helps to keep the immersion intact and still provide enjoyable cutscenes that can help provide better storytelling scenes that can provide better character depth. I don’t often talk about gameplay or design aspects but it’s something that I felt Assassin’s Creed 3 did well and how it should be highlighted.
During Haytham Kenway's quest to find the precursor storeroom, he had to recruit several individuals who all turned out to be members of the Templar order. A major reason why we didn’t think some of them were Templars was some of the conversations Haytham could have with them. Learning of William Johnson’s positive attitude towards the natives especially as how he can recognise the futility of the crown and the colonists trying to expand by making up reasons to take the native's lands. We also get a hint of who these men are when Haytham explains his past with Edward Braddock and how he killed civilians. If they were Assassins, Haytham would have been bound to eliminate Braddock but he didn’t, instead keeping him in play.
In the Modern Day, Desmond can leave the Animus whenever he wants and as he does he’s able to converse often with his team which is situated in the Grand Temple. Each member of the team has independent values that reflect Desmond.
- Rebecca is perhaps the most compassionate, as even knowing full well Lucy was a Templar she was still sad to see her go and reminisces about the Assassins who have fallen, including Clay/Subject 16 and Lucy and wonders if it will ever end. For someone who doesn’t go into the field often, Rebecca feels the strain that is on the backs of every Assassin in the world.
- Shaun maintains his sarcastic nature but continues to mention things that make a lot of sense especially when it comes to the Revolution. He speaks of how the founding fathers wanted to break away from the crown but still maintained many of England’s characteristics regarding class, slavery and policies granted, while England was very tyrannical with taxes, they were well within their rights to have the colonies pay their share, considering they found to protect their lands.
- William may come across as cold and uncaring but he’s just logistical and has his mind focused on the task at hand and even though he does love his son he is often very remiss in showing it. However, as the story progresses William begins to open up a bit more with him respecting the strain Desmond is putting on himself and inches ever closer to completing their goal.
The Interactive conversations are an excellent narrative tool to help fill in some background on the events outside the Temple and how these people can be so close but their opinions and beliefs can differ greatly despite having the same core ideals. They are a great design technique that can help flesh out the characters outside of typical cutscenes so it’s something that Ubisoft should keep in mind when making future stories as they have proven to be an excellent medium for telling stories outside of the main story.
Contextual - Animus Database
Returning to Assassin’s Creed 3 is the inclusion of the Database Entries which detail the people, locations and events for more historical and lore context. Made by Shaun and sometimes commented on by him, Rebecca and William, the entries become available to Desmond as he relives Haytham’s and Connor’s memories. The Animus Databases have always been fun to read and look at as they provided us with information that was always useful to know. While they make their expected return, sadly there’s not much done to distinguish them but at least they can always be counted on to show up and give us some rich historical context.
Contextual - Animus Emails
Absent from Assassin’s Creed: Revelations due to Desmond being trapped in the Animus was the email system. In Brotherhood we found that the Assassin’s consisting of Desmond, Lucy, Shaun and Rebecca would exchange emails with each other that could reveal some fun banter between all of them. While it was a little confusing why the 4 that were enclosed in one room and were within earshot of each other would email each other, it did help make sure that not everything had to have a trigger interaction like in previous games.
This time around the emails are still very much the same except they allow the characters to be more open with each other this time around. When Desmond called out William for his attitude and compared him to the Templars, William hit Desmond. After which emails were exchanged between all the Assassin’s with Shaun and Rebecca consoling Desmond and William trying to patch things up but his arrogance of course comes through.
Eventually, Juno starts to hack into the Assassin's email network so that she can communicate with Desmond. Her wordings and language are always a little odd as it seems she tries to speak sincerely but every sentence seems routed in unintentional superiority. Eventually, Shaun makes an interesting point, where are Tinia and Minerva? They have been the ones laying the groundwork for Desmond and his team to arrive and now that they are at the Temple, the pair are nowhere to be seen, it’s a little disconcerting. We even learn that there were more memory discs here but Juno destroyed them.
It shows how much Juno has really altered for her own purposes and it even goes to show that there has always been more going on than meets the eye. The Assassins continue to prove themselves to be an excellent team with plenty of deep trust and respect for each other and even taking the time to make fun of each other. On a mission where the fate of the world depends on them and they are running out of time, it’s important to keep things light and Ubisoft continues to do a good job at making the team the best part of the Modern Day segments.