There's a lot we know about the upcoming monument climbing sim stealthy, parkour inspired adventure, Assassin's Creed Syndicate so far. We know it's set in London in 1868. We know you'll be playing as twin assassins, Jacob and Evie Frye, in a city that's just reaching the tail end of the industrial revolution, and that no matter what happens in the game, you can be sure the sinister series antagonists, the Templars will be behind it. What we've seen less of, however, is the city you'll be exploring - Olde London Towne. With the ability to go anywhere, and so many famous landmarks and streets to recreate, getting the authenticity spot on is a really important part of nailing the game's historical charms. And if the latest trailer's anything to go by, it looks like Ubisoft are on the right tracks.
The newly released trailer briefly shows us around the seven boroughs of London that we'll get to explore in the game, in their Victorian form: Whitechapel, Thames, Westminster, Lambeth, The Strand, Southwark and the City of London (of course, without the famous gherkin, but with St Paul's Cathedral). Taking no liberties with their setting, Ubisoft seem to have gone to great lengths to show just how many British things they can cram into one trailer - there's Big Ben! The Tower of London! A giant train station! Some folks playing cricket! Top hats! Moustaches! And if you're lucky, maybe even a few people eating cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off whilst sipping tea with their pinkies raised... Even if we did half expect a chimney sweep to come flying out of one of the chimney stacks, Mary Poppins style.
It's just not cricket without top hats.
Just your average day in Victorian London, then - only a very nice looking one at that. With smoke billowing out of the chimneys, rows of cramped, terraced houses, and clouds that lazily drift by, Ubisoft have gone all out to create a realistic olden London to explore, even seemingly programming some custom Thames water simulating technology, with an eerily accurate level of brown murkiness to the drink (who else noticed the two men on the boat re-enacting the scene from Titanic where Rose and Jack climbed up on the front of the boat??)
Even the weather's authentically London - although there's perhaps a bit too much sun to be truly accurate (especially in the smoke around that time), we're shown a suitably moody view over St Paul's, and Jack the Ripper's home town, the Whitechapel borough on a rather grey and drizzly looking day.
A pub! In the rain! It could only be more like London with a guy taking a leak outside...
Other interesting things we spotted in the trailer (or questions it raised) includes the road traffic, which seems realistic enough with the new addition of horse drawn carriages - but will they stop for us as we cross the road, or will they just keep going and run us down? It might be fun to begin with to have to play a game of chicken every time we need to cross the road, but might get tiresome after a while… We're also treated to a glimpse of Evie Frye as she's diving off a building. She looks like a tough cookie (which will probably be necessary when she's taking on the criminal underworld of the seven London boroughs), whilst maintaining the grace and parkour style of each of the previous assassins.
And then there's the music. If the music in the video is a taster of the full game soundtrack then we'll have a treat for our ears as well as our eyes, as the stirring, yet suitably Victorian theme has made us want to hear more (we replayed the video just to listen to it again!).
In fact, perhaps the only thing missing from the latest trailer is any semblance of any gameplay. Of course, with plenty of time left until the game's release (23rd October PS4/Xbox One, 19th November PC), there's bound to be more trailers, more snippets, and perhaps more chance for us to go hands-on yet. Personally, we're hoping for a video about driving the carriages, and maybe some train action too if Ubisoft are feeling generous! Grand Theft Horse Drawn Cart, or Train Sim Syndicate? In the mean time, check out the trailer, and the gorgeous London scenery yourself below:
