Sucker Punch shocked fans earlier this month when it announced Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, a completely free co-op multiplayer expansion. Despite co-op fans hopes and prayers, most games simply don’t take this route, instead preferring to focus either on single player experiences or competitive multiplayer, so for that subset of gamers, this is a gem. Of course, given how often this title is compared to those from the Assassin’s Creed franchise, it was inevitable that some fans would view Legends as a sort of challenge to Ubisoft, calling out its lackluster multiplayer history of Assassin’s Creed.
As a new IP, Ghost of Tsushima: Legends will be Sucker Punch’s first attempt at multiplayer within the game, but many fans are excited with what they’ve seen so far. In terms of Assassin’s Creed multiplayer, Ubisoft experimented with the idea for a few titles but has since dropped it in its more recent exploits, likely due to the less than impressive reception it garnered among fans. Now with Ghost of Tsushima already claiming the title of “Assassin’s Creed in Japan” and taking the world by storm, many fans are wondering if Legends will prompt Assassin’s Creed Valhalla to up the ante with a multiplayer mode of its own.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was the first in the series to try and tackle a multiplayer game mode, and introduced a competitive multiplayer experience to the franchise. Players would select an assassin from a list of characters and then be given a target. The catch is that while searching for this target, they would be the target of another player, requiring both hunting and evasion to be considered simultaneously in order to come out on top. This is an interesting idea in theory, but it wasn’t too well received.
Further titles, including Assassin’s Creed Rogue, Assassin’s Creed 3, and Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, all expanded on this multiplayer idea, adding a few new touches of their own. These game modes were generally well received by those that enjoyed Brotherhood‘s multiplayer, but outside of that group, many never took the time to experience them, instead preferring to stick with the main single player story of each Assassin’s Creed game. Since Black Flag, though, no Assassin’s Creed game has featured any competitive multiplayer aspects, making it seem as though Ubisoft has abandoned the idea altogether.
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is looking like it will be very different from Assassin’s Creed multiplayer for a number of reasons, but the big standout is that it emphasizes cooperation rather than competition. Players will choose one of four predetermined character classes, Samurai, Ronin, Hunter, or Assassin, and must work together to overcome powerful, supernatural enemies. Sucker Punch has confirmed that Legends will feature a two player story mode as well as a four player survival mode, and that a four player raid will be added shortly after the launch of the free update.
Mythological elements are another thing that will set Legends apart, as although the First Civilization plays a major role in Ezio’s story, the early eras of Assassin’s Creed largely steered clear of any other kind of mythology. More recent games such as Origins or Odyssey have since embraced that aspect of history, with Odyssey even having the player do battle with a Minotaur and other mythical beasts of Greece, which puts Valhalla in a unique position. There is also the argument to be made that Ghost of Tsushima‘s combat more closely resembles that of the older Assassin’s Creed games than the newer ones, something which further differentiates the two franchises.
If Ubisoft does take Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima: Legends as a challenge to the Assassin’s Creed franchise, then the best place for it to answer that challenge is in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. The details about Valhalla are still rather limited, so at this point anything is possible and a multiplayer mode could already be planned. Still, given how different Valhalla is going to be from Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Ubisoft would likely need to take a different approach to this game’s multiplayer, perhaps instead drawing inspiration from Assassin’s Creed: Unity.
This title is a sort of hidden gem, as it initially had a very negative response due to an excess of bugs at Assassin’s Creed: Unity‘s launch. Since then, most of those issues have been patched out, leaving a pretty great game that many had the chance to experience when Unity was made free following the Notre Dame fire in Paris. What really made Unity unique, however, is that it is the only game in the franchise to include a co-op multiplayer mode. Players could tackle missions, explore the world, and more together for the first time. Valhalla could do something similar, allowing players to work through the main story together or take on challenging co-op missions.
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is taking its multiplayer out of the real world and away from Jin’s story, but Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla has an opportunity to set itself apart by doing the opposite. Though Eivor is clearly going to be the main focus of the game, there are countless other Vikings that fight by his side that another player could control. Co-op enthusiasts have no doubt imagined facing down the conquest battles and mythical beasts of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey with friends, and these dreams could be fulfilled in Valhalla.
On the flip side, Ghost of Tsushima: Legends already looks very enticing to fans, and Sucker Punch has made it clear that it intends on further expanding it down the road with a four player raid. Since Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t feature RPG elements as heavily as current Assassin’s Creed games, it will likely be more accessible to players and matchmaking will be much easier. The best thing to do now is simply wait until Legends releases and see what fans think of it. Most agree that a multiplayer mode in Valhalla seems unlikely, but perhaps Sucker Punch could push Ubisoft to do it with its own success.
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends releases this Fall for PS4.
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