[electronic sound effects]
Assassin's Creed Syndicate is the latest
entry in Ubisoft's long running open world
franchise. And although the game play is
exactly what you'd expect from an
Assassin's Creed game, Syndicate distinguishes itself from its
predecessors. It stands apart not
because of improved mechanics or visual
design, but because its developers have
made noticeable attempts to portray a
more inclusive cast of characters.
Syndicate follows twin assassins, Jacob
and Evie Frye on their quest to liberate
the oppressed working class of 19th
century London from ruling class
thug, Crawford Starrick, and free the city
from the Templar's control. It's clear
that Starrick is a monster from the first
moment we see him because of his evil
mustache and his pension for punching desks
Preceding the release of last year's Unity
Ubisoft came under intense public
criticism for its repeated lack of
playable female characters in the core
games
2012's Assassin's Creed III had a tie in
game, Liberation, starring a female protagonist
but it was not a core entry in the series,
and in its initial release, was relegated
exclusively to handheld
Syndicate is a clear response to gamers
desire for more capable and powerful
female options
Promotional materials for the game
emphasized Jacob as the primary
protagonist, leaving some wondering just
how big a role Evie would play
From Syndicate's first moments, we see the twins together
and after completing a short mission with
Jacob, we immediately start playing as Evie
Throughout the game each twin is assigned
specific missions that are catered to
their individual interests in London's
liberation
But outside of that, players are given the
choice to alternate between the siblings
while navigating Syndicate's open world
Sadly as the larger story unfolds,
Jacob's narrative dominates, meaning
that if players don't actively choose to
play as Evie in side missions, they don't
engage with her very often
It's frustrating that the story focuses
increasingly on Jacob as it approaches the
end, not only because having the twins be
truly equal protagonists would have been
rare and significant, but also because
Evie is easily the more compelling of the
two.
Jacob is arrogant, pompous, and quick to
action without understanding the
consequences
[explosion sounds]
while Evie is charismatic, focused,
intelligent, and forced to clean up
her brother's messes. There are small,
easy to overlook details put into
Evie's character design that contribute
to why she feels so refreshing in a triple A
landscape that is notorious for excluding
and sexualizing women
These details are sometimes easier to
notice by identifying what she isn't,
rather than what she is. Evie is not
objectified, she is not sexualized, and
she's not created exclusively for the
sexual arousal of a presumed straight
male audience
She's dressed appropriately, her fighting
moves are not sexualized, and her combat
grunts are forceful and fierce. Instead of
sounding like she's in the throes of ecstasy
[fighting grunts]
Evie doesn't feel like a male character
who is was a last minute gender swap
but like she was developed from the
ground up with a strong, capable, and
spirited personality. A humanized playable
female protagonist isn't the only thing
that distinguishes Syndicate from its
predecessors.
Tata
What an odd man
We meet an amusing cast of historical
characters, such as Karl Marx, Florence
Nightingale, and a charming Alexander
Graham Bell. But Evie and Jacob's allies
also include Henry Green, a British Indian
assassin, and Ned Wynert, a successful
thief who just happens to be a trans man
and no one in the world thinks anything of
it
These characters play supporting or minor
roles, but their inclusion is notable
While it might seem unrealistic to imagine
women and people of color and trans folks
who are treated and respected as full
human beings in 1868, realism is not
really the goal in a game where assassins
and Templars have been waging a century's
old war over artifacts created by an
ancient civilization
And where you can leap from the top of
of St. Paul's Cathedral into a pile of
leaves and walk away unharmed
The inclusion of these characters works
not because of realism, but because of
believability and internal consistency
That believability is a result of the
developer's conscious decision to make
the presence of these characters
normalized and respected by everyone else
in the game
Throughout this world, I quickly noticed
a significant number of female combatants
goading you into battle with the same
tenacity and strength as their male
counterparts
There are many valid concerns around
portrayals of violence against women in
games because too often such scenarios
trivialize the real world epidemic of
gender abuse
But Syndicate avoids this problem by
framing the female enemies as competent
capable and practically dressed
Syndicate also addresses a criticism that
I leveled at the series in the past
The presence of prostitutes who could
be recruited as cover to help its male
protagonist blend in
I kept waiting for these bundles of
objectified women to appear on every
corner but Ubisoft has completely
removed this blending in mechanic
and with it, its troubling portrayals of
women as non playable sex objects
Women may be present as soldiers and
leaders throughout the criminal ranks of
Syndicate's London, but the same cannot be
said for people of color
Despite the presence of Henry Green, this
is an overwhelmingly white game
It's a huge missed opportunity for
Syndicate, which could've taken the
same approach to people of color that
it took to women, making their presence
in gangs and throughout the factories and
palaces of London just a normalized
internally consistent aspect of the game's
world. And for all of its noteworthy
efforts where representations are concerned
Syndicate's main story falls short in
many ways
The game's writing is quite good in
isolated moments, characters come across
as witty, brash, and sometimes endearing
which only makes us want to get to know
them better
But sadly, the overall development of the
characters and their relationships is
lacking
A romance plot is woefully underdeveloped
given just a few lines and a few
significant looks between characters
Similarly, the dynamic between the Frye
siblings has its highs and lows, but the
tension between them is given so little
attention that their story arc feels like
chunks of it are missing
The narrative presents all the ills
plaguing the London of 1868 as a result
of the evil Templars and presents the
solution to those ills as killing lots
and lots of people
Fighting to liberate the oppressed working
classes of London would, in reality, be a
noble and extraordinary goal
But reducing such an important issue to an
excuse for violent triple A game mechanics
does little more than trivialize it
Freeing child laborers in each district
is as simple as following signs that say
kill and free on the heads of targets
And for all of the Frye twin's charm and
good intentions, they are outsiders taking
over a struggle that they have no part of
The game presents them as liberators
freeing London from oppression, but
they're really just conquerors, replacing
one crime syndicate's rule with another's
[transition sound]
The London of Syndicate is both gloomy and
lively, it's a place where you'll find
yourself in rollicking carriage chases
and leaping from boat to boat across the
muddy waters of the Thames like you're
playing an 1868 version of Frogger
But it's also very much like the cities of
earlier Assassin's Creed games, you climb
to the tops of beautiful buildings to take
in a spectacular view of the city all
around you, only to find that nothing
awaits but more of the same cookie cutter
activities you've done already
In game play terms, this is just another
Assassin's Creed
And like some other Assassin's Creed games
Syndicate is played with plenty of
wonkiness
Enemy AI often behaves in erratic ways
NPCs sometimes become unable to fulfill
mission specific functions
And occasionally, things just break
entirely
[transition sound]
Despite all of its problems, Syndicate
deserves to be acknowledged for its cast
of characters and particularly for its
treatment of women
The game's narrative leaves much to be
desired but Syndicate gives us an image
of a world in which the existence of women
as people is treated as completely normal
And that is certainly refreshing and sadly
strange in a triple A gaming climate
that so often struggles with representing
women as actual human beings