Assassin's Creed Syndicate, set in Victorian England

[Markman]

Assassin's Creed Syndicate PC Specs
In anticipation of the upcoming release of Assassin's Creed Syndicate for PC we've got some juicy new System Requirements for you. Below you will find the minimum and recommended
requirements for the game together with some comments from the developers, to help you maximize your gaming experience, and let you work out that beauty to framerate balance.

Minimum
Supported OS
Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10(64bit versions)

Processor
Intel Core i5 2400s @ 2.5 GHz or AMD FX 6350 @ 3.9 GHz

RAM
6GB

Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon R9 270 (2GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0)

DirectX
DirectX June 2010 Redistributable

Sound
DirectX compatible sound card with latest drivers


Recommended
Supported OS
Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10(64bit versions only)

Processor
Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.5 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0 GHz

RAM
8GB

Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (4GB) or GTX 970 (4GB)* or AMD Radeon R9 280X (3GB) or better

DirectX
DirectX June 2010 Redistributable

Sound
DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers

Hard Drive
50 GB available space

*GTX 970 is recommended if you want to take advantage of the various NVIDIA GameWorks technologies.
Technical note from the developer:For a recommended experience, the game requires a video card with at least 3GB of VRAM when playing at a full HD resolution. While we encourage you to fiddle with the advanced options to fully customize your gaming experience, please keep an eye out for the VRAM meter usage when you adjust these settings.

NVIDIA Exclusive Features
TXAA
NVIDIA algorithm for Temporal Anti-Aliasing
(Works only on NVIDIA hardware)

HBAO+
NVIDIA algorithm for Ambient Occlusion
(Works on both NVIDIA and AMD hardware)

PCSS
NVIDIA algorithm for Soft Shadows
(Works on both NVIDIA and AMD hardware)

GeForce Experience
Player with GFE can have adjusted graphics options for smoother performance experience

G-Sync Support
Support of special monitor with NVIDIA G-Sync chip

High-End PCs
MSAA
Multisample Anti-Aliasing
Standard anti-aliasing technology, which will be PC-specific
Comment: Mandatory for implementation in order to have TXAA on top of it

Multi-Monitor Support
AMD Eyefinity / NVIDIA Surround
Will support 3:1 configuration of monitors

Multi-GPU
AMD CrossFire / NVIDIA SLI
Performance will scale if two (or more) videocards are installed

Customize Controls
Customize the game controls for Mouse & Keyboard input

Controller Support
Supports Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PS4 controllers

Auto-Switch
Will switch all in-game UI (feedbacks and etc.) based on last active input between Mouse & Keyboard feedback, Xbox One feedback and PS4 feedback



Get ready for Assassin's Creed Syndicate's release on November 19th and explore the streets of 19th century London in all its glory!

Not buying yet, got burned on Unity last year. Prob will get at 50% off at xmas sale if its any good.

 

[sexbad?]

These nVidia-exclusive features work on both AMD and nVidia hardware.

Customizable controls is considered a high-end feature because with the minimum specifications you will get one frame per second in the menus and won't be able to reach the options menu.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

a friend of mine has been pestering me lately because "i got this free with my new computer and it's the best ac ever and ever and ever and there's this and that and those and so on and on and on".
is he not a friend of mine anymore? damn, it actually feels like the *worst* ass creep, controls are horrible, i spent longer trying to convince the character to walk the way i wanted than to run and jump around. the new "run up/down" controls are just a way to see that idiot stop dead on an edge. plot is pure sci-tard from the beginning. setting is monochromatic and depressing. i've been told naval battles have been replaced with... carriage races =_= graphics are sub par (after witcher 3 everything looks "sub par"), ass creep 4's felt a lot better. british accents are as irritating as ever and i'm sure i have to expect the even worse irish and scottish ones.

holy shit, what's to like in this horrible mess? am i missing something?

 

[Cyberarmy]

Actually this one is better than most of the previous games (especially Unity) Only second game and Brotherhood are better mostly because they have better story (LOL) Side stuff is entertaining at least with "historical" characters. Least fun part is carriage "races" and thankfully those are just racing against time.
Awkward contorls are mostly a trade mark for the series now. Sometimes your character "over moves" or some times just stands there and does entirely different moves.

 

[Belegarsson]

The most irritating thing about controls in this game is, sometimes character kinda "detects" if he/she can jump and grab a ledge or not, if they can then they'll jump normally, but if they can't, they will just stop and make a "woahwoahwoahwoahwoah" animation even if I still keep holding Shift and press Space, whereas in previous games the character jumps anyway if I want them to. Animations are more fluid in Unity and Syndicate, but controls are getting more and more horrid.

 

[Trash]

It's one of the better AC's in awhile. Not that this really amounts to a lot. It's still the same cookie cutter Ubisoft open world that they've been churning out for ages. I do enjoy the city and the main missions are a bit more varied. Lots of side stuff to do and some of it is actually pretty neat to do. Assasinations are nice and so are the child worker missions. Story also seems to take itself not too seriously this time around. Controls are still hit or miss and the rope launcher thingie is an annoyance to use properly.

It's not as good as AC2 turned out to be and not as much a surprise hit as Black Flag but it is a decent installment in the series. Still, I'm bored with the formula and there have been much better open worlds in gaming for awhile now. Worth a try if you absolutely love the better AC's or desperately want to see a version of Victorian London.

 

[Deflowerer]

First Assasssin's Creed is still the best. Yeah, it doesn't have much content, but it had the best atmosphere and the fundamentals were promising. It all went to shit after that.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Well, this one is better than unity for sure. At first I thought it looked like unity, but they've toned down the irritating aspects of unity, like lock picking, repetitive missions, long distance between objectives, that made the game look longer, investigation missions that were guessing work.

It has repetitive activities of course, but they actually are fun. Also, it feels less of a chore to get the collectibles. The story is retard and the AC setting lacks consistency, like every game you have to rediscover/reinvent flash bombs and poison darts when every assassin from previous games had these gadgets, they should be standard items by now. And it's stupid how templars and assassin's, supposed secret orders, walk around with enormous symbols of their factions around their arms like they are Nazi. At least the main characters don't walk with hooded clothes all the time. Oh yeah, they've minimized the amount of items.

In any case, I'm enjoying the game and I'm having a lot of fun. The PEDs don't act like it's revolution day every day (unity). At least it's like now a normal everyday life of a city. London does feel atmospheric and it's a great virtual tourism simulator AC games are known for. The game runs fast, I experienced no bugs, graphically it is beautiful, and I haven't had any problems at all with the controls: Only had the character shimmy right when I was pressing left happen once, but it never happened again, (though actually it feels like I've adapted to make it not happen). The harpoon and carriages are nice additions to the old gameplay of AC and makes the game more agile. Although I think there's too much traffic that it makes the city be like los angeles or new york of today. Oh, and the history celebrities, well, they don't bother me. History figures in unity had no role in the game I actually enjoy that these guys appear in this game with a reason at least.

 

[prodigydancer]

First Assasssin's Creed is still the best.

AC1 was OK but not great. It was too unfocused and some design decisions sucked (particularly how his being demoted after Prologue magically made Altaïr lose abilities he had acquired through training). AC2 was the best wth Brotherhood and Revelations really close (not surprisingly since they were pretty much AC2 expansions).

AC3 was the worst though. Boston looked so bland. The plot made no sense, the characters were total idiots (which was nicely complemented by extra dumb AI) and the quest design was fucking terrible.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

AC revelations is not that good. It's shorter, at least. nIt poushed the engine of AC2 to the limits, making it still look good.

I didn't like the ending of AC3, and looking back, I actually think it's a good AC game, and better than black flag. The complaints against it normally fits the whole series. And connor was really bland, but I loved playng with Haytham. The game should be with him all the time.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

AC revelations is not that good. It's shorter, at least. nIt poushed the engine of AC2 to the limits, making it still look good.

I didn't like the ending of AC3, and looking back, I actually think it's a good AC game, and better than black flag. The complaints against it normally fits the whole series. And connor was really bland, but I loved playng with Haytham. The game should be with him all the time.

Haytham is probably the best character they've ever come up with. Sensible, pragmatic and quite charming. Really made the Templars seem like the guys you should be supporting.

I thought Black Flag had great gameplay, though. Sailing around the Caribbean with your crew singing sea shanties, and there were some really beautiful locations.

Revelations was rather dull, but you are right when you say it looks good. AC2 and Brotherhood really haven't aged well.

 

[prodigydancer]

Haytham is probably the best character they've ever come up with. Sensible, pragmatic and quite charming. Really made the Templars seem like the guys you should be supporting.

If he were more cruel and ruthless the player's very first thought would be: "WTF? No way this guy is an Assassin." Haytham becomes less charming as soon you realize that his behavior a just a gimmick supporting a tired plot twist. His allies' suffer from the same issue and their personalities are inconsistent to boot. E.g. Charles is originally presented a very level-headed and dispassionate man but when he first encounters Connor he's suddenly a bloodthirsty sadistic maniac.

Let's face it: AC3 was just plain bad.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Haytham is probably the best character they've ever come up with. Sensible, pragmatic and quite charming. Really made the Templars seem like the guys you should be supporting.

If he were more cruel and ruthless the player's very first thought would be: "WTF? No way this guy is an Assassin." Haytham becomes less charming as soon you realize that his behavior a just a gimmick supporting a tired plot twist. His allies' suffer from the same issue and their personalities are inconsistent to boot. E.g. Charles is originally presented a very level-headed and dispassionate man but when he first encounters Connor he's suddenly a bloodthirsty sadistic maniac.

Let's face it: AC3 was just plain bad.

No, it introduced the ship battles and it was a lot of fun, and it made black flag a safe bet.

My main disgust with 3 is it's ending, and the story overal was quite bland. But black flag and unity were even worse in that department.

 

[Nryn]

Playing through this now, and the combat system is tempting me to shelve the game. Unless it improves markedly with additional combat skill unlocks later in the game, I think the combat mechanics here are the worst in the series. AC1's combat lacked refinement, but the building blocks were in place. AC2-->AC4 used insta kill counters to at least make the mindless combat flashy, and Unity at least attempted to make the combat a bit more challenging (relatively speaking), by limiting the ability to chain counter attacks from all directions, thereby requiring better positioning and rolling out of incoming blows.

Syndicate, though, seems to want to play like the Arkham games, but I'm hating the fundamentals on which combat is built:
-- Unlike in the Arkham games, each press of the attack button can lead to a chain of attack animations; in Arkham, a single attack command led to a single combo counter increase. In Syndicate, the combo counter increases based on the context.
-- Enemies often recover instantly from your rain of blows to land a 1-2 punch combo out of nowhere. It seems almost impossible to stagger an enemy apart from using the guard break attack. As a result, I find there to be no flow to the combat, leading to two prominent playstyles: button mash an enemy to death, or fish for attacks to counter them so that I can button mash them to death.
-- Fighting enemies higher level than you is such a tedious affair due to the level difference HP bloat, in turn magnifying the previous two issues. As a result, progression through the game feels railroaded into picking those activities that are of appropriate level.

Going to persevere a bit more to see if something clicks because the virtual London tourism is a strong pull having lived there.

 

[prodigydancer]

it introduced the ship battles

Which I don't care about.

The story was utter crap. Mission design... /sigh Whoever was responsible for those dumbass optional objectives - I hope they all got fired (and preferably out of a cannon). Buildings were copy-pasted. Heck, even vistas very copy-pasted. If anyone can play this trash and enjoy it... well, good for you I suppose.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

it introduced the ship battles

Which I don't care about.

The story was utter crap. Mission design... /sigh Whoever was responsible for those dumbass optional objectives - I hope they all got fired (and preferably out of a cannon). Buildings were copy-pasted. Heck, even vistas very copy-pasted. If anyone can play this trash and enjoy it... well, good for you I suppose.

Optional objectives, you mean those things to get a 100% in a mission? well, they are in AC games since brotherhood.

 

[Nryn]

I haven't played any of the new titles since Black Flag (which had fun sailing). Is Rogue any good?

It's decent. The Templar shift is more profoundly felt in the story rather than in the gameplay, which remains the same with some minor twists. It's also far lower budget than the mainline entries, so it takes a bit of getting used to. Most importantly, if you played Black Flag recently, I'd suggest waiting for a bit to avoid burnout since you'll be doing a lot of the same things you did in Black Flag.

On its own it's a solid AC title that came out at the wrong time.

 

[Sam Ecorners]

Connor in AC3 was one of the dumbest main characters I've ever played. A fantastic proof that all natives were dumb savages:mrpresident:

 

[Mangoose]

I didn't like the ending of AC3, and looking back, I actually think it's a good AC game, and better than black flag. The complaints against it normally fits the whole series.

My complaint is that parkouring around trees and 3 story buildings is shitty compared to climbing tall buildings and towers and walls (that were recognizable/'historic').

Black Flag was different because you spent most of your time sailing instead of parkouring like the other ACs, and thus minimized the amount of hopping along branches.

 

[Spectacle]

I just got this game and see that UPlay now has a function where you can start playing while the game is still downloading, seems like they are sending the executable and the first level to start. Even though it will take me nearly an hour to download the game, I can start playing after 10 minutes. Pretty neat

 

[Markman]

Thats not a new thing, they did that for a year or two now.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

I was kind of amused that there's a 3rd playable character (Jacob's granddaughter), and a whole map set in 1916 WWI London, a little more to the east, covering the tower bridge over the thame river. And Winston Churchil. And it's not as shitty as those UNITY levels in WWII and Belle Époque that were there just to show the eiffel tower.

 

[Nryn]

Played through this and found it to be one of the weaker entries in the series. The best part of the game was the design of the city, which is the best open world environment Ubi has created, but the mission design, combat and narrative elements couldn't keep up.

The mission design is improved compared to AC3, Black Flag, etc., but I found it pared-down relative to Unity's offerings. Both Syndicate and Unity offered the "Black-box" Hitman-lite assassination missions that were last seen in AC1, and the Paris and London side story missions featuring cameos from historical figures were evenly matched. But there were two glaring omissions in Syndicate that brought my opinion of the game down a lot. One was the omission of the murder mystery style missions that Unity introduced. Sure, they were laughably easy to solve, but they provided much needed variety to the other mission types that were overly familiar by series' standards. Unfortunately, the murder mystery missions are present only in the PS4 version of the game -- a case of the publisher sabotaging its own game in a series that has been criticized for lacking variety in its mission design. Secondly, through a happy accident, Unity's Coop missions, when played offline, provided the first semblance of challenge the series has seen in a long time. Apparently, balancing for 4 human players was the first step in solving the series' problems involving a lack of challenge! Syndicate's conquest missions are a poor replacement for these omissions; Child liberation, Templar and Bounty Hunts, etc., are mission types that quickly outstay their welcome after 2-3 missions each since the AI is too dumb and the challenge is too lacking for these missions to be anything more than the checkbox ticking activity they eventually devolve into.

The combat, even by series standards, is incredibly poor and my least favorite. It's based around quickly switching targets and bringing them all down to a low health threshold to execute group finishers, but in practice, it works poorly. Far too often the group finishers refused to fire off, yet they'd work as intended the next time around. Furthermore, the game does away with uncounterable attacks and dodging, making the entire combat a simplistic button mashing affair punctuated by counters and guard breaks. In previous games different enemy types fought differently and required the player to adapt, however small it might have been. In comparison, it will be an achievement if Ubi manages to simplify Syndicate's combat even further in a future entry. Next up: one button combat.

The series has not had a strong narrative showing in a long time. AC3 had a wonderful Templar twist, and then went downhill. Unity had a strong hook that could have provided a lot of narrative tension, but the game absolutely botched its strong initial setup. Syndicate, though, is almost entirely devoid of characterization and contains, at best, a patchwork of an all too familiar story. The two main characters are one-dimensional character archetypes defined entirely by a single motivation, and put together, they contain perhaps the same amount of characterization as, say, Altair. It was an absolute trainwreck witnessing the writers' attempts at creating a love story for one of the twins while employing such pitiful attempts at characterization. The overall story lacked foreshadowing or any proper buildup, and was, at best, just a jump from one random Templar mook to the next, until the final villain, who I actually did like. The less said about the modern story the better. Apart from the actual Assassin's creed writers, I wonder if anyone even cares about the modern story given the number of times it has jumped the shark.

Overall, the series is in serious need of a rethink or an entire reboot. Apparently, Syndicate was designed by the B team of Assassin's Creed, but even the A team's efforts are creaking under years of bloated design decisions. Whatever the case, the series needs a year long break at the very least, not unlike Watch Dogs, otherwise the already declining critical and commercial response is going to be terminal.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Charles Dickens missions are the murder mysteries missions of syndicate. And the murder mysteries in unity weren't easy to solve. they were unsolvable. You could accuse anyone and it would be solved and a good or bad way, but there was no real indication of the right choice. It could be anyone.

 

[Nryn]

Charles Dickens missions are the murder mysteries missions of syndicate. And the murder mysteries in unity weren't easy to solve. they were unsolvable. You could accuse anyone and it would be solved and a good or bad way, but there was no real indication of the right choice. It could be anyone.

The murder mysteries actually did have a set-in-stone culprit for each case. Accusing the wrong person would result in lowered monetary rewards in comparison. The fact that the game only indirectly informed the player about their choice was actually one of the design elements I liked about those missions. Not all missions had air-tight logic, but I felt most of them did.

While I liked the Dickens missions, especially the one involving the kidnapped lady, they didn't scratch that same itch as did Unity's murder missions. They were comparable to Unity's own Paris Stories. Besides, I found out after finishing Syndicate that there is in fact a set of 10 murder mystery missions called "Dreadful Crimes" that are exclusive to PS4 currently. If i had known earlier, I would have postponed playing Syndicate until the timed exclusivity ran out, since I would have much appreciated the mission variety it would have brought.