“Assassin’s Creed: Unity” is just one unlucky game, as far as Ubisoft’s releases in this franchise go. After a rocky launch which was met with less than favorable reviews from most fans and critics, with many citing the game’s poor technical state, Ubisoft made a good gesture by deciding to release a content pack for the game for free. And while many were excited by the announcement, this quickly turned to disappointment once the DLC was actually released.
Because, according to those who’ve played it, much like the base game, the new content package is riddled with technical issues to the point that it’s downright unplayable for some. The DLC is a little under 8 GB in size, and it does offer a pretty good selection of new content – but any positive impression that this could have made quickly disappears once the player has had a chance to explore the new content for a little while.
According to reports, the bugs are something players have already seen in the game before, and they just occur in new locations this time. One reviewer had to erase their entire progress from a mission and start over from a checkpoint, after reaching a glitched state from which they could not escape. In another case, the game was reportedly constantly crashing, while some of the new gameplay features didn’t exactly work as expected.
Still, Ubisoft have obviously put some thought and effort into this release, delivering lots of new content for players to explore and enjoy – or at least that was their intention. The DLC features a vast new map, complete with an expansive underground, as well as a new type of enemies that approach their interactions with the player in a different way, as they don’t abide by the rules of those who live above.
A new item is also available – the lantern – which should prove handy when exploring some of the darker new locations, and reviewers were actually impressed with the way the gameplay flowed in the cases where it did work. In addition, there is now a gun, which some have pointed out doesn’t feel too much in line with the rest of the game’s content, but was still an interesting bonus to its gameplay.
Is this situation something Ubisoft can fix with a few patches? Probably. But it also speaks very poorly of how the company organizes their releases, as it seems that they don’t really care about putting out a polished game and making a proper impression on their fans. And yet, people keep buying their games, which is probably exactly why the company has been so complacent in their development – but how long will they be able to survive in this way?