Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories: the past and future of the Ubisoft series?

Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories

Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories represents, most likely, an unprecedented videogame. We are talking, in fact, of a package associated with a single name, but which actually indicates two distinct and separate updates, one for Assassin's Creed Odyssey and one for Assassin's Creed Valhalla, containing as many free missions: "Whoever finds a friend finds a treasure "and" A meeting wanted by fate ".

In both quests we find Kassandra: if you can't explain how this is possible, you'd better go back to completing the Assassin's campaign (and DLC) Creed Odyssey in order to avoid sensational spoilers which, however, are inevitable for us to set up the speech we want to make about the past and future of Assassin's Creed in the Crossover Stories.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Assassin '' s Creed Crossover Stories, Kassandra in the company of Herodotus We start from the mission "Who finds a friend finds a treasure" of Assassin's Creed Odyssey (review here), with which you can try your hand already after completing to the first chapter of the campaign (in a frankly inexplicable way, given the narrative implications of the package which in fact warns more than once of the risk of spoilers), by going to the pier in Kefalonia. There Kassandra meets a woman who reveals to her a new concept, that of the holiday, to be experienced against the wonderful backdrop of the Greek island of Corfu.

Let yourself be convinced by the prospect of a more or less long period of absolute rest, in to draw breath from the battles and the exhausting searches to devote herself only to the sun, wine and parties, the Spartan warrior accepts the invitation and leaves, but is joined a few months later by Barnabas and Herodotus, worried about her.

Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories, Kassandra explores the new map on horseback at sunset In an attempt to move their friend from the torpor in which she has been lulled for too long, the two involve her in a treasure hunt asking her to find one series of clues and therefore the precious chest that will make them rich: it is a staging, which however apparently has a concrete foundation of truth since even a group of ruthless pirates is looking for something on the island.

The adventure turns out to be enjoyable and multifaceted, especially if you have the opportunity to play it using a mid-campaign save and therefore a character that is not yet very powerful, especially considering that from a certain point on we will have to do without the special skills of Kassandra and even her eagle's eye, thus relying only on equipment and quick reflexes to survive fairly demanding clashes.

Wanting to move a crit ica to the free mission of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, it can be said that in this case no actual crossover occurs, except what happens in the post-credit scene (yes, there is a post-credit scene) and returns a idea of ​​what the developers could do with this character, whose adventures begin in 432 BC and end in 2020.

Kassandra is indeed a true time traveler, made immortal by her own blood and from the staff of Hermes Trismegistus. He therefore lived through all the historical periods faced in the Assassin's Creed series, with the possibility of influencing events in some way, of moving in the shadows or of interacting with the most famous protagonists of the franchise, as happens precisely with Eivor.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories, Kassandra and Eivor In the case of the free mission of Assassin's Creed Valhalla (review) the requirements are a little more stringent, in the sense that you must have completed at least the first dream experiences at Valka's hut in Ravensthorpe in order to access the new content. On the pier we will meet a woman looking for help: the inhabitants of the Isle of Skye seem crazy since a warrior who according to the seer could be Randvi arrived.

Eivor leaves immediately to find out how things really are, but it is not Randvi that he is fighting with after arriving on the island, but Kassandra. The two fight fiercely and the clash is absolutely spectacular, but inexplicably not playable: we will have to limit ourselves to witnessing the exchange of blows and the inevitable clarification between the two protagonists of Assassin's Creed.

Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories , Eivor grappling with the exploration of the Isle of Skye In this case, the crossover is therefore effective, but the mission itself is short and rather linear: all we have to do is find a series of fragments to be able to open a door and there finally find out what drove people crazy, looking for a way to thwart the threat. Moreover, trying your hand at the quest with a fully developed character turns all the fights into a trivial walk.

Side fanservice there is no doubt that the collaboration between Eivor and Kassandra has its own reason, and in this sense it is difficult remain dissatisfied with their meeting: first opponents, then allies and finally friends, the two characters behave in a manner consistent with their own experience and the dubbing in Italian further enhances everything, but we would have preferred a broader content.

Considerations on the operation

Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories, Kassandra during a fight Christmas is approaching and there is no doubt that Ubisoft has given us a great gift with Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories, introducing the concept basic with the mission of Odyssey and concretizing some implications with that of Valhalla, although in terms of quality the two contents are by no means comparable: hunting to the treasure conducted by Kassandra on the island of Corfu appears much more interesting and inspired.

Also thanks to the scenario: although the technical gap between the two games is evident, as well as a whole series of aspects that in Valhalla are improved, from the layout of the controls to the rendering of the impacts during the fighting, the scenario of Corfu is generally better, more dense and fascinating than the Isle of Skye, a bit desolate.

Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories , Eivor and Kassandra during their first meeting The reason why this operation is interesting, however, is another: with the Assassin's Creed Infinity platform on the horizon, it is legitimate to wonder if this will be the way to set up the structure of the live service produced by Ubisoft , and if Kassandra will play a central role because of her long life and her potential interactions with all the other protagonists of the saga.

Sure, Crossover Stories has also raised a few perplexities and confirmed the limits of a brand that suffers from major balance problems when the characters are maximized, and that is unable to offer significant experiences except in the context of multiple missions, which possess a structure such as to allow the necessary narrative build-up before the inevitable conclusion.

Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories, Kassndra in the company of Herodotus and Barnabas We like to consider this couple of missions as an interesting experiment with which to test the waters before take some concrete steps in the direction that probably everyone is hoping for: a large hub from which to access all the experiences of the Animus, but also to new adventures set in iconic locations such as Renaissance Italy, revolutionary France and of course the ancient Egypt.

In short, Assassin's Creed fans would do well to dust off the hidden blade, because after the new expansion The Dawn of Ragnarok franchise may surprise us with an exciting mix of historical eras, new and old characters but also - hopefully - an extra focus on balance and progression.

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