Ubisoft has not revealed much about Assassin’s Creed: Codename Jade beyond a logo and the setting. The only other information Ubisoft has shared is that it will be the first time players can create their own assassin protagonist, and that concept has a lot of promise. Couple it with the Chinese setting and Jade has the potential to be a really cool entry for the series - except for the fact that it’s weighed down as a mobile game. Mobile games have a bad reputation, and the entire concept of Jade could suffer for it.
China Has Been Relegated to Assassin’s Creed Spin-Offs
Assassin’s Creed: Codename Jade will not be the first time the series has explored the Chinese Brotherhood, but so far it has only cropped up in spin-offs. Back in 2015, Ubisoft kicked off a trilogy known as Assassin’s Creed Chronicles. The first game in the trilogy brought players to 16th Century China. Its gameplay was a far cry from the mainline series, as the Chronicles series included 2.5D sidescroller that told much shorter stories.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles China put players in control of a new assassin named Shao Jun who wished to take out the Eight Tigers, a group of Templars that ruled the country from the shadows. The game itself was decent fun, but was nowhere near the quality of the main series. This was the series’ only experience with Chinese history and many players have called for a full-fledged action-adventure title, so it seems Ubisoft is preparing to deliver on that request.
While Jade is supposed to be an open-world title, it will not be a mainline entry appearing on consoles. If players want to experience an assassin story set in Ancient China, they will have to be willing to download a mobile title - most of which are associated with microtransactions, garnering a bad reputation thanks to games like Diablo Immortal. Many fans of the franchise may choose to skip this entry, and it almost feels like Ubisoft is doing a disservice to a setting that has huge potential.
As of now, it seems like Ubisoft has relegated Chinese history to spin-off titles. The main franchise has explored much of European history and a bit of American history, but it has shied away from Asia. It will finally explore Japan in the upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red, but it has yet to explore the history of China through the main series. This history goes back centuries, and it deserves to be at the center of a flagship Assassin’s Creed game.
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Assassin’s Creed Jade Deserves to Shine
Assassin’s Creed: Codename Jade will be the first time in the series that players are able to create their own assassin, but they can only do it on their phones. One of the joys of the series has been exploring complicated characters throughout history, and becoming personally inserted into that history may make things more special. It gives players a greater connection to the protagonist, and is one of the reason that MMOs like World of Warcraft and games like Saints Row are so popular.
Having everyone play as their own unique character may impact the grander story of Assassin’s Creed, but it could all be explained away by the Animus. The series has dabbled in letting players select the gender of their protagonist with Odyssey and Valhalla, and character creation feels like the logical next step. If it works well, Jade could become very popular for that feature alone. That is why the game cannot just be a mobile title.
Players want to explore China in a mainline Assassin’s Creed game, and many would also love the ability to create their own characters. The mobile market is a huge moneymaker, particularly in China, and mobile games take advantage of that with the sheer amount of microtransactions that are available. Not every title is super predatory, but the ones that are have received the most attention, and they are often used as a representation of the market. These controversies push console and PC players away from the platform, and thus many may choose to skip Jade.
Time will tell if Assassin’s Creed: Codename Jade is filled with predatory microtransactions or not, but being a mobile title already hurts the excitement for many fans. The game is built upon a feature that has not been seen in the main series and a setting that has only been in spin-off games, and it does not deserve to be left on phones. Ubisoft should consider giving the game a console or PC port like akin to Genshin Impact, or at least let the features shine in a new mainline title sometime soon.
Assassin’s Creed: Codename Jade is currently in development for iOS and Android.
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