Assassin's Creed New Ancient Rome Journey Will Have Key Advantage

It looks like the next big Assassin’s Creed project may have a key advantage over recent games.

In case you missed the news, Netflix’s animated Assassin’s Creed show will explore Ancient Rome, which should excite some of you history nerds. At least, that's according to a new report which suggests this to be the case.

While we saw chunks of Rome in Assassin’s Creed Origins and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, the show will surely delve into what the city was like during its heyday.

We’ll apparently see historical figures like Emperor Nero and Seneca the Younger, meaning the series should be set around 60AD, and will feature the familiar Assassins vs Templars storyline that made the series famous.

What’s immediately apparent to me is that the Netflix series should have a major advantage over the recent games in the animation department.

Ubisoft

Netflix, Assassin's Creed, and Improved Animation

It’s been a popular criticism of the Assassin’s Creed games since Odyssey that cutscenes have become a lot more boring as a result of motion capture being prioritised less, meaning characters more or less stand around rigidly with very little movement.

This gives each scene a little less emotion than if motion capture with real actors was used, with many fans calling them “ugly” and “hurting the franchise”.

“Ubisoft needs to do something about this,” reads one post on the Assassin’s Creed Reddit page.

“They can't continue making these robotic ugly cutscenes anymore if they want to deliver good stories and writing.”

“I've been hearing about this same issue since 2018, and the worst part is that you're absolutely right,” reads a comment underneath the post.

“I don't know what happened with the devs, but if Shadows has two cutscenes with motion capture, that must be a lot."

The animated TV adaptation for Netflix obviously won’t have this problem, as the project is being developed as an animated series from the ground-up. It may not feature motion capture, but it should have some gorgeously animated scenes throughout the entire series.

Netflix has been on a roll lately with adapting popular video game franchises into animated TV series.

Castlevania, Devil May Cry, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft have each been adapted, with each one being received quite well with fans and viewers. So, it sounds like Assassin’s Creed will be next to get the same treatment.