I recently finished Assassin’s Creed Unity and loved every minute of it. The story, the gameplay, the revolutionary Paris setting, the movement—everything was amazing. Even in 2025, Unity’s ultra settings look incredible, and I don’t think any other game has managed to handle crowds of NPCs as well as it did.
Since I also love London, the Victorian era, and industrial themes, I picked up Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, thinking it would offer a similar experience. After three hours of gameplay, I can confidently say this is the worst AC game I’ve ever played.
• Story? What story? We’re just running around punching people from the start. The first assassination mission barely had any dialogue—just a lazy “now it’s done” or something equally uninspired. It feels like they didn’t even try to write a compelling narrative.
• Parkour is an absolute downgrade. After Unity‘s smooth and immersive movement system, I can’t believe how clunky and unresponsive Syndicate feels. It’s as if two completely different studios made these games, and the one behind Syndicate had no idea what made Unity great.
• Why am I fist-fighting instead of using real weapons? Where are my blades, swords, or anything fitting for an assassin? I assassinated my first target with punches. What is this nonsense? The combat feels mindless and disconnected from the series’ core identity.
• The world and characters feel lifeless. Nothing about the city feels as alive or immersive as Unity’s Paris. The characters move weirdly, and the world design just doesn’t pull me in.
• Red-coated enemies everywhere, for no reason. Why are these guys constantly hunting me down? Where’s the logic? It just feels like lazy game design, throwing enemies at you without any meaningful explanation.
I truly regret spending money on this game. It’s shocking how much Syndicate sucks after Unity. Did anyone else have the same experience?
It’s as if two completely different studios made these games, and the one behind Syndicate had no idea what made Unity great.
Funny you say that. Unity was developed by Ubisoft Montreal, the primary Ubisoft studio who are responsible for much of the good work they’ve done (think Splinter Cell, Far Cry and AC: Black Flag). Syndicate was developed by Ubisoft Quebec, and it was also that developer’s first AC game.
I spent the whole game as Evie unless forced to play as Jacob. And other than those inane carriage sections I found it very enjoyable.
I haven’t played Unity, but I’ve watched it being played and definitely hard agree on the difference between the parkour. At least in Syndicate, Evie feels more fluid compared to her brother.
The WW1 section was my favourite, honestly, even though it was so short.
I did the exact opposite lol. Usually I’m a stealth person but Jacob got me to enjoy running around punching people and only played Evie unless I was forced
I dont think i even finished the tutorial for Syndicate, it was so bad. No human being is that fucking spongy and taking 20 something punches to the face, and like you said, why is an assassin punching people!?
I’m surprised you disliked Syndicate story yet adored Unity’s. Sure Syndicate’s story isn’t anything to write home about but I found it at least consistent and coherent. It’s a typical, evil mastermind needs to be taken down story. Is it amazing? Not really but it’s serviceable. Unity on the other hand, is… To be honest, I can’t even remember any parts of it other than Arno being a miserable prick for most of it.
Unity definitely had the much better gameplay though. Parkour, co-op, assassination missions and the beautiful rendition of Paris were all great.
Unity was just too long and by the time he becomes and alcoholic/you’re stuck in that town for a while I just didn’t care anymore. I’m surprised I even finished it.
That being said the actual big assassination missions were super cool and I wish they had built on that formula more. It felt very rewarding to get creative and I liked how you had so many ways to play them. It was very good design.
True, I do dislike when gamers just unilaterally say “this game is bad”, because it’s such an opinion. Is it bad, or do you just not like it? Maybe other people do like it
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Funny you say that. Unity was developed by Ubisoft Montreal, the primary Ubisoft studio who are responsible for much of the good work they’ve done (think Splinter Cell, Far Cry and AC: Black Flag). Syndicate was developed by Ubisoft Quebec, and it was also that developer’s first AC game.
I spent the whole game as Evie unless forced to play as Jacob. And other than those inane carriage sections I found it very enjoyable.
I haven’t played Unity, but I’ve watched it being played and definitely hard agree on the difference between the parkour. At least in Syndicate, Evie feels more fluid compared to her brother.
The WW1 section was my favourite, honestly, even though it was so short.
I did the exact opposite lol. Usually I’m a stealth person but Jacob got me to enjoy running around punching people and only played Evie unless I was forced
I dont think i even finished the tutorial for Syndicate, it was so bad. No human being is that fucking spongy and taking 20 something punches to the face, and like you said, why is an assassin punching people!?
The parkour system in unity is the most advanced, most fluid one in the whole series!
I’m surprised you disliked Syndicate story yet adored Unity’s. Sure Syndicate’s story isn’t anything to write home about but I found it at least consistent and coherent. It’s a typical, evil mastermind needs to be taken down story. Is it amazing? Not really but it’s serviceable. Unity on the other hand, is… To be honest, I can’t even remember any parts of it other than Arno being a miserable prick for most of it.
Unity definitely had the much better gameplay though. Parkour, co-op, assassination missions and the beautiful rendition of Paris were all great.
Unity was just too long and by the time he becomes and alcoholic/you’re stuck in that town for a while I just didn’t care anymore. I’m surprised I even finished it.
That being said the actual big assassination missions were super cool and I wish they had built on that formula more. It felt very rewarding to get creative and I liked how you had so many ways to play them. It was very good design.
I actually think Syndicate is one of my favorites, behind only black flag… I absolutely loved it. To me Unity was the boring one
This kind of proves OP’s point. That both games are very different. Which one you like of course depends on your taste.
True, I do dislike when gamers just unilaterally say “this game is bad”, because it’s such an opinion. Is it bad, or do you just not like it? Maybe other people do like it
Other people might like it, I like it myself, but Syndicate is objectively one of the lower quality games in the franchise