In honor of Bastille Day, Ubisoft has released a new Assassins Creed: Unity trailer; and although it doesn’t really teach us anything new, it’s still impressive to say the least. With a mixture of different extended gameplay footage from E3 – both single player and Co-Op – this trailer basically gives us Arno’s narration of this game’s French Revolution time period. That being said, there are still a few things of note in this trailer that we can discuss.

One of the greatest things about Assassins Creed games is of course the graphics; and Unity does not disappoint. Whether showcasing the entire city of Paris or showing the intricate and splendid designs of aristocrats’ homes, there is an incredible eye for detail. Though while looking through these different settings and interactive landscapes, we find Arno inside a beautiful cathedral.

Now it’s a safe bet that this cathedral in question is Notre Dame; but that’s beside the point. It seems as though Assassins Creed: Unity will bring us back to one of the most exciting parts of the Assassins Creed II trilogy – cathedral exploration. Assassins Creed 3 and 4 didn’t have much in the way of interiors to explore; but what Unity lacks in forest and ocean exploration it’ll make up for in its fully explorable city.

We’ve already heard rumors about the famous ‘City of the dead’ – Paris’s catacombs – being explorable; but now with the interior of this cathedral being unveiled this game truly feels like a return to Assassins Creed II/Brotherhood’s setting. This of course makes sense since this is the first game to return to the European setting since Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, which also had catacombs. I for one am excited to explore these grand structures once more – and take note of places to visit in real life.

 

Everything else in this video we’ve basically seen in action before. One such example of this is the new phantom blade which acts basically like a wrist mounted bow and arrow – offering a silent alternative to the hidden gun. Another thing we got to see more of is the new ‘controlled descent’ aka Parkour Down option which allows for you to quickly navigate your way down from high points rather than the death defying/physics defying ‘Leap of Faith’ that always found you landing in a miraculously placed haystack.

Though the final thing to point out is the sheer immensity of the crowds. This game will have crowds of close to 5,000 NPCs as opposed to the usual 100-200. What’s even more impressive is that these aren’t just huge masses of similarly animated individuals, but actually all have their own things going on.

Assassins Creed: Unity releases October 28^th and the pre-order bonus game has already begun. So stay tuned for more updates and a pre-order guide as new details get revealed.