History VideoGame / AssassinsCreedSyndicate

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: Evie starts the game at Level 10 (the base game's max), with Lv 7 brass knuckles, a Lv 7 revolver, and a Lv 1 Assassin Gauntlet.

''Assassin's Creed: Syndicate'' (not to be confused with ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}'') is the eighth major title in the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series. It was released on October 23rd, 2015 on UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and November 19th for PC. Its companion novel ''Literature/AssassinsCreedUnderworld'' was released on November 5th in the UK and December 1st in the US. It is set in UsefulNotes/{{London}} in the UsefulNotes/{{Victorian|Britain}} era.

** Evie describes Jacob's plans regarding the Rooks for London as being similar to what Ezio did in Rome during ''Brotherhood.'' Though judging by the consequences, Jacob's campaign against the Templars appears more reminiscent of Connor's in ''III''.
** London's Assassin-free nature at the beginning of the game is because of the success of Reginald Birch and Haytham Kenway's [[ThePurge purging]] in their time.

* DecoyAntagonist: Sequence 5 establishes Jacob allying with Pearl Attaway, Starrick's business competitor, to sabotage Malcom Millner who is Starrick's puppet. [[spoiler:But upon assassinating Millner, Jacob finds out he's been fooled --''Attaway'' is his true target, and not only is she a Templar, she's also Starrick's cousin]].

* BookEnds:

* AllJustADream: The Charles Dickens mission "Dead Letters" is this. During the investigation, Frye Twin helping Charlie takes a short break on a large bundle of cloth, and after their short rest find a letter from a woman named Elizabeth they've never met adressed to her "Dear Frye". After reading the letter a carriage containing a kidnapped woman races down the nearby street. After chasing, hijacking, defending and escorting the carriage to the woman's home, the woman introduces herself as Elizabeth and asks her savior to sit in the carriage with her for a moment. [[spoiler: The carriage is empty aside from a suicide note addressed to Elizabeth's parents]]. At which point, per this trope, our hero wakes up, having fallen asleep on the cloth.

* AntiFrustrationFeature:

* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Apart from the beginning being set in Croyden, London serves as the backdrop for all of the events that occur in ''Syndicate''.

--> '''Starrick''': This tea was brought to me from India by a ship, then, up from the harbor to a factory, where it was packaged and ferried by carriage to my door, unpacked in the larder and brought upstairs to me. All by men and women who work for me. Who are indebted to me, Crawford Starrick, for their jobs, their time, their very lives. They will work in my factories and so to shall their children.

* CoolTrain: Bertha, a locomotive run by [[BraveScot Agnes]], is the Assassin HQ BaseOnWheels. This moving train serves as the HubLevel where you can upgrade, keep track of your progress and other keepsakes. Notably the train has full interiors and exteriors and constantly moves across the whole map. Also, one of your associates (i.e. Henry Green, Ned Wynert, Clara O'Dea, etc.) and the twin you're not playing as can be seen lounging around the train as well.

* CurbStompBattle: Evie versus Lucy Thorne, as indicated by the full sync requirements, which dictate that Evie dodge all of Lucy's strikes. This is downplayed in the sense that, although Lucy never manages to actually hit Evie, she does get the key off Evie and then escape with it.

* DecoyAntagonist: Sequence 5 establishes Jacob allying with Pearl Attaway, Starrick's business competitor, to sabotage Malcom Millner who is Starrick's puppet. [[spoiler:But upon assassinating Millner, Jacob finds out he's been fooled--''Attaway'' is his true target, and not only is she a Templar, but also Starrick's cousin]].

* DepravedHomosexual: According to {{Word Of God}} [[spoiler:Maxwell Roth is in love with Jacob, and once Jacob breaks off their partnership, he decides to burn down a theatre and everyone inside it in a suicidal final performance he dedicates to Jacob. The whole sequence reads like one bad break-up.]] The only in-game hint to this is [[spoiler:the kiss he gives Jacob right before he succumbs to Jacob's assassination]].

* DestinationDefenestration: {{Subverted}}. During Evie and Lucy's fight, Lucy charges at Evie (who is standing in front of a large stain-glass window), intending to push or throw her through the window. Evie steps to the side at the last second and Lucy ends up throwing herself out the window. Although she's able to grab Evie's necklace key and hang from it, threatening to [[TakingYouWithMe take Evie with her]]. Evie uses her Hidden Blade to cut the key off, saving herself but losing the artifact.

* InGameBankingServices: All proceeds from the Rooks' criminal activities are deposited into a safe on the [[{{BrotherSisterTeam}} Jacob and Evie]] Fry's train. The funds increase roughly once an hour and the player is notified once it has reached capacity, at which point no additional funds will generate until a withdrawal is made.

* AllJustADream: The Charles Dicken's mission "Dead Letters" is this. During the investigation, Frye Twin helping Charlie takes a short break on a large bundle of cloth, and after their short rest find a letter from a woman named Elizabeth they've never met adressed to her "Dear Frye". After reading the letter a carriage containing a kidnapped woman races down the nearby street. After chaseing, hijacking, defending and escorting the carriage to the woman's home, the woman introduces herself as Elizabeth and askes her savior to sit in the carriage with her for a moment. [[spoiler: The carriage is empty aside from a sucide note adressed to Elizabeth's parents]]. At which point, per this trope, our hero wakes up, having fallen asleep on the cloth.

Jacob and Evie Frye are fraternal twins and Assasins. They seek to spark an uprising in an age of class iniquity. They will rise among the organized crime syndicates to rebuild the Brotherhood through their street gang - The Rooks. The game has new features like emerging vehicle transport, carriages, trains, as well as modern methods of communication. The twins also have possession of a {{grappling hook|pistol}} that can help them access the higher rooftops of the changing city.

* RuleOfCool: The sequences where [[spoiler:you play as Jack the Ripper. From a story standpoint, this should be impossible, given that either genetic material or a descendant conceived after the fact is necessary to access genetic memories, and the DLC ends with Jack dead (and no reason to believe he was partaking in any... pleasures that would leave lineage). However, playing as a rogue Assassin turned historical serial killer is either mind-blowingly awesome or [[RuleOfScary pants-wettingly terrifying]] (or both), so it slides.]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: ''Syndicate'' gets its general history right to a far greater extent than ''Unity'' did justice to its setting, but there are some exceptions:
** In general the class-war angle of the game is ''slightly'' anachronistic since the 1867 Reform Bill which preceded ''Syndicate'' expanded the suffrage to a decent enough level to dial down revolutionary tensions. While Victorian London definitely had street gangs and some genuinely nasty criminals, the depiction of gangs controlling entire ''boroughs'' of London is a complete invention of the game. London was fairly settled by this time, if still bearing [[UrbanSegregation stark divisions between rich and poor areas]]. The game largely borrows the general aesthetic and motifs from the roughly contemporaneous ''Film/GangsOfNewYork''-era[[note]]Dickens who visited New York in that time came back and said that London at its worst was ''nothing'' compared to New York[[/note]] for RuleOfCool.
** Ironically enough, the main campaign of ''Syndicate'' doesn't feature prostitutes, formerly a ubiquitous and much criticized feature of earlier AC games despite the fact that prostitution was a prominent feature of Victorian society. Many of England's social reformers campaigned to help "fallen women" and early feminism campaigned against absurd and exploitative laws faced by women, and unlike the other tensions which happened in other decades of Victorian London but moved to the 1860s, this was very much contemporary to the year and place of the game's setting. (They do appear in the ''Jack the Ripper'' DLC, naturally, since he was known to target them specifically.)
** The game also sidelines the social class distinctions of Victorian London, with Jacob and Evie Frye interacting easily with a range of figures across Victorian society. There are situations such as Evie Frye [[spoiler:commanding a contingent at the Tower of London, that is a huge stretch for women in this time and place]]. Likewise, while Evie Frye is sophisticated enough to pass in high society, Jacob Frye interacting with the Disraelis despite being visibly and audibly a street thug is unlikely given Victorian society's class divisions, as well as Disraeli's own snobbishness.
** With the exception of [[spoiler:the final post-game Queen Victoria memory cutscene]], the game doesn't address the role and function of UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire within England, generally focusing on local issues. Empire historian Bob Whitaker [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu5hnYoRJsE notes]] that with the exception of Henry Green and Duleep Singh, most of the [=NPCs=] are white, when London at this point was a UsefulNotes/MeltingPot and the dock areas featured immigrants from India, Ireland, Eastern Europe and several other nations, giving a portrayal of Victorian society that is not quite as multi-cultural as it really was in this time and place, especially since the main political issues of the late 1860s concerned the expansion of the Empire, UsefulNotes/TheIrishQuestion and the role of the monarchy, and that ordinary English people had more fears about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian Fenians]] than they did street gangs.
** The Alhambra was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra_Theatre a real-life music hall in London]] at this time [[spoiler:and it did get burnt in a fire but that happened in 1881, not in 1868. The place was rebuilt and continued to exist until 1936, when it was permanently demolished]].
** The fact that both Blighters and Rooks have nearly 50/50 men and women ratio in their ranks is hardly accurate for the gangs of the era (although, with them being the Templars' and the Assassins' proxy gangs respectively, this may be intentional).

''Assassin's Creed: Syndicate'' (not to be confused with ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}'') is the eighth major title in the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series. It was released on October 23rd, 2015 on UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and November 19th for PC. Its companion novel ''Literature/AssassinsCreedUnderworld'' was released on November 5th in the UK and December 1st in the US. It is set in UsefulNotes/{{London}} during UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Killing major figures of the Templar Order is a signature task in the franchise, but in this game, killing Templars in key positions in London's infrastructure nearly brings the whole city down like a house of cards. Evie has to visit the places after Jacob's assassinations to ensure order is restored to the respective divisions in the city.
** Assassinating [[spoiler:John Elliotson]] ceases production of the mind-numbing Soothing Syrup--as well as regular medicine being distributed throughout the city. The market becomes overrun with counterfeits due to [[SnakeOilSalesman con men and companies]] taking advantage of the confusion to make money, while the real medicine is being stolen before it can get to hospitals. Fortunately, Florence Nightingale steps in, and Evie recovers enough medical supplies for Nightingale to heal Clara and work towards the regulation of medical care.
** Assassinating [[spoiler:Pearl Attaway]] prevents Starrick from acquiring high-powered engines--but it divests the two leading transport companies of their leaders, causing the Blighters to take over and threaten innocents into doing their bidding, along with charging whatever prices they like. Evie solves this by recovering the company deed stolen by the gang, which allows a new, united transport company to be formed.
** Assassinating [[spoiler:Philip Twopenny]] puts an end to the recurring robberies at the Bank of England--but the murder causes the bank to close since one of its senior members was found dead, riots erupt as people try to withdraw their money from the Bank, and counterfeit money begins to circulate, threatening all of London's economy. Evie has to return the bank's stolen printing plates to reduce the implication of the murder, which would restore the people's faith in the bank once more.
** During the ball, Evie's dress restricts her movements, and the player is limited to walking and taking hostages. No running, jumping, climbing, or even sneaking are possible in an ivory-boned corset and 50 lbs of petticoats. Evie only regains her full range of movement once she cuts that 50 lbs off.
** As per the optional objectives for 100% synchronization, Jacob did not swim in the River Thames on his way to assassinate Malcom Millner.
** [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire Queen Victoria]] and the Frye twins [[spoiler:end up breaking off their friendship over their conflicting world views.]]

** In general the class-war angle of the game is ''slightly'' anachronistic since the 1867 Reform Bill which preceded ''Syndicate'' expanded the suffrage to a decent enough level to dial down revolutionary tensions. While Victorian London definitely had street gangs and some genuinely nasty criminals, the depiction of gangs controlling entire ''boroughs'' of London is a complete invention of the game. London was fairly settled by this time, if still bearing [[UrbanSegregation stark divisions between rich and poor areas]]. The game largely borrows the general aesthetic and motifs from the roughly contemporaneous ''Film/GangsOfNewYork''-era[[note]]Dickens who visited New York in that time came back and said that London at its worst was ''nothing'' [[UpToEleven compared to New York]][[/note]] for RuleOfCool.

* NiceHat: Did we mention that this is Victorian London? Top Hats, Derbies; it's a golden age. Jacob sports top hats for most of his outfits, which have the miraculous tendency to stick to his head even when performing a Leap of Faith.

** Shawn's database entry on the Assassin Brotherhood observes that both they and the Templar Order have existed for just about all of recorded history. Rebecca chimes in to point out that would technically mean they existed before both the Arabic Hashashin and the actual Knights Templar, so what were they called before then? [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins The next]] [[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey two games]] would answer her question.

** The final memory in Sequence 9 is called "[[Film/ANightToRemember A Night to Remember]]".

** Shawn's database entry on the Assassin Brotherhood observes that both they and the Templar Order have existed for just about all of recorded history. Rebecca chimes in to point out that would technically mean they existed before both the Arabic Hashashin and the actual Knights Templar, so what were they called before then? ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins The next]] [[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey two games]] would answer her question.

* KnifeNut: Jack's WeaponOfChoice is a knife.