History VideoGame / AssassinsCreedUnity

* BeenThereShapedHistory: A stated intention of the developers is to avoid or curtail this factor that was prevalent in the previous games. Arno rarely plays an active role in shaping the great incidents of the French Revolution the way his predecessors did in their timeline. Rather some of his adventures makes him an observant of certain incidents:

* RandomTransportation: What the Time Anomalies entails. In order to dodge the network of Abstergo from seeking out the Assassin Initiate, Bishop sends you through various server portals that takes you to different points in the history of Paris. This causes a breakdown in the render leading to elements from different timelines piling on top, [[spoiler:such as the in-construction Lady Liberty in 1898 Belle Époque, when it had already been shipped to and erected in New York at the time. The final mission sends you to France during the UsefulNotes/HundredYearsWar, dodging trebuchet attacks from the Bastille]].

** The game's plot echoes many classic novels. Rafael Sabatini's ''Literature/{{Scaramouche}}'' where an orphan is raised by a nobleman and seeks revenge and becomes involved in the French Revolution. Also, Creator/AlexandreDumas' book ''Joseph Balsamo'', where a secret society led by a Great Copt seeks to radically usher in the French Revolution by behind-the-scenes shenanigans. Dumas' father also appears in the game.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The Outfits option in equipment gives Arno the ensembles of all the (male) player characters in the series so far, as well as Thomas de Carneillon from the Jacque de Molay era and [[spoiler:Pierre Bellec after killing him partway through the game).]] However, only Connor and Edward's hoods are functional; Altair, Ezio, and Thomas' hoods are fixed as "raised", [[spoiler:and Bellec's outfit lacks the hood-and-cape that Bellec himself wears.]] Although less noticeable than usual, given Arno almost always wears his hood up, it does somewhat ruin the element.

* StayInTheKitchen: What Theroigne de Mericourt rebels throughout the Revolution, she is especially keen on forming an [[AmazonBrigade all-women battalion.]] It is a fact that none of the major revolutionaries, with one or two exceptions, advocated the vote for women and it was an overall macho event, with even the pro-woman Marquis de Condorcet denying women the right to vote in his Constitutional proposal. That said, women did get No-Fault Divorce and the right to inherit property, advances greater than America at the time, and the right to education. When Napoleon came to power, even these concessions were taken away.[[/labelnote]]

** One issue of this simplification is that it removes several vital (and widely documented) aspects of famous historical figures. Napoleon, for instance, is shown speaking with an upper-class English accent when in real-life he spoke French with a thick Corsican accent, since it was far from being his first language [[note]]It sounded like an Italian speaking French and Tsar Alexander famously stated that ''he'' spoke better French than him[[/note]]. One reason why his rise to power was so shocking was that he was an outsider to French society, indeed subject to racist mockery for his accent as a student and only got the opportunity for advancement thanks to the Revolution. This is {{lampshaded}} in the Side Story "A Romantic Stroll" where Josephine comments on Napoleon's exotic accent which to our ears sounds no different than hers or anybody else's.

** Where Napoleon in the main-game is all charm towards Arno, here we see Napoleon among his subordinates. He comes off as highly cold, calculating and ruthless, giving a speech as to his vision for France, showing his more megalomaniacal side (he even starts referring to himself in third person).

''Assassin's Creed: Unity'' is the seventh major title in the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series. It was released on UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and PC on November 11, 2014, being released concurrently with ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRogue''. Unity is the first non-numbered title to feature a new Assassin hero, Arno Victor Dorian. It takes place during the UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, and charts out the course of that epoch-defining historical event, from the fall of the Ancien Régime to the ReignOfTerror.

* GraveRobbing: The Raiders, a faction in ''Dead Kings'' indulge in this by desecrating the historical tombs of the French Royal Dynasties. Some of the Franciade Stories have Arno involve him in this as well, such as raiding Marie de Medicis tomb to get the "Rose Sceptre"

* GraveRobbing: The Raiders, a faction in ''Dead Kings'' indulge in this by desecrating the historical tombs of the French Royal Dynasties. Some of the Franciade Stories have [[NotSoDifferent Arno]] involve him in this as well, such as raiding Marie de Medicis tomb to get the "Rose Sceptre"

* RealityEnsues:
** Arno [[spoiler:blows his chance to catch Germain in order to save Élise, ignoring her pleas not to. Rather than thankful she is outraged that he let personal feelings get in the way of completing their objective, leaving Germain free to continue his plans.]]
** [[spoiler:Arno's blatant disregard for the Brotherhood Council's orders to pursue his personal vendetta also gets him exiled from the Brotherhood.]]

** The modern-day element has been redone so that there is no longer any AudienceSurrogate. Players interact via the Helix, a Cloud Memory Database which is apparently a mass-market product that is hacked by the Assassins to surreptitously observe Arno's memories with brief missions known as Time Anomalies being the only suggestion of a present-day FramingStory. There is no real deadline as such and Bishop periodically informs you in AsYouKnow statements about your overall objective.

[[folder: Main Game]]

** The Time Anomalies missions generally give a true snapshot of the era. The Eiffel Tower with a vanity plate? During the 30s, the Tower was used as advertising space for brands like Citroen and it was quite common to see a giant logo from the Tower. When Vichy France took over, they put a giant V that we see there. [[spoiler:Likewise, the Statue of Liberty was a gift by the French to the Americans to comemorate the centennial of two revolutionary nations. It was made in Paris, France, and shipped to New York, America though as Bishop notes it was done far earlier than the Belle Époque server portal you fall into. Lady Liberty also appears in her original bronze coating, which has since faded to the now equally iconic Emerald Green colour]].

** Arno's initiation into the Assassin Order [[spoiler:is a reworking of the Demon Trials mission in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'']].

** The game's plot echoes many classic novels. Rafael Sabatini's ''Literature/{{Scaramouche}}'' where an orphan is raised by a nobleman and seeks revenge and becomes involved in the French Revolution. Also, Creator/AlexandreDumas' book ''Joseph Balsamo'', where a secret society led by a Great Copt seeks to radically usher in the French Revolution by behind-the-scenes schenanigans. Dumas' father also appears in the game.

* TranslationConvention: Via the Animus, some phrases, greetings and salutations are done in French, but its not like the semi-Italian and Italianate-English of the Ezio Trilogy. It's really jarring to hear Frenchmen speaking in Posh English accents and then occassionally slip in nicely accented French phrases.

* WideOpenSandbox: Paris is the biggest map of the series, dwarfing the combined island landmasses of the Caribbean in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' and providing far and away the biggest city in the series (with Rome in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' holding the previous record), very closely approximating the Paris of the late 18th Century, boasting of a 1:1 representation of Notre Dame de Paris. For the first time, the series features fully integrated interiors and exteriors, with no loading times between moving from one place to another, a major leap from the Quick-Time Event movement in the earlier titles.

* TranslationConvention: Via Animus, some phrases, greetings and salutations are done in French, but its not like the semi-Italian and Italianate-English of the Ezio Trilogy. It's really jarring to hear Frenchmen speaking in Posh English accents and then occassionally slip in nicely accented French phrases.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The Outfits option in equipment gives Arno the ensembles of all the (male) player characters in the series so far, as well as Thomas de Carneillon from the Jacque de Molay era and [[spoiler:Pierre Bellec after killing him partway through the game). However, only Connor and Edward's hoods are functional; Altair, Ezio, and Thomas' hoods are fixed as "raised", [[spoiler:and Bellec's outfit lacks the hood-and-cape that Bellec himself wears.]] Although less noticeable than usual, given Arno almost always wears his hood up, it does somewhat ruin an element

* StayInTheKitchen: What Theroigne de Mericourt rebels throughout the Revolution, she is especially keen on forming an [[AmazonBrigade all-women battalion.]] [[labelnote:History]]It is a fact that none of the major revolutionaries, with one or two exceptions, advocated the vote for women and it was an overall macho event, with even the pro-woman Marquis de Condorcet denying women the right to vote in his Constitutional proposal. That said, women did get No-Fault Divorce and the right to inherit property, advances greater than America at the time, and the right to education. When Napoleon came to power, even these concessions were taken away.[[/labelnote]]

** The Helix menu at the beginning of the game shows twelve scenarios, eight are based on previous games, one is based on upcoming game ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedChronicles: China'', and three are scenarios that do not have any basis: an AncientRome story, a Jazz Age story, and a story in UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}. The Jazz Age one eventually did get an elaboration in the ''Assassin's Creed: Templars'' comic.

* LoveTriangle: A few missions feature one involving Napoleon, Désirée Clary and Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte[[note]]Minor ArtisticLicenceHistory, given that Bernadotte (who actually spent most of the era depicted here on the front lines) didn't meet Désirée until ''after'' Napoleon broke up with her[[/note]].

** The Paris Side Stories and Murder Mysteries involves the dramatist Pierre Beaumarchais, the cartomancer Marie-Anne Lenormand, Madame Tussaud, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, Charles-Henri Sanson, Tobias Schmidt, the transgender dueling champion Chevalier d'Eon, Josephine de Beauharnais, the financial minister Jacques Necker, the painter Jacques-Louis David, Charlotte Corday, along with YoungFutureFamousPeople from the future [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars Napoleonic Wars]] - Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte and Joachim Murat. There are also cameos by prominent philosophers and scientists such as Marquis de Condorcet, Laplace and Comte de Cassini.

** ThoseTwoBadGuys who hound Arno in the Versailles Section are called [[Creator/VictorHugo Victor and Hugo]], whose books chronicled the Cour des Miracles. Likewise when Arno tries to gatecrash Élise's initiation he introduces himself as "Le Chevalier du Thélème" (the Knight of Thélème), a reference to Francois Rabelais' ''Gargantua and Pantagruel''.

* RandomTransportation: What the Time Anomalies entails. In order to dodge the network of Abstergo from seeking out the Assassin Initiate, Bishop sends you through various server portals that takes you to different points in the history of Paris. This causes a breakdown in the render leading to elements from different timelines piling on top, [[spoiler:such as the in-construction Lady Liberty in 1898 Belle Époque, when it had already been shipped and erected to France at the time. The final mission sends you to France during the UsefulNotes/HundredYearsWar, dodging trebuchet attacks from the Bastille]].

** Arno and Pierre Bellec are one of the two additional prisoners of the Bastille that escaped on ''14 juillet''. Arno later infiltrates the Tuilleries on ''10th August, 1792'', the Fall of the Monarchy [[spoiler:where he tries, and fails, to burn the armoire de fer documents that discredit Mirabeau's reputation]]. Later, two of his assassination missions takes place during notorious events such as the September Massacres and the Public Execution of Louis XVI. He also observes Robespierre's Festival of the Supreme Being at the Champs du Mars (complete with Cardboard Mountain) and [[spoiler:works with Élise to bring about his downfall]].

* NeverTrustATrailer: The world premier cinematic trailer is iconic with over 41 million views just on its original channel and a generally awesome version of the Storming of the Bastille. Basically nothing about it is accurate to the game from the character involvement (Arno is in jail in the Bastille at the time), the general plot (the Templars are trying to incite the Revolution, not the Assassins) .

** In the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis Helix mission select screen]], several of the previous installments are hypothetical options for levels, though only The Tragedy of Jacques de Molay is actually usable (since Bishop hacks your Animus immediately after). One of the other options in the menu is ''[[Film/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas Fear And Loathing In]] [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII Florence]]''.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The world premier cinematic trailer is iconic with over 41 million views just on its original channel and a generally awesome version of the Storming of the Bastille. Basically nothing about it is accurate to the game from the character involvement (Arno is in jail in the Bastille at the time), the general plot (the Templars are trying to incite the Revolution, not the Assassins) and the apparently in-engine character graphics don't reflect the very buggy, unpolished quality on release.

* SceneryPorn: The Next-Gen graphics and the architectural treasure trove of 18th Century Paris promises more than enough scenic beauty. Notre Dame Cathedral, supposedly a 1:1 representation with fully integrated interiors and exteriors is a thing of beauty with its gorgeous Gothic design and flying buttresses and gargoyles rendered in HD glory. This is especially apparent when one compares the [[spoiler:previous-Gen render of Versailles in the epilogue of ''Rogue'' to the prologue of ''Unity''. It looks excellent and serviceable in the former game, but it sparkles in ''Unity'']].
* SequelDifficultySpike: ''Unity'' has a different control scheme so as to privilege stealth over combat. The counter button has been removed and it's no longer easy or feasible (but still doable with fast enough reflexes) for players to go OneManArmy. To highlight the fact, every piece of equipment, and every mission, are ranked; it is more or less suicidal to attempt a mission without at least one piece of equipment of equal rank, with a few exceptions[[note]]Nostradamus Enigmas, which simply require the player to find the objective, Murder Mysterys, which require moving between various investigation locations, and Helix Rifts, which involve collecting data scattered around a location; neither of these feature a great deal of violence, although you'll want to be careful in the Pantheon[[/note]].

* ShownTheirWork: Generally averted, as in ArtisticLicenseHistory above but some examples.

** In general, there's just enough real history in this game to indicate that the producers' ArtisticLicenseHistory is less out of ignorance and more because it tells a better story (or tries to).

* StayInTheKitchen: What Theroigne de Mericourt rebels against throughout the Revolution, she is especially keen on forming an [[AmazonBrigade all-women battalion.]] [[labelnote:History]]It is a fact that none of the major revolutionaries, with one or two exceptions, advocated the vote for women and it was an overall macho event, with even the pro-woman Marquis de Condorcet denying women the right to vote in his Constitutional proposal. That said, women did get No-Fault Divorce and the right to inherit property, advances greater than America at the time, and the right to education. When Napoleon came to power, even these concessions were taken away.[[/labelnote]]
* TimeSkip: The Revolution covered a lot of shocking events in a short period of time, but even within the constriction, the TimeSkip can be jarring, especially since the fallout of certain aspects of the plot happen offscreen, [[spoiler:such as the fallout of Bellec's killing of Mirabeau in 1791, we skip to a year later in 1792. After Arno kills La Touche, another year elapses between that and the final mission set in 1794 (which is the year of the Terror), when Arno has already located Robespierre as Germain's final associate. Some of the Brotherhood co-op missions which can be accessed at any time does fill in the gaps, provided that one can play them in proper chronological order, which can't be done in the first attempt]].
** The ending cutscene [[spoiler:also skips explaining how Arno rejoined the Brotherhood and attained the rank of Master Assassin, to show Arno and Napoleon burying Germain's skull in the catacombs in 1808]].

*** It also subtly features in the Legacy Room of Cafe Theatre, where the uniforms of previous Assassin protagonists ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and]] [[AssassinsCreedRogue Shay]]) are displayed.

** In''III'', William Miles mentions that the Templars and Assassins attempted to form an alliance on multiple occasions throughout history. This game shows one of them.

** As written below some of the more unrealistic elements such as the post-kill deathbed conversation with your victims have been replaced by more practical but equally surreal gimmicks, such as the ability of Arno's Eagle Sense to show him the final thoughts and visions of his victims, including snatches of memories that further the plot and backstory. This is later given a {{Reconstruction}} when [[spoiler:Arno's final victim, Germain, shrugs all the previous Memory Corridor sessions as private telepathies in the center of the mind]].

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: [[spoiler:Delibertately so, according to Germain. To him, the Revolution is useful for furthering Templar power and eroding the monarchy and church as obvious symbols of power, but if it comes of as extra violent, than people will associate revolution with violence itself and fear further incursions of freedom]].

* RiddleForTheAges: Bellec is introduced having carved several glyphs into the Bastille walls, only saying he's sending a message. The game never revisits this, and it's not brought up again, so who Bellec is messaging and why is never said.

* SceneryPorn: The Next-Gen graphics and the architectural treasure trove of 18th Century Paris promises more than enough scenic beauty. Notre Dame Cathedral, supposedly a 1:1 representation with fully integrated interiors and exteriors is a thing of beauty with its gorgeous Gothic design and flying buttresses and gargoyles rendered in HD glory. This is especially apparent when one compares the [[spoiler:previous-Gen render of Versailles in the epilogue of ''Rogue'' to the prologue of ''Unity''. It looks excellent and servicable in the former game, but it sparkles in ''Unity'']].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/acunity.jpg]]

* SequelDifficultySpike: ''Unity'' has a different control scheme so as to privilege stealth over combat. The counter button has been removed and it's no longer easy or feasible (but still doable with fast enough reflexes) for players to go OneManArmy. To highlight the fact, every piece of equipment, and every mission, are ranked; it is more or less suicidal to attempt a mission without at least one piece of equipment of equal rank, with a few exceptions[[note]]Nostradamus Enigmas, which simply require the player to find the objective, and Helix Rifts, which involve collecting data scattered around a location; neither of these feature a great deal of violence, although you'll want to be careful in the Pantheon[[/note]].

* AuraVision: A new mode called Eagle Pulse, which is like Eagle Vision but also gives Arno limited telepathic abilities.

Set in 1794, ''Dead Kings'' takes place in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris which hosted the Royal Necropolis of French Kings across history until the destruction of its ossuary during the Revolution.