History VideoGame / AssassinsCreedUnity

''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/{{Fr|ance}}ench [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution Revolution]] starting in 1789, and charts out the course of that epoch-defining historical event, from the fall of the [[UsefulNotes/LetatCestMoi Ancien Régime]] to the ReignOfTerror.

* AMinorKidroduction: Arno's first genetic memory is when he and Élise meet as children. [[spoiler:It also reveals the assassination of Charles Dorian and how Arno came to be raised by the de la Serre family]].

* DistantPrologue: The game opens in 1307, during the destruction of the medieval Templar Order by King of France Philip IV. The player controls an unnamed Templar knight who's tasked by Jacques de Molay to hide the Templars' Codex and Eden sword while Templars are being killed or rounded up throughout the kingdom of France. Assassin Thomas de Carneillon is personally tasked to seek these out.

''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 [[UsefulNotes/LetatCestMoi Ancien Régime]] to the ReignOfTerror.

** The game's team did so great a work when recreating Notre-Dame de Paris that it proved useful in RealLife -- for the committee in charge of rebuilding the roof following its destruction by a fire on April 15, 2019. Creator/UbiSoft [[RereleasedForFree let players download the game for free]] for the occasion back then.

The game is set in UsefulNotes/{{Paris}} in the most detailed recreation of a historical period ever attempted. It introduces for the first time, drop-in[=/=]drop-out co-op gameplay that can feature up to four players. Special Brotherhood Missions are created to accommodate co-op gameplay charting out events in the history of the French Revolution.

''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.

Born in Versailles, the young orphan Arno Dorian is raised in the household of François de la Serre, where he grows up alongside his lifelong friend and secret paramour, Élise de la Serre. On the outbreak of the French Revolution, Arno and Élise find themselves on the opposite sides of the Assassin-Templar conflict. Both of them seek to steer the French Revolution and the ForeverWar of the Assassins and Templars towards a "unity" and bring peace and stability to a nation that is tearing itself apart.

** The Assassin Council is a hotbed of indecision too bogged down by rituals and hierarchy to adequately contend with the Revolutionary Templars. Mirabeau favored Arno's bold approach and solution of an alliance with Élise, but [[spoiler:fellow Assassin Pierre Bellec instead kills him and wants Arno to take a more radical KillEmAll approach rather than advocate unity, believing this is how Altaïr, Ezio and Connor approached problems. The other elders of the Brotherhood seem relatively neutral on the matter, preferring to strip Arno of his title rather than give him a chance to change the status quo]].

** Pierre Bellec rants against the Assassin's ineffectiveness, their adherence to hierarchy and rituals and their plodding involvement in politics. [[spoiler:His solution, killing Mirabeau and asking Arno to support a coup of the Council so that WeCanRuleTogether and go KillEmAll on all Templars including Élise, however, is not exactly a sane approach]].

* AnAxeToGrind: Arno can wield axes.

* AwesomeButImpractical: ''Dead Kings''[='=] [[AnAxeToGrind Guillotine]] [[GrenadeLauncher Gun]] is, as Arno describes it, "a fine gun"; however, the bayonet fights like a Heavy-class weapon, the mortar is not as consistently lethal as a well-aimed bullet, and Arno can only carry two Mortar Bombs regardless of his equipment. If you're going to occupy the melee and ranged slots with the same weapon, you're probably better off with a rifle.

* MixAndMatchWeapon: The Guillotine Gun in the. It's a GrenadeLauncher with AnAxeToGrind as a bayonet.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Arno [[spoiler:blows his chance to catch Germain in order to save Élise, ignoring her pleas not to. Rather than being 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.]]

* SharpDressedMan: The Marquis de Sade when we first glimpse him again. He's nattily dressed and sports a NiceHat and enjoying his freedom from prison.

* VendorTrash: Same as in III and Black Flag, it's present but downplayed, since it seems that the items Arno loots from corpses are ''automatically'' turned into their respective cash value.

* PantyShot: If a major commotion breaks out (such as an explosion or stun bomb), nearby skirted women will occasionally fall to the ground, exposing their (very brief for the time period) panties.

** Also, [[spoiler: Germaine takes ''five'' assassination hits with the hidden blade before going down]].

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: ''Unity'' introduces the idea that Those Who Came Before have triple-stranded DNA. While this is isn't actually ''impossible'', this would make them so distant genetically from humans that the idea that they could produce viable HalfHumanHybrid offspring with them is laughable.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: ''Unity'' introduces the idea that Those Who Came Before have triple-stranded DNA. While this is isn't actually ''impossible'', the idea that they could produce viable HalfHumanHybrid offspring with humans is ridiculous.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: ''Unity'' introduces the idea that Those Who Came Before have triple-stranded DNA. While this is isn't actually ''impossible'', they would be so distantly related from all other life on Earth that the idea that they could produce viable offspring with humans is ridiculous.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: no matter what weapon you actually have equipped in the fight with [[spoiler:Bellec]], the cutscenes and quicktime events will show you fighting with a sword.

* BadassBeard: In the trailer, Arno goes from clean shaven to scruffy overlapping with BeardOfSorrow, [[spoiler:since he's clearly grieving Élise's death]]. In the actual game, its a general stubble.

* Arno trains a young orphan named Leon to become an Assassin just like him. This is a reference to the 1994 French film ''Film/TheProfessional'' where a character named Leon trains an orphaned child named Mathilda.

* 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 Mysteries, which require moving between various investigation locations; and Helix Rifts, which involve collecting data scattered around a location. None of these feature a great deal of violence, although you'll want to be careful in the Pantheon[[/note]].

* 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's 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.

** The Assassin Council are a hotbed of indecisiveness too bogged down by rituals and hierarchy to adequately contend with the Revolutionary Templars. Mirabeau favored Arno's bold approach and solution of an alliance with Élise, but [[spoiler:fellow Assassin Pierre Bellec instead kills him and wants Arno to take a more radical KillEmAll approach rather than advocate unity, believing this is how Altaïr, Ezio and Connor approached problems. The other elders of the Brotherhood seem relatively neutral on the matter, preferring to strip Arno of his title rather than give him a chance to change the status quo]].

* EiffelTowerEffect: The Eiffel Tower hasn't been built yet, so we get an establishing shot of Notre Dame instead, and of course ''Unity'' bends over backwards [[spoiler:to include the actual Eiffel Tower in ''Time Anomalies'']].