by Doug Toyryla 

On May 12^th, 2015, Ubisoft made the announcement for the new ‘Assassins Creed’ game, known as “Syndicate”, due out later this year. Along with the announcement, there were two videos released. One was a teaser trailer. The other, a pre-alpha gameplay video.  They both look amazing! The graphics & speed capabilities of the PS4 and Xbox One seem tailor-made for a game like this. As a fan of the franchise from the very beginning, I have to say that I (along with fans on many message boards & Reddit as well) have been looking forward to a Victorian London setting for some time. Just judging from the videos, there seems to be a real sense of life & culture in the streets of London.

The combat & traversal systems have also had some serious revamps. The introduction of a new tool, the Rope Launcher, seems like it will add a level of speed to climbing & roof-to-roof traversal that fans of the games have been clamoring for. The fighting seems grittier & more visceral, but with a certain flair that fans of the time period would expect. Fisticuffs, carriage combat, and stealth seem to have collided in what has potential to be one of the top games of the year.