Assassin’s Creed: Resurgence

Assassin's Creed Resurgence is a historical action-adventure and strategy video game developed by Ubisoft studios and published by Ubisoft. After the multi-year hiatus for the series' development, Ubisoft returned the series to the markets, Resurgence eing the first of the re-marketed series. The game is the major installment in the next-gen Assassin's Creed series, and the successor to previous generation, annual Assassin's Creed series. Resurgence covers the intertwined story of three Assassins operating in the Far East during the mid-1800s.

The game retains the series' third-person open world exploration as well as introducing a revamped combat, character AI, and interactive free-roam systems.

Credit to the creation of this game idea goes to DanChan123.

Gameplay
According to Ubisoft management, Resurgence is a "rebirth" of the Assassin's Creed series. It was simply a re-invented game picking up similarities to the first generation of the Assassin's Creed games with much improvement.

Artificial Intelligence
Resurgence sets itself apart from previous AC games using a complex, 3-pillar Artificial Intelligence system that NPCs, enemies in particular, adopted. As an Assassin, the player would have to adapt in defeating different enemies in various situations of different difficulties. This translates to analyzing enemy conditions and looking for weaknesses in the form of revamped and revolutionary Eagle Vision abilities. Unlike previous gen AC games, enemy statistics and actions are much more random; this is Resurgence's application to the individuality of different people in reality.

Three-Pillar AI
The Three Pillars of AI are as listed accordingly: Suspicion, Commitment, and Confidence.

In Assassin's Creed, the player often employs stealth tactics in order to defeat enemies, This is based on keeping the Suspicion rate low and the target misleading. Suspicion is calculated with a percentage. The "Eagle Vision" phenomenon can be used to read the Suspicion level of targets in range, but icons appearing above the heads of targets provide much more basic indications.

At <10% Suspicion, Enemy has no knowledge of your whereabouts.

At 10%+ Suspicion, Enemy will face a position near you.

At 20%+ Suspicion, Enemy will walk over to a spot where they can catch a view of you.

At 45%+ Suspicion, Enemy pace up toward around where you are.

At 75%+ Suspicion, Enemy will start jogging over, or he might get another to help him.

At 95%+ Suspition, you are fully detected and Enemies will approach exactly where you are: Hiding in a bush will not help. However, at this stage, they will not be prepared for surprises, so they may not be able to parry if you strike first.

At 100%, Enemies will see as a threat and immediately prepare for action.

The Suspicion percentage can be significantly altered by certain happenings relevant to the perception of the CPU in digitally simplified replications of natural human senses, Sight, and Hearing. Both Sight and Hearing are individually visualized through Eagle Vision abilities. The first, Sight, is percieved through a combination of horizontal and vertical angles forming a pyramidic plane of view. This view is defined by 65 degrees vertical and 110 degrees horizontal for all CPUs, and 50 in-game 'meter' units in total length. When a player is found in this layer of Sight, the Suspicion level will be raised according to the distance between the CPU and the player. Sight range can be reflected with mirrors in an axis perpedicular to the mirror (vertically and horizontally). The closer the player, the faster the percentage will rise.

Unlike Sight, the Suspicion growth rate for Hearing is lower, and the fall rate higher. However, Hearing is much more prominent than sound. The visualization of Hearing is graphically formulated with circular waves, or sound waves, which emit from a player from all directions. Sound waves can bounce off planes. As a sound wave travels further away, or bounces more, it will gradually lose frequency. Frequency is shown as a +%, in which the percentage is whatever percent that will be added a CPU's Suspicion level if the wave meets the CPU. Sounds can be triggered by animals, the speed of foot steps, alarm bells, cries of death, gunshots, fighting, etc. For instance, worn equipment, particularily footwear, with a greater Steath count will create sound waves of generally lower frequencies.

Initial Suspicion is the default Suspicion an CPU has. An enemy who is expecting assailants to attack will have a high Suspicion level, while a CPU trying to fall asleep will not.

When a player is found in tight situations and must escape enemies, the Pillar of Commitment plays a great role. In a chase, the percentage of Commitment reflects on the speed at which a CPU will chase the player  and also the amount of noise he/she will make to attract allied forces. Commitment is significantly changed by the situation to present as a reflection of the assailant's abilities. For example, running where a CPU can see the player will greatly increase Commitment. Another example is, if the player climbs and travels on top of buildings where CPUs cannot necessarily target the player, Commitment may be lowered. Commitment may also affect the level of opposition the player will face. If the player killed a very well-known, important person, the player may have a whole militia on his/her tail. Perhaps the enemy force would even use chariots, dogs, horses, etc, and send high level enemies to target the player. The goal is to lower CPU commitment to end a chase much quicker.

Initial Commitment is the default Suspicion a CPU has. An imperial guard who has failed to protect an imperial man, a duty he is entitled to, may have high initial Commitment, as a matter of revenge. Meanwhile, a young, low-payed slum grunt would have a lower initial Commitment.

Confidence is a crucial Pillar in the outcomes of combat, and varies directly to the actions of an enemy in combat. When Confidence rises, the player may be subject to more brutal attacks from CPUs, multi-teaming attacks, and, more attacks in general. When Confidence falls, the opposite effect takes place. When a CPU observes the player in a combat round, if you sustain damage and find difficulty in the fight, the enemies around you may raise their Confidence and will be more eager to attack you. If you brutally show combat skill in the first round, the Confidence levels of CPUs around you will drop. At some points of lowered Confidence, a CPU may begin to flee or seek reinforcement, rather than stay and fight. Confidence can also be altered with the Charisma level of the weapon you are armed with. A larger axe may trigger a greater Confidence drop in comparison to a small dagger. Killing a fleeing opponent will encourage others to flee as well through the decrease of Confidence.

Initial Confidence is the default Confidence a CPU has. For instance, An royal navy field officer with decades of military training and experience may have more Initial Confidence than an ill-trained slum grunt.

Combat
For more drastic effect than previous gen games, Combat in Resurgence is slowed down to more focal points, allowing players more time space for fighting routines, which will fit the advanced Eastern martial arts theme of the combat. A two-button weapon switching technique will allow players to switch through the wide range of weapons the player carries as a professional killer. The game will also introduce the use of effective kicks, grapples, and sweeps found in various martial arts forms.

In Resurgence, combat is a combo stack-up process, involving chains of attacks from single button punches, kicks, and blocks to secondary grapples, sweeps, and slams, with directions guided by the joystick. Dodges are also performed with a "reaction-time" process simulating rythmn gaming trends, varying in different directions.

Console Example: (Not confirmed, just an idea of how it would work)
Let's say we have the Keys A, B, C and D. Press A to Parry, B to Hit, C to Kick, and D to Evade. Then you have control stick for Up, Down, Left, Right. Then you have the Upper Frontal Keys (L1 and R1) and the Bottom Frontal Keys (L2 and R2). Here is an example:
 * Up+A = Block Up
 * Down+A = Block Down
 * Left+A = Block Left
 * Right+A = Block Right
 * A+A = Grab
 * A+B = Block then Punch in middle
 * A+C = Block then Kick in middle
 * A+D = Block then Roll escape
 * Down+A+A = Grab lower limb, and pull.
 * L1 = Upper Blade Kill with left hand
 * R1 = Upper Blade Kill with right hand
 * L2 = Lower Blade Kill with left hand
 * R2 = Lower Blade Kill with right hand

Attacker with spear makes a stab at your face. You block up, but that leaves space for him to kick you in the torso with his left leg, aiming at your right. You parry his leg by blocking right, then you grab it and pull, tripping him onto the ground with his back to the ground, You land a killing blow toward the ground and him using your right hand blade.

Now let's put this into sequence (chronological order): (Up+A), (Right+A), (Down+A+A), (R2)

That is the combo stack-up process. All of this plays out in a sufficiently slowed-down scenario (via 'Eagle Vision') allowing you to play on attacks easier. You can change difficulties, in which harder modes will speed up the rate of the slowed down scenario.

Because of the reflection with reality, killing with weapons, is now much easier. In contrast, the player will face more enemies of various skill levels.

Stealth
Resurgence maintains the cover-to-cover approach done with AC Unity, with the Suspicion concept added.

Roam
Interactivity with the environment in Resurgence has been greatly increased for realism effect. Unstable platforms have been added, which will make players more cautious of where they step. Instability of platforms can be detected with Eagle Vision. At the same time, the player can interact with many different aspects of the in-game environment. For example, the player can use objects such as chairs, benches, bottles, and bricks as weapons, perhaps even as projectiles. The player can kick waterbuckets at enemies or douse them with flour, rice, etc. by kicking bags of them as well. Players can now bring the roofs of buildings down to crush opponents by hacking at wooden supports, commiting arsonry, and or using explosives. Players can even free hostile animals from cages onto enemies, such as apes, tigers, elephants, crocodiles, etc.

However, many of these tactics, while effective, are prone to harming the civilian populace, which is against the Creed. How does this affect gameplay?

Creed Points
Creed Points are a form of currency reserved for Assassin equipment, certain side missions, etc. Creed points are gained by serving the Assassin's order, They can be used unlock (NOT purchase) equipment, spent on attempting side missions for the Creed, and even exchanged for Skill points you can use to alter stats, increase levels of skill, and unlock new skills. Basically, anything the player does for the Order's benefit  will be an addition to your Creed Points.

When you break the Creed by killing innocents, you do not desynchronize, but get Creed Points deducted, in addition to a drastic increasing of noteriety, which will make it difficult for the player to survive with any situation. Only when the player continues with no points left will he/she desynchronize.

Public Credit
Public Credit is a form of "currency" gained when performing deeds directly for the good of the Public (native civilian populace of the Far East) The player can increase his/her Public Credit by hunting Public bounties (Accessible at public Taverns by looking on bill boards or engaging in conversation or finding them in the form of Wanted posters). It can be as simple as tackling a thief, defeating bandits (Wanted Dead/Alive/Dead or Alive), to killing an abusive Warlord, giving currency to a Charity (Charities accesible near Religious landmarks such as missionary churches or Buddhist temples/pagodas/etc). Public Credit can be used tothe player's advantage for certain locations. For example, if the player is trading in a very important port location, the player can spend his/her Public Credit on that location just to lower prices and increase buyers in that location in his/her favor. There are hundreds of locations to do so. Public Credit can also affect the expansion of the Creed as well. There is factor to this called "Creed Expansion." Unlocking Creed-related opportunities in certain locations requires a certain degree of "Creed Expansion."

Like Creed points, harming innocents will deduct your Public Credit, in addition to a drastic increasing of noteriety, which will make it difficult for the player to survive with any situation. Only when the player continues with no points left will he/she desynchronize.

Creed Expansion
As mentioned above, Creed-related opportunities in an area requires a degree of Creed Expansion. Its not just Public credit: completing Creed missions, defeating Western Templar-influenced regimes will raise "Creed Expansion." This takes place in the form of assassinating Templar-beneficial people in an area to allow the Creed to have more governmental influence over the area (thus destroying trade relations with the Templar influences. The player's control over this will be explained next). Other ways include defeating Western naval convoys in naval combat, destroying permanently or sabotaging temporarily, terrestrial trade routes, and taking over naval and terrestrial forts controlled by Templar Influences.

In Resurgence, the player is given a gang leadership standing as well. When a player dominates an area via "Creed Expansion", he/she can lead pro-Assassin operations against Templar-backed forces. This includes leading hidden, rebellious piracy and crime syndicates all over the lands of the South China Sea. This form begins prior to the exposition of the Taiping Revolution arc.

Weapons
Every non-default weapon in Resurgence has its own stats, as well fighting system pertaining to the weapon's type. Unlike previous-gen Assassin's Creed games, objects such as bottles, chairs, stools, buckets, etc. can all be used as weapons and will bear weapon stats.

Melee
Damage - The maximum and minimum of standard damage per hit from a basic melee move

Length - The length of the weapon determines its affect range in combat. Longer weapons can keep enemies at bay more efficiently. However, the longer the weapon the more Weight it will bear, as length is inversely proportional to weight, thus blows are typically slower than lighter weapons.

Weight - The weight of the weapon is inversely proportional to the hit reload speed, while it is jointly proportional to hit damage and enemy recoil. The more weight a weapon has, a successful hit can cause more damage and can fell an opponent as well as has a higher chance of disarming the victim. Lighter weapons can be thrown greater distances as well.

Acuteness - Acuteness is determined by the sharpness of a weapon, pertaining to sharp blades (great acuteness) and blunt surfaces (low acuteness). Greater acuteness allows KO stabbing and the use of cuts to injure opponents to decrease opponents of their fighting capability to a minor degree, and they are faster due to less air resistance. Less, acute, blunter weapons can disable with significant damage to the head and other major body parts, and sometimes kill. Blunter weapons can apply force to a larger area of an opponents body, which is more effective in weakening fighting capability and disabling them. However more air resistance make blunter weapons slower than sharper weapons. For the common player, a stealth type may favor sharper weapons, while a warrior may favor blunter weapons, but of course these are theoretical rather than experimental generalizations.

Ranged
Damage - The maximum and minimum of standard damage per hit from a basic ranged attack. Anatomy of target opponents greatly affects Damage.

Power - Power of a ranged weapon is the force put into the projectile, which is directly proportional to damage. For firearms, power is also inversely proportional to the silence factor, as more power requires larger blasts, and therefore greater Sound. For arrow-based ranged weapons, Sound is much less in comparison to firearms by nature. Power for firearms are also inversely proportional to Recoil.

Range- Range determines the total distance a projectile can travel. Power is partially directly proportional to Range, but its increase will impact Recoil negatively as well.

Recoil - Recoil is the factor that is directly proportional to accuracy. Ranged weapons with more recoil are prone to lower accuracy, while weapons with less recoil will have greater accuracy.

Reload - Reload is the amount of time it takes to prepare the Ranged weapon for its next shot.

Default Weapons
Default weapons are unlocked based on the chosen Assassin's rank, which is explored as you level up in the game for each Assassin.


 * Hidden Blade  (Rank 1)


 * Shoe Blade (Rank 2)

Hookblade (Rank 3)


 * Rope Dart (Rank 4)

Throwing Knives (Rank 5)

Throwing Needles (Rank 6)


 * Poison Blade (Rank 7)


 * Second Hidden Blade (Rank 8)

Hidden Gun (Rank 9)

Phantom Blade (Rank 10)

Background
Welcome to the Far East in the mid-1800s. Once a rich land of many peoples and cultures, and magnificent empires home and the hearth of basic innovation, the land were the Sun rises has come to the subject of domination to foreign empires who have best seen the Sun set. British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Dutch naval powers have sailed to this land to plunder it for its resources sacred to its native people. Along with them they bring a poison: opium, the drug that would begin the downfall of Eastern dominance. In shadows, watching these troubling times, are the Ci Ke Xiong Di He Zhi- the Eastern Brotherhood of the Assassins, who have dedicated themselves to fight the injustices of great Eastern powers for dozens of centuries old. But they were not prepared for the darkness that rose from the West to meet the Sun in the East. In one fell swoop, the great Burmese Empire fell to the cannon decks that flew the Union Jack. Indochina, was dispersed by sections of blue, white, and red. The Burgundy Cross shot over the Phillipines, and set the foundations of doom.

But there was hope. Travelling with the Darkness was a diamond in a pile of opium, straight from the West Dutch IJ to the Eastern Pearl of the Orient. On the back of a white heron in the Phillipine South, a single red feather danced to the sea wind, then plucked into the air, flying North. A copper coin in a sea of golden plates rolls South from the North heart. These three outliers would eventually form the greatest organization for freedom in the history of mankind.

And your initial mission, is to destroy it.

You are member of the Yinlong Crime Syndicate, the world's most powerful political terrorist and crime syndicate, and the primary front for the activites of the Eastern Brotherhood of Assassin's. Apparently you've never even heard of the Assassin's nor the Templars. You are a pawn in collection of global chess sets. Straight from the Hong Kong ghetto, throughout your career you have spied on Templar-run agencies including Abstergo Industries for a gang-affiliated contractor for a reason you never knew. During your last operation, you were told to drive several international members of the Syndicate you work for to a meeting in Guangzhou, but the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) stopped you. You have been detained in Qincheng Prison along with the other Yinlong gang members under the study of Templar inquisitor and MSS agent Bei Dun Qin.

Using an un-marketed, privately commisioned Abstergo Animus technology codenamed the "Animus 5.0 Symbiosis" of "Animus SBV," Dun Qin uses the imprisonment sentence as an excuse to access the genetic memories of the Yinlong members who were with you for a Precursor secret, and you, are his lab rat.

The "Animus SBV"
Developed by Abstergo Industries as a secret project and un-marketed due to its special use, the Animus 5.0 Symbiosis is an Animus program that has several functions: That "one subject" is you. You have been bribed by the MSS, who promise you freedom and compensation for detianment if you agree to help them (in which you accept since you are a gold-digging criminal). You are chosen to access the memories of all of the other Yinlong members. Why you? Well, the SBV is a very new technology that has not been well documented compared to other projects, and employing a MSS agent to use it would be risky since it may have complications. Furthermore, you get to suffer the Bleeding Effect.
 * The SBV can look into the genetic memories of multiple subjects in the same time sequence, and can switch between them at the user's command.
 * Subjects cannot access their own memories nor each others. Instead, one subject can access all data for him or herself.

Eventually, you will sympathize with the Yinlong and their cause as Assassins, and become a member of the Order. Affected by the Bleeding Effect, you will recieve Assassin abilities that will be used to plan an escape for the Assassin detainees.

However, in the end, you will decide whether you will help the imprisoned Assassins, or attempt to betray them. In both ways, the results are fatal.

SBV Interface
The Animus 5.0 Symbiosis' interface allows you to switch between characters, unlock skills for them, and increase stats.

Currency/Inventory/etc.
Among all the characters, Currency, Equipment, and amount of Skill points is shared. (However certain equipment requires a certain rank the variety of Skills to implore is limited to each Assassin)

Playable Characters
The interchangeable character system is nearly identical to that of GTA V, in which the player can change between three playable characters between missions, as well as play co-op with them through multiplayer roleplay. Each of these characters are an ancestor of one of the three Yinlong members detained.

Bartel Noltes
Bartel was born in Guangzhou as Zhu Xiao Ying (Zhu) in 1802 at a Lutheran Christian community, and he was christened as Bartel. When his parents were murdered in 1809, one of the missionaries at the church took him back to Amsterdam in the Napoleonic Wars-era, which was then captured by the French in 1810. His father, Herbert Noltes, saved him and put him into the care of his household Noltes. Herbert is a Dutch Assassin who participated in the Napoleonic Wars against Napoleon and was a key figure in toppling the First French Empire and to restore Holland as the united Kingdom of the Netherlands. Bartel was taught Dutch and English, as well as French, Greek, and Chinese for Assassin mission purposes. Following the wars, Bartel began Assassin training and was sent on his first mission during the Greek War of Independence for several months, before being withdrawn and sent to China under the guise of a Lutheran missionary to observe Britain's trade with the Qing Empire, before returning once more in 1836.

Two years later, a conference in Vienna was held by the European Assassins to discuss operations of Templars in the Far East, an urgent matter. The order ruled to dispatch Assassins from the West to aid the Eastern Assassins based in Singapore. Bartel was the first sent in early 1839 on a mission to observe the British opium fleet in Singapore, which would eventually be the cause of the First Opium War. Bartel begins his mission to find the Templar who knows about the opium fleet plan. According to Assassin spies, the Templar is Singapore governor, Samuel George Bonham. Bartel decides to get himself arrested in order to bait Bonham, which fails as the British force arrests all conspiring Assassins. In prison out in the Malaysian jungle,  Bartel meets several imprisoned pirates who work for a Malay Assassin pirate named Tuanku Abbas. The pirates let Bartel in on the escape plan of which Abbas is to rescue the men, who have intel on the people involved with the opium fleet.

Later on in the story, a surprise attack on the Eastern Brotherhood's Singapore cell is attributed to a mistake made by Bartel. Bartel flees the scene, but is unable to flee his guilt.

The rest of the story involves Bartel's travel through southern China and Southeast Asian lands, and his redemption to the Brotherhood by not only assassinating all of the Templars that conspired to start the Opium Wars, but also to rebuild the Order, inspired by the story of Shao Jun the Chinese Assassin.

Xi Ka Weng
Xi Ka Weng (Xi) was a Chinese Assassin and considered a political terrorist to the Qing government for his anti-Qing activities. Xi was born in 1799 in Shaanxi province to White Lotus rebels during the White Lotus Rebellion in Hubei and Shaanxi. As refugees of war, he and his parents fled to Henan's Dengfeng, home to the Shaolin Monastery, where Xi grew up and learned martial arts. Xi eventually left Dengfeng to Peking as a professional acrobat, performing for Qing officials. However, he was not paid well, and his situation caught the attention of anti-Qing revolutionaries. Xi's abilities impressed the Chinese Assassins, who made them one of their own. Xi assassinated an official during his own performance as his first kill in 1819. After the First Opium War, Xi was sent South to begin his operations in Hong Kong, where he met Bartel, a rogue Assassin finding redemption by plotting to assassinate Templars there.