3 Key Assassin’s Creed Unity Tips

Even before review embargoes and frame rates took over the conversation, talk about Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Unity video game was at an all-time high. There’d been a new Assassin’s Creed game every year since 2009. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag set a new gold-standard for the franchise. Assassin’s Creed Unity is the first game in the series made exclusively with the Xbox One and PS4 in mind. Ubisoft needed to deliver a decent experience and it did.

If you’re thinking about picking up Assassin’s Creed Unity, do so. It’s a terrific game, with a decent story and pretty solid play mechanics. There are definitely issues. Early on, frame rates drop in the most scenic locations. Also, getting stuck on a building and having the game crash isn’t great, but Ubisoft has plans to fix issues on an ongoing basis.

Read: Assassin’s Creed Unity Trailer Shows Mystery Ahead of Release

Here are some tips for playing Assassin’s Creed Unity that I’ve picked up in my 13 hours with the game in no particular order. Some are pretty basic, but others are key to having an enjoyable experience.

Pick A Fighting Style

I’ve played a lot of different games over the years, but I can’t say I’m a great gamer. I’ve never been quick on drawing a sword or hitting just the right button combinations at just the right time to fend off bad guys. Assassin’s Creed Unity allows players like me to make up for that with stealth, gadgetry and cunning. When you’re playing Assassin’s Creed Unity it helps to know what kind of gamer you are.

If you like rolling into a fight and just dealing damage until there is no one left, than Unity allows you to do that – almost. You’ll need to be almost perfect in your combat execution, and you’re still going to have to think critically about what you’re doing in the game sometimes. On the other hand, Assassin’s Creed Unity includes an impressive array of weapons and options for basic gamers, like me, who need stealth to succeed. The Phantom Blade, mace and smoke bombs are your friends.

When in Need of Cash, Go to the Café Theatre

Sometimes it’s pretty hard to balance the different priorities you have in an open-world game like Assassin’s Creed Unity. Story fans want to deep dive into the single player and find out for themselves what is going in. Open-world fans want to explore the area though. Turns out the first thing you should do when you can in Assassin’s Creed Unity is purchase the Café Theatre and begin doing its missions and upgrading it. Why? Where the open world and story collide are that they both require cash. In the open world you’ll use cash to purchase other small taverns. In both portions of the game you’ll need money so that you can upgrade your weapons and refill stock on equipment that you’ve just used.

A basic refill all on equipment definitely costs upwards of 1000 in in-game currency. You’ll need a steady way to keep the money flowing in and the best way to do so is through steady payments from the Café Theatre. That’s even before you get some of the other equipment and power-ups that come along in later stages of the game. Do the missions your contact in the Café Theatre provides, earn quick cash and reinvest that cash in the place. You’ll thank yourself in the end, and it’ll make your journey a lot easier.

Go Home and Practice

I mentioned that the really hardcore can take on small crowds of enemies in Assassins Creed Unity and win. That’s true, but you’ve got to actually get to that point in your skill set. For the rest, you’re going to need to practice and all of it. Go to your home and partner with the skills trainer as soon as you can. It’s not just for mastering more complicating fighting. Assassin’s Creed Unity changes a lot of the series’ previous control schemes. Old players and new players alike will need lessons in throwing bombs, shooting berserk darts and cleaning house with swords. Assassin’s Creed Unity isn’t necessarily a difficult game, but it’ll be a lot easier when you pick up the skills.

Explore the different combat combinations. Try to mix some shooting and melee combat together more effective kills. Don’t hesitate to throw a smoke bomb after running out from cover and dispensing with as many soldiers and thugs as possible.

Assassin’s Creed Unity is a great game, with a lot of different things going on. That Ubisoft wasn’t able to get the game out to Xbox One and PS4 owners bug free is disappointing. Still, it’s a great game that’ll definitely get better as Ubisoft starts release those crucial updates it’s already promised to deliver over time. Assassin’s Creed Unity is $60 on the Xbox One and PS4. It’s not available on the Xbox 360 or PS3.