Ubisoft announced that dynamic crowds and a living landscape will play a central role in the game while introducing alternate gameplay loops.
Creative director Alex Hutchinson from Ubisoft explained that Assassin’s Creed III's crowd AI will be better than ever. “The biggest additions have been to allow crowd member to be attracted to areas or interactions, and then to leave those and begin another action in sequence. No longer will you be able to watch people stay in a conversation for hours. Eventually they’ll go on their way.”
The series is popular because of the importance of huge crowds and their interaction with the player. Hutchinson introduced a new crowd saying that “animals are the ‘crowd’ of the wilderness”. He continued: “Players can obviously hunt the animals, but we really want people to immerse themselves in the tracking and trapping elements of interacting with animals. We want people to see some species just by navigating the world, but many others will require the player to use tactics and strategy to find and kill them. In a sense, we want players to assassinate animals more than just shoot them.”
As a new feature“alternate gameplay loops” will be awarded to the player. For example: A hunting club might ask Connor if he wants to be a member after observing his skills with the bow. “They will give the player an invitation which will allow them access to a previously inaccessible area of the map where they can join the club and gain a bunch of new side-challenges and rewards.”
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