Summary
Assassin’s Creed Shadowsintroduced an interesting new way to experience the RPG formula —the ‘canon mode’. Instead of steering the narrative in the direction you want, the story unfolds as it actually happened (or rather, as the fictional memory of the fictional characters happened).
It’s been a huge hit with fans, who are happy to sit back and experience the story as they did with the older games, rather than being yanked out of the moment to pick a dialogue option. “The fact they were even added in the first place is so dumb because the whole point of AC is to relive your ancestors' memories,“u/DarkLordJ14 said in their Reddit post celebrating the feature.
I regret not playing in canon mode. The dialogue options and story choices are all uninteresting to me — u/butterflyhole.
“I’m with you,” u/samjp910 replied. “I did my first playthrough making choices. Some of them felt a little off. My second playthrough where I’m trying to 100%, canon mode is a much more enjoyable story experience overall.”
Canon mode does, however, remove all romances.
“Love the canon feature,” u/franklinmcmahon chimed in. “I am much more involved in the story by just enjoying the cutscenes. With choices, it would not only take me out of the moment, but I would jump on the web to search for the ‘best’ answer.”
“I Wish And Demand For Odyssey And Valhalla” Canon Modes
The mode is such a hit that fans are even calling on Ubisoft to retroactively add it toValhallaandOdyssey.
After all, they all feature in the sameunified Animus Hubnow.
It would be even more fitting in the older RPG games (not countingOrigins). Not only are they stuffed full of romances, but they also ask you to pick your gender at the start, which has huge ramifications for the narrative. Unlike Yasuke and Naoe, who work together, only one gender is canon in Odyssey and Valhalla — just look at Kassandra, who is a prominent character insubsequent games and DLC, tying directly into the modern-day Layla story. Understandably, this left Alexios players completely lost, especially since picking him makes Kassandra the villain (and now, all of a sudden, she’s the saviour). A canon mode would certainly alleviate those problems.
“I wish Odyssey and Valhalla had a [canon] mode too,” u/EquivalentMath4439 said. “I like the RPG but I also love the lore and the story and wanna pick true endings.”
“I wish and demand for Odyssey and Valhalla update for canon mode,” u/adkogz7 likewise commented. “It feels so great. Personal preference, I just don’t like having dialogue choices.”
“I would love that!” u/DarkLordj14 replied. “I’ve been looking for an excuse to replay Odyssey and that might do it.”
C’mon, Ubisoft, I’m ready to sink another few hundred hours in the series — I’m pretty sure canon mode would pull me in. At any rate, whether the old games get this nifty new feature retroactively implemented, a lot of fans feel that their feedback has been taken on board, and one look at the series' subreddit and it’s clear that the balance between RPG and classic Assassin’s Creed is resonating with old and new fans alike.
