Assassin's Creed Syndicate came out this morning on Xbox One, PS4 and PC and has since enjoyed a mostly positive reception, garnering a 77 on score-aggregate website Metacritic.
But the game users have been playing for the past few hours and the one Ubisoft printed and shipped a few weeks ago are two very different entities.
Ubisoft has already issued a hefty patch for Assassin's Creed Syndicate that corrects issues from desynchronization after successfully completing missions to collision detection in the cabbies you use to traverse London.
Kotaku has screencapped the patch notes for the massive update, highlighting 48 areas or mechanics of the game that had issues. Here's each one broken out by category:
Stability & Performance
- Improved performance and stability
Audio
- Fixed audio missing at the beginning of the introduction cinematic of the "Strange Bedfellows" mission
- Fixed some persistent SFX during gameplay
- Fixed wrong audio files that were played
Fight
- Fixed an issue where, in rare cases, the player was unable to attack after pressing a button during combat
- Fixed issues where the animation would not fit the weapon/reaction
- Fixed offset animation on moving platforms
- Fixed issues with the multi-kills
- Fixed camera issues while fighting
- Fixed an issue where the main character's weapons disappear after a finisher move if he or she was in stealth prior to the fight
Mission
- Fixed an issue where a de-synch loop could happen in the "Change of Plans" mission during the escape part of the mission
- Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck if they de-synched just after assassinating Lucy Thorne in "A Throrne in the Side" mission
- Fixed an issue where some of the Blighters are not in the Gang stronghold area
- Fixed issues in cinematics where the player or some props where offset or missing
- Fixed issues with the objectives
- Fixed issues with fast travel
Behavior
- Fixed navigation/parkour issues on specific spots
- Fixed camera issues when navigating
- Fixed some NPC interaction issues
- Fixed issues where the player would be able to use tools when he or she shouldn't
Vehicles
- Fixed issues where the player could get stuck between the train and the train station platforms
- Fixed a camera glitch when the player was in a vehicle
- Fixed loading issues with vehicles
- Fixed collision issues with other vehicles
- Fixed navigation issues on vehicles
AI/NPC
- Fixed issues where NPCs may have problems with their animations
- Fixed issues where NPCs might have the wrong reaction
- Fixed navigation issues with the NPCs
- Fixed an issue in the mission "A Night to Remember" where the ROyal Guards cannot be killed after being affected by a voltaic bomb
- Fixed issues where NPCs may get stuck
- Fixed an issue where crowd of NPCs would spawn after having the game left idle for more than 30 minutes
- Fixed some other NPC spawn issues
Game System
- Fixed issues with some trophies
- Fixed issues on save/load
- Fixed an issue where doors can be lock picked without previously acquiring the Lockpick II skill
- Fixed issues where items/missions would not unlock after completing the conditions
World/3D/Menu/HUD
- Fixed text issued
- Fixed issues with props in the world
- Fixed an issue where changing the menu language will reset all options settings
- Fixed issues where the menu/progression log was not matching the actual progression
- Fixed issues with icons and FX being missing or misplaced
- Fixed Animus Mission Debriefing messages showing when they should not
- Fixed issues when entering/exiting map menu
It's an extensive list and seeing issues like "a player is unable to attack after pressing a button in combat" and "fixed issues in cinematics where the player and some props were offset or missing" doesn't inspire me to run out and buy the game.
Of course some squashing some bugs post-release is part of the development cycle - heck, having half-a-million beta testers is better than having a few dozen - but Ubisoft's latest patch proves that there's more than a few issues when the game is on its way out to stores.
