Assassin’s Creed Unity Dishes Out on Elise, Gameplay and Customisation Details

Visitors wait at the "Assassin's Creed Rogue" video game exhibition stand during the Gamescom 2014 fair in Cologne August 13, 2014. The Gamescom convention, Europe's largest video games trade fair, runs from August 13 to August 17. Ina Fassbender

"Assassin's Creed Unity" is already unique in the sense that it's a next-gen only title and it's going back to the basics of the AC franchise.

But it will also be taking on a more romantic approach, fitting of its main hero, the gallant and gentlemanly Arno, who may be developing a complicated love story with the female character Elise De LaSerre. After being revealed in a trailer as a supposed damsel-in-distress needing help from Arno, she is actually a character of herself (though not playable in the game).

"We felt that with this generation it was a good opportunity to crank it up a notch and have a story that's a bit more serious and more mature," creative director Alex Amancio said to Game Informer.

"Love stories are always a hard thing in video games because ultimately they can very easily become a tangent. By making Elise a Templar and making that part of the core, it's part of the actual struggle of the character. It prevents it from becoming a B-plot or a tangent."

Between the romantic complications and their very complicated history--Elise's father's death, her allegiances with the Templar Order--Elise is shaping up to be an interesting character, and not just as a representation of the female population in the title.

Disguising as a Woman and More Gameplay Details

Gamescom had been a burst of games and game sampling, and one of the titles that had been showcased on the floor was "Assassin's Creed Unity." The next-gen title seems to be gearing up for a more fluid gameplay as LazyGamer reports that the new features are bound to make it one of the best of the franchise yet.

Character customisation is one of the features that the developers have taken seriously with "Assassin's Creed Unity," with more than 200 items available to change the look of your character. And this goes beyond the physical appearance, as upgrades for skills and abilities are also available so you can make the most out of the co-op experience.

One particularly interesting capability is disguising as a woman, which the source has experienced hands-on. Though the disguise takes stereotypes to the next level--disguise as a woman and you won't be suspected of being an assassin--it does give players a unique advantage in terms of moving about the city.

Since "Assassin's Creed Unity" takes the franchise back to the time when stealth is key to getting through the city, the experience becomes fluid from the expectations to the new features and even to the controls.

Customisations in the Form of Old Assassin Costumes

Apart from the customisation and disguises that players can get into with "Assassin's Creed Unity," other details have been confirmed by Ubisoft.

One of these, according to BehindGames, is the ability to unlock costumes from previous assassins in the franchise. While this is good news for long-time fans of "Assassin's Creed" there is a trade-off in that those same previous assassins won't be coming back to the next-gen game, only their costumes can.

Another thing that will not be making a comeback would be the split-screen capability, to which the developers have argued that immersion in the city of Paris won't be possible with split-screen.

"Assassin's Creed Unity" is expected to land on the PS4 and Xbox One on Oct. 28.