Title picture / Assassin's Creed: Dynasty

A valid localized content attempt

The first Chinese background comic "Assassin's Creed" created by Xu Xianzhe and Zhang Xiao has been serialized for nearly two years, and it has ushered in the finale not long ago.

Since the 2018 comic project was started and ChinaJoy was officially released in 2020, the work, titled "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty", has sparked a lot of discussion. Some players are worried about whether the core of Assassin's Creed can be integrated with Chinese culture, and some people speculate whether Ubisoft will take this opportunity to create a 3A masterpiece with Chinese background. With the completion of the work, the answer to the previous discussion topic has been settled.

Although the discussion of the "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" comics is mostly focused on gamers, author fans, and history enthusiasts, and players have not yet expressed expectations for the official game of "Assassin's Creed" with Chinese background, Ubisoft seems to have found a "shortcut" to land the story. "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" is also facing readers' scrutiny. Whether it is recognition or doubt, for the "Assassin's Creed" IP, this comic's test of localized content in China is undoubtedly effective.

Game elements that can be seen everywhere

As the original content derived from Assassin's Creed, the game elements naturally run through the entire life of Assassin's Creed: Dynasty. The comic begins with the core slogan of "Everything is empty, everything is acceptable". The three creeds believed by the protagonist Li E, "Never hurt innocent people, never expose their whereabouts, and never betrayal and association" are also closely related to the game setting. Li E wore the iconic hood of "Assassin's Creed" on his head, witnessing the historical node of the Anshi Rebellion amid readers' doubts that "this dress is more conspicuous in the Tang Dynasty."

As the plot develops further, the game elements of "Assassin's Creed" are still very existence. For example, Li E sneaked into the beacon tower to inquire about the enemy, but because of the plot of "one person missing, two or three missing", the final head-on battle made a group of game players say that this wave of "Kai Wushuang" is very real; for example, the practice of jumping from the eaves to haystacks to avoid pursuers is also a familiar operation for many players; Li E fell into Wang Chengye's trap and was imprisoned, from the pain of losing his friends to the revival of rejuvenation, when he escaped from prison, Li E opened his arms and jumped down from the solemn Buddha statue, which made players sigh at the impact of "Leap of Faith".

Perhaps in the eyes of ordinary comic readers, the above content is just the need for the development of the main plot, but players can understand it and respond with game elements. Many people are happy to simulate and publish tasks in comments and barrage, such as going to the beacon tower to unlock bird's eye view points, and the perfect synchronization conditions "Don't be discovered", which can always attract players to play with them.

These game "Eastern Eggs" that can make players feel tacitly actually only stay at the simple setting level, and those that require readers to continue to understandThe deep content of the work, that is, the thoughts and spirits that the work wants to convey, is actually the part that fans care more about. In response to the "collision between Chinese culture and Western kernels" that many players were worried about before the comic serialization, this comic cleverly found an entry point that is easy to be accepted by the Chinese people - history and martial arts.

The "Chinese Assassin" who tries to rely on history and martial arts to land

In fact, in the eyes of many players, the integration of historical elements into the works is one of the advantages of the ancient storyline in the "Assassin's Creed" series of games.

Each work in "Assassin's Creed" has different historical background and protagonist identity, and the characters have their own positions and persistences in their hearts: Connor Kenway in "Assassin's Creed 3" experienced the American Revolution and dated Washington and Benjamin Franklin; Edward Kenway, the protagonist of "Assassin's Creed 4: The Black Flag", was once a pirate, and the prototype referenced real characters in history; players can also follow Viking warrior Aivor in "Assassin's Creed" to explore England in the "Dark Age"; Yano Dorian in "Assassin's Creed: The Revolution" witnessed the influential historical events in Paris, France at the end of the 18th century...

The historical facts that have been established will not change, and the unrecorded parts will be used to their imagination. The combination of reality and imagination puts players in historical situations and is easier to be included in the character journey.

"In the gap in history" is the unique charm of "Assassin's Creed", but it is a difficult problem to tell the story of "Chinese Assassin". As players discussed in the early stage of the series "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty": Among the ancient civilizations in the world, China advocates "learning from history" and has always attached great importance to historical records, which means that the space for "magic modification" is greatly reduced.

So from this point of view, the comic "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" has traces to set the background in the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty was a major peak in my country's history and an era that was closely integrated with other civilizations in the world. The integration of the Western "Assassin's Creed" worldview is more natural; the gap between the Kaiyuan Prosperity and the Anshi Rebellion is enough to make the plot develop excitingly.

So in such a historical context, how to place an original "assassin" protagonist?

As the saying goes, "Heroes come from troubled times". Faced with the rebellion launched by Ping An Lushan and Shi Siming, all loyal and righteous people can have a significant impact on the historical process. In such an environment, the assassins wandering in the dark seem to be able to add stories in an unspoken form and not be recorded in history.

In fact, there is indeed a person in history, the protagonist of "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty". "Zizhi Tongjian" records his deeds of "persuading and helping Yan Zhenqing to quell the rebellion". In the comics, Li E is a soldier who was rescued by the assassin organization and returned to the Tang Dynasty during the expansion war in the Western Regions.

If the previous "Assassin's Creed" game used the conflict between the Knights' Temple and the Assassin Brotherhood to explore different positions of order and freedom, it may be difficult to classify the protagonist as good people and bad people, then "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty"'s assassin Li E can be sure that he has justice.

Assassins like Li E who have pure goals and care about the people are rare in history. As one of the ancient industries in China, assassins may be the motivation for their actions to act as "a scholar who dies for his confidants", and some people also carry out assassinations for various reasons such as hatred, fame and fortune, and politics. Therefore, rather than saying that Li E of "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" is an assassin in the traditional sense of history, it is better to say that he is a hidden knight who is determined to save the world and wanders away from order. Such adjustments can also better fit the IP of Assassin's Creed itself. Given that the timeline of Assassin's Creed: Dynasty was before the establishment of the Chinese Assassin Brotherhood, Li E's mission became the "invisible" of the predecessor of the organization.

"Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" uses Li E as a line to connect many real historical figures. An Lushan is ambitious and irritable; right prime minister Yang Guozhong has a prominent position, but he has great selfish desires; in the later period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, he gradually neglected the government and made many wrong decisions, but when he knew that An Lushan's mutiny, he could still see the emperor's strategy and decisiveness; although there were not many scenes, readers could also feel Yang Yuhuan's gorgeousness and dignity, and sigh at her death; the cheerful, heroic, free and unruly Li Bai witnessed all the efforts the protagonist made for his goals in the comics...

The ones who spent the most were the closest friend Yan Jiming, who admired each other and had a like-minded relationship with Li E, and his father Yan Gaoqing. Even if readers are unfamiliar with the names of the Yan family father and son, they must know the "Memorial to Nephew", which is known as the "No. 2 Running Book in the World", and the "nephew" here refers to Yan Jiming.

The content written by Yan Zhenqing recounts the experience of Yan Gaoqing and his son standing up and resisting resolutely during the rebellion of An Lushan, which led to the "father's death, his nest was covered with eggs." History has long been destined, and Li E in "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" was unable to turn the tide. In the end, the Yan family father and son chose to make a righteous man without seeking reinforcements. After learning the truth, Li E's grief and anger also infected many readers, and they wrote their comments on this plot in the comment section and social platforms, lamenting the feeling of powerlessness brought by the irresistible torrent of history.

In the final episode of Li E assassinating An Lushan, An Lushan, who suffered from eye disease, was anxious to guess the identity of the visitor and remembered the loyal and righteous man he had killed. When he recalled Yan Gaoqing again, he rarely showed a little panic. With Li E's firm and decisive move, An Lushan came to an end from the road of hegemony paved by white bones, and the whole story is about to come to an end. At the end of the end, the author portrays the scene where Yan Zhenqing wrote "Memorial to Nephew". The picture is combined with the increasing number of changes and increasingly sloppy texts, and also invites readers to feel the characters' longing, anger and grief.

The comics have artistically processed history, presenting the clumsiness and flashes of human natureThere are some choices when the light is there. In the postscript, creator Xu Xianzhe said that what you think and feel during difficult times in person will inadvertently join in the creation and resonate with the characters. This is probably why "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" can create a three-dimensional character while having a limited space, while the battle scenes are very tense, and it can capture the mood of Chinese readers.

In addition to the evaluation and discussion of the content itself, readers spontaneously associate the Tang legend novels "Assassin Nie Yinniang" and "Red Line", as well as other character stories told by historical facts/rumors, which are enough to prove how deeply Chinese fans are "entered".

For example, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and the prince fled Chang'an and encountered a mutiny at Mawei Post. The one who shot Prime Minister Yang Guozhong with an arrow was not Li E who was observing secretly, but an ordinary soldier. The comic does not introduce this person, but the comment section stated that the "heroic man who started the group" was called "Zhang Xiaojing", because in Yao Runeng's "The Deeds of An Lushan in Kaiyuan Tianbao" recorded: "Knight Zhang Xiaojing first shot Guozhong and fell off the horse."

More readers linked the comics with Ma Boyong's "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" in their minds. And what's interesting is that the predecessor of the story of "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" comes from the Zhihu question answered by the author: "If you come to write a plot for "Assassin's Creed", where would you set the background?" After the series was broadcast, many viewers even talked about "Assassin's Creed" in their secondary creations.

It is not difficult to feel that the collision between China's thoughts and culture and popular overseas game IPs is popular among young netizens. This type of work has both the heaviness of real history and the charm of fictional works. Now readers' feedback on "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" also comes from this.

Ubisoft's long-term exploration of the Chinese market

The fusion of historical and martial arts elements, although making entertainment creation more in line with the aesthetic ideals of the Chinese, also quietly increases the hard core of comics and raises the reading threshold. Many lines of the appearing character directly follow the historical content rather than the clear and easy-to-understand vernacular text; although Abe Nakamaro's letters at the end of many chapters are sorting out clues, the huge amount of text has led many readers to say "not want to read".

At present, "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" is in the comment section, and active readers are mostly composed of gamers, comic author fans, and history enthusiasts. However, from time to time, fans of comic authors will ask when "The Man of the Detachment" will be updated. The update time is too long, so that the plot of their two works is "memorized"; some history enthusiasts regret the overview of the veteran Ge Shuhan's experience, or believe that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Yang Guifei should have more details worth digging. As mentioned earlier, gamers are addicted to the joy of playing with memes, and at some level they are expressing their love for the IP of Assassin's Creed.

It seems that the comic "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty, which has been serialized for two years and has been quickly completed for more than 40 episodes.》 is just another way to create Chinese content by the IP of Assassin's Creed.

Ubisoft behind the "Assassin's Creed" IP is a French veteran game company. It established a Shanghai studio in China as early as 1996, and its second local studio was launched in Chengdu in 2008. Ubisoft has been exploring the Chinese market for more than 20 years. In the early years, Ubisoft China's main business was game agents, and subsequently began to cultivate game talents and participate in game development. For several years, Ubisoft has been exploring the integration of its works and Chinese elements, including the Chinese heroes who joined the martial arts camp of "Glory War Soul"; the Chinese theme DLC of "The Legend of the Gods: The Rise of Finnies" launched; the family party casual game "Crazy Rabbit: Adventure Party" developed by Ubisoft Chengdu Studios is based on "Journey to the West"; the Chinese songs included in "Dance Full" and so on.

Ubisoft's multiple game IPs have gradually attached importance to and integrated into Chinese cultural elements. However, the most anticipated and discussed by domestic players is the official game "Assassin's Creed" with Chinese background.

Perhaps due to multiple factors such as policies and markets, Ubisoft has had to make a series of actions besides the genuine work in recent years, passing the "Assassin's Creed" IP core to Chinese users. As early as 2011, the female assassin from China appeared in the animated short film "Assassin's Creed: Embers". In 2015, Ubisoft released the horizontal action game "Assassin's Creed Chronicle: China", which was criticized by many domestic players for "Chinese style in the eyes of Westerners." However, the official novel "Assassin's Creed: The Ming Dynasty" created by Yan Leisheng based on Shaoyun's setting has won the love of many players, and the official also launched an audio book of the same name. Until now, the official novels, comics and other content created by Ubisoft and local creators have formed a certain Chinese storyline.

At least, "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" has indeed strengthened the sense of substitution among domestic fans compared to "Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China". In February this year, the total reading volume of the digital version of the Assassin's Creed: Dynasty comics on all online platforms in China has exceeded 1 billion. In the recent commemorative video of the 15th anniversary of the "Assassin's Creed" event released by Ubisoft China's official blog, the clips of "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" are listed. This official comic has gained recognition from many players, but perhaps for Ubisoft, how to make the works and IP reach more potential domestic audiences is still an important issue that needs to be continuously considered.