New trailer introduces the historical figures of Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

YouTube

Last month we got a look at the gang of seven nogoodniks who will cause the Brotherhood of Assassins so much trouble during the upcoming Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. Today it's time to learn about the guys on the other side, which is to say your side: Six of the greatest minds of the Victorian Era, who don't seem to have any problem at all with dedicating their energies and efforts to support a group whose raison d'être is doing relentless, but quiet, murders.

It's a pretty heavy lineup, and unlike the bad guy roster, each of these characters is a real historical figure—although probably not historically accurate. There's Alexander Graham Bell, whose greatest invention is apparently not the telephone but a wide-range stun bomb and what appears to be some kind of ray gun; Karl Marx, the revolutionary socialist; the naturalist and evolutionist Charles Darwin; novelist Charles Dickens; Florence Nightingale, who modernized the concept of nursing; and of course Queen Victoria, for whom the Victorian Era is named.

I still haven't quite got a grip on how the Assassin Brotherhood went from being a shadowy clan of... well, assassins, to an in-the-open gang of freedom fighters. I'm not sure what good Darwin's complaints of, "Oh, they're saying nasty things about me" does for the cause, either. In fact, when you get right down to it, the leaders of the bad guys seem like the sort of folks who get things done; the ones on your team look a lot more like they hope someone else will step up to the plate.

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate comes out on November 19.

TOPICS

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.