Ever since the Ghost of Tsushima.
Ghost of Tsushima never feels like a chore. The open world checklist problem is almost entirely solved by the Guiding Wind feature Ghost of Tsushima uses to shepherd the player toward their objectives. The Guiding Wind helps immerse the player by bringing the world to life and using the environment to make sure they spend minimal time checking the map. Side content, such as the life-giving hot springs or the meditative, headband-granting haikus become rolled into the natural exploration of Tsushima because the game organically leads the player to them with the help of a golden bird. Whenever a point of interest is nearby, the bird soars down from the edges of the screen to lead Jin along his journey. This inherently increases the agency of the player by giving them two options: continue following the wind to the tracked quest, or follow the bird and see what it will reveal.
The Guiding Wind is so effective at keeping gameplay interruptions to a minimum that one's response is to wonder why it's not being implemented in every open world game. The quick answer is that most games don't have a narrative-friendly reason for the character to be guided by some omniscient force. The Guiding Wind works so well within Ghost of Tsushima because the entire traversable area was designed to accommodate it. Fields of pampas grass blow in the wind; brightly colored leaves fall from trees and are captured by the breeze; Jin's cloak whips in the direction of his destination. Few established open world IPs have the infrastructure to such a system.
Assassin's Creed Already Has the Foundation in Place
Luckily for Assassin's Creed, there is already a pre-existing feature that could easily adopt a Guiding Wind-like navigation system. Each protagonist in the most recent trilogy has a faithful avian companion the player can take control of in order to get a literal bird's-eye view of their surroundings. Bird imagery has long been synonymous with the Assassins in the series, even so far back that the protagonist of the very first Assassin's Creed, Altaïr, has a hood designed to parody a beak. Ubisoft should take advantage of this established motif to enhance the experience of their flagship series.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is already making strides in addressing the player fatigue related to a cluttered map. There are three different Exploration Difficulty settings, the "hardest" of which is the Pathfinder setting. When choosing this option, the game will no longer tell the player how far their tracked objective is, and they'll have to be much closer to other tasks before the icons appear on the com. As the name implies, this encourages players to find their own path through the game by utilizing context clues and paying attention to NPC dialogue for hints as to where they should be heading. The game world is massive, yet rationally constructed, so following roads and rivers toward the next quest usually results in an additional encounter.
The Pathfinder Exploration Difficulty also encourages the player to utilize their trusty raven companion. Instead of glancing at the com to see how many meters they are from their objective, its much more immersive and satisfying to take flight with the raven, see which paths will lead them there, and get an idea of what they might expect to find once they arrive. Now the map only has to be opened when plotting the next major destination, and the player can rely on the com and their raven to lead them to all the goodies that can be found along the way.
This idea should be taken a step further by removing the icons on the com entirely. Players should be focused on playing, not staring at the top edge of their screen trying to track down a new piece of loot. Although the Guiding Wind doesn't translate directly into Assassin's Creed, the golden bird that leads Jin to useful locations fits perfectly. Eivor's raven in Valhalla can already be seen ively following the character while they're exploring. Why not have the raven point the way? A simple button prompt could be added to divert the raven from the tracked quest whenever a piece of side content is nearby.
The Guiding Wind Does Wonders for Immersion
Navigating the game world like this is helps players avoid spending an inordinate amount of time in menus, and is much more conducive to players who consider themselves completionists. Ghost of Tsushima allowed players to spend technique points on Guiding Wind upgrades, giving them the option to track specific collectibles. Instead of sleuthing through the map to find the leftover icons, they can just set the Guiding Wind to a specific frequency and explore for themselves. It makes getting the Ghost of Tsushima platinum trophy a breeze – pun intended.
Any gameplay-narrative dissonance regarding this feature can be easily hand-waved with the framing device already in place: the Animus. Everything the player does in the historical context of Assassin's Creed is a recreation of the protagonist's memories. The series already has a long history of using the Animus to gate player progress and create side quests disguised as software glitches. Let the guiding bird be the way in which the Animus interprets memories from ancient assassins.
In of player immersion, open world Assassin's Creed games is ripe for the implementation of a Guiding Wind system. The role of the protagonists' avian companion can be expanded to achieve a more immersive experience, with any dissonant results being explained away by the game taking place within the Animus.
