One of the most underrated classic Assassin's Creed games randomly got a 60 FPS update on Xbox Series X|S

Jacob and Evie Frye in Assassin's Creed Syndicate
Assassin's Creed Syndicate stars Jacob and Evie Frye. (Image credit: Ubisoft)

What you need to know

  • Assassin's Creed Syndicate first launched in 2015 across Xbox One, Windows PC, and PlayStation 4.
  • The game focuses on the Frye siblings as they aid the Assassins in Industrial Revolution-era London.
  • While praised for its story and setting, the game saw weaker sales than many of its predecessors, which was attributed to franchise fatigue and the bug-ridden launch of 2014's Assassin's Creed Unity.
  • Assassin's Creed Syndicate is now playable at 60 FPS on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

It's the perfect time to visit one of 2015's most underappreciated games.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate now runs at 60 FPS on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, thanks to a free update from developer and publisher Ubisoft. This entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise is the last of an older "classic" style before the series began more heavily exploring role-playing game elements.

While the game was playable on modern consoles thanks to backward compatibility, it was previously locked to 30 FPS, making it feel and look slower compared to many other games. Now, it's a 60 FPS experience, making it smoother to revisit or play for the first time.

🎃The best early Black Friday deals🦃

An underappreciated gem

Syndicate lets players explore London toward the end of the Industrial Revolution. (Image credit: Ubisoft)

Assassin's Creed Syndicate was well received at launch by critics and players, but the game's sales suffered in spite of this quality.

That's largely due to it coming just a year after 2014's Assassin's Creed Unity, a launch laden in technical issues and glitches that took a long time for the developers to fix. This was combined with perceived franchise fatigue, with Ubisoft launching at least one Assassin's Creed game per year starting in 2009 with Assassin's Creed 2.

Following softer sales for Syndicate (which sold around 5.5 million copies in its first year) Ubisoft relaxed on attempting to get a game out every single year, allowing some of the creative teams to introduce new ideas, like the role-playing game elements seen in Assassin's Creed Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla.

If you never played Assassin's Creed Syndicate, I encourage you to give it a chance now that it plays at 60 FPS on modern consoles. The older style of gameplay can feel a bit refreshing after years of massive open-world titles, and Evie Frye is a seriously underrated protagonist.

Xbox Series X 1TB Digital Edition | $449.99 at Amazon

Xbox Series X 1TB Digital Edition | $449.99 at Amazon

The Xbox Series X Digital Edition ditches the disc drive to give you $50 in additional savings. The white console is otherwise largely unchanged, but it's perfect for anyone that is fine sticking to digital games that still wants the best possible experience.

CATEGORIES
Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.