A Letter To: Ubisoft

Dear Ubisoft,
2014 was a crazy year for you guys and gals. You released a lot of games. You launched two new IPs and you even released a lot of Assassin’s Creeds games. Like a lot. Like...ok, like maybe too many if I’m being honest.
But this was far from a great year for you. Unity was and for many is broken and filled with bugs. Watch Dogs got mediocre reviews and The Crew did as well. But hey, Far Cry 4 was pretty damn good...even if it was basically Far Cry 3.5. But yeah, not a great year for you guys and gals. Hell Jade Raymond left, that really sucks.
So I almost feel like a jerk writing you this letter because of the rough year you had. But as someone who has played a bunch of your games this year and last year I feel it’s time to tell you something.
Stop. Making. Me. Climb. Towers.

Doing it in Assassin’s Creed was fine. That has been a part of that series since day one. But now every game you make seems to have the same basic mechanic. Go to a place on the map and do something, usually climb, and activate a “Tower”. Doing this reveals a new part of the map and some new activities you can do in that part of the map.
Watch Dogs has it. Far Cry 3 and now 4 have it. All the Assassin’s Creed games you released this year had it. And even The Crew, a driving game, has this mechanic.
Even worse is that other companies seem to be taken this idea and using too. Shadow of Mordor has towers. Batman Arkham Origins had towers. Your “Climb The Tower” disease is spreading. And I can only hope it doesn’t start showing up in even more games. Imagine Grand Theft Auto VI having you climb skyscrapers to unlock new side missions. The next Fallout making you go to underground Vault beacons to unlock parts of the map.

Ubisoft… please. PLEASE. Stop making me climb towers. I am so excited for a Beyond Good and Evil 2, but I have a bad feeling that I might have to climb towers in that game too. I wonder how long it will be till Just Dance has you dancing your way up a tall building to unlock a new Bruno Mars song to shake your Wiimote to. Uplay will have a mini game where you climb a tower to unlock new parts of the service. Want to buy a game? Go climb this tower first.
Look, Ubisoft, can I call you Ubi? I feel like we know each other well enough at this point. Look Ubi, I really like some of your games. And I like that you take chances on new IP and make awesome and colorful games like Rayman Legends. But please, I think I speak for most when I ask you to stop making us climb towers. Please.
Your friend, Zack Zwiezen
PS: Oh and try to release games that work in the future too, that would be nice.