It seems Ubisoft is circulating a survey that seems to suggest they are exploring the idea of co-op in the next Assassin’s Creed game. In the survey, amongst other things, they ask gamers what they think of the “possibility for a friend to join the game in order to help me at any time during the solo mode.”

To which I thought… well that depends on the friend.

I’m generally first in line to suggest that co-op be added to, well, anything really. I’d love to see a co-op Assassin’s Creed. It would mean some pretty big changes to some of the core mechanics to make it meaningful though.

I wouldn’t want to see the single player campaign with the ability for a second assassin to come in and fuck around just slapped on. If that’s the case then don’t even bother. But if they design it in a way that having a friend to work with opens up new and complex methods to kill your target, then I’d totally be on board.

To this day, the co-op versus mode from Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow remains one of my favorite examples of how great stealth-based co-op can be. I’d love to see that done in a game again, and while Assassin’s Creed really isn’t a strictly “stealth-based” game (there’s some sneaking involved, but not on the same level as Splinter Cell), I still think there are some neat opportunities there.

So I hope that Ubisoft gets enough positive feedback on their question to pursue a solid co-op option. And I also hope that when they say “next Assassin’s Creed game” they don’t mean Assassin’s Creed 3.1. I found AC2 to get a little tiresome after the second not-really-a-sequel, and so it would be nice if they didn’t dwell in the AC3 time period for the next two years.