Assassin's Creed: Unity trailer and live single-player gameplay shown at Ubisoft conference

Ubisoft showed Assassin's Creed: Unity co-op gameplay earlier today at Microsoft's E3 2014 press conference, but outdid that demo at its own conference with both a hyper-dramatic cinematic trailer and a long single-player gameplay demonstration in Unity's "systemic open world."

The single-player demo shows much bigger crowds than we've seen in previous Assassin's Creeds, as well as much more detailed interiors which can be entered seamlessly for the first time. There's also a new parkour system that makes it easier to descend from tall buildings, and some "choose or ignore" events. Pleasingly, Unity introduces a dedicated stealth mode, which hopefully means no more vaulting when you meant to crouch and hide.

Based on this look, though, co-op is still Unity's most notable change: how the new hero, Arno, "carves his own path" through Paris significantly differently than Kenway explored the Caribbean in Assassin's Creed IV is unclear so far (except that we might not see ships this time). It is exceptionally pretty in the state it's being demoed, of course.

Watch the cinematic trailer above, and the gameplay demonstration below.

Disclosure amendment: At the time I wrote this article, I was in a relationship with an employee of Ubisoft.

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Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.