Assassin’s Creed boss reflects on series’ ‘struggle’ to tell a coherent modern story after Desmond

It’s been 12 years since Murderer’s Creed 3 ended the story of Desmond Miles, the first regular protagonist of the order’s fashionable hour and link between all games up to that point.

Now, speaking at a BAFTA tournament in London on Friday night that he attended via Eurogamer, Murderer’s Creed franchise boss Marc-Alexis Coté has reflected on the order’s struggles to tell a meaningful narrative and attached since then, and how this can sometimes affect. the end will be rectified on the occasion.

“When the Assassin’s Creed franchise was created, it introduced a bold and innovative narrative structure, a modern story arc centered on Desmond that was intertwined with historical adventures,” Coté recalled. “Desmond’s walk was at the center of the modern hour war in search of strong Isu artifacts, Objects of Eden, that could replace the history of the process. However, in addition to his death at the end of Murderer’s Creed 3, We face to an inventive crossroads.

“Ending Desmond’s arc was a difficult decision,” Coté added, “and afterward, the modern story struggled to find its footing.”

The following games first introduced the explicit protagonist of the fashion hour, before sooner or later a replacement for Desmond was introduced: Layla Hassan. But the territory of the year between other video games and the moving teams behind each access meant that the narrative suffered from being too sporadic, too inconsistent and too repetitive.

“The continued focus on characters searching for Isu artifacts made the narrative more predictable,” Coté insisted, “and reduced the war between Templars and Assassins to an easy-to-control search for – let’s face it – magical relics. This change drew the center clear focus on what had always been at the center of the franchise: exploring our history.

“As this approach became repetitive, players and critics alike felt that the modern story had become a secondary concern.”

“As this approach became repetitive, players and critics alike felt that the modern story had become a secondary concern, more of a side quest, rather than an integral part of the overall experience. Additionally, the compounding complexity 15 years of history built “This parallel history created a cognitive load that made the franchise difficult for newcomers to approach.”

Murderer’s Creed games starting with Shadows can be integrated through a single launcher/hub that Ubisoft initially introduced as a project titled Murderer’s Creed Harmony. This is where current, modern storytelling can be housed, Ubisoft stated. But why would players have to simply tune into the original historical journey offering?

“As we move forward, our goal is to put story back at the center of the player experience,” Coté said. “The modern-hour narrative will offer to strengthen, rather than overshadow, the historical journey. By establishing a meaningful distinction between year and offering, we attempt to revive the balance that was once the hallmark of the franchise.

“The story of the modern hour will explore deeper themes about memory, identity and freedom, how the year shapes who we are and how the control of this year can affect our event. Those themes will allow us to reflect on new problems: sovereignty as opposed to control, the power of information and the tension between individuality and conformity, from the perspective of history.

“The foundation for this new direction will take shape with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which will lay the foundation for this narrative evolution that will grow in the years to come.”

It’s astute to hear Coté talk about this sub-narrative as “modern” here, just after the covert story sting hidden in 2023’s Murderer’s Creed Mirage information hinted that the order would shift to focus on looking back through the story from the past. distant occasion. Ubisoft has yet to fully address what this seemingly cut final teaser actually was.

For more from Coté, you can read Eurogamer’s stories on how the Murderer’s Creed boss addressed the ingenious Murderer’s Creed Shadows backlash and Ubisoft’s decision to expand Shadows and repair confidence in its ability to found feature games.