After Desmond was defeated in Assassin’s Creed 3, Ubisoft felt a little lost on how to approach the modern story, but it’s hoping to address that with Shadow.
If you can believe it, Assassin’s Creed 3 is already 12 years old, which means good guy Desmond has been the series’ modern protagonist for just as long. While historical elements have always been the main draw, Assassin’s Creed has still had some modern storylines since then, but has struggled to figure out what to do with it, speaking at last week’s BAFTA event (via Eurogamer), Franchise boss Mark Alexis Cote talked about the difficulties the studio faced in crafting the story and how it hopes to get things back on track.
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“When the Assassin’s Creed franchise was born, it introduced a bold and innovative narrative structure, with modern storylines centered on Desmond intertwined with historical adventure,” said Cote. “Desmond’s journey is at the heart of modern conflict, fueling the search for a powerful Isu artifact – the Piece of Eden – that could change the course of history. However, with his death at the end of Assassin’s Creed 3 With his death, we were faced with a creative crossroads and it was a difficult decision to end Desmond’s storyline, after which modern storylines struggled to find their footing.”
While Assassin’s Creed finally found a new modern protagonist in Layla Hassan, repetitiveness becomes an issue when every game is doing the same thing. “The continued focus on the characters searching for the Isu artifacts makes the narrative more predictable and reduces the conflict between Templars and Assassins to a straightforward pursuit of control of magical artifacts—to be honest,” Cote continued. “This shift takes the focus away from what the series has always been about: exploring our history.
“As this approach has become repetitive, players and critics alike have felt that the modern storyline has become a secondary issue, more of a side quest than an integral part of the overall experience. Additionally, the 15-year-old storyline has become More complex. There’s a cognitive load created in this parallel storyline that makes the series inaccessible to newcomers.”
Unsurprisingly, Ubisoft is looking to change these issues with Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, with Cote noting that Ubisoft’s goal is to “bring history back to the center of the player experience,” while modern storytelling helps “enhance the It’s not about covering up past history.” A journey through history. “Modern storylines will explore deeper themes of memory, identity and autonomy, how the past shapes who we are, and how controlling the past affects our future… The foundation of this new direction will be explored in Assassin’s Creed: “Dark Shadows,” which will set the stage for a growing narrative evolution in the years to come.”
Assassin’s Creed Shadows was actually scheduled to release next Tuesday, but was pushed back to February last month to allow for some polish to the game. Ubisoft has been struggling in recent years, with Tencent reportedly even considering acquiring the developer, so Shadows needs to be a hit for the studio – we’ll just have to wait and see if it succeeds.
