18 years. It is the era of maturity, emancipation, it is said. The one that the franchise will also have at the end of the year Assassin’s Creedborn of the creative spirits of Ubisoft in 2007 and that gave birth to its latest incorporation to March 20. Assassin’s Creed Shadows It is the evolution game, culmination as well and a new era.
What only one trilogy should be at the beginning around the history of Desmond Miles, a man of the 21st century who revived the memory of his ancestors, was quickly overcome by his concept. “We wanted to use the history of humanity as a recreation patio, mix contemporary intrigue and historical reconstruction,” Explain to Tech & CO Marc-Alexis Côté, executive producer of the license. “The present and the past have always had a strong link in Assassin’s Creed. And that, we stay faithful until today.
Of a trilogy to a saga in constant evolution
It should be said that the franchise has become the golden egg chicken, its greatest commercial success and its most emblematic game. Of the initially planned trilogy, the license has become the annual saga. With his ups and downs over time. “We quickly realized that there was something that fascinated the players with this machine (the animus, the editor’s note) and this return to the past,” added the broken. But it is not so much the first game that will establish the destinations of the saga.
The arrivals of Altaïr, Ezio and everyone else make it a cultural phenomenon. The saga is praised by the historical reconstruction of the crossed times (Italian Renaissance, Caribbean of pirates, French and American revolutions, industrial revolution, etc.). Until the concept and players with repetitive mechanics.
After a slight emptiness and a rest welcome, Assassin’s Creed Origins (2017) Relaunate mechanics at the beginning of a RPG (roles game) in the approach. The key to success: open and larger open worlds, a greater customization of the hero with progression and a more fluid game. Odyssey and Valhalla brought the concept to their climax with very large open worlds that offer freedom of exploration without measure. Too much to do and swallowed too long, will say certain criticisms.
“We spend an average game time from 20 hours to more than 60-80 hours,” says Marc-Alexis Côté. A concept that continues to Miragewhose reduction in play duration and the atmosphere of a stricter universe liked it, also giving us to think about a less ambitious game in the background and form. A kind of return home by mixing history, action and adventure.
A historical fiction, not a history lesson
The arrival ofAssassin’s Creed Shadows Therefore, prefigures a third era for Ubisoft. The one that must combine the best of both worlds: a narrative more focused on the characters and a more flexible structure. “The keyword at the beginning of the creation of the game was dynamism,” recalls the head of the franchise. Technologically, the game benefits from the advances in the engine of Yunque’s house. It reaches a fairly impressive level of realism in this reconstruction of feudal Japan, with its changing climate, its stations, which have an impact on the course of the game.
If you opt for your first historically proven playable character, Darkness A little further from history and rebuild the historical framework of his recess courtyard, preferring to tell Nae’s story and Yasuke as “a historical fiction.”
“We want to bring the vertigo of history, the echoes of the past, through stories that could have existed,” summarizes the break. “Show that yesterday’s problems are very similar to the problems we can have today, and that we can learn from that past.”
For this, the narrative was modulated, redesigned. For a long time, the murderers went in search of edén fragments found in the present to better understand the past. “Our way of telling this past/present relationship has evolved to maintain the interests of the players,” he acknowledges. It also separates from the historical veracity test sometimes made in Ubisoft that has never emerged as a historian.
If Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Alexis Corbière attack Assassin’s Creed Unity Who represented a French revolution reviewed with some voluntary anachronisms (the Viollet-Le-Duc arrow, crossed historical figures a bit early …), the presence of a black samurai or the few historical “approaches” for the needs of the story, the license has never been positioned as a history teacher.
“It affected us and sometimes very shocked. He had tears, played by unjustified criticisms, photos taken in the place for the color of the trees of the trees in spring, for example, that we reproach them,” he acknowledges Marc-Alexis aside. “I reminded them a lot of the quality of what was applied to do: deliver the most successful game and a fiction.”
From a lonely hero to a duo of stories
For this 14th Opus, the story has also evolved with its characters with parallel destinations, then it was intertwined to the game. For the first time, many missions reproduce with one or another of the characters. Nae, the shinobi follows infiltration, parkour and stealth, more killed in the mind and playability than the new corner, the brutal samurai and that is put in force. But for the first time, the player really has an option.
From a lonely hero to linear history, we are now reaching a true duo. Union He had tried a first draft with Jacob and Evie, brother and sister with different abilities, but frozen in the structure of the story. Odyssey He had given the option between Kassandra and Alexios from the beginning, but “heroes finally quite similar.” But the experience has given fruit to develop the characters.
“Sure UnionWe were extremely proud to have been able to deliver two heroes. We discovered many things, but we had been limited for the time, recalls the one who was also director of the game at that time. ” Odyssey. But they were a little mirror. And there, we told ourselves “Well, now we really know how to do it. So, we go with Yasuke and Nae.”
But the evolution of the characters, the way of organizing them in increasing environments, is also due to a way of thinking. A shift finally operated from Black flag With Edward Kenway. “With Assassin’s Creed IVWe have introduced the concept of fantasies hybridization, “reminds Marc-Alexis aside.”
The identity of the murderer is played with elements of his time (mythology, the Viking, the mercenary, the ninja …). “At one time, the freshness of ‘Ac ‘ Wine from the discovery of a new era. I think that, in the future, it will come from the quality of the research and the representation of the time that we can offer as much as the game, “begs”. Assassin’s Creed And to use previous games.
Ubisoft still has many games Assassin’s Creed in your bag and in the development process. Can the license run out? The teams expect the developments made to allow us to renew the interest and surprise the players, who have been much more listened to what they think, Marc-Alexis implies on one side. Between respect for its origins and the needs to innovate, the future will say if Darkness It is the expected turning point or an ephemeral transition. “While the passion of the creators and the enthusiasm of the players remain present, the saga will continue to explore the new times,” he promises.
Source: BFM TV
