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Sorry Assassin’s Creed 3 fans, but it looks like Connor’s story will not be receiving the same type of closure that Ezio and Altair’s stories did. This according to Ubisoft’s Lead Writer Darby McDevitt, who revealed that there are currently no plans to wrap up, or revisit, the Connor story.
While Connor wasn’t exactly the most compelling character seen in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, there were still elements worth exploring in a future experience – be it an additional game, a novelization, or film. Unfortunately, the mostly negative reaction to Connor as a character, especially when compared to Ezio Auditore di Firenze, seems to have turned Ubisoft off to the idea.
When asking about a Connor epilogue, one Reddit user cited the live-action film Embers, which provided a conclusion to Ezio’s story, as one way Ubisoft could do it. However, McDevitt was quick to nix the idea by explaining the amount of time it took to make Embers, but he wouldn’t rule out a future live-action effort either.
“Not at this time. Embers took [six] months to make. [I]t was a big project, and beloved by all, but those teams are busy with other things right now. But we loved the project, so maybe we’ll go that route again one day.”
Additionally, McDevitt squashed fans’ hopes that the Assassin’s Creed franchise might ever make it to the modern day, showing the Templar/Assassin battle in a contemporary open world. McDevitt cites the amount of mechanics Ubisoft would need to consider as a major obstacle to any modern day setting, specifically getting all of those moving parts right.
“I doubt we would do a modern day AC. There are just too many mechanics we would have to develop to make it [believable] … vehicles, plausible modern cities, a huge array of ranged weapons, etc. The modern day will most likely remain as a ‘context’ for all future games, something to tie them all together.”
While Assassin’s Creed 3 did feature some modern day exploration, it was fairly linear. If Ubisoft were to approach the modern day world in the same way they do the Caribbean in Assassin’s Creed 4, for example, there would presumably be a lot more time and effort required.
Luckily, Ubisoft has Watch_Dogs, which offers an open world experience set in a modern day, to fill that void. Granted, there’s a decided lack of verticality in Watch_Dogs, but the two are apparently connected so there’s no reason not to think some type of crossover might occur.
The entire Reddit AMA with McDevitt, Game Director Ashraf Ismail, and Lead Multiplayer Designer Tim Browne is a fascinating read. It delves into the decision not to put player in control of Desmond in the game, a controversial choice among AC fans, and provides some interesting insight as to how Assassin’s Creed 4‘s “outside the Animus” experience could better inform the in-Animus stuff.
As well, the Ubisoft devs had quite the scathing review for their current-gen development experience, saying that working with current-gen hardware was “nightmarish.” Comparatively, working with next-gen hardware, the PS4 and the Xbox One, has been “easy.”
While we don’t know what’s in store for the Assassin’s Creed franchise next year, we can cross two potential items off the list: revisiting Connor and a modern day setting. That leaves only about 3,000 years (give or take a couple thousand) that Ubisoft could cover.
Or are there clues in Assassin’s Creed 4 as to where the Assassin’s Creed series will go next? There definitely are clues, but they might be red herrings.
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is available now for the PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360, and will be available November 15th for the PS4, November 19th for the PC, and November 22nd for the Xbox One.