Set in WW2, the game might become too generic

Oct 14, 2009 18:01 GMT  ·  By

We may not know what Assassin's Creed II will be like, but it looks like either the game will definitely be another big hit or the producers don't even care. That's mainly because Assassin's Creed III is already being conceived. Still just in a brainstorm stage the game seems to be pushing some new ideas for the series. Ubisoft is seriously thinking about making the lead character a woman and even seems to be fond of the idea of completely changing the time period as well.

Producer Sebastien Puel had an interview with the Xbox World 360 magazine and shared some of their ideas for Assassin's Creed III. "We've had discussions on [the topic of a female assassin]. It could be really interesting but we'd need to find the right time period and place for that. Where would that make sense? We don't want to just decide we want to change and have a female hero as the first inspiration is always the time period, but if you're talking about, say, World War II the economies in England and France were run by women because the men were off fighting. So maybe in this context you were a woman in England during WWII. Why not? Nothing prevents us from doing it."

Sure, nothing prevents them from doing it, but if they actually end up doing it or not could determine the future of the series. It's not that a female lead wouldn't appeal to the public, it's more that the age they're thinking about wouldn't be the best suited. Assassin's Creed was successful because it was centered in a very interesting and intense time period that players weren't very accustomed to. It brought something new, something exciting. The Arab world in the time of the crusades is filled with mystery and the exotic feel of One Thousand and One Nights.

World War 2 is a time frame that has been oversaturated with computer games. First-person shooters, real-time and turn-based strategy games and combat simulators, the only thing Hitler wasn't forced to put up with yet is a Sims game. Just as creative director Patrice Fortier thinks, the game has a huge plethora of directions in which it can expand. "What's so great about Assassin's Creed is that we can just expand and expand. I'm often asked if we're doing a third game after ACII... I mean, we could do 35 of these." But this doesn't mean that their project should be based on half-baked ideas meant only to cover a new segment of the market. Sales aren't supposed to be the foundation for creation. Until Assassin's Creed III becomes a solid project, the second installment in the series will become available on November 17 on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.