14 DAY TRIAL // Ubisoft has detailed one of the more intriguing aspects of its upcoming Assassin's Creed Unity action adventure experience, confirming that, despite taking place during the French revolution, it has British accents for the main characters, while French can be heard only from citizens on the street.
Assassin's Creed Unity brings forth a series of big changes to the regular recipe of the franchise, relating to the parkour system, the combat, or the stealth mechanic. Of course, other thematic modifications, such as the French Revolution setting or the new protagonist, in the form of Arno Dorian, are also present.
Ubisoft explains the matters of the tongue
This major change in setting, however, raises some questions about the language in which Arno and the other characters talk and what accents they adopt.
According to Unity Creative Director Alex Amancio, who has talked with UbiBlog about this aspect of the game, the Animus technology used inside the actual title translates the French sentences into English, so players shouldn't try to learn French to make sense of what's happening in the story.
"The idea is that the Animus is translating everything into the language you’re playing in," Amancio explains."That’s why, since you’re an Anglophone, you’re hearing all the dialogue and cinematics in English."
"It would really make no sense for there to be a French accent because that would mean that this French character is trying to address you in accented English. Everyone in the game is not trying to speak English for your benefit."
What's more, in order to ensure that the experience still feels like a period piece taking place before modern times, a British accent is going to be applied to the English lines.
French language can still be heard, however
However, for the sake of the period, French language can still be heard, as the Animus only translates things that are essential to the player. Other elements, such as discussions carried by Parisian citizens on the streets of the city, remain in their native French.
"The only lines that are going to be translated into English are gameplay-related elements that we need to convey to the player," Amancio says. "Those parts will be in English. Everything else is in French. You’ll really have the immersion of walking around in Paris and hearing everyone speaking French."
While fans will remember that, in Assassin's Creed 2, the characters spoke English with an Italian accent, in Unity Ubisoft didn't want to add French accents as they would've detracted from the experience, apparently.
"It’s an artistic choice. It’s a new generation and the story is a little bit more serious, and having everyone speak in a thick French accent would detract a lot from the experience," the developer adds.
Assassin's Creed Unity debuts this November on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
