Assassin's Creed Creative Director sets out to reveal the big answers
In a fairly spoiler-y interview, the creative director currently working on Assassin's Creed Revelations discusses everything to do with the game - from why that subtitle was chosen, what the player experience is set to be like, and why Ezio's back in the starring role.
In the interview, Alexandre Amancio discusses moving from the Ubisoft art department through design, finally finding a comfortable place on the Assassin's Creed team, where he's brought a new and innovative perspective to the games.
"Creating a static image is akin to film," Amancio says. He explains that everything in the game - even the weather - hinges on your play-style and where you are in the story. "What we need to be doing is creating an image that evolves, that moves, and that alters in accordance to the player experience."
It sounds like the player experience in Assassin's Creed Revelations is set to be something pretty special, too. Living up to its name, you can expect plenty of things to be revealed - and that means plenty of questions answered.
Amancio explains that Ubisoft decided to "actually give the players a lot of the answers that they've sort of been thirsting for".
"A lot of things were set up with Minerva, with Juno, a lot of the details about the end-of-the-world plot line in 2012," he says. "As we're getting closer and closer to the actual 2012 marker, the franchise is also concluding its major opus. So this game is sort of where we're setting all the record straight. We're sort of closing all of the loops that have been started."
He outlines that this game will conclude the story arcs of both Ezio and Altair's adventures, explaining why Ezio is so important, why Altair is so important to Ezio, and what role Desmond has in the over-arcing tale.
Amancio also addressed a concern that many gamers were upset over - why this new game features Ezio and not Altair. The simple answer? Each numbered game will introduce a new assassin. That means Altair in the first, Ezio in the second, and someone new in Assassin's Creed III. Good to know.
The interview itself is nearly 20 minutes long, broken into three chunks. The first deals with challenges and rewards of developing the game (including the six different regions ACR is set in). The second looks at storytelling and strategy, and discusses a little bit about Assassin's Creed III. The third is all about narrative when it comes to gameplay, and Amancio's personal belief that the two concepts will continue to merge in modern games, creating an end product that would be impossible in any other medium.
You can catch all of them over at Game Informer - meanwhile, I'm not the only person who noticed those Gears of War and Fallout books on the shelf behind Amancio, am I?