25 Jul, 2011
All good things must come to an end. It’s a rule. There is such a thing as having too much of something good, and then it all comes undone. To avoid that, you simply have to let go.
That’s what Ubisoft is doing with Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. We’ve watched Ezio grow from an apprentice to become a master. Where else can he go from there? We don’t want to say “death,” but he has to leave at some point. Desmond is still hanging in the balance, and where is Altair? He disappeared just as quickly as he came.
There’s a larger plan in place, of course. Ubisoft would never be that daft. From the 12th century confines of the Middle East and into the very heart of the Rennaissance, we’ve been taking on a tour de force through some of the most turbulent times in medieval history. To be sure, it all means something, and it will all come together. This coming November, we’ll be taking a journey alongside Ezio to Constantinople, to bring closure to this glorious first arc of Assassin’s Creed.
What would our daring Italian hero be doing so far away from home? Hunting for treasure, of course. Five of them, to be exact. Our first favorite (albeit stoic) assassin Altair took the liberties of hiding five relics that could spell the end of war between the assassins and the forever troublesome Templars. It’s up to Ezio to find them.
Of course, you can’t expect Ubisoft’s art team to leave us with a half-baked attempt at the cities and environments. Oh no, they’re bringing in the big guns for it. They even made several trips to the city for “primary source material.” Come on, we all know it was for vacation, right?
But how will the narrative play, and how will the story find the gaps and fill them? There’s no better way than to go straight to the source. In an interview with The Guardian, Creative Director Alexandre Amancio spilled many a bean about this epic tale that we’re all dying to get our hands on.
“…Assassin’s Creed has been going since 2007 – the narrative is very rich and complex, so to avoid collapsing under the weight of our own mythology we needed to wrap up a few mysteries and set things up for what is to come,” said Amancio. “That’s what this game is about: we’re giving players some answers from Assassin’s 2 and Brotherhood, we’re completing the destiny of Altair, and we’re tying it in to what’s coming in 2012. …you’ll get to understand why Ezio is so important and how his destiny is aligned to Altair’s and to Desmond’s.”
We all want answers, and we want them oh so very badly. With Desmond left in his coma at the conclusion of Brotherhood, it’s hard to understand just where things will go, especially with the re-introduction of Altair. It all seems very ad hoc, but Amancio assures that there’s rhyme and reason here. “I think that if we keep the end in sight, the path we take to reach that end can be left free because you need to be able to adjust things,” he said. “It’s an organic process – some gamers might not like this or that, so you always adapt the path. But if the destination is clear, you always remain true to it, because you’re always heading toward it, no matter what path you take.
“…Revelations is the completion of one narrative arc: the arc of Ezio and Altair. We actually also have the completion of a Desmond arc. It’s good for players to feel the completion of certain stories – we can always hint at and open others. This series is such a rich universe, it has all these underlying conspiracies that criss-cross with history, so it’s not like we’re missing ideas and initiatives for other narrative arcs.”
And above all, coherence is important, Amancio said. There’s even a team dedicated completely to the idea of making everything understandable within Assassin’s Creed. What we wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall in the meeting rooms. “One of the rules we have with AC is that anything that we state, anything that happens in the game, becomes part of the reality – part of the encyclopaedia,” said Amancio. “We really want to avoid revisionism, and it’s extremely hard, especially with crossing destinies, different realities, different timelines…”
Instead of giving us an in-game dictionary that would probably destroy many minds (and hard drives even), Amancio described that the narrative team works with timelines taped to walls. It’s all a very complicated wallpaper of scribbles and notes. “…sometimes we have a really good idea, but it just doesn’t fit with the whole structure and we remove it,” said Amancio.
So we know now that there’s going to be a lot of plot wrap-up. Story lovers will be satisfied, but what about game play? Banking everything on a great plot will lose its flavor if working to get through it is a complete bore and a chore. Oh, it will be fun, and Amancio says the hook blade is just the very start of it. The use of ziplines and such will be more than just to get from place to place.
“[Constantinople's] layout lends itself very well to an Assassin’s Creed game,” said Amancio. “First, it is split in half so we can have a good sense of progression as we introduce the different areas to the player. Secondly, the city is actually 85 per cent slopes so we’re introducing the hook blade, which allows us to add speed and fluidity to the climbing and navigation. We also have a lot of zip lines, which are a cool way of navigating the city – plus, you can slow down and actually assassinate targets from above.”
Be still, our beating hearts. Assassinating targets from above? This is beginning to sound like a dream come true. Eagle vision will also play an integral part in combat as well, as Amancio explained it was a way to demonstrate how Ezio has become wiser than his youthful days. Instead of simply showing you who is ally and who is not, eagle vision allows Ezio to track enemies now. “His eagle sense skill is also about him becoming wiser – if you get on a rooftop, you can see the faint trail of an enemy moving into a crowd; then you can pick that up, analyse the crowd and find the bad guy,” said Amancio.
No more pointless eagle vision makes us all very happy. While it was first introduced in Assassin’s Creed, it served little purpose other than to pick people up like Christmas lights.
Are we sufficiently excited now for Revelations? You bet we are. Watch your back, or you just might find yourself lying dead on the sidewalk. Ezio makes his last journey on November 15th for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.
Via The Guardian.
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