It’s About Time for Desmond to Go, says Hutchinson

Yes, we’re talking about that Desmond. Y’know, the unbearably ordinary guy, Desmond Miles. Worked as a bartender in Boston before getting kidnapped by Abstergo. Yeah, that regular dude.

Assassin’s Creed III creative lead Alex Hutchinson said Desmond’s time is about up. In an interview with Polygon, Hutchinson likened Desmond’s story with people thinking back to the stupid things they did in junior high.

“Things that go on too long lack resonance,” said Hutchinson. “We’re asking people to remember seven years worth of story. Which is like saying you were in junior high and now you’re finishing college. And you need to remember what you were doing in junior high.

“I think Desmond needs to end.”

Right now though, Hutchinson couldn’t help but think of Desmond’s story like the Twilight Zone. It’s that same Rod Serling guy, but each story wraps up at the end of the episode. And yet there he is again at the beginning of the next episode.

“It’s more like the Twilight Zone,” Hutchinson continued. “There’s always a guy introducing it and he’s there every episode, but each game completes its own story. Assassin’s Creed one was Altair’s story. Ezio has been and gone. You can engage with these historical stories individually without having to necessarily understand Desmond’s story. But yes, we eventually do have to wrap it up.”

How they’ll do it remains a mystery, but at least we won’t have to deal with crazy alien theories and modern day conspiracies much longer. Maybe. We hope. Hutchinson said that from the beginning he never really wanted Desmond to become such a huge plot point either, pitching Assassin’s Creed like Star Trek’s episodic series.

“I always pitched it to the guys on this game to think of it almost like Star Trek,” said Hutchinson. “Each game is a season…each big number is a sub-title. We’re not changing the universe, but we’re being given the reigns to the equivalent of [Star Trek] The Next Generation. Yes, it’s the Star Trek universe, and that has certain immutable laws and there’s a base kind of tone to it, but within that you can do whatever you want.”

In relation to past Assassin’s Creed games, 3 is already an entirely new game. Hutchinson said that it’s “90 per cent a new game,” owing a lot of it to the new protagonist, new time period, a new story, and a lot of new mechanics.

Via Eurogamer.