GameCenter - January/February 2018 - 50

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PARTING SHOTS

ASHRAF ISMAIL
GAME DIRECTOR, ASSASSIN'S CREED ORIGINS

WGC: Assassin's Creed Origins has a lot more
RPG elements to it than previous Assassin's
Creed games. Why go that route with the series?
Ashraf Ismail: When we looked at how
people consume Assassin's Creed, we saw
two playstyles and it was split pretty evenly
down the middle, 50-50. Some players were
combative warriors and others were playing it
as stealth. So, seeing this we asked ourselves,
how can we delve deeper into allowing players the chance to craft the kind of character
they prefer? We had also just finished Black
Flag and underneath the hood of the naval
aspect of that game was really an RPG mechanism. From how you upgrade the ship to the
enemies you face, it was an RPG mechanic.
We felt we had taken that big step already,
so it made a lot of sense for us to keep going
down that road.

"We know the
competition is
amazing out there so
we needed to bring
something fresh for
the series."

VITAL SIGNS
OCCUPATION
GAME DIREC TOR
GAME HIGHLIGHT S
A S S A S SIN'S CREED ORIGINS, A S S A S SIN'S
CREED IV: BL ACK FL AG, PRINCE OF PERSIA

WGC: Now that those RPG elements permeate the entire game, how has that changed
stealth?
AI: We had a mandate at the outset of modernizing Assassin's Creed. We're celebrating the
10-year anniversary this year and we know
the competition is amazing out there so we
needed to bring something fresh for the series.
The challenge was that we needed to find an
answer that was satisfying and good for stealth
players, but that wasn't going to break the RPG
element. One of the first questions we asked
was how do you assassinate someone who is
20 levels higher than you? We came to the idea
of stealth damage, so you can still do stealth
attacks, but if you don't kill them, they'll turn
around and fight you. So it was more of a creative and design challenge but something also
unique to our game because not many games

ssassin's Creed has always pushed the
boundaries of what we expect from
open-world games, but after five
annual releases, Ubisoft realized it would need
to retool if it was to continue this tradition.
Enter Assassin's Creed Origins, a look back at the
beginnings of the Brotherhood and a rebirth
for the series with some heavy RPG influences.
We talked with game director Ashraf Ismail to
learn more.

have the concept of stealth damage.
WGC: Is there ever a worry that players may
face a bit of a grind when encountering
high-level missions?
AI: If you want to be that one-hit kill assassin,
you can get there, but you have to work for it.
You have to work on crafting and work on your
abilities. So, it was a way for us to tell players
that if that's the way they want to go then
invest yourself and you can get there. You can
craft that type of assassin, but we ask you to
put in some effort. For me, I was more worried
that we couldn't come back with the same
stuff from past games, even if it was just a different way to build my character, and that was
the intent of Assassin's Creed Origins.
WGC: Moving around in the world is traditionally another big aspect of Assassin's
Creed. How is Bayek's locomotion different
from assassins that came before him?
AI: We wanted to remove the feeling that
the assassin is doing something we don't
want them to do, which could happen when
navigating the world. So we worked to make
sure Bayek is super-responsive to the controls.
Next, the world is so organic and there are
elements we learned from Black Flag in regards
to more natural environments, but we were
going on such a bigger level here that we had
to work on the parkour to make sure it was
super smooth. One grander direction we had,
though, was if you can see something in the
world you can get to it and it would be smooth
no matter the terrain. So being able to scale
rock faces, for example, was something we
added to make sure getting around was accessible and smooth.
WGC: When you play Assassin's Creed
Origins, what path do you personally prefer:
combat or stealth?
AI: Personally, I'm always a mix. I love going in
stealth but then at some point, because I love
combat, I like having that option there. So I
usually lean towards 60 percent stealth and 40
percent combat. Even in other RPGs, I'm always
playing some mix of characters. I can never
choose one. [Laughs]

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