Ubisoft plans to bench Desmond in future Assassin’s Creed games

It looks like Ubisoft may be rebooting the Assassin’s Creed series, minus Desmond, sometime in the near future. At a Ubisoft press event creative lead Alex Hutchinson said he thinks it may be time to move on.

One point Hutchinson made was that the story had gone on so long it was difficult to remember all of the character’s history.

“Things that go on too long lack resonance. 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,” he said.

“I think Desmond needs to end.”

Hutchinson compares the series to The Twilight Zone, saying, “It’s more like the Twilight Zone. 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.”

But the TV series analogies didn’t stop there. “I always pitched it to the guys on this game to think of it almost like Star Trek. 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.”

However, Hutchinson does call Assassin’s Creed 3 “90 percent a new game”, pointing to the new protagonist, story, time period, mechanics and setting.

Would you like to see Desmond retired to the bench? Let us know in the comments.