A WW2 setting would be tough to pull off mechanically, unless you'd just go Saboteur and give us occupied France and Poland, but that's kind of played (although to see Assassins during the Warsaw Uprising would be badass). Feudal Japan seemed to be foreshadowed by "Embers" and I'm kinda sad that wasn't the case. I was hoping for a female protagonist.

My TOP one, however, would be ANCIENT ROME. Just think of that. Julius Caesar. Brutus. Caligula. Nero. Jesus Christ.

As the US is dominant in the production of video games, most north american settings are overused. I would have preferred a setting in europe. Even the French Revolution and the Napoleonic area has not been used much in character action games.

@Ghostiet said:

My TOP one, however, would be ANCIENT ROME. Just think of that. Julius Caesar. Brutus. Caligula. Nero. Jesus Christ.

Ignoring the fact that you'd have to tell Father Time to eat a dick to get any of that to work, and that this would inevitably piss off religious groups (whom I understand to be a powerful political force in the Americas), and that Rome has already been done in Assassin's Creed, this isn't a very good idea.

@foggel said:

I feel like Assassins Creed is the kind of games that explore time periods that are otherwise not explored in games. Setting the game in 1944 would break with this idea.

You probably only play mainstream console games if you think that.

I'm pretty sure everyone was saying Victorian London, interesting he didn't mention that one.

@Ghostiet said:

My TOP one, however, would be ANCIENT ROME. Just think of that. Julius Caesar. Brutus. Caligula. Nero. Jesus Christ.

Ignoring the fact that you'd have to tell Father Time to eat a dick to get any of that to work, and that this would inevitably piss off religious groups (whom I understand to be a powerful political force in the Americas), and that Rome has already been done in Assassin's Creed, this isn't a very good idea.

"Jesus Christ" was a cry, not an example of a character from history that could appear. And the difference between Rome in the 1400s and Rome of that time is kind of obvious, not to mention that it was a whole damn empire back then.

Assassin's Creed has a batshit crazy, bullshit overarching plot that includes aliens and space magic at every step. If they're going that route already, they might go the full mile. Also, seeing the struggles between Assassins and Templars before their orders became clearly defined could be interesting.

@JasonR86 said:

@Pr1mus said:

Here's the link for the actual article.

http://www.oxm.co.uk/40413/ubisoft-ww2-japan-and-egypt-are-the-three-worst-settings-for-an-assassins-creed-game/

That article sucks (that's not your fault but it really does). What was he reasoning for saying those settings are bad? It's hard to have an opinion on a person's...well, opinion unless we understand the rationale for the opinion.

If every game was based on poling data I wouldn't be a gamer. Relying on feedback from the masses sounds like a great way to make an average game.

Maybe it can help fix a few broken problems by looking for what everybody hates, but if you're looking for what everybody likes and trying to make that you'd just end up with a formulaic POS...we already have plenty of those. And plenty of WWII and ninja games.

Adolf Hitler is a templar. Think about it.

I really wonder why so few games are set in the 70s? It's the darkest period of post-war America, the most open to all the conflicts video games love. But instead you mostly see games in the 80s because check it out, pastels.

50s were Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver, 60s was the Summer of Love and hippiedom, 70s is Watergate, Vietnam, gas shortages and serial murderers, 80s is Wall Street and eyefucking colors, 90s is disaffection and apathy and our time is the rise of Skynet.

He's got a point.

I think the title here is way out of context, Hutchinson didn't say anyone was boring, he simply said that those ideas were boring, and if we're really offended by the fact that someone might have a different opinion to us on what are good settings for video games, then something is very wrong. Personally, I think it's great to see such a senior person in a big corporation like this running with their own ideas instead of falling back on the whole "What's the mainstream opinion on what should come next?" idea.

I can't say I understand why he thinks feudal Japan is boring but that's fine, as for WWII I don't know how you'd begin to make AC work alongside that, and yes, there have been way too many video games done in that era. For me it doesn't matter if the AC mechanics haven't been wrapped around WWII thematics before, I think just having those thematics alone starts to make things seem unimaginative and derivative to some degree, when there's so many other places you could go with it.

...World War 2 IS boring, he isn't wrong! Besides, World War I fits far more in the AC tone AND would have the added benefit of being a setting that almost never gets touched on in modern games (I can think of Eternal Darkness and...that's it. At least for the relative mainstream).

Feudal Japan might've been interesting, but we've already seen numerous Tenchu games that it would just be accused of being a knock-off of. I agree with the dev: those suggestions are BORING.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@The_Laughing_Man:

Exactly.

I like the settings mostly because of the awesome buildings and amazing vistas.

Yeah, imagine climbing up those buildings. I think Revolutionary America is a good idea too, but a majority of the Native Americans fought on the British side, not American.

Feudal Japan? World War 2? Fuck off with those boring, done-as-death eras. I'll take my colonial america anyday.

I am boring.

@Wuddel said:

As the US is dominant in the production of video games, most north american settings are overused. I would have preferred a setting in europe. Even the French Revolution and the Napoleonic area has not been used much in character action games.

Given the time period of AC III, I don't see why they couldn't have old Connor offing dudes in Revolutionary/Napoleonic Paris in AC III.5

@Jrinswand said:

Why are we talking about this now? He made that statement like a month ago. He's already clarified what he meant by it and everything. Edit: I haven't played an Assassin's Creed since Brotherhood, but I think Revolutionary War era is going to be freaking great. I've just recently brushed up on my early American history because I had to teach an Early American Lit class. PROTIP: Don't ask your students when Ben Franklin was the president.

Lol, I can only imagine.

@foggel said:

I feel like Assassins Creed is the kind of games that explore time periods that are otherwise not explored in games. Setting the game in 1944 would break with this idea.

You probably only play mainstream console games if you think that.

The creative director from Ubisoft is right.

I agree that making the assassin a ninja would the most obvious and boring thing to do. The core of this franchise is putting a ninja-esque twist to any period of history. Putting that into Japan loses that completely. I would have liked to see the French revolution, personally, but I can understand why they'd go with this setting; the wilderness lends itself to changing up the gameplay some.

To be honest I couldn't possibly imagine how he thinks early America is more interesting than Feudal Japan. That's not even close in my mind... Plus I don't know who in the hell suggested WW2 but they're insane and wrong. Ancient Egypt however would be fucking insane.

@Gamer_152 said:

I think the title here is way out of context, Hutchinson didn't say anyone was boring, he simply said that those ideas were boring, and if we're really offended by the fact that someone might have a different opinion to us on what are good settings for video games, then something is very wrong. Personally, I think it's great to see such a senior person in a big corporation like this running with their own ideas instead of falling back on the whole "What's the mainstream opinion on what should come next?" idea.

I can't say I understand why he thinks feudal Japan is boring but that's fine, as for WWII I don't know how you'd begin to make AC work alongside that, and yes, there have been way too many video games done in that era. For me it doesn't matter if the AC mechanics haven't been wrapped around WWII thematics before, I think just having those thematics alone starts to make things seem unimaginative and derivative to some degree, when there's so many other places you could go with it.

The Saboteur, was an Assassin's Creed take-off in WW2 and it kicked ass.

It even had an Indiana Jones/Assassin's Creed moment then went nowhere.

At this point, anybody who demands MORE games set in WWII rather than less deserves to be called boring, and setting a character action game revolving around traversal and stealth would inevitably lead to ninjas. There are already enough ninja (and ninja stealth) games out there if I needed my fix of that type of game.

The Assassin's Creed games have been rather successful at taking place during time periods not usually seen in games, and though we've seen the American Revolution in a few games, they've often been RTS games that have you controlling an entire army as opposed to seeing a single character's personal journey through it. I'm excited for it. You get to roll with George Washington and Ben Franklin, for cripe's sake. I really wouldn't have minded the French Revolution, though.

@Mike76x: I dunno, the overall consensus on that game seemed to be that it was just alright.

Well, he is right about people being a tad boring for suggestion WWII over and over again - feudal Japan not so much (although that wouldn't surprise anyone if they went there). I like the setting of they went with in the end for ACIII, it's not a setting we see too often, and when we see it it is almost always in some kind of RTS game.

@Gamer_152: The Saboteur was just alright for the most part - but it was still very enjoyable and it did have some great moments. If you have any interest in playing an Assassin's Creed-esque game set in WWII, then I would say it certainly is worth picking up.

Dude's right. WWII is inarguably overdone, and the fetishization of Japanese culture is already prevalent enough in video games.

World War 2, how about World War 1?

@Gamer_152: It certainly lacked the polish of an AC game, and was really glitchy at times.

I think most of the complaints were due to technical issues, not the setting.

Definitely an underrated classic.

You get any creative responses? Or just a bunch of confused looks? I wish my Professors were as fun.

Got to agree that WW2 and Feudal Japan are pretty lame.  I always wanted the French Revolution, China during the Opium Wars, and Chicago during the prohibition.   Something about Assassins and Templars in America during the first half of the 20th century seems really awesome.

Says the company who has been putting out a game in the franchise every year. Sick burn, amirite?

But I would have also like the French Revolution. There were so much executions and so much paranoia at that time that it would've been perfect.

He's right. Well, about the WW2 setting at least. I'm a sucker for older japanese culture so I wouldn't mind feudal japan.

Yea, world war 2 wouldn't make much sense and like some of you, The Saboteur was the first thing I thought of so it's not like it's never been done before. Feudal Japan, French Resolution, or even Ancient Egypt could all be awesome settings for future games but I'm REALLY fucking excited for Colonial America.

He's right, neither of those options are terribly creative points in history for the franchise. However the Boxer Rebellion in China during the late 19th early 20th century would be perfect.

Sure those options aren't very creative but neither was having 3 games about Ezio. Yeah he was likeable and all but I never though he was THAT interesting.

World War I and Haiti Independence needs more love. I don't believe there is a SINGLE game about the Haiti Independence.