STACK New Zealand October Issue 67

24 / 64

London’s
Calling
It’s October, and that of course can only mean one thing – it’s
time for a newAssassin’s pulled creative director Marc
Alexis Côté and game director Scott Phillips into a dark alley and
threatened them with a hidden arm blade to spill the beans.
I t’s an annual competition in the
STACK office: Where will the next
AC adventure be set? However, no
one picked the Industrial Revolution. From the
outside, it’s not necessarily a setting you’d
expect for an Assassin’s Creed game, but dig
a little deeper and London during the
mid-19th century offers up an ideal platform
for the latest clash between the Assassins
and Templars.
“Victorian London and the Industrial
Revolution was a pivotal moment in
humanity,” explains creative director Marc
Alexis Côté. “London in 1868 unleashed
an incredible age of innovation which
transformed the lives of millions, but these
advances in technology also saw the gap
between the working class and the rich
widen dramatically.
“London provides the perfect backdrop to
re-ignite this age-old conflict between these
two classes, which has echoed throughout
modern history.”
We've often pondered how the publisher
selects a new historical setting for the franchise
and what's exactly involved in sifting through
the potential candidates.
“Choosing the setting is a
process that differs from
project to project," Côté
explains. "In the case
of Assassin’s Creed:
Syndicate, we had the
complete freedom to
explore and choose
an era that best fit
with the capabilities
of the team.
“We’ve always been a team that’s driven
by the desire to innovate and to shake things
up,” reveals Côté. “We explored different
possibilities (not telling you which!) but Victorian
London of 1868 offered us the possibility to
build the first modern Assassin’s Creed game
and felt like the perfect fit for us.”
It’s that word: Modern. Part of the allure of
an Assassin’s Creed game is the hunt, chase
and kill aspect that requires the player to get up
close and personal when the time to deal the
coup de grace arrives. A more modern setting
means further advanced technology, but how
will this dictate combat in the game? Moreover,
how will the introduction of a revolver change
the melee dynamic?
“The Industrial Revolution London setting of
Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate was one of close-
in brutal fighting,” says game director Scott
Phillips. “Brass knuckles, knives, very short
hidden swords and guns were all used, helping
us to create a great close quarters fight system.
“We’ve tweaked our combat to transform
AC’s familiar fighting style for a more civilised
age. With weaponry more concealed, the
fighting has evolved into close range
combat, and has become more brutal
and violent in the process.
“The flow and pacing of combat is
based on the philosophy of ‘crowd
control’ – bouncing from one
target to the next doing damage,
stunning, and then pulling off
spectacular multi-kills to kill up
to four other opponents at the
same time.
Creative Director
Marc Alexis Côté
Game Director
Scott Phillips
Four Games That Nail
Their Historical Settings
• L.A. Noire
• Assassin's Creed
• Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
• Total War: Rome II
visit FEATURE GAMES
24 OCTOBER 2015