The Assassin’s Creed series is fast approaching its twelfth installment with the release of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla this October. But the franchise has been under fire recently due to allegations of misconduct within Ubisoft that have resulted in the firing of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla director, Ashraf Ismail.
The dismissal comes amid claims that certain creatives within Ubisoft blocked decisions to feature female characters as solo leads in the series because “women wouldn’t sell.” This generalization is obviously not the case considering the success of female-led games such as Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us 2 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but Assassin’s Creed has yet to feature a singular female protagonist, which is something many players are calling for. This situation could easily be fixed by incorporating a modern day character customization system into the next game.
In the modern era, it’s statistically clear that a wide range of people, across all different backgrounds, countries and demographics are playing video games. This is why there’s an abundant need for video games to be flexible with their protagonist choice. The Assassin’s Creed devs took a step in the right direction with Odyssey, giving players a choice of a male or female protagonist for the entirety of the game, even if the choice wasn’t the result of natural development (instead being forced to include a male option alongside Kassandra).
That’s been taken one step further with the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Valhalla with the announcement that the main character, Eivor, is playable in both male and female renditions. Instead of creating two separate characters as Ubisoft did with Kassandra and Alexios in Odyssey, Valhalla’s Eivor is the same character no matter which gender players choose. Eivor also has the ability to change gender at any time during the game. The ability to choose between male or female characters may seem like a simple addition but goes a long way in appealing to a broader demographic of gamers, yet this is only one step towards an issue that can still easily be fixed.
While the gender swap mechanic is the next step in progression for Assassin’s Creed, one way to put the sexism accusations to rest would be to incorporate an entire character customization system au natural. This would mean that it became a core part of the franchise, not one forced upon an installment like Odyssey. Games such as Fallout 4, Final Fantasy and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 have implemented similar systems into gameplay which allows players to fully customize the gender, face, and body appearance of a character, without having any impact on a game’s narrative.
Assassin’s Creed could easily choose to include a basic character customization system for its next protagonist after Eivor. This will give players more control over their gameplay style and thus eliminate many of the misogynist criticisms that are plaguing the series at the moment. Assassin’s Creed already has a detailed gear customization system which caters for various loot pickups, but this could be built upon to provide facial and body customization as well, sending the game further into RPG erritoy.
While character customization isn’t the solo female protagonist for Assassin’s Creed that many fans are hoping for, it does help even the playing field in terms of appealing to a wider demographic of gamers. There will be less outcry against whichever assassin appears on the cover of the next game as players will know they can adjust their protagonist to their liking. It will also be a step forward in Ubisoft’s attempt to distance itself from these sexism and misconduct allegations. The studio is already attempting a ‘play as anyone’ approach with its other new project, Watch Dogs Legion, and adopting a similar open mindset to the next Assassin’s Creed game could do wonders for the franchise.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releases November 17, 2020, for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in development.
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