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With the always impending release of a new Assassin’s Creed title, it’s hard to tell just what Ubisoft has planned for the franchise. After the ending of Assassin’s Creed III, gamers thought that perhaps they’d finally reached the end of the story. But with the announcement of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, there was a collective gasp, followed shortly by a cry of excitement, as the gaming world realized that the blockbuster franchise was not over yet.

Of course, with Ubisoft releasing a new Assassin’s Creed game every year and continuing on beyond what appeared to be a very conclusive ending to the story of Desmond Miles, it’s hard not to wonder if they aren’t just milking the Assassin’s Creed name for as much money as they can. While it’s definitely true that they are seeking to capitalize on the success of the Assassin’s Creed name, a recent interview with Assassin’s Creed IV game director, Ashraf Ismail, revealed that the powers that be behind the franchise do have an idea of how they want the story to end. Each installment in the series is carefully placed within the framework to progress the story along while still providing a unique, inclusive experience within the game itself.

According to Ismael, one of the key advantages of working with a yearly title franchise is being “able to seed stuff earlier and earlier.” He cited Edward, the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed IV who was seeded in Assassin’s Creed III, as a good example of this. He also claims that this leads to many advances in gameplay, as things that are touched on in early installments become more fleshed out in later installments. For example, the team behind Assassin’s Creed III wanted ship boarding to happen in real-time, but had to be implemented as a cutscene. In Assassin’s Creed IV, the mechanic has been perfected and ship boarding will be happening in real-time. It’s comforting to know that the team behind Assassin’s Creed actually has a plan they are following rather than just releasing a completely insane amount of titles in the hopes of milking their target audience dry.

Of course, this just means we’ll all have to keep buying Assassin’s Creed installments every year if we want to know how the story ends.

SPOLIERS for Assassin’s Creed III ahead! You’ve been warned…

We have known for a while that Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag would feature pirate rogue Edward Kenway, father and grandfather to Haytham and Conner Kenway, the previous game’s villain and hero. However, Ubisoft has managed to keep a lid on the present day shenanigans, especially since the previous present day protagonist, Desmond Miles, met a grim end at the hands of Juno.

In the continued trickle of information before the new game launches this October, lead writer Darby McDevitt recently took to Twitter for a Q&A session with fans to address some burning questions about the present day gameplay. McDevitt revealed that previous characters, such as William Miles, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, would make a return, and said that “the story is ongoing, but from a different perspective now.” Asked if Subject 16 would return, McDevvit answered, “No, but Subject 17 may… in a roundabout way.” Could Desmond be making his way back from the grave through the Animus?

The different perspective seems to be an unnamed employee of Abstergo Entertainment, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (coincidentally, Black Flag is in development at Ubisoft Montreal). McDevitt was quick to clarify that this does not necessarily mean you play as a Templar, as many employees at the company are unaware of the lengthy war between the two factions. Yet, when asked if the relatively new Abstergo employee was aware of Assassins, Templars, or Juno and her race, McDevitt replied, “Yes, we will slowly reveal the existence of Assassins, Templars, and…” leaving fans hanging on the conjunction.

He also revealed you would have a desk in the Abstergo Entertainment offices, posting a screenshot that showed shelves with various action figures on it, one of which is dressed in assassin’s clothing. It seems the desk will act as a sort of hub for the present day mission, which McDevitt said would have a clear story arc. While not answering whether the new character was related to the Miles clan, McDevitt did note that “Abstergo’s tech has improved. They have genetic memory cloud servers that allow anyone to dive into another’s memories.” This allows the writer some breathing space in creating a completely new character, but raises further questions regarding the syncing of memories to the genetic code. He also mentioned that the fan favourite glyph puzzles would return in some form, possibly as hacking side missions.

[Source: UbiBlog]