Assassin’s Creed Odyssey releases next week, and it will be the first game in the series to have two main characters to choose from at the beginning: the man, Alexios, or Kassandra, the woman. Now it seems like it will be the first of many games to offer the choice, as Assassin’s Creed gender options are here to stay, according to Ubisoft.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey‘s game director Scott Phillips said that he considers the gender choice to be a worthwhile inclusion, and will almost certainly appear in future Assassin’s Creed games. He said he believes that having the gender choice will invite more players to play their games.
“I don’t know why we would go back,” he said. “I think it would be a mistake to limit our players, limit our fanbase from as many people as possible… we should continue pushing in this direction.”
However, it should be pointed out that Phillips may only be referring to the Assassin’s Creed games produced by his studio, Ubisoft Quebec. Quebec is responsible for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and was in charge of 2015’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Last year’s Assassin’s Creed Origins, on the other hand, was mostly developed by Ubisoft Montreal. We certainly can’t imagine why Montreal would choose not to have a gender choice in its next Assassin’s Creed game, especially as Montreal’s last game Far Cry 5 had gender options (which was also a first for that series). The possibility is there, however.
We certainly won’t be finding out any time soon, since the next game in the series (presumably being developed by Ubisoft Montreal) isn’t due until 2020. Instead, Ubisoft will support Assassin’s Creed Odyssey with a lot of DLC and extra content, including two story expansions. There will also be free DLC, which take the form of additional episodic side quests called The Lost Tales of Greece.