If there’s one man who knows a thing or two about making video games, it’s Patrice Désilets. Actually, the Frenchman was behind Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed 2 and its sequel Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, while also playing a pivotal role in the making of the classic Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Sadly, though, and despite being the originator of the great Assassin’s Creed franchise, Désilets had to leave Ubisoft in somewhat dire circumstances. Meanwhile, the French company has seemingly put the Prince of Persia series on hold indefinitely too…
Despite this, Desilets is still remembered for his time at Ubi, something he spoke about recently during gaming expo EGLX in Toronto, as was recently reported on PC Gamer. In particular, Desilets answered a question about whether being always remembered as the “Assassin’s Creed guy” is something that bothers him.
“I dunno man! Honestly, I don’t know”, said the French video game designer, who’s now working on a console version of his video game Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. “A little bit! If you’re going to spend years on something I hope that happens”, added Désilets.
Désilets also spoke about something that has become a staple of Ubisoft’s games ever since the first Assassin’s Creed game came out back in 2007. That is, having to climb towers in order to reveal the surrounding area of the map, something which Ubisoft has largely done away with in the latest entries of Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed, where the map is revealed via player exploration.
Speaking about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Désilets lamented how this gameplay mechanic also made it to Nintendo’s game, which launched in 2017. “Breath of the Wild, wow! That was a game where you could do anything, once you finished the first half hour or so. Now, you’re going to just climb towers and unfog the rest of the map. Sorry…it’s my fault…”.
Désilets latest game also involves climbing, though, although wasn’t exactly rapturously received when it released this summer (its Metacritic score stands at a lowly 64 on PC), and is getting a console version this December.
But even if Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey did not set the world alight, there’s no doubt Patrice Désilets is one of the most talented video game designers out there, and his future games will offer plenty to players worldwide – even if they likely won’t have radio towers to climb though…
Read more: Patrice Désilets talks Assassin’s Creed, Amsterdam 1666, Ancestors and more in interview