Assassin's Creed III associate producer Julien Laferrière revealed to IGN the true scope of the studio's upcoming open-world stealth title, and the ambitions that went into developing the incredibly broad title.
"Well, I mean, we obviously wanted to do something very special," Laferrière told IGN. "I think having a new hero, a new era, is a good foundation for that. It's a good reason to do so. Where do we draw the line? We didn't have any obligations, if you want, to take something from the franchise. Like, 'Oh, we did that in previous games; we need to include that. Oh, we did that in that other game, we need to include that.' It was more of a clean slate, and we really built the fresh new game that we wanted to make.
Laferrière also spoke about keeping the new game fresh and treating it like a brand new intellectual property, while remaining true to the series' roots of combat, stealth and exploration.
"We obviously wanted to make sure that it's an Assassin's Creed game; it's about combat, navigation and stealth basically," Laferrière told IGN. "But we kind of redefined what the game is about. We treated it almost as a new IP, if you want. So where do we draw the line? I feel that we didn't have to draw the line."
Ubisoft Montreal has made real efforts to differentiate Assassin's Creed 3 from its predecessors by creating side missions in its sandbox environments that truly match the game's Colonial America setting and it's Native American protagonist.
"We wanted to have the forest; the forest was a pretty big deal for us," Laferrière told IGN. "You can't really tell a story about America without having something going on in the forest, especially when you have a Native American character, so forest was a big deal. We did a bunch of prototypes and the forest came out the way it is now and we're super happy with it."
The associate producer also addressed the fan outcry that ensued the game's announcement, including the taboo of centering a game on the American Revolution and fan's doubts.
"When it was first announced it was in the American Revolution and so on, and people were like, 'The American Revolution? Really?' It's not a moment that's touched very much in video games," Laferrière told IGN. "I remember we were reading one specific forum when we announced the American Revolution and they were like, 'Well, if they do the American Revolution they need to have massive battles, they need to have the forest, they need to have snow, and they can't do it. They won't be able to do it. It's crazy."
What do you think about the game's American Revolution setting? Were you one of the naysayers? Do you believe that have capture the environment of the American colonies accurately in Assassin's Creed 3? Comment below.
Remember Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed III releases on Oct. 30 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A PC release will follow on Nov. 20, while a Wii U version will be available at the consoles launch on Nov. 18.
Interested in what historical events and figures were left out the game? Check out scriptwriter Matt Turner's interview about what was left on the cutting room floor here. Check out the great images from Assassin's Creed III's multiplayer mode in our slideshow here and tell everybody what you think of them on our comment section. Check out our story on how Assassin's Creed III's protagonist Connor could be getting two more games here and watch the trailer revealing his story here. Have you seen the AC3 weapons trailer? Check it out here. Read about the planned George Washington DLC here. Watch one of the game's European trailers below...