It's no secret that the Assassin's Creed franchise recently hit a second wave of franchise fatigue due to the size of the open-world RPGs: Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. Ubisoft's answer to this is simple: make the games as varied as the time periods they represent. AC Mirage is a classic action-adventure title, AC Red is an upcoming open-world RPG set in Japan, and AC Hexe is something new entirely.
That's not to mention the multiplayer elements of Assassin's Creed Infinity, the VR game in development, and Assassin's Creed Jade which is a mobile open-world RPG set in China, with a completely customizable character. And that, in and of itself, shows how Ubisoft is tackling its protagonist problem and how it can eliminate it altogether with these next few main entries.
Assassin's Creed's Protagonist Problem Has a Clear Fix Now
The past few games have been heavily and rightfully criticized for their treatment of protagonists. Aya in Assassin's Creed Origins saw her role reduced, Alexios only exists because a former Ubisoft exec believed Kassandra alone wouldn't sell, and despite the main character of Assassin's Creed Valhalla being named Eivor Varinsdottir (daughter of Varin), her male counterpart dominated marketing, the game covers, and more.
In fact, many casual fans weren't even aware that Eivor is canonically female or that Kassandra is the canon character of Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Obviously, this isn't a good look, and it's something that has proven contentious time and again in the community, but with Ubisoft's varied approach comes the opportunity for equally varied protagonists. AC Jade is unique in that the character is completely customizable, a first for the franchise, but Red, Mirage, and Hexe can take this further.
Assassin's Creed Mirage's protagonist is obviously Basim, but Red and Hexe aren't confirmed (yet both have obvious paths forward). Many fans enjoy gender choice, and for the open-world RPGs, that makes sense. Ubisoft should retain gender choice in Assassin's Creed Red, but avoid stating one as canon over the other. Two alternate histories work fine. But the third game is exciting because many fans have deduced Assassin's Creed Hexe to be set during the Witch Hunts of Germany. And Hexe itself is German for Witch, suggesting the game will feature a lead female protagonist.
And Ubisoft can repeat this for its next-open world RPG after AC Red, it can do so for its next action-adventure title (which should happen again after AC Mirage), and it can keep changing things up with titles like Hexe. Ubisoft isn't going to try to make one game make everyone happy, and that's smart. But targeting what its fans want with a diverse line-up of games, with equally diverse approaches to main characters, will alleviate at least one major pain point of the Assassin's Creed community.
Assassin's Creed Mirage releases in 2023 for Luna, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.