Ubisoft kan ha tagit bort magiska element från Assassin's Creed-spelet Hexe

Thanks to the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, the remake of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag that came out in 2013, this might not be the most anticipated Assassin’s Creed game now, but it is one of the most promising Ubisoft titles to be released soon. At first glance, Ubisoft’s new remake looks impressive—so much so that many might have forgotten about the next installment in the series, which has been in development for nearly four years.

Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe, announced back in 2022, is the next mainline game series title; it is set during the 16th-century Witch Hunts of Germany and doesn’t have a release date. Moreover, over the last few months the game encountered development issues because the project was abandoned by Clint Hocking (the creative director) and Luc Couture (level design director), and yesterday it was revealed that Codename Hexe lost its game director—Benoit Richer, who was appointed this January.

As we know, Jean Guesdon, the new head of content of Assassin’s Creed, was confirmed to be the next creative director of Codename Hexe when Clint Hocking resigned, and it looks like the game is undergoing a noticeable transformation under his leadership.

Originally, Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe was conceived as a dark, Gothic-style project that would explore mystical and religious themes—including witch hunts—through its setting. However, according to game series insider xj0nathan, with Jean Guedson’s appointment as creative director, the studio has decided to abandon the use of mystical elements in the game. It was originally planned that in Codename Hexe, we would control a cat during one of the missions, but it seems the game is now focusing on realism and will take a more grounded approach.

“If you want a little behind-the-scenes tidbit about the game (which might be related to this departure), it's that since Jean Guesdon took over the Assassin's Creed franchise in February, he decided to remove everything "magical" from Hexe. For example, the idea of controlling a cat was scrapped.”

In the previous reports, we also heard that Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe will not use RPG elements, with a focus on psychological horror, stealth, and atmosphere-driven gameplay. That information was revealed by one of the game’s testers. At some point, the game also featured Ezio Auditore as the protagonist’s mentor, which was revealed by Tom Henderson, but considering the magical elements seem to be cut, it’s not a guarantee that he will appear in the final version.

Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe still doesn’t have a release date, but Ubisoft confirmed the game is still in development, and players need to be patient as the studio needs more time before revealing more information. As for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, the game will launch on July 9 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.

What do you think of removing magical elements from Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe? Will this benefit the game, or will it only make things worse? Share your thoughts in the comments below!