For this Inside the Studio, we sat down with Creative Director Jonathan Dumont to talk about how the Assassin's Creed® Odyssey team put choice at the forefront of storytelling.
Jonathan walked us through the creative decisions behind Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and how the series has been affected by venturing further into RPG.
And since we're all about choice, you can either read his answers below or listen to our full interview!
You can also find this episode on iTunes.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your history at Ubisoft?
I've been at Ubisoft on and off for about 20 years. I started as an animator in 1998, then went on hiatus for about 8–9 years. There was an opportunity to come back to Quebec City, where I'm from, as a world director. Assassin's Creed is amazing, so it was a great opportunity to come back.
"We wanted a story that was inspiring, that was based on a Greek tragedy, that had drama and big choices."
How did you start conceptualizing the story for Assassin's Creed Odyssey?
Very early when we finished Assassin's Creed Syndicate, we started thinking about what we wanted to see next. We knew that the Assassin's Creed Origins team was working on pushing the game toward an RPG-style game. We looked at, "How do we make this experience more personal?" It was cool because a lot of the base was set in Assassin's Creed Origins, so we looked more into other RPG elements like role-playing.
We wanted a story that was inspiring, that was based on a Greek tragedy, that had drama and big choices. The dialog tool was great for us because it allowed us to go from a spectator mode where we have maybe four hours of exposure and a linear story to over 30 hours of dialog. It was making it so that if I want to dive into history longer or meet characters and spend more time building relationships, we weren't limited by cinematic budgets. We could do as much as we wanted and record as much as we wanted.
And how did the character choice and dialog change the way that you approached creating the world of Assassin's Creed Odyssey?
The thing that really triggered us was wanting to relate as much as possible to the character that's on the screen. You don't feel that you're playing a generic story – you're playing a pretty personal story of the game. Very quickly the RPG choices, the way that I choose Kassandra or Alexios to be played in the game, becomes your story. But there are challenges in making that.
What kinds of challenges did you encounter?
The choices you need to do to make that game were quite challenging. That's why we had an historian on site. We needed somebody that knows everything. Stephanie, our historian, is an open book of knowledge, which was great. We felt we could make educated choices about showing that world because it's a world that many people have different expectations from. We wanted to touch a little bit on mythology without making it a magical world. We wanted to touch a little bit on the political system without being a political game. We wanted to venture into all of that. The challenge is making those connections work together with educated choices and making sure that our cities are well designed.
"You're in a questioning period of humanity, and it's the perfect setting culturally for introducing choice."
If we go back to the setting itself, what excited you most about ancient Greece?
The thing that's really cool about ancient Greece is that today we still use pretty much all their words, all their concepts, all their gods and everything. 2,500 years after, we tell the same stories that they told back then. It's a setting where they're trying to look for the truth at the root of it all. You're in a questioning period of humanity, and it's the perfect setting culturally for introducing choice.
Picking the right period of history was also really cool. We wanted a lot of historical characters to be there, and the start of the Peloponnysian war was great because it gives us action. It allows us to have this amazing, interactive world from a combat perspective and a story perspective. It's a match made in heaven for Assassin's Creed to go into such a culturally rich world with legends and myths and war.
What are you most excited for players to experience once they start playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey?
Everything. Abilities are a game changer for us because it allows you to create your own playstyle. Assassin's Creed is over 10 years old and the gameplay and the gamestyles have evolved. Some people come to play stealth, some people come to play fight, then Assassin's Creed Origins also introduced range. We all have different expectations, and I think our ability systems allow you to make that style viable.
"Abilities are a game changer for us because it allows you to create your own playstyle."
The other part that I really like is from a narrative point of view. We vary our tones. Alexios and Kassandra are very expressive characters, and we allow ourselves some humor as well. You're going to be playing this game for over a hundred hours, and you need a poignant, deep, and tragic storyline, but you cannot just stay on that. If I'm adventuring through that world, I want to have a good laugh. So we have quite a few silly quests sometimes. They show a different light of your character. It allows us to have a good laugh and to keep things surprising. The Greeks were known for tragedy, they were known for comedy, and they were known for storytelling and myths and legends. How do you tap into that and incorporate it into a big Odyssey adventure? That's what I like, and I think our game does do that pretty well.
Do you have any final thoughts to share with our community?
We spent quite a bit of time in crafting it, and a lot of passion went into this game. Being at the heart of this game, I did feel that everybody gave it all they had to make it an experience that is a little bit different. This story is really linked to a First Civilization, what it is to be a hero, and what it is to be a mercenary in the Greek world. It's a very deep family story as well, and it's exploring history. It's really an immersive experience, so I hope the community does get that out of the game, and that players are left with a fulfilling sentiment from having played it.
We hope you enjoyed reading or listening to our interview with Jonathan Dumont, and check out our previous interview with Game Director Scott Phillips! We'd love to hear your thoughts – whether it's about topics or guests you'd like for us to explore down the road. Join the discussion with our community on the official forums or reach us on Twitter with #ACInsidetheStudio.
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