Desmond Miles? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Assassin's Creed's original protagonist stood at the centre of the series' story from the 2007 original to Assassin's Creed 3. I remember him being pretty roundly mocked at the time, and wasn't much of a fan myself. This was partly because players only controlled him during the series' divisive Animus sections, where the games would yank you of their gripping historical settings to wander around sterile laboratories while NPCs yammered exposition at you.
But it was also because poor Desmond had all the charisma of a boiled cauliflower. This despite being voiced by Nolan North, best known for playing Uncharted's effortlessly charming thief Nathan Drake. Ubisoft tried to spice up Desmond's adventures in later games, but never really achieved this, ultimately opting to bump off Desmond in Assassin's Creed 3. Apparently, this came as a surprise to North, who didn't find out that Desmond was dead until a fan told him on Twitter.
It's not wholly clear what North meant by this. The scene in which Desmond dies makes it pretty clear that he's dead. Maybe he just wasn't all that keen on how Ubisoft approached it. As he explained in the video, he also expected to play Desmond for considerably longer: "I think the original idea was eight or nine games with Desmond."
Meaning no disrespect to North's considerable talents, such a notion puts a shiver down my spine. Not that Assassin's Creed's modern day segments have been improved by Desmond's absence. In fact, Ubisoft's handling of the modern day storyline in subsequent games has led to some revisionism around his character. I was surprised to see so many people saying the series died with Desmond in the death-scene video's comments, which really goes to show how badly Ubisoft has bungled things since.
It is possible this could happen. As North noted in the video, Desmond is not "technically dead" thanks to yet more plot shenanigans on Ubisoft's part that reveal themselves in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. But North has yet to reprise his role as the character. "As it so often goes in the entertainment industry, different developers, different creative directors come in, and they have their own way of continuing the story," he explained in the video.
North concluded the segment by saying he was "very sad" to step away from playing Desmond, as "Assassin's Creed is one of my favourite stories that I've ever been a part of." Which…really? I like a lot of things about Assassin's Creed, and it has featured some endearing characters over the years. But let's face it, the story has been hokum since day one.
Maybe he was just being nice. Or maybe Assassin's Creed's Gordian plot is secretly brilliant in a manner that's gone completely over my head for nearly twenty years. Either way, Assassin's Creed's story hasn't hindered it from being successful in any way. Ubisoft's historical murder series from being successful. Assassin's Creed Shadows released earlier this year to a generally favourable response, with Morgan Park calling it "some of the most fun I've had with a stealth game in a decade" in PC Gamer's Assassin's Creed Shadows review. That said, he did criticise the "disjointed main story" and "bland cast" of characters. Smells like vindication to me.
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