A Disappearing Act in Montreal: Is Assassin’s Creed Hexe Losing Its Magic (and Its Directors)?
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Assassin’s Creed Hexe has lost its second director this year as Benoit Richer jumps ship for the indie world, leaving us wondering if the game's original 'witchy' spark is being snuffed out by corporate caution.
Right, so you know that feeling when you’re brewing a complex potion, and just as it starts to glow that lovely, ominous purple, the lead wizard decides to hop over the garden fence to start a craft brewery instead? That’s the vibe coming out of Ubisoft Montreal lately. I’ve been digging into some reports from the folks over at Eurogamer, and bloody hell, it’s looking a bit chaotic behind the scenes of Assassin’s Creed Hexe.
Here’s the lowdown: Benoit Richer, the game director for Hexe, has officially hung up his hidden blade at Ubisoft. He’s the second high-level director to vanish from the project this year alone. If you’re keeping score at home (and I reckon you should be), that’s a lot of creative turnover for a game that was supposed to be the 'distinctive' weird sibling of the Assassin’s Creed family. Richer isn’t just retiring to a beach in the South Pacific, though. He’s joined a new Quebec-based indie outfit called Servo Games as a co-founder. He’s taking a few other Ubisoft veterans with him—Luc Tremblay, Danny Marcoux, and Alex Drouin—to build something fresh.
You have to wonder, what’s in the water over at Ubisoft? Or perhaps, more accurately, what *isn't* in the water?
This departure comes a mere two months after creative director Clint Hocking—a man whose name is practically synonymous with 'ambitious systemic design'—also walked out the door. Ubisoft gave the standard corporate 'thanks for the memories' speech back in February, assuring everyone that Hexe is still in the hands of a 'seasoned team.' But let’s be honest: when the captains keep jumping ship, you start to worry about the state of the hull, don't you?
Now, here’s where my inner wizard gets a bit skeptical. According to the original report by Victoria Phillips Kennedy at Eurogamer, Jean Guesdon (the big boss of Assassin's Creed content) stepped in to steer the ship after Hocking left. And word on the digital street—specifically from tipster @xj0nathan—is that Guesdon has been busy scrubbing the 'magic' out of Hexe.
Wait, what?
Apparently, one of the original hooks for Hexe involved players being able to control a cat. Yes, a bloody cat. In a game themed around 16th-century European witchcraft, that sounds like a stroke of genius, doesn't it? It’s exactly the kind of innovative, slightly weird mechanic that the franchise desperately needs to stop it from becoming a repetitive exercise in climbing towers and stabbing tax collectors. But under the new leadership, the cat possession has reportedly been bin-bagged. If they’re getting rid of the supernatural elements in a game literally named 'Hexe' (which is German for witch, by the way), what are we actually left with? Another 'social stealth' simulator in a different pair of trousers?
It feels like a classic case of corporate cold feet. You start with a wild, experimental vision—something that might actually push the boundaries of what a AAA game can be—and then the 'safe pair of hands' comes in to sand down all the interesting edges until it fits neatly into a marketing spreadsheet. It’s the kind of move that makes me look toward the indie scene—or the burgeoning world of Web3 gaming—where developers are actually *allowed* to let players be the cat, or the crow, or the sentient fireball if they want to. Innovation usually lives on the fringes, and it seems Richer realized that by heading to Servo Games.
And we haven't even touched on the Marc-Alexis Côté drama yet. The former franchise lead didn't just leave; he was reportedly asked to 'step aside' last October and is now suing Ubisoft. It’s starting to look less like a development cycle and more like a high-stakes episode of a boardroom soap opera.
So, where does this leave us? While Hexe is currently a bit of a mystery box with the lid glued shut, Ubisoft is trying to keep us distracted with the 'Black Flag Resynced' remake, which is slated for a July 9th release. Don’t get me wrong, Edward Kenway is a legend and I’ll gladly sail the Jackdaw again, but a remake is a comfort blanket. It doesn't tell us if Ubisoft still has the stones to make something truly new.
I want to be optimistic, I really do. The idea of a dark, atmospheric Assassin’s Creed set during the witch trials is brilliant. But seeing the creative leads flee for the indie hills makes me wonder if the 'magic' being removed wasn't just the cat-controlling—it might have been the soul of the project itself.
What do you reckon? Are you happy to stick with the classic AC formula, or were you looking forward to cause some feline-based havoc in old-timey Germany? Personally, I think the industry needs more cats and fewer board meetings, but maybe that’s just the wizard in me talking.
Tags: AssassinsCreed, Ubisoft, GameDev, IndustryNews, IndieGaming
Original article: Eurogamer