From Far Cry to Feathered Fury: Ex-Ubisoft Dev Dishes on Project Windless's Clucking Brilliant Hero
AI Gaming News Author · kotaku ·
Ubisoft veteran Patrik Méthé, now leading Krafton Montréal's *Project Windless*, was genuinely surprised by how quickly fans – and even job applicants – fell in love with his upcoming action RPG's unique protagonist: a surprisingly swole chicken warrior, a bold choice in an industry often 'allergic to new things.'
Right, so I've been tinkering with this story all morning, and bloody hell, it’s wilder than it first appeared. You know that feeling when you cast a spell and it works a bit too well, transforming something utterly mundane into pure, unadulterated chaos? Well, that's precisely what Patrik Méthé and the gang at Krafton Montréal have pulled off with *Project Windless*. And get this, mate: the star of the show? A big, beefy, swole chicken warrior.
Fair dinkum, this saucy scoop was first laid out by Lewis Parker over at Kotaku, and it's got me proper excited. Méthé, a veteran who spent over a decade conjuring worlds for Ubisoft – think *Far Cry*, *Rainbow Six*, *Splinter Cell* – has now traded military ops for... a magnificent rooster in a medieval fantasy RPG. If you’re anything like me, your first thought was probably, 'Hold on, what?' Especially if you’re familiar with Lee Youngdo’s Korean fantasy series, *The Bird That Drinks Tears*, which *Project Windless* is adapting. The source material has a whole host of other fascinating races, so why pick the poultry?
This is where my digital wizard senses started tingling, because the 'why' here is pure gold. Méthé spilled the beans in a chat with PC Gamer, revealing that the choice of protagonist wasn't some convoluted marketing ploy or a dart thrown at a whiteboard. Nah, it was far more organic, more… human. Every single potential hire he interviewed for the team, without fail, thought the idea of playing a chicken warrior was unbelievably cool. "When every candidate was leaving, they would say, 'I hope I will hear from you, but one thing for sure, I want to be able to play that character.' All of them. All of them—and we were like, 'OK.'" See? Sometimes, the best ideas aren't dreamed up in a boardroom, but in the collective, enthusiastic hum of genuine game developers.
But even with that unanimous team enthusiasm, Méthé admitted he wasn't entirely convinced until *Project Windless* debuted its first trailer at Sony’s State of Play back on February 13th. That’s when the magic really happened. He noted the initial shock – that universal 'What the f—huh?' moment – quickly gave way to 'I'm in' before the trailer was even three-quarters done. This isn't just about a quirky character; it's about hitting a nerve, about creating something so unexpectedly compelling that it bypasses our pre-conceived notions and lands straight in the 'must play' section of our brains. It’s that rare, almost alchemical reaction when something genuinely new clicks with the player base.
Now, this whole story gets even more interesting when you connect it to a broader, slightly melancholic trend in the AAA gaming space. Alex Hutchinson, another ex-Ubisoft creative director who once helmed *Assassin's Creed III* and *Far Cry 4*, voiced a similar sentiment. He noted that Ubisoft, despite its history of new ventures, became "very allergic to the new things." He watched ideas, like his own *Pioneer*, get quietly shuffled off to the digital graveyard, leaving a void where fresh IPs should have been. It's a sad state of affairs when innovation is seen as a risk rather than an opportunity, isn't it? Like a wizard sticking to simple fireballs when they could be exploring temporal manipulation.
It seems like this 'allergy to new things' has a silver lining, though. We’re seeing a fascinating pattern emerge: ex-Ubisoft devs, free from the shackles of endless sequels and established franchises, are going on to create some truly groundbreaking stuff. Think Sandfall Interactive, founded by former Ubisoft members, who gave us the award-winning *Clair Obscur: Expedition 33* in 2025. It's almost as if the creative spirit, once stifled, bursts forth with even greater vigour when given the chance to breathe.
Méthé himself, reflecting on his journey from the familiar terrain of *Splinter Cell: Conviction* to the utterly unique landscape of *Project Windless*, highlighted this sentiment beautifully. He noted that the opportunity to create something genuinely new – not a follow-up, not a sequel, not a copy – is a rare beast in this industry. To have the 'means and the support' to dive into a fresh universe and conjure something from the ground up? That’s the dream, mate. That’s the kind of freedom that fosters true innovation, that lets the digital wizardry really flow.
From a player's perspective, this is precisely what we should be championing. While big-budget sequels have their place, the industry thrives on novelty. When a team gets to embrace a seemingly bonkers idea like a 'swole chicken warrior' because it genuinely excites them and their potential colleagues, that's when we get games that surprise, delight, and genuinely capture our imaginations. It’s a testament to the power of genuine creative passion over market research and risk aversion. So, here's to *Project Windless* and its magnificent, beefy protagonist. May its feathers fly high and its clucks echo through the halls of gaming history. I, for one, am absolutely clucking in for this adventure.
Tags: Action RPG, Indie Games, Game Development, Ubisoft Alumni, Fantasy
Original article: kotaku