How the mighty have fallen. What was once an immense powerhouse of a franchise that saw each interaction proudly boast of multi-million unit sales figures per outing, has been reduced to a franchise that boasts of title’s outselling flops. Its top-selling iteration only sits on the throne because it was sold for a penny, as noted by Screenrant.

Rather than just letting the series die or properly rebooting it to give the writers who regret killing off Desmond and must consult the Wikia to even have a clue what is even going on in the game’s narrative a fresh start, Ubisoft just orders them to light reboot the mechanics. Leaving the series devoid of any defining characteristics aside from a convoluted narrative that sees every historic figure shoehorned into either the Assassins or Templar side of a conflict that has spanned the entirety of human history.

Now series creator, Patrice Desilets, weighs in on the series he helped create during an interview with Xbox magazine where his comments were picked up by Respawn First.

“I don’t really have an opinion because I didn’t really play the series [after Brotherhood]. Look, I tried Assassin’s Creed III for two hours, and then I realised that I was working instead of just playing, and so I said, ‘You know what? I’m having no fun, no pleasure, so I better quit.’ Since then, and I say this with a smile, but I shield myself against this question.”

“Everybody wants to know what I think about those games, right? But I didn’t play them, because I can’t… they’re no fun [to me]. You have to understand, it’s Ubisoft’s game and it can do whatever it wants with the series. I don’t mind.”

There is a point in his harsh criticisms. A well-made game has all of its features feed back into the core experience. Giving the player a sense of progression no matter what they are undertaking. Assassin’s Creed on the other hand just slaps you with a list of content that acts as a literal checklist for DNA progression in game.

Leaving the experience lacking in engagement or meaning for many players. That the game can ever have acceleration microtransactions be profitable speaks volumes to the overall quality of the experience. Perhaps the series can course-correct after Ubisoft’s restructuring, but it is a bad sign when the industry breaks ranks to denigrate other projects when social credit points aren’t on the line.