Assassin's Creed III Liberation Interview

We've known for almost a year that there might be an Assassin's Creed game coming to Vita, but Ubisoft has finally lifted the curtain on just what the game will be. Read on in our interview with producer Martin Capel to learn about where and when the game is set, and exactly who you'll be playing. Hint: It's a girl.

What is the setting for Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation?

Assassin’s Creed III Liberation is set in New Orleans between 1765 and 1780, in the period between the end of the French and Indian War, up to the middle of the American Revolution. The game tells the story of Aveline; a female Assassin of mixed French and African birth. Brought up in a world of privilege and contrasts, Aveline becomes a strong willed woman rising against injustice.

Why choose New Orleans in the late 1700s? 

We have been working with the Assassin’s Creed 3 Team in Montreal since the first days of the project, and from the very beginning it was agreed that we would have stories that run approximately in parallel to each other. For Liberation however, we decided that we wanted to look at the period surrounding the American Revolution from a new and unique angle – that of a New World colony that wasn’t one of the thirteen colonies, and could approach the topic with the view of being “outside looking in”, and for this New Orleans had its own culture, history and characteristics that made it the perfect setting for our game.

Who is Aveline, and what can you tell us about her personality? What is her background?

Aveline is an assassin of mixed heritage. She is the daughter of a wealthy French merchant and his African placée bride (Plaçage was a form of temporary marriage that was widely accepted in Louisiana at this time). Aveline is raised with privilege and love, even after her mother disappears and her father marries her step-mother. As Aveline grows she develops into a strong willed young woman and starts to take notice of the contrasts around her - wealth and poverty, freedom and slavery, and while torn between the different values she inherited from her parents, she forms her own set of values, including a vehement anti-slavery stance. It is at this time that she is recruited to the Assassins by Agate, an escaped slave who teaches Aveline to focus the strengths and skills required as an Assassin.

In creating Aveline we wanted a new character with clear values and the will to fight for them, even if they do not always align with those of her parents or Agate. She is driven by her perception of what is right and what is wrong. She is very much an insider - a model citizen and the privileged daughter of a successful businessman, who uses her skills to fight against the injustices she sees around her every day in New Orleans, but as events begin to overtake the New World, Aveline finds herself caught more and more in the struggle between the Assassins and Templars for supremacy.

Aveline is the first main playable protagonist in the series to be a woman. Does her gender, particularly given the time period, factor into expectations that others might have of her?

Aveline is based on a number of real life role models. New Orleans during the 18th Century was culturally a very diverse city and while it shared many of the aspects of other colonies that we view negatively today, it did also present some unique opportunities, and several strong and empowered women with similar backgrounds to Aveline acquired considerable wealth, power and respect – perfect for an Assassin!

Aveline fits perfectly into this model, while as the daughter of a wealthy merchant Aveline is accorded the respect her status demands.

Other than her gender, what sets Aveline apart from the other AC heroes, like Altaïr, Ezio, and Connor?

Aveline’s skills and abilities to reflect her heritage and location, and for these to expand as she experiences the diverse culture around her in New Orleans, travels to new locations, and as she develops further as an assassin. 

Throughout the game Aveline is able to collect different tools and weapons and these then become part of her identity. Each tool or weapon also bring new opportunities in the areas of navigation, combat and stealth, which can be used anywhere in the game for  very different play experiences. As Aveline grows, so do her abilities.

What is going on historically during this period in New Orleans?

There were so many events in New Orleans during or around the 15 years covered by Liberation that it’s hard to know where to begin!

The catalyst for many of the events actually occurs just before the game. In 1763 the French and Indian War ended. This war affected the whole Eastern seaboard of North America: France ceded Canada to the British, and also ceded Louisiana to Spain, including New Orleans. Britain was heavily in debt as a result of the war, and attempted to further tax its own colonies to the north, which already resented the existing taxes they had to pay, including a tax for soldiers to defend the colonies against a threat from France that no longer existed. This set the scene and players for the events that lead to the American Revolution, one of the most pivotal moments in history. 

For New Orleans itself, the handover of the colony to Spain caused discontentment in the population, many of whom had fled Canada after it was handed to the British. The city rebelled against its new masters in 1768, although the rebellion was short lived. Even with its new rulers, New Orleans continued as a port for smuggling goods to the colonies to avoid the punitive British taxes. 

During the American Revolution, New Orleans was one of the major ports for running supplies to the colonies from France and Spain, especially when Great Britain blockaded Boston and other ports. For many people, Spain’s ability to hold New Orleans and their defeat of Britain in the Anglo-Spanish War of 1779-83 was a major contributor to the eventual colonial victory in the Revolutionary War. 

New Orleans and its surrounding areas was also famous for its slave trade and its system of plaçage, whereby wealthy French and Spanish men entered into an arrangement with a woman of African, Indian or Creole descent. This was a form of temporary marriage that lasted until a “more acceptable” wife could be found. This system allowed for some women, or placées, and their children, to gain their freedom, wealth and positions of power within society.

It’s also worth remembering that although New Orleans during this period is the setting and backdrop for our game, the game itself is still about the ongoing conflict between the Assassins and Templars. New Orleans however had a culture and tradition that makes it unique for this period and the perfect setting for Liberation and the story of Aveline.

What can you tell us about the plot setup for AC: Liberation? Are there particular conflicts or events you’re interested in depicting?

I can’t go into too much detail about the story as this will spoil the game, but one key event that I can tell you will definitely be included is the Louisiana Rebellion of 1768.

During the uprising, Aveline plays a pivotal role in mobilizing the citizens of New Orleans and striking against Spanish forces to drive the governor from the city and reinstate French control!

Are there any historical figures involved in the story, or are all your characters fictional?

I can’t reveal details on the characters at the moment as this would give away more on the story and spoil the game!

Who is Agate? Where does he come from? What is his relationship to Aveline?

Agate is the leader of the Assassins in New Orleans. He recruits Aveline into the Assassins and acts as her mentor throughout the game.

Aveline and Agate have a relationship that can be tempestuous at times. Agate finds Aveline impulsive and does not always trust her judgment. He is quick to lose his temper when Aveline acts without consulting him, but he is always quick to forgive.

Given the similar time frames, will the game’s story have any connection to Assassin’s Creed III?

There is a connection between Liberation and Assassin’s Creed 3, and I can tell you that Aveline and Connor do meet in Liberation, but I can’t go into any further details at the moment.

Assassin’s Creed III offers the virtual playgrounds of New York and Boston, as well as a vast wilderness. What locations will Aveline explore in Liberation? What is exciting about those locations?

We will be taking the player to several unexplored regions in Liberation. Of these, the Louisiana Bayou is the most prominent region, which not only brings a new terrain but also a new navigation experience to the franchise.

The Bayou is an area of swamp, where dry ground is rare and the trees might be not only the fastest way of travelling from one place to another, but also the safest! Within this region, the player will encounter smugglers and other outcasts from New Orleans, living in their own settlements and following their own rules. 

The Louisiana Bayou is also home to a myriad of animals, many of these posing a real threat to human life. The largest and most dangerous animals are the alligators. These wait on the banks of the swamp or cruise the waters looking for prey, and will attack people whenever they can. Avoid them if you want to survive!

Liberation will also take players across the Gulf into Mexico, but I can’t go into more detail on these at the moment.

Previous Assassin’s Creed handheld games had limited, smaller areas to explore before requiring a load into a different area. Is that an issue with Liberation, or are you able to craft some larger areas to explore?

I can’t divulge the specific sizes of cities or locations at the current time, but I can confirm that you can run, climb, fight and explore the entirety of New Orleans without loading a new area. 

Are there unique challenges to animating Aveline in her many platforming and traversal sequences? Women tend to move differently from men, like the heroes from previous Assassin’s Creed games. 

Absolutely! Assassin’s Creed uses a huge number of animations to deliver the stunning experience players expect from the games, and for Liberation we have a team of animators dedicated to ensuring that Aveline moves as people expect a strong, female Assassin to move. This in itself presented its own challenge, and it took us several attempts capturing different actors before we felt we had even just the right basic movement for Aveline!

Assassin’s Creed Revelations introduced new traversal tricks like the hook blade. Does Aveline have any navigation skills that set her apart?

Aveline has several skills and tools at her disposal to enhance her navigation, but these will be revealed in the near future.

Tell us about combat in AC: Liberation? Is it based on existing combat systems from previous games, the new combat system in AC III, or something else entirely?

For Liberation, we have implemented the new combat system from Assassin’s Creed 3. This allows Aveline to wield two weapons at the same time, and is based much more around player skill and timing. We have also created our own enemy archetypes and missions to ensure that combat presents both a challenge and an opportunity for players, where striking at the right moment will clear your path of opponents much faster.

What kind of weapons does Aveline use?

New Orleans was very much a melting pot of the Old and New World at this time, with peoples from different cultures arriving from every direction. Combined with Aveline’s mixed heritage and privileged upbringing, this gave us a wealth of modern and traditional weapons to draw upon for our new Assassin.

Primary amongst the traditional weapons is the blowpipe. The blowpipe allows Aveline to eliminate targets silently from a distance, a great advantage at a time when muskets were noisy and slow to reload. Another weapon is the sugarcane machete. With this in her hand, Aveline converts an agricultural tool into a brutal weapon with which she harvests victims!

On top of these, Aveline has of course her hidden blades, plus the full range of weapons available to soldiers and the other combatants of the period, including pistols, muskets, grenades, swords and knives.

There are also more weapons yet to be revealed, but that’s for another day!

Assassin’s Creed games have developed a tradition for a loop that ties together economy, property ownership or upgrades, and gameplay. Does AC: Liberation have anything like that?

We do have an economic system in Liberation, but unfortunately I can’t go into any details at the moment – this will be revealed at a later date!

AC games have usually had ties to the present day, most particularly through the story of Desmond. Does Aveline’s story tie into Desmond’s present day plotline? Or is there another character using the Animus to glimpse Aveline’s lifetime?

Liberation is different from main Assassin Creed games in that it is an Abstergo product where the player is playing in the Animus, rather than playing an Assassin through the Animus.

The game has been released as a propaganda tool by Abstergo, who want players to experience a gray area of the Assassin/Templar conflict as an Assassin rather than a Templar.

Will AC: Liberation have any multiplayer elements?

We will have a multiplayer specifically tailored to the VITA experience, but this will be revealing at a later date.

The Vita has a number of unique control options not available on other platforms. Does the team have any plans to implement use of the camera, gyroscope, touch screens, or other unique Vita features? If so, in what ways?

We’ll be taking advantage of all the VITA’s hardware features in Liberation, including Geolocation, motion detection, the camera and touch controls. We are using them to bring new features to the franchise, as well as adding an extra level of skill, interaction and experience to existing Assassin’s Creed features. 

I can’t go into too much detail at the moment, but one example of how we are using the VITA’s touch controls is in our new pick pocket routine. This uses both the front and rear touch controls, and allows you to precisely select a victim and pick their pocket. The more skilful and subtle you are, the more rewards you can steal without being detected!

When is Assassin’s Creed Liberation targeting release?

Assassin’s Creed III Liberation releases October 30th worldwide.