Horses are majestic creatures and faithful companions in many video games. Also in Assassin’s Creed. Horses have been bringing you from A to B since the first part. But now it turns out: Those weren’t horses at all!
Assassin’s Creed: Centaurs – but different
The centaurs, creatures from Greek mythology and a combination of human and horse, fit very well into Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. In fact, they basically existed in the first Assassin’s Creed from 2007. However, less in “mythical and graceful” and more in “morbid and frightening”. As an Altaïr, you don’t ride through the game world on a horse, but actually on a human being.
The reason for this is of course not a cruel joke by Ubisoft, as the developer Charles Randall, who was involved in AC at the time, explained via Twitter. For the horses, the skeleton of a human had to be deformed in the game so that it could be used for the mounts. One was responsible for this technical limitation at the software that only allowed the developers to use two-legged characters. So you made do by converting a human being into a horse.
Frankenstein’s Assassin
In order to save costs, the character Malik was also tricked. Not having to make a new skeleton for one-armed Malik became easy one arm turned inside and hidden in the rest of the arm. According to Randall, it should even be possible to rotate the camera into the character so that the deformed arm can be seen.
Randall even has another anecdote. Have you ever suddenly died in Assassin’s Creed because you briefly exceeded the level cap? If so, complain to Charles Randall. According to him, in the first AC there were always new ways to get to places you weren’t supposed to. The simplest solution was the instant death of the character.
So much for the past of Assassin’s Creed, you’ll find out more about the future at the latest Sep 2022. That’s what Ubisoft is celebrating 15th anniversary of the series. There will probably be more to hear about the ambitious project “Assassin’s Creed Infinity”, which has only been rumored so far.
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