Assassin’s Creed: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Like many gamers out there, I’m gearing up for one of fall’s biggest releases – Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. I squeaked with joy when I discovered a female protagonist was an option. Her name is Kassandra and she is, in fact, the canon assassin according to Ubisoft.

But you’d be forgiven for thinking she wasn’t because she seems to have been scrubbed from the launch trailer entirely. I want to give Ubisoft the benefit of the doubt and hope Kassandra, voiced by Melissanthu Mahut, will get her own individual trailer, but given that the gaming industry often doesn’t give male and female protagonists an equal share of the marketing, forgive me if I don’t hold my breath.

I’m extremely impressed at this stage, however, to see a developer outside of Bioware make strides toward diversity, inclusion and player agency, something the game industry as a whole is slow to embrace. Diversity is the gateway to better, polished storytelling and giving players something unique and memorable, something I hope this latest Assassin’s Creed installment turns out to be.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey launches worldwide on October 5, 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

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