For a long time, Assassin’s Creed had a character that was essentially the mascot of the video game series. After the third installment, the character was removed. The Game Director has now explained why this was done.
Who is Desmond? Desmond Miles was the central figure of Assassin’s Creed from Part 1 up to Part 3. Through his DNA memories, players explored the past of his ancestors. In Part 2, it was Ezio Auditore and in Part 3, then Connor Kenway.
Even though players spent most of their time in the past, the games also continued the story of the present with Desmond. However, in the third part, Desmond is killed and his story ends. In an interview, the Game Director of Part 3, Alex Hutchinson, discussed the reasons.
The latest installment of the series is set in Japan:
Too much lore leads to problems
What does Hutchinson say about Desmond? In the YouTube podcast of Convergence Games Showcase, Alex Hutchinson talked about various topics. Among them was Assassin’s Creed 3. The reason for killing Desmond was quite simple: The story was too long.
At this point, we’re asking people to remember stories from seven years ago […] to incorporate them into today’s narrative. For me, it didn’t make sense that you were in elementary school and now you are in college. […] That’s why we killed Desmond at the end.
Alex Hutchinson on the Desmond storyline (via YouTube)
The issue was: Even though the Assassin’s stories changed, the Desmond part had to build on narratives that were years old and that perhaps not everyone was familiar with. Hutchinson also mentions the original plan for the series.
According to him, each part was planned to focus on Altair (Part 1), Ezio (Part 2), Connor (Part 3), and a part in the present with Desmond. However, the series became too successful and continues to this day. With Brotherhood and Revelations, games followed shortly after Part 2 that continued Desmond’s story. There were complaints about them killing Desmond, but there was too much lore that became a burden
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The statement that only 4 parts were planned cannot officially be confirmed, but in a news article from 2009, the website vg247.com said they were told at E3 that the series was conceived as a trilogy. This was before the actual release of Part 2.
He compares it to Marvel movies, which according to him have the same problem. With so many series and movies that one must have seen for other projects, fans are lost.
What is Alex Hutchinson doing today? After Assassin’s Creed 3, he worked as a Creative Director on Far Cry 4, among other projects. His latest title in this role was Revenge of the Savage Planet, which was released this year. Another former Ubisoft employee created a game hit in 2025: The head of Expedition 33 reveals why he left Ubisoft: “Otherwise, the game would have taken 25 years”
