Remember Assassin's Creed Unity? Turns out, Ubisoft almost went in a totally different direction. Instead of playing as Arno Dorian, the developers were thinking about letting us create our own characters by choosing an ancestor from a massive database of millions of people.

According to Alexandre Amancio, former creative director, this crazy idea came about when they were considering two versions of the game. One was the classic Assassin's Creed experience, while the other was way more focused on co-op gameplay. The goal? To give everyone a unique take on the French Revolution's messy history. It sounds wild, right?

Ultimately, they decided to stick with the familiar Assassin's Creed formula, but Amancio still regrets not taking the riskier path. I can see his point. Imagine diving into the French Revolution with your own ancestor, experiencing the events through their eyes. That could have been something really special.

The Road Not Taken

In a recent interview, Amancio revealed that, early in development, two distinct games were emerging. "One game was a traditional Assassin's Creed game... but we also wanted to make a co-op game," he explained. They even had a clever way to hide the character creation: searching for an ancestor in a database of millions. The more details you provided, the narrower the search became.

The French Revolution was complex with various perspectives, and Amancio believed that getting your own perspective of the revolution, instead of a linear adventure, could have been more accurate. However, due to resources, they chose the title that people would most recognize.

However, I can also see why they might have hesitated. Creating a database of millions of potential characters sounds like a huge undertaking. Plus, it would have required a completely different approach to storytelling, more like an MMO or Dragon Age: Origins, where you choose your character's background.

Even though the final version of Unity felt familiar, it was still a gamble. It was the first Assassin's Creed game to feature co-op multiplayer in the open world, which was a pretty big deal at the time.

What Could Have Been

The idea of character creation through database refinement is intriguing, though. You could play as a heroic latrine digger instead of a blueblood adventurer. According to Amancio, this was influenced by his time working on Far Cry, a series known for its unscripted chaos. He wanted to inject some of that into Assassin's Creed.

He also mentioned the bomb system in Revelations, which allowed players to interact with the crowd. These kinds of decisions, in his opinion, could have made Assassin's Creed a more modern game.

It's interesting to compare Unity and Revelations to the more recent Assassin's Creed games, which are now sprawling open-world RPGs. While I respect Amancio's vision, it's also worth remembering that Unity and Revelations aren't exactly fan favorites. Still, it's fascinating to think about what could have been if Ubisoft had taken that riskier path.