The Assassin’s Creed series has always paired exploring historical time periods with modern-day technology and storylines, but we’re now learning the original plan for the Assassin’s Creed trilogy almost took that concept to an entirely new level.
As reported by Eurogamer, details of the franchise’s original ending were published by a student from a Belgian research university. In a work examining developer Ubisoft’s use of religion, Ph.D. student Lars de Wildt of KU Leuven wrote that modern-day characters Desmond Miles and Lucy Stillman would escape Earth on a spaceship, setting off to start human civilization elsewhere.
de Wildt described this plan, saying it was pieced together based on interviews de Wildt held with Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Désilets and Assassin’s Creed 3’s creative director Alex Hutchinson.
“Briefly put, the third game would end with a resolution of the conflict in the present day, with Desmond Miles – voiced by [Nolan] North – taking down Abstergo using the combined knowledge and skills of all his ancestors, including AC1’s Altair and AC2’s Ezio,” de Wildt wrote. “Also, it is the end of the world in 2012, and Desmond Miles and Lucy are starting a new civilization somewhere else – as Adam and Eve.”
When de Wildt asked Désilets where they were going, Désilets said, “Boom! It’s a freaking spaceship!”
The actual Assassin’s Creed Trilogy wrapped up very differently than this plan. Instead of heavily focusing on modern-day Miles, the game starred Ratonhnhaké:ton, also known as Connor Kenway, an assassin during the time of the American Revolutionary War. The modern-day story still focused on Desmond dealing with the end of the world, but the results were quite different.
The character of Lucy was no longer around for Assassin’s Creed 3, having been killed off earlier in the series. And, despite wrapping up Desmond’s story, Abstergo would go on to appear in future Assassin’s Creed games. And, of course, the trilogy didn’t wrap up with any of the main characters on a spaceship.
While space is still an option for the series to this day, the Assassin’s Creed franchise isn’t afraid to go supernatural. The upcoming expansion for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla turns players into Odin and sends them through the realm of Norse mythology.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.