Ubisoft caught flak at E3 this year over comments made about the lack of playable female characters in Assassin's Creed: Unity, which will include four-person cooperative play for the first time in the series. While she isn't playable, a new character named Elise introduced in this stunning CGI trailer for the game looks to be the strong female character many were looking for.
As seen in the trailer below, main character, Assassin Arno, sprints across Parisian rooftops as he makes his way to the town square, where the guillotine is getting a workout beheading nobles. As heads roll off one by one, Arno arrives in the nick of time to fight off several guards in stylish fashion before rescuing a mysterious woman, a woman who wears the sigil of the Templar order. Quickly surrounded by guards, the trailer ends with the duo back to back, preparing to fend off an attack together.
The woman in the trailer is Elise, a noblewoman and a Templar, who, according to Ubisoft, is central to the plot of the game. Though her and Arno are on separate sides of an age-old conflict between their two organizations, Ubisoft says the two characters will form a bond with one another against the backdrop of the chaotic and bloody French Revolution.
Elise will also be the main character in her own book that shares the name of the game. The novelization is being written by Oliver Bowden, who has written previous Assassin's Creed works, and will be about the battle between the Templars and Assassin's from Elise's point of view.
Earlier this year Ubisoft made several statements in response to the question as to why there were no playable female assassins in the game. Many gamers found their answer less than satisfactory, as the company stated it would cost too much time and money to create female character models and animations. The company also stated that Assassin's Creed: Unity was the story of Arno, and that even while playing in the four-player cooperative mode that players experience the story through his eyes, thus making a female assassin playable confusing from a story perspective.
With the revelation that Elise will be central to the plot of Unity come October, it makes a little more sense as to why Ubisoft opted for the male only approach, as it is likely Arno and Elise will have some kind of romantic relationship, a dynamic that might change were there to be playable female Assassins. Assassin's Creed: Unity is coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on October 28.
