Assassin's Creed Odyssey set a new norm for the popular Ubisoft series when it presented players with two protagonist options: Alexios or Kassandra. Although it was possible to play as a woman in earlier Assassin's Creed titles, it wasn't possible to run the entire story as a woman -- until Odyssey. Now, a computer file in the upcoming Assassin's Creed Valhalla confirms that Kassandra -- not her brother, Alexios -- is the canonical protagonist of Odyssey.
Although it shouldn't be controversial to have women protagonists in video games, Ubisoft has long resisted giving women equal screentime to their male counterparts. That seems to be changing now, especially with the character choices in Odyssey and Valhalla, which hopefully point to a more diverse future for Assassin's Creed.
In a July report detailing allegations of sexual misconduct leveled at Ubisoft employees, Bloomberg revealed that the sexism in the company's work environment also affected its games, beginning when a creative director allegedly refused to include women in the multiplayer options for 2014's Assassin's Creed Unity because it was too much production work to add in clothing gendered for women. Later, Evie was pushed aside in Syndicate so her brother could be the main protagonist. Early plans to kill Bayek in Origins so players could control his wife, Aya, were eventually scrapped as well.
The report also revealed that the creative team for Odyssey wanted to make Kassandra the only playable character, but Ubisoft’s marketing team and former Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoët (who resigned in July) said “women don’t sell.” In addition to Hascoët resigning, it’s also worth noting Valhalla’s former Creative Director, Ashraf Ismail, was fired in August following accusations of sexual misconduct. Although it can’t be confirmed how this affects the franchise moving forward, regardless which character players chose in Odyssey, Valhalla is moving on with Kassandra in mind.
In a computer file from Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus is said to have been "acquired from the Eagle-Bearer, Kassandra, 2018." There's no mention of Alexios at all, and it doesn't seem as if players can alter the information on the card through their in-game choices. This means Valhalla -- and presumably, future titles -- will recognize Kassandra as the Eagle-Bearer, and Kassandra alone.
Furthermore, this could potentially mark a major shift for Assassin’s Creed as a whole. In Valhalla, players can choose to play a male or female Eivor and change their gender at any point during the game, but in the Dark Horse Comics prequel, Eivor is a woman. In light of the information about Kassandra and Alexios, this seems to take the franchise one step closer to only having a woman protagonist.
By introducing one character whose gender can be decided by the player, rather than two characters of different genders, Ubisoft seems to be not-so-subtly suggesting that its gameplay doesn't inherently change based on the gender of the main character. After a decade of non-male gamers being asked to play multiple Assassin's Creed titles as cisgender men, it's about time the franchise asks cisgender male gamers to consider experiences other than their own.
Developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed Valhalla goes on sale worldwide on Nov. 10 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows and Google Stadia. The PlayStation 5 version of the game arrives on on Nov. 12 in North America and Australia, and on Nov. 19 in Europe.