The mysterious Assassin's Creed Hexe has a new creative director, claims report, as Ubisoft say goodbye to the legendary Clint Hocking

*Grenade rolls backmost down wickerman*

Image credit: Ubisoft / Rock Paper Shotgun

Ubisoft's latest bout of enforcement philharmonic chairs continues with a study that Clint Hocking, originative manager of Far Cry 2, Watch Dogs Legion, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and the forthcoming Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe, has near the company.

We person Very Gary Computing to convey for this spot of scuttlebutt. Apparently, Hocking's departure was communicated to unit this week by Assassin’s Creed’s caller enactment team. Jean Guesdon, the brand’s just-appointed caput of content, volition instrumentality implicit arsenic originative manager for Hexe.

“We sincerely convey [Clint] for his vision, originative contributions, and dedication implicit the years, and we privation him the precise champion successful his adjacent chapter,” a spokesperson has told VGC. “Development connected Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe continues with a seasoned team. The crippled volition present thing distinctive wrong the Assassin’s Creed franchise. We look guardant to sharing much accusation successful the future.”

You mightiness cognize Hocking arsenic the feline who coined the word “ludonarrative dissonance”, describing the struggle betwixt the crippled you play and the communicative it tells you. You mightiness besides cognize him arsenic patron saint of the “grenade rolled backmost down hill” taxon of immersive/emergent sim. Interesting fellah. Here’s a chunk from an effort helium wrote for RPS, galore moons ago:

I judge that the players' bureau is sacred. I judge determination is nary portion of a crippled excessively important to play with. While immoderate question to marque a straw antheral of this stance by suggesting I americium successful favour of shipping uncompiled codification and calling it a game, I find that to beryllium a greedy simplification of the argument. The crippled does not prevarication successful codification - compiled oregon otherwise. The crippled is what is happening wrong the player, and the world is it was ne'er 'our game' to support from ruin successful the archetypal place.

While I’m mixed connected Hocking’s much caller games, I was vaguely looking guardant to proceeding him speech astir Hexe. Announced successful 2022, it appears to instrumentality Ubisoft’s covert stabbing bid into the realm of occult horror, with twisty wicker emblems. According to reporting astatine the clip of announcement,the crippled is acceptable during the witch trials of the Holy Roman Empire.

Assuming VGC are connected the level, and they thin to be, Hocking’s departure is portion of Ubisoft’s bloody translation into a radical of “creative houses”. The publishers person cancelled respective games, closed studios, and laid a fig of developers disconnected successful the process. One departed Assassin’s Creed exec, Marc-Alexis Côté, is present suing Ubisoft for £1 million, claiming helium was forced out. Company CEO Yves Guillemot has stressed the value of “disciplined workforce management, adjacent arsenic Ubisoft name his lad to co-run the company’s caller flagship studio.