Interview: Lead Game Designer Michael Hampden on Assassin’s Creed: Rogue

While at PAX Australia, Stevivor had the opportunity to sit down with Michael Hampden, Lead Game Designer (above), to talk about Assassin’s Creed: Rogue. Below, we discuss the the premise of Rogue, what separates Rogue from other games, playing as a Templar and more.

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Stevivor: Tell me about Rogue. What is Rogue and how did you guys decide to tell the story of a Templar rather than simply do another Assassins’ story?

Hampden: The interesting thing about it is our fans have been asking us to tell a story and to do a Templar game ever since Assassin’s Creed; they want to know what the story is like from the other side. It was really very natural. We had a big gap in our story from Assassin’s Creed IV and Assassin’s Creed III so in Black Flag you’re with Edward and you’re building up the Brotherhood in North America and everything’s looking great, but in ACIII, Achilles is a broken man, the Brotherhood is shattered in North America and our fans were like “What happened?” Assassin’s Creed: Rogue really answers that question.

Stevivor: I’ve previewed Rogue and the more Assassin’s Creed I play, the more it seems like the Assassins might actually be the bad guys. What’s your take?

Hampden: You know that’s a really interesting question.  Because I think that Rogue really shows that it’s a grey area. It really depends on whose perspective you’re looking at the events through will really make you question who are the ‘bad guys’ and the ‘good guys’. Maybe there isn’t really a bad guy and a good guy, it’s morally ambiguous and you need to decide for yourself.

Stevivor: Coming off the back of Black Flag, what’s distinctive in Rogue? How does it build from ACIII and Black Flag yet still have its own identity?

Hampden: We have a lot of new stuff! The fact that you’re playing as a Templar means you have access to Templar technology which means all sorts of advanced weapons to play with and really it’s the first time you’ll be fighting against Assassins. In our other games you did things like air assassinations, assassinate people from haystacks and carry out stalking missions. Now there’s AI that can do that to you…

Stevivor: I noticed that! They did that to me a lot!

Hampden: (laughs) Yeah, you’ve got these really difficult AIs to play with which is really exciting and the new Templar weapons. You can use the grenade launcher to launch a berserk grenade into a crowd of civilians and have them start a riot, so you can go around undisturbed and do what you need to do. It really includes hugely different opportunities for ways to play the game how you want and manipulate circumstances how you want.

Stevivor: I personally wouldn’t call any Assassin’s Creed game difficult. For me, you just play it and it happens, but I have never died so much than when I was playing Rogue.

Hampden: Really?

Stevivor: Yeah! People would stab me and run off and then a guy would come up behind me and finish me off and it felt way more dynamic than any Creed I’ve ever played. Was that a conscious effort on your part?

Hampden:  I’d say that it may be a little conscious on our behalf to make it a little more challenging. I think it’s still very approachable for our fans, but it really depends on how you play it. If you’re going in all guns blazing and go crazy with the grenade launcher, shooting everyone. You could do that, but it might be a little more difficult than if you go really slowly and carefully, plotting your approach and taking out all the guys carefully and stealthily.

Stevivor: I really liked how some of the multiplayer elements have come into the single player campaign in Rogue. How when playing as Shay you’ll see that danger circle appear and hear the whispers of Assassins who are hiding nearby. It really hammers home that you’re playing as a Templar. Was this something you were very keen to achieve?

Hampden: It just brings a whole different feel and element of gameplay to the franchise, there are new things you can do and I think our fans are really going to like it. When you’re fighting those remarkable Assassins from the story, I don’t want to say who because spoilers, but you’re fighting some Assassins you might have known for a long time in the franchise and you’ll see what it’s like to fight them and what they can do in battle.

Stevivor: How does Rogue tie into Assassin’s Creed: Unity?

Hampden: I can’t say too much, but I can say that if you play Assassin’s Creed: Rogue all the way through you’ll find out an answer to one of the mysteries that’s in Assassin’s Creed: Unity. That’s all I can tell you right now.

Stevivor: What’s it like working on a game that’s exclusively for last-gen when Unity is coming out at the same time? How do you make the two distinct and still make people want to play Rogue when they’ll be looking at Unity saying, “Well this is the new one?”

Hampden: I really think that both experiences are awesome in their own right. With Rogue we’ve got the naval gameplay with a host of new naval weapons, we have a new machine gun you can use on your ship. You’ve got burning oil which lets you lay a trail of fire across the sea and we’ve got this really interesting systemic element to the naval gameplay where you’ve got these British ships who are your allies, so you can be in a battle and all of a sudden a British Man o’ War will unload a burst of mortar fire into the guy you’re fighting and you’ll be like, “Oh thanks buddy! I’m lucky you came along.” All these things combine to make things still seem very fresh and if you liked Black Flag you’ll love it. The open world in Rogue is actually even bigger than Black Flag’s.  It’s a huge diverse open world. On the other side you’ve got Unity which was built from the ground up for next-generation consoles, pushing the graphical fidelity more than ever before. We’ve got two amazing experiences and we’re proud of both.

Stevivor: Is there anything in Rogue that you’re particularly proud of or something you think is going to stand out to fans?

Hampden: I think that one of the things I’m most proud of is the Arctic environment in the North Atlantic. You’ve got really new gameplay experiences like icebergs that you can use to sail behind and use like a shield from a cannon volley. You can actually destroy an iceberg which will create a wave and if there are smaller ships like schooners in the area, they’ll actually get destroyed by the wave. It’s really resulted in the most dynamic naval experience we’ve created. That’s what I’m most proud of.

Stevivor: The stronghold missions feel new and different in Rogue, where you need to infiltrate a location, cut down the flag and take out the leader. What can you tell me about those?

Hampden: That activity is called the ‘Gang Headquarters’ and it’s really supposed to show the power and strength of the Assassins’ Brotherhood. Basically you’re trying to take down these gang members that all have Assassin training so they can use Assassin abilities on you, things like smoke bombs and air assassinations. Taking out a nest of those guys will force you to use all your new Templar technology and all your skills. In general with Rogue, we’re all very proud of it. I think it’s a testament that for me I’d go in to test something in the game and then find that half an hour had gone by, just by getting lost in the open world and having fun. It’s a very easy game to get lost in. In a good way.  We think our fans are really going to dig it.

Stevivor: Are we going to see more Templar-based games branching from Rogue now?

Hampden: (laughs) I wish I could say, but I can’t speculate at this point. Try out Rogue and see how you feel about the story and maybe there will be areas to explore in the future.

Stevivor: Had to try. Thank you very much and best of luck with Rogue.

Hampden: Thank you.

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A special thanks to Michael and Ubisoft for their time. Assassin’s Creed: Rogue is available now for PS3 and Xbox 360.

[Image Credit: Capsule Computers]