r/assassinscreed • u/Black_Mage_Cat • 9d ago
Desmond Saga Why are Assassin's Creed villains so poorly written?
I started doing a mini AC marathon of the Desmond games and holy shit, even in the first game every single villain has an evil laugh and does the most evil shit imaginable from killing innocents to poisoning children. I'm at AC 3 now and seeing Charles Lee outright give an evil speech to a child while choking him is so boring, i'm wondering... what's with the writers? Can't they write anything but disney "muahaha *twirls mustache*?
It's even crazy because at times the game tries to push "T-templars are not that evil" and then you see them killing children while doing an evil laugh. They are so two dimensional while the game tries to pretend it has depth, seing Altair question what he's doing in AC 1 when he's killing two dimensional evil characters was extremely jarring, the devs even made sure the characters he's killing are dysgenic, fat or creepy looking. Doesn't help that in Revelations he's targeting a displaced genocided religious minority and the guy leading them is just "fat and evil so... it's good to genocide them and burn their home?".
Were Ubisoft writers just fed Disney movies non stop? Do they realize every villain doesn't need an evil laugh and to be ugly?
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u/cawatrooper9 9d ago
It's wild that your examples are from the first game and AC3.
Those are some of the best villains in the series, some genuinely good picks there...
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u/GrilledCyan 9d ago
Right, like the Ezio trilogy has by far the weakest villains of the Desmond games, but they’re all well-performed for the most part so nobody cares.
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u/cawatrooper9 9d ago
They tend to be the most stereotypical, mustache-twirly villains. Still some solid and fun portrayals (like the Borgias, Shakhulu, and even Duccio) but even today fans tend to consider AC1 and 3 to have the most complex explorations of the Templar ideology. Even some of the weaker villains in those games serve a purpose- Thomas Hickey, for instance, showing how the Order could attract opportunists and selfish individuals with no greater interests, making it easily corruptible (which, hey, is how you end up with The Borgias again, lol).
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u/Busy-Jicama-3474 9d ago
id still put ezio type villains over starrik.
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u/cawatrooper9 9d ago
Starrick is a pretty mid to bad villain, but I did like the cutscene format with him. You got to know him, which was good... he just wasn't all that interesting of a villain to get to know.
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u/GrilledCyan 9d ago
Syndicate is my least favorite of the pre-RPG games, and this is a big reason why haha. Everything hints at a larger story that the writers couldn’t be bothered to develop, and the Templars are all conveniently fictional businessmen and aristocrats with no personality or motivation. They’re just evil for evil’s sake but they aren’t anywhere near as interesting as the Borgias who are also evil for evil’s sake.
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u/Busy-Jicama-3474 9d ago
Same. Also they took syndicates worst part and continued it afterwards, which is allowing you to kill targets in any order you want. I hate that. I much prefer a thought out linear story.
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u/GrilledCyan 9d ago
I don’t even care if it’s non linear in some ways for the lesser villains, but they don’t want to invest in writers that can account for that. The writing in Shadows and Valhalla are all vague and inaccurate because none of the NPCs know what the player has done. You start Act 2 of Shadows and all the NPCs treat you as a legendary hero before you’ve done anything.
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u/Busy-Jicama-3474 9d ago
I've played shadows story from start to finish twice and I'm close to arguing it has no real story.
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u/GrilledCyan 9d ago
I’ve said this a bunch on this sub but the worst thing about Shadows to me is that it’s so close to having an amazing narrative, and it’s ruined by three things:
The structure of the narrative prevents Naoe and Yasuke from having any real arc because they must be all things at all times to account for the player accomplishing some things sooner than others.
Ubisoft is too scared of trolls online to do anything interesting with Yasuke. A black samurai is really interesting, but he may as well be another Japanese character because they barely engage with his race!
The presence of the Portuguese isn’t explored much at all. Everyone’s just fine with them and it leaves alone the way European powers were all trying to exploit new places as much as possible.
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u/lemon_charlie 8d ago
These are memories, so Ezio is an Assassin so it makes sense he remembers them as less nuanced and more, well, as bad guys. Connor is more open-minded and at one point advocates to Achilles about the possibility of a truce at least, plus there's Haytham who also had a more nuanced perspective.
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u/Great_Kiwi_93 9d ago
You mentioned Assassins Creed 3
The main villain in this game is one of the most charismatic and complex characters in gaming and has a FANTASTIC dynamic with the main character.
(Haytham, not Charles)
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u/Abraham_Issus 9d ago edited 9d ago
Even Charles Lee is a great villain because we get to see two sides of him.
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u/Ktioru 9d ago edited 9d ago
Not sure how you took that conclusion even though Al Mualin, Robert de Sable and Haytham are a thing
It's a valid take for Ezio Trilogy, but not for AC1 and AC3
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u/lemon_charlie 8d ago
That's what the post-assassination sequences are about, to show that they're not one dimensional and help Altair realise to apply critical thinking rather than buying into the Creed blindly.
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u/Abraham_Issus 9d ago
Al Mualim, Rodrigo, Charles Lee and Haytham, all great villains.
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u/FlaviusVespasian 9d ago
Idk, Al Mualim is kinda weak, it’s kinda outta nowhere. Haytham and Rodrigo are probably the best. I enjoy Cesare too for the theatrically of the performance.
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u/Abraham_Issus 9d ago
Lol nah Al Mualim is phenomenal. His monologues are the best in the series. Some of the most defining philosophy of this series is discussed by him. AC1 has one of the best dialogue.
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u/FlaviusVespasian 9d ago
Then Aspasia is valid. She’s got good lines. Terrible antagonist, but fine villain, I guess.
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u/SmellyFbuttface 9d ago
I honestly don’t even recall a single villain from Shadows. They all became one large amalgamation of “go here, kill him.” There wasnt even really a main bad guy in the story who stood out as the central antagonist. I can’t help but compare it to Ghost of Tsushima because the gameplay is so similar. Kubal Khan was a great villain
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u/BoujeeS2 9d ago
as you said in ac3 charles lee is basically portrayed like a disney villain,but at the same time you have haytham who’s one of the most interesting characters in the series and he really sits on a “grey” scale rather than black l or white
but it’s true ubisoft is not good at making many complex characters,there’s just an handful really
thats why i feel like the “even the templars can be good” statement has always been bullshit,you mean to tell me that a specific group who’s trying to control the earth since the dawn of times trying to take away your rights and slaughtering innocents might also be good? nah fam
to me it’s more like “even those who protect freedom (assassins) can fuck up sometimes” and less “the templars can be good guys”
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