Assassin’s Creed, a game that transports the player from the current 2000’s timeline into various historic periods throughout time. The original premise throws you into the role of a character shrouded in mystery, often unbeknownst to historical studies. Therefore as game creators, we’re at the will of adding any personality, physical or mental trait to the protagonist.

My proposed mod would be that one of the games takes a person from the 21st century, who has no physical impairments, and is then shot back into the past to play out as a very successful assassin, that has a physical impairment.

The original series generally follows the same premise where you’re pulled back into current times, and you face some sort of moral reflection on your bloodlust assassin history. Whilst this would still stand throughout the game, your main character (Desmond Miles) would be learning how to work with a physical impairment, which could be an arm that may falter under the weight of his sword, or difficulty wielding a bow – which would reflect in the gameplay.

 

 

This added difficulty could be seen as a hindrance to some players, but throughout the game as Desmond becomes more comfortable with his disability, so would you as a player. The game continues in the same fashion, where you as the main character take down the evil Templar church and become the hero.

My original brainstorm was a flipped idea on this, where Desmond is in a wheelchair and goes back in time to be without disability. But I found that this idea only fits the description of disability representation, but at the core, the 14th-century assassin character that has no impairments is seen as the hero. So it was a somewhat entirely backward, empty idea of representation.

With my current proposed mod, this would not only show disability within a game but actually glorify that same character. Throughout the game, as Desmond learns that his disability isn’t the defining part of his character, and he’s able to push forward and progress through the storyline – we as the player, too become familiar and exposed to the concept that disability is not a person’s defining characteristic, and is nothing to be judgemental and prejudiced towards.

 

 

Whilst diversity and representation are a huge issue in the gaming industry, what small gestures in rectifying this can seem somewhat empty. It’s all well and good to have more representation, but if they’re still falling into stereotypical, or non-hero roles we can always do better. I believe this mod could be interesting in that it takes any player, and puts them into the role of a classic white cis-gender male, and then disrupts the normal gameplay as you’re thrown into the world of someone that may receive prejudice towards them in the real world. It’s a concept I like because, not only does it disrupt normative gameplay, but it actually disrupts your first perception of the game. It could play a role in disability representation, especially in terms of a heroic protagonist as opposed to a side plot whilst still having some fun gameplay elements, strategising when to use your bow or sword, and focus on other ways to avoid being caught in the game.