Assassin’s Creed 3: Similarities to Red Dead Redemption
While it is easy to think of game development as purely a technical affair, there is quite a lot of art that goes into putting a quality video game together. We’re not talking just about the character design or the look and feel of elements in the game but about the soul of the game-the storyline. Since stories often make or break the game, their requirements truly shape the final look and direction of a title.
The lead writer for Ubisoft’s upcoming American Revolution era historical assassination action adventure title, Assassin’s Creed 3 admitted that there was a “convergence of mind” between the title and Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games’ breakout Western-themed open world action adventure game. Assassin’s Creed 3 was in mid-development when Red Dead Redemption dropped. According to lead writer Matt Turner, the similarities between the two titles are due to the fact that when different people think about the same topic simultaneously their ideas tend to come out at the same time. In their case, their storyline focused on the American Revolution and its great frontier. In Red Dead Redemption, the storyline’s setting involved the great expanses of the American Southwest. Both settings begged key similarities-game play in a large frontier region and hunting wild animals. Turner said that Ubisoft is now looking at the success of Red Dead Redemption and seeks to take the game’s formula further.

Screenshot from Assassin's Creed 3 (Credit: Ubisoft)
He said that instead of being shocked and intimidated by the similarities of ideas executed by Red Dead Redemption, the AC3 team played the Western game end to end and sought to be inspired by its elements to try and improve on its features.
