Assassin's Creed movie to focus on boring modern setting instead of cool historical one

Last week Ubisoft and 20<sup>th Century Fox's released the first trailer for video game adaptation Assassin's Creed, prompting a mixed response from the gaming community. Now, new information regarding the film has been revealed that fans are sure to dislike.

Assassin's Creed will tell the story of Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender), a man being held against his will by a company that straps him into a machine, called the Animus, that allows him to relieve the memories of one of his ancestors. That ancestor, from 15<sup>th Century Spain, is a member of the ancient order of Assassins, and his story involves something the mysterious Abstergo corporation wants to know.

The games, which follow different stories, but ones with the same basic premise, are largely played out in their disparate historical settings, inside the Animus. The film however, is going to reverse that and be set primarily in the modern day.

Executive producer Pat Crowley told IGN that the film will be set "65% in the present and 35% in the past," which is a massive departure from the formula established in Ubisoft's games. Our own rough estimate would put the games' ratios at around 90:10 in favour of the historical setting.

Crowley also said: "Often when movies are made of video games, people don't spend the money, they don't spend the time because they go: 'They're gamers. Just do the game on screen and they'll like it.' But we really feel, since often those haven't been very successful, that we had to step up. We knew we had to spend money so that people wouldn't feel like it was just a rip off of the game."

In the same article, which was based on a set visit conducted in October 2015, director Justin Kurzel said: "I was trying to bring a cinema to the game. I think the game is so cinematic and it is so extraordinary, and the visuals in the game are so striking. It was, 'How do you embrace that and at the same time provide something different?'"

Assassin's Creed is set for release on 30 December 2016.

For all the latest video game news follow us on Twitter @IBTGamesUK.