Ubisoft just announced the new IP Gods and Monsters at this year’s E3. Over at our YouTube channel, we’ve posted an interview with the game’s creative director, Jonathan Dumont.
We have a video of the interview and a transcript below. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
What was the inspiration for the art direction?
The style and the art direction that we gave for Gods and Monsters is inspired by a desire for us to make a much lighter experience for our players, something more inviting. When we started researching it, the Ghibli Studio vibe that they had for their movies was very interesting for us. Of course, it doesn’t translate one to one for games – and we have our own spin on it – but that was a very interesting manner to treat something fairly realistic but with more of a shaded version of it.
And then we wanted to have that painterly feeling to have a little bit more of that texture like aquarelle into what we’re doing. So it gives it a unique feeling for our game.
What did you learn from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey?
Developing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, we learned quite a bit of things that helped us develop Gods and Monsters. The first thing is our production pipeline. So we just came out of a pretty well-oiled production pipeline that we could [use] again on Gods and Monsters.
Also, if we look at it from a gameplay perspective, our ways to introduce combat abilities, our ways to navigate the world a little bit and how to construct that world was very interesting for us. And we could use quite a bit from there. And, of course, we’ve been in Greek history, Greek myths for three years. We could hit the ground running with our subject in hand.
What kind of Greek gods and mythical creatures will we meet?
In Gods and Monsters, you’ll find quite a bit of Greek gods and creatures in the game. So just to name a few so we don’t want to spoil too many surprises, you’ll find Zeus as the king of the gods. And on the creatures’ side, he’ll be opposed to Typhon, which is the biggest, baddest enemy that he’s ever had. And he will have a bunch of minions with him, such as Cyclops or harpies. The story is also told by Homer as the narrator, which will give a very defined and unique way of telling the story of Gods and Monsters.
Why explore ancient Greece through mythology?
Going to ancient Greece and its mythology was an easy win for us, because we were deep in it for three years. So we were looking at the history and the myths while building Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. But then those myths, those legends, those stories, those gods, those monsters were coming up, and we couldn’t use that in a realistic setting, such as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
And when building Gods and Monsters, we said, “Oh! That would make such a unique type of game with a unique spin on mythology.” So it was there for us to use. We were super into it, so we kept going with that.
Gods and Monsters releases on February 25, 2020. It’s coming out on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and Stadia.
