With the official confirmation of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, fans of the series can look forward to a brand new adventures with a new hero and location. It was revealed that the protagonist of the game is Edward Kenway, grandfather of Assassin's Creed 3's Connor. But some fans were hoping for a female protagonist protagonist, much like the Vita exclusive Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation.
When asked about having a female lead for the man series by IGN, game director Ashraf Ismail had this to say on the issue:
"Really early on, we decided to tell the story of the Kenways. So we already had in place the idea to tell Edward, Haytham, and Connor. This was actually years ago, we had this..So in the grand scheme of the Assassin's Creed III and Black Flag era, we actually never thought, 'could this be a woman?'...I would say it wouldn't be surprising to see a female assassin coming up in a mainline Assassin's Creed, But for us, for AC4, it was always Edward."
Furthermore, Ismail explained that within a historical context, having a female lead within the setting of Assassin's Creed 4 would not make much sense. "From the pirate perspective, there were a few famous women pirates. But it wasn't common. So we didn't want that element to be a detail people got stuck on."
While the possibility of having a female lead for the main series of Assassin's Creed games sounds strong, it will take the appropriate setting for that to happen. With the fourth game's pirate theme, it makes more sense to have a male protagonist, especially with the family connection between Edward and Connor. Look out for Assassin's Creed 4 to come out for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC Oct. 29.