Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is the first game in the series since 2007’s first Creed to feature a transgender character.
Ned Wynert is a transgender male character in Syndicate and is one of a group of quest-giving NPCs players will encounter throughout the storyline and perhaps beyond. His inclusion is alongside the statement Syndicate’s creative director Marc-Alexis Côté gave to Eurogamer that they have “made a good push towards diversity and how we approach different subjects in the game.” This follows last year’s Unity, which received a lot of backlash for a lack of playable females.
Côté said that “inclusiveness is something that’s super important for us a team.” In line with the this, the opening statement has been changed to “Inspired by historical events and characters, this work of fiction was designed, developed, and produced by a multicultural team of various beliefs, sexual orientations, and gender identities.” This is from the previous statement that read “designed, developed, and produced by a multicultural team of various religious faiths and beliefs.” Naturally, as the narratives branch out and adapt to changing lifestyles it makes sense to update this too.
Eurogamer also got a quick test of a couple of Wynert’s missions, and report no reference to his gender whatsoever, leaving Côté to say he wants players to form their own ideas and react to Ned in their own way.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is set for release on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 October 23, with the PC release on November 19.