Ubisoft’s Ban Hall elaborated on the unique challenges faced when creating an Assassin’s Creed game set in Ancient Greece, specifically the limitations of the environment regarding vertical gameplay.

In his discussion with Edge Magazine, Hall stated that, “It really is a climbing-frame game, and it’s about moving the players through those spaces and going up and down things as much as anything else.” This statement highlights the game’s central mechanic of traversing heights, common in other installments like Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, which was set in tall, imposing London buildings.

However, in Ancient Greece, Hall pointed out that the gaming environment lacked towering skyscrapers. Instead, many of the constructed spots were smaller, which posed a creative dilemma for the development team. Though the Parthenon stands as a marvel, at just 14 meters tall, it presented limitations for high-flying assassins.

To counterbalance these challenges, the team opted for artistic liberties by introducing larger-than-life statues inspired by mythology and historical fact, thereby enhancing vertical gameplay. Hall noted, “They were always based on mythological or historical fact… But what we did was we took a fantastical approach to the giant statue that then gave us something epic to climb.” These statues offered players distractions and opportunities for exploration during quests, enriching the gameplay experience.