Assassin's Creed Origins - Interview with Ashraf Ismail (E3 2017)

Question timestamps below! I sat down with Ashraf (Game Director on AC Origins) at E3 to chat about hoods, save files, composers, quests, and more!
Follow Ashraf on Twitter! / ashrafaismail
0:00 - Modern Day
2:20 - Where's the cinematic trailer?
3:18 - Soundtrack composer
3:42 - Lead writer
4:48 - Multiple save files
5:30 - Quests and the main story
7:05 - Bayek's personality
8:36 - Hood toggling
9:35 - Stealth and main assassinations
11:32 - Game length
12:35 - Animal petting
13:49 - Time anomalies
/ loomer979
/ loomer979

[@MarvelSHS10]

I trust Ashraf with my life after Black Flag. I trust this game gon be good

[@David-nq8cv]

MarvelSHS same

[@blitzergkon311]

MarvelSHS same

[@MisterK9739]

Ismail is the GOAT of AC and Valhalla is gonna be amazing

[@iche9373]

Why the hell do you trust him? He CHEATED on his wife.

[@MarvelSHS10]

Iche This comment is 3 years old, and it obviously didn’t age well at all

[@CardWithaK]

Praise Altaïr, multiple save slots have finally returned to us!!!!

[@LazerzZ]

The answer to that first question.... seems to point towards something positive, looking forward to hearing more Cheers for asking my question too! :D

[@LongEaredFox_]

Wait did I hear Hellcutter at the beginning? Did our boy Hellcutter get a question asked??

[@MrAltekz]

He's a fucking good Director. But hmm, I don't think there will be present day like we had in AC3 etc. How he speak about that and he say we can't talk about it, but it's very hard to make a game.. We want our community to enjoy Bayek etc. But I don't think is his fault, surely his Boss or something like that doesn't wan't modern day because it's to pricey and some fan doesn,t like present day or something like that idk

[@pascalfernandes6432]

Altekz its aculy more that ther a a point of presentday wear when ther continiu present day majourly ther could do much more games. I still se the final game as a pure modern day one

[@MrAltekz]

Could be fucking awesome but plenty of player doesn,t like the present day idk why.. So Idk if they could do this

[@wolflndn758]

LazerzZ ash is a ledge👌

[@assassinarsh]

Ash is just the best director for AC!! Love you Ash!! ❤

[@David-nq8cv]

Arshward I know right, Best AC director with best devs team for this year, the game will be amazing

[@VIP-ov1qo]

same

[@kuledinho]

desilets was the best...ismail the 2nd best

[@mikeoxlarge680]

Charles Lee why was he fired

[@David-nq8cv]

Charles Lee he was director of AC1- 2, and involved with Brotherhood just a little bit

[@Fizhy]

Ashraf is a cheeky sweet boi.

[@lordeddy05]

Fishy is a fisha man

[@metunamon]

This is interesting to look back on now😬

[@ragedmathias5500]

12:48 Loomer: senu is not a cat. Ashraf: But she's your companion. (plz love her) I just love this moment. Poor Ashraf.

[@David-nq8cv]

Raged Mathias yeah it was a good moment

[@loomer]

LOL poor Senu. I will love her as well. :)

[@beckyweiss6072]

Ash just needs to see Maya's magic and he will understand :3

[@Selestina118]

That town full of cats though - I feel like when I get there I won't want to leave from the cuteness. x3

[@afanmujawar7920]

Earlier people used to complain that there is CGI trailer and not from actual game. Now they are asking for CGI. It is really hard to impress everyone.

[@David-nq8cv]

afan mujawar true, those players somehow always find a reason to complain

[@MatiZ815]

I never saw a complaint for a CG trailer at E3. People are a little upset now because it was a tradition ever since the first game. We would always get an awesome cinematic trailer to announce new AC. Shame.

[@ChrisPBacon-xn9up]

MatiZ815 Well, there are people who complain, like in the AC 3 cinematic trailer where people saw Connor fight an army of British soldiers and that didn't happen in the game, but I'd say the majority of people never really complained. Personally, I think they look freaking awesome. Kudos to the people who've made them. I forget what company makes them, but they have a whole KZbin channel that's full animations they've made for other games, obviously including Assassin's creed games.

[@MatiZ815]

Digic Pictures, I think.

[@ChrisPBacon-xn9up]

MatiZ815 Yeah! That's the one! Really like their trailers. Well, let's see what happens right? Hopefully there will be a new one! :D

[@Finbars9]

Ash is great, he seems so excited about the game and series, but also willing to be mocked about things. It makes me feel like he's really going to work hard to make a great game. He's a great example of what directors should be like

[@BeyondTheReview]

Thanks for asking my question. I can tell Ashraf really cares for AC and puts all his effort into the series.

[@Vandy--]

he really is.. dont worry this game is gonna be good. cheers

[@TURDY2929]

He seems so passionate it makes me happy

[@jtaylorjt9856]

Ashraf is the best

[@AssassinsCreedUnivers]

Thanks for asking my question. Great interview, as always, full of interesting info!

[@StratTV]

His reaction to the first question is wonderful! I could listen to Ash talk about games for hours. Thank you Looms and Ash! :)

[@FuckdasketsHOPassass]

after Patrice Désilets, Ashraf Ismail is the next best thing

[@memecliparchives2254]

Rehire Corey May and bring Darby Mcdevitt again with Ashraf, best team ever

[@_zodiak9043]

That aged badly

[@FuckdasketsHOPassass]

@@_zodiak9043 oh god I know

[@huwpritchard4200]

Seriously put a lot of my doubts to rest. Thanks, Ash and Looms.

[@NickPrasad]

I love Ashraf Ismail !!!!. He is so genuine about his love for the franchise, good on Ubisoft to congratulate him for doing a good job and granting him another game to direct :)

[@TheMentorKing]

I'm glad that they've come out and said that they know the lore, not that they needed to but after the past couple of Assassin Creed games and their retcons, it's comforting to know that they know the lore, and won't be retconning it; they've really spent a good amount of time during E3 reassuring fans that they know the lore, they recognize the lore and won't be changing it, and that makes me feel a lot better that whatever they add, they won't be taking away from something or something else. They know about the previous assassins and their achievements, and hopefully they'll be recognized in Origins somehow.

[@RogueDEV96]

Great interview! Ashraf is such a down to earth guy and the best choice for Game Director. Feels so good being an AC fan nowadays :)

[@marcovelous]

Great interview! Man the game sounds very huge, 13 writers. For the modern day I look forward to what they have to deliver.

[@melusaaste]

This sounds so awesome I'm not even that upset about not being able to pet the cats, haha

[@David-nq8cv]

Melusaaste yeah since these cats seem more lifelike compared to the cats in unity especially the ones on that particular boat

[@melusaaste]

The boat cats were creepy af

[@David-nq8cv]

Melusaaste exactly and I still question on why all of those cats are on that boat

[@AmaihanaOzahi]

Melusaaste but but we can pet Senu :D come onnn you always wanted a pet eagleee lol

[@melusaaste]

Yessss! I'm gonna pet her so much

[@RomaniMosh]

Great job Loomer! The best interview i`ve seen about the game so far.

[@AussieMarine123]

Thanks for this Loomer! Really happy that Ash is in conrol of this game, very promising.

[@maatttiiiicccccc]

what a nice guy ashraf is😊

[@reyhanfarook8321]

This comment did not age well..

[@maatttiiiicccccc]

@@reyhanfarook8321 what did I miss?

[@reyhanfarook8321]

@@maatttiiiicccccc he took a break from valhalla because he cheated on his wife with loads of people, just search up on youtube and you'll find out its pretty sad since i didnt think he was that kinda guy

[@maatttiiiicccccc]

@@reyhanfarook8321 wow really? Didn't know that. But he did oversee most of valhallas production or?

[@reyhanfarook8321]

@@maatttiiiicccccc He basically finished the game now. But the team is polishing and debugging at this stage

[@farcryx5215]

This gets me hyped even more! Thanks for the interview Loomer😀

[@zakyoungofficial]

I really like this guy and the interview seemed chill! Cannot wait! :D

[@mikeoxlarge680]

thank u for doing the interveiw ive been looking for a decent interveiw.

[@EpicEnthusiast]

Great Interview! Better questions than almost all of the mainstream coverage!

[@4589dude]

Ashraf seems like a genuine guy who loves games. I just hope that as much heart is put into the game as he makes it look like

[@karinb.779]

You are a very sympathetic man, Ashraf. Your name Ismail fits perfectly to Assassins Creed! Reminds of the real assassins in the crusades period showing themselves as Ismaelis and reminds me of my favourite Altair. I'm sure the AC Origins will become great under your direction.

[@mikedc101]

Great interview, thanks! I love Ashraf Ismail passion for this project, I know he will make the best game possible.

[@its_charro]

OMG Looms! I think you never got such insightful answers before in an E3 interview. For instance we even know who the composer is already. Good interview, thanks!

[@hellcutter9979]

Cheers for asking my Question Loomer, & Ashraf is a great Game Director & I wish nothing but the best for this upcoming Game :)

[@katskingsglaive9493]

The hair first of all looms, love it. Secondly, I love how he laughed at some of the questions. Glad this was posted and hope the game turns out as grand as it appears to be.

[@David-nq8cv]

Alexia Wesker well Ashraf the best AC director is involved so it will be grand

[@Tetramir1]

The interview was really great and Ash seems to really know his franchise and the fans.

[@Asram5]

Awesome interview! His passion shines through, and the answers are thorough. One of the biggest reveals for me any year an AC is released is who the composer is, where I search almost daily for any news. Austin Wintory's reveal was the biggest and most pleasant surprise for Syndicate, and so I was eagerly awaiting to see who was doing it this year. Anyway, great work! I love your content, man! :)

[@afanmujawar7920]

Nice video Loomer. It is great that we could again hunt animals like in Black flag. I'am hoping to see frontier like AC3

[@cjdoorn5513]

Loomer!! Another great job dude. I'm already bugging all my mates about AC Origins!

[@BeeYoSa]

He pretty much inadvertently answered a question that was on my mind about this game. It seems we won't be able to aquire every ability in the ability tree and will have to more or less commit to a specific tree to unlock the better abilities. So basically more of a true action RPG rather than an action game with light RPG elements. Good to know in advance. Can't wait to finally play this!

[@samakura1000]

it's good to see you responding to ac origins loomer (obvousily you would), but when any new big assassin's creed news is announced I always love to see your view more than anyone else's, as you were the first I watched when I first got into assassin's creed and no matter what, you have stuck with the franchise through thick and thin, while still being honest about your opinion. For me you are a voice for many ac fans including myself and I am so glad I came across your channel as you are easily one of my favourites. (By the way I'm loving this witcher/rpg type approach ubisoft is taking with ac origin's, with Ashraf Ismail as it's game director, I'm damn sure this game is in good hands.)

[@TheAnarchistmediaHOG]

This answered my question about the lore. I'm so glad to hear they aren't retconing any thing :)

[@juss_jay7436]

this director is cool i like his attitude towards the interviews

[@romanbellic7776]

im watching the day before the game release! I AM SO HYPED!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@TheBioniclelord]

Awesome interview!

[@codbfhalo98653]

Ash is the best AC director he and his team did an amazing job on Black Flag. Origins looks awesome!

[@kalo_yanis]

great interview!

[@FordzyS]

Thank you very much for the nice interview. I was embarrassed from gameplay and did not like animation in combat. But it is clear that Ishmail is a good director with a heart on the right side and I believe Origins will be a good game. :)

[@issa4767]

So cool you got to interview the man himself!

[@KeyToAnime]

I love this guy!

[@MostafaAkbari7]

Yess!! Save slots! I remember I had to delete my save file for Syndicate on Playstation to play it again.

[@baroquechevalier8516]

Whenever i see Ashraf on screen, i get the same feeling when i see Patrice Desilets, both seem so happy and passionate about AC. He's kind of the guy you can have a beer with and talk about anything.

[@mindlesspatch]

This game is sounding really good! What a lovely guy, he seems really passionate about it. The combat styles is really nice like Syndicate had Evie for Stealth and Jacob for more of a warrior approach but even then he got reprimanded for acting how he did and was pulled more into a stealth style. But aaaah the quests sound super interesting. (Also lol "as of right now you can't pet cats" as of right now? Need me that cat petting and hood toggle on the touch pad. A swipe toggle would work wonderfully haha)

[@alex74417]

MUTIPLE SAVE SLOTS ! !!

[@RogueAssassin]

Ashraf is a great man

[@TGAProMKM]

nice interview looms.....

[@SultanS5]

My boy Ashraf!

[@TheRatedD]

*_Great news about the soundtrack. Unity's was my favorite in the series._*

[@lumistrad]

Hey Loomer, It's great that you are doing these interviews . Is there any chance that you could do longer interviews with the devs and directors like some of your podcasts? I would i love to hear Ashraf elaborate on the AC universe . Thanks for a great job.

[@potatohead5492]

These two guys are amazing together they are cool

[@DarkBandicoot]

With enough complaining the animal petting will return! It happened with Watch_Dogs. XD Great interview, looking forward to this game. :)

[@muffinman5741]

Wait that means tbey added petting cats just because of this interview? Damn that's amazing.

[@loomer]

Yup, Ash confirmed a couple months later that they added it after this interview and seeing some of the comments left on the video. 🤣

[@Jaanikins]

Fingers crossed! Fingers are fucking crossed so much for this!

[@FOREVERxFORNEVER]

Mr.Ismail is an awesome person

[@FMattebo7]

finally multiple saves

[@aher5875]

I died laughing when I saw Amancio on the side of the video. Ahahahaha xD.

[@MatiZ815]

I'm surprised no one asked about that giant snake. I assume its some kind of "exotic" moment that Ashraf spoke about at the end.

[@David-nq8cv]

MatiZ815 there were questions about it but it wasn't the most voted

[@loomer]

Yeah, sorry we didn't have time to get to that question. Ash tells me the game fully justifies it, so stay tuned!

[@FuckdasketsHOPassass]

he said in one interview that it's a dream sequence

[@salamanteriop]

Ash is a really cool guy.

[@Mectrex]

Seamless save files shows Alex amancio even ashraf gets the joke lol. Best dev ever!

[@ethanhankey26]

the hype is real!!!!

[@ethanhankey26]

move tie in is a must!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@justcreed4024]

I've recently just downloaded The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt due to the new combat in Assassin's Creed Origins

[@martinsjw6520]

Ashraf is the god of ac

[@GrantyoRT]

5:12 Amancio Cameo!

[@TMAC_93X]

Roy .Tang that seamless cameo

[@TDAssassino]

*seamless intensifies*

[@neffelibatta7658]

Who's amancio?

[@robinelms9732]

About the last question.... His pause and what he said. It reminds me of a rumour from a while ago that you can play as Connor and Arno who go to Egypt (something to do with Napoleon and the Pieces of Eden) and it will wrap up their's and Shay's story. This and the vague answer in a different interview about playable characters I think is confirming that we will see Connor, Arno and Shay in Napoleonic Egypt

[@pascalfernandes6432]

Robin Elms this game play es at an difrent time. this game will reveal majourly stuff about Juno

[@robinelms9732]

Pascal Fernandes I know it's in a different time period lol. That's the joy of the animus. And nothing has been said about Juno yet...

[@zenomight9274]

finalllyy multiple save slots

[@TMAC_93X]

I have my doubts with the change in direction to an RPG from a action game and that while I enjoyed the story of BF I didn't much enjoy the navigation from one area to the next on the open sea. So I'm looking forward to playing the game in October regardless but I do believe that this team really understands the ip more than any other

[@David-nq8cv]

yeah, in my 2nd playthrough i'll be playing with no huds to get the nice cinematic rpg experience

[@onyx6547]

cats, the replacement for the kids in ac3

[@jamretro1336]

FryedOnyx HD there are kids

[@TF_Tony]

And since, they've added petting cats and dogs to the game. Wow.

[@MrMarvell]

Ahhh I wasn't sure about Ancient Egypt when the first rumour came out but now I'm proper excited, question is though, PS4 or Xbox One?

[@David-nq8cv]

Kyle WHUFC which one are you more comfortable with, Xbox or PS4?

[@Stark7Ghost]

PC

[@jackwarr4251]

I really want to see a cinematic trailer

[@angabuntu]

I wonder if Ash is the game director on Origins, may we see the rate missions from Black Flag again? Don't know, if it's just me, but I find this is a great feedback option in addition to the rest of their telemetry.

[@David-nq8cv]

angabuntu he is the game director of Origins like how he was the director for Black flag

[@Luapre9ead]

I now get why Origin's theme sounds a lot like Unity's

[@DeviniteHD]

Well, Chris Tilton created most of the tracks for Unity, including the main theme. Schachner was not the creative force. This is now her time to shine.

[@beckyweiss6072]

So happy Schachner is doing the music. She gets so in tune with the historical basis of the AC games and you can feel that in her work in here and in Unity.

[@revivemefellas9637]

Luapre9ead listen to Infinite Warfare main theme, it was made by Sarah Scahchner and it was beautiful

[@Luapre9ead]

Alrafii Bayu P thanks for the suggestion!! Truly appreciate it ☺️ God loves you!

[@Red0Wn]

Alrafii Bayu P I didn't know she made IW it was awesome

[@ozairchishti1264]

Aww man, kinda sucks that there won't be any time anomalies. It was one of the few great concepts from Unity and Syndicate and was a good way to include events and time periods that wouldn't normally warrant a full game. Oh well, was kinda looking forward to a Connor and Arno vs Shay scenario or something along those lines in the Napoleonic wars era.

[@Hhhhhh-sz9ud]

Negative feedback about Syndicate's cutscenes? I loved those cutscenes, Evie and Jacob's banter was probably my favorite part of the game.

[@hammadyusuf9271]

good easter egg for mr seamless amancio

[@xxVinccxx]

Theres plenty of free buttons to assign hood to on PC, but I guess consoles is the mainstream for game creations. At least it made in to menu.

[@gabejohnson9021]

This game is gonna be the best and I also wonder what bottom you have to press to get senu to land on your arm so you can pet her

[@David-nq8cv]

Gabe Johnson I heard that Senu lands on your arm randomly when Bayek doesn't move

[@oliree4086]

do you think when ash says *hinted at in the trailer* he means the giant freaking snake? like could there some sort of dream sequence or something?

[@engrfka]

I can bet that Assassins Creed Origins will be similar to Skyrim in terms of quests and saves and stuff.

[@babzylodge4483]

I like it mate i cant wat 😔

[@thisisthenews1254]

cool

[@thestealthiest9687]

We need a game set in the Napoleonic era

[@hammadyusuf9271]

dat intro tho

[@abdulrazzaq5213]

I hope they bring back desmond !!

[@NGMING420]

And this is the guy who tried to ressurect THAT piece of trash but classicaly ubisoft got rid of him so incredibly sad #shutdownubisoft

[@iWillWakeYouUp]

Good grief, the cat question was beyond cringeworthy. Good interview though, the rest was cool. Ashraf Ismail is a cool guy, he handles it all with so much humility and no bullshit. He actually tells you what's gonna happen. "Can you pet cats?" - "No, you cannot". Straighforward answer. I like that.

[@silverstorm6973]

We want Desmond back

[@kingjay6009]

why not use the track pad to toggle the hood? just swipe up with both thumbs to put it on, and swipe down with both thumbs to take it off.... not sure abut xbox tho, that's their business

[@altair123lol6]

You should have asked him about 800 dollar Collection edition!

[@altair123lol6]

You can buy 8 new games with season pass in each game or whatever, with that money.

[@ConnorJ97]

answer to the first question is a yes

[@dustin_echoes]

What legacy outfits will be in the game?