Clint Hocking, the creative director behind Far Cry 2 and the man who gave game design theory the term "ludonarrative dissonance", has left Ubisoft. His departure was announced internally this week and confirmed to press shortly after. He was leading Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe, the occult horror entry in the franchise set during the witch trials of the Holy Roman Empire.
Jean Guesdon steps into the creative director chair. Guesdon was just named Head of Content for the Assassin's Creed brand, so he's now running both the franchise pipeline and the day-to-day creative vision of Hexe simultaneously. That's a heavy plate. Ubisoft's official line is that "development continues with a seasoned team" and that Hexe "will deliver something distinctive within the Assassin's Creed franchise." Which is exactly what you'd say if you wanted to say nothing.
The Departure Stings, But the Vibes Are Oddly Good
Hocking's exit is the second high-profile loss from Hexe specifically. Marc-Alexis Côté, the former franchise lead, left in October and is now suing Ubisoft for constructive dismissal. Ubisoft's restructuring into so-called "creative houses" has produced a steady stream of cancellations, studio closures, and departures since last year, and Hexe has now lost two of its most senior voices.
And yet. Insider Tom Henderson, who has a reliable track record on Ubisoft leaks, posted on February 25 that "Assassin's Creed Hexe is the one project everyone at Ubisoft wants to work on because of how good it's shaping up to be." He followed that up with a second post framing it as reassurance for fans rattled by the leadership news. Henderson isn't known for blowing smoke, so that's worth sitting with.
The internal enthusiasm makes a certain kind of sense. Hexe was announced in 2022 as a deliberately different kind of Assassin's Creed, leaning into horror rather than open-world tourism. After Shadows delivered the familiar formula with competence but no real surprises, there's an appetite inside Ubisoft for something that swings harder. Hexe, at least on paper, is that swing.
The question now is whether Guesdon can carry Hocking's vision forward or whether the game quietly pivots to something safer under new management. Hocking's design philosophy, player agency above all else, emergent chaos over scripted spectacle, was the reason Hexe sounded interesting to people who weren't just waiting for the next map to climb towers in. Guesdon has franchise credentials, having worked across multiple Assassin's Creed entries, but his sensibility is different. We won't know which direction Hexe actually goes until Ubisoft decides to show it, and with a rumored Black Flag remake apparently queued up for announcement first, that reveal could still be a long way off.
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