Oh. I see. Yes, it would indeed be “double” the work to make one of four characters female, if those four characters are the same dude in palette swapped outfits. And if your idea of “female character” necessarily demands a completely different way of dressing and moving than a male character. Amancio says that cutting a female character design was the only “logical” solution, but it is simply, farcically, not. There are at least two more that would have allowed for playable women in multiplayer.

1. A more androgynous player character, whose movements and physicality could be ascribed to either gender, so that a female player character in multiplayer could be distinguished by facial features or exposed (braided, obviously, lets just leave hair physics out of it) hair. Of course, I’m making the risky assumption here that the Unity team has made Arno’s movements identifiably, obviously masculine in some way, perhaps by making him sit bowlegged on the subway or having him pause to adjust his balls every five steps. Also, the assumption that the team is mentally capable of imagining a woman in male dress.

2. Making the main character of the game a woman, and basing all the multiplayer characters on her instead. But who am I kidding. The idea of a triple A game without a playable male character, that’s laughable, isn’t it? I mean, a new Tomb Raider just came out like two years ago, so we’re good for at least half a decade.

E3 Ubisoft Assassins Creed Unity Female Characters | The Mary Sue