New Assassin's Creed Game in Development
Note:
I'll preface the following information by saying Ubisoft has officially stated that they do not comment on rumors, leaks, or speculations about development. The new Assassin's Creed knowledge we have is from Jason Schreir's investigative games journalism and his internal, anonymous sources at Ubisoft.
Background information:
It's no secret to anyone that the game industry's biggest studios have had a few rocky years of reckoning, and Ubisoft is no exception. Ubisoft's production timeline struggled while the company was rocked with lawsuits and scandals around sexism and harassment. Games were either delayed indefinitely (RIP Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake) or left in limbo as employees left en-masse. A new Assassin's Creed game could be the W Ubisoft needs. Sources have stated that Ubisoft has "shaken up" several Assassin's Creed expansions, so we'll see what story threads the newest AC game will sew for the larger game universe.
What we know of the game:
What was meant to be yet another expansion for Valhalla has spun off into its own game. Codenamed "Rift," this new game would reduce the map size and, in some ways, go back to the basics of what made Assassin's Creed such a cornerstone franchise. While Assassin's Creed titles used to be released on a fairly consistent schedule, Ubisoft has taken more time in recent years to expand the worlds of their AC games and effectively rebrand them into fully-fledged RPGs.
For those that played Assassin's Creed Valhalla, you'll know that the developers kept Basim's storyline open for plenty of hijinks and sneaking about. Rift will star Basim and is "smaller in scope" than the recent AC installations. In fashion with the early Assassin's installments, Rift will primarily focus on stealth gameplay on a smaller map, VS massive open-world roleplay.
The game's location hasn't been confirmed. That said, I've read some reports speculating that Baghdad will be the location as players explore Basim's colorful life pre-Eivor.
Rift will release before Assassin's Creed Infinity, the live-service, online play title that Ubisoft has been patiently crafting. (Details about Infinity are hard to find-- what we know for sure is that it will look to weave the many storylines of the franchise together, and it will not be free-to-play.) We don't know when either title will release, as both have had projections for 2022-2023.
My recommendation is to set your eyes on E3 2022 and keep tabs on the moves Ubisoft will be making at that event. They've generally used that event to officially announce their Assassin's Creed games.
What are your thoughts? Are you excited about the direction Ubisoft is going with Assassin's Creed?
