It’s kind of wild to think Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise has been around long enough for fans to have developed a nostalgia for its earliest entries. But fifteen years of games is long enough for the series to have forged trends, bent to them, and garnered an amorphous fanbase across its variety of flavours and experiences. Even among the staunchest of believers in the franchise’s shift to open-world, action-RPG design ethos though, there exists a deeply entrenched desire to go back to its humble, stealth roots. After getting a look behind the scenes of Ubisoft’s 2023 Assassin’s Creed roadmap, it seems those at the helm agree.
Unveiled at today’s Ubisoft Forward event, the Assassin’s Creed franchise is taking three platform-distinct but brand-cohesive approaches to its future – the modest throwback Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the mobile Assassin’s Creed Jade and the Metaquest VR experience, Assassin’s Creed NEXUS. Across these titles, we see Ubisoft looking to its past for its future, with returning characters, revitalised gameplay systems, and a more streamlined approach to the somewhat unwieldy world of templars and assassins.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Ubisoft Bordeaux feels like they have something to prove with Mirage, a loving homage to the series’ fundamentals and vibrant exploration of the golden age of Baghdad. In it you’ll be playing as Basim, a character introduced in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as he navigates the early stages of the titular creed organisation as well as his own role in events to come. During an extended gameplay video and developer profile, we saw Bordeaux talk about its ambitions with Mirage and how the shift back to a stealth-focused narrative would allow them to get back in touch with the heart of the franchise. Basim has been kitted out with an array of mechanical tools to enable multiple playstyles (think smoke bombs, darts and the like), as well as a suit of bespoke parkour animations to deliver what Ubisoft is calling the most versatile play experience in the franchise.
The world certainly looks stunning too, and the voice talent of Shohreh Aghdashloo gives the game some gravitas, but I can’t help but look at Mirage as the sweatiest Assassins’ Creed to date. That same desire to prove something with the franchise becomes a sharp double-edge as it twists in on itself to promise a return to form without any serious examination of how that form has or should have changed in the fifteen years since the franchise launch. “Will you go through the roof or the front door?” the game prompts and I can’t help but wonder if AAA stealth systems have completely stagnated. It’s impossible to tell based on how little we’ve seen of the game but its first impression is one of a gorgeously crafted but ultimately safe adventure. It’s also clocking in under the usual price point, with Ubisoft docking about ten bucks off the cost when the game launches October 12 this year on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.
Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade
This one looks like something of a pocket rocket, offering players the chance to play a full fledge Assassin’s Creed adventure for free, anywhere, anytime on their phone. Taking place during third century BC, China, Codename Jade is cramming a whole Ubisoft open-world into a mobile game, complete with series staples like parkour, stealth, and outright combat. The game is offering “2000 years of history” to experience too, an ambitious bit of storytelling if the team can pull it off. If you’re interested, you can sign up now for the Closed Beta later this year over at: www.assassinscreedcodenamejade.com
Assassin’s Creed Nexus
If Mirage is Ubisoft celebrating the core tenets of Assassin’s Creed, then Nexus is an outright victory lap for the franchise’s most recognisable heroes. While the presentation we got to see of the game didn’t feature any gameplay, the promise of Nexus is incredibly ambitious and potentially one of the cooler additions to the library we’ve seen. In it you’ll be playing through three different campaigns as golden boy Ezio Auditore from Assassin’s Creed II, everyone’s girlfriend Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and wild card Connor from Assassin’s Creed III. Each of these recognisable faces is pitted against a new story that sees players able to roam city streets and treetops in a fully immersive VR experience, complete with kinetic combat and freeform parkour. The game is set to feature open environments with 360-degree navigation. Exactly how this will work remains to be seen as movement in VR is normally a tricky point, but Ubisoft seems confident in Nexus and if it can be pulled off, it’ll be a killer app for fans with a Meta Quest 2. The game is set to launch later this year.
One part pretentious academic and one part goofy dickhead, James is often found defending strange games and frowning at the popular ones, but he's happy to play just about everything in between. An unbridled love for FromSoftware's pantheon, a keen eye for vibes first experiences, and an insistence on the Oxford comma have marked his time in the industry.
