Next Assassin’s Creed Game To be Set in Victorian England

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Posted December 3, 2014 by Richard Lee Breslin in Gaming News, Leak, PC, PS4, Screenshots, Xbox One

According to a close Ubisoft source over at Kotaku, they have been given access to a leaked seven minute demonstration video that reveals gameplay for the next Assassin’s Creed title to release next year and it will be set in Victorian England during the 19^th century, so could we see the famous Jack the Ripper its campaign? I certainly hope so, but much to our Brett Claxton’s delight, going by the screenshots leaked, Top Hats are indeed wearable in next year’s instalment.

Codenamed Assassin’s Creed: Victory, the game will be developed by Ubisoft’s Quebec studio and will be releasing for the PC, PS4 and Xbox One and it is expected that we won’t see an AC game for the PS3 or Xbox 360 next year. If you had any doubts that this leak is real, Ubisoft has released a statement all but confirming the leak, which you can find at the end of this article.

Assassin’s Creed: Victory will be developed on the Anvil engine, the same software used for Assassin’s Creed: Unity. Hopefully Ubisoft will learn strong lessons over the failures of Unity, because now that the game is running far more smoothly, Unity in my opinion is a superb game and there’s no denying that its Paris world looks stunning.

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Kotaku say that at the beginning of the video it says that the gameplay footage “was produced entirely in Anvil, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed engine. In other words, it wasn’t pre-rendered.” They also comment on how “surprisingly slick” the footage looks and it “may not represent what the final game could look like” and that it “could pass for an E3 presentation,”

In the article revealed by Kotaku, they speak of how they saw a new grappling hook in action during the gameplay video and it will not only grant the ability to access more areas in an instant, but it could also make for a lethal weapon. They also spoke of how they saw such locations as the River Themes and in one of the screenshots in this article, Big Ben is clearly visible.

If Ubisoft can refine the gameplay and have London created to the level of Paris that featured in Unity, we could be in for one hell of a game. I know Unity’s issues may put many off, but from what I can tell, most of the primary issues came from the PC version (though I have experienced issues myself on the PS4). Being the optimist that I am, I believe that many of Unity’s issues were avoidable, hence why their now being fixed with various patches. So I believe that there is hope in that respect.

Below is an extract directly from Kotuku’s article, detailing what they saw during the video.

The video begins with an assassin, presumably the game’s protagonist, climbing up a tower and looking out at the city of London. We get a quick overview of the city as the camera flies from alley to alley, showing us some of the games potential side activities (gambling in a pub, street-racing with carriages, and so forth). We then cut back to the assassin, who leaps down to the street, makes his way into a nearby horse carriage, and accepts an assignment from a mysterious masked woman. The task: kill a man named Roderick Bulmer, who has been trafficking little girls for the assassins’ ancestral enemies. “The Templars must receive our message,” says the woman. “You must send it in blood.”

Mid-conversation, the carriage is attacked, so the assassin makes his way out and takes out several enemies—who are bearing templar insignias—while keeping his balance atop the moving buggy. It’s frantic. A few quick kills later, the assassin arrives at the Charing Cross railway station, where he swaps his hood for a top hat and runs through the crowd, ignoring side quests (“stop that thief!”) as he hunts down Bulmer, who is standing among the crowd in the middle of a train plaza.

Our assassin hops and leaps to a platform overlooking the trains, takes out a guard, then uses what appears to be a new item—a grappling hook—to swing over to Bulmer and stab him in the chest.

Once Bulmer is dead, the assassin jumps onto a moving train and fights off more templar soldiers while crossing the River Thames. As the video draws to a close, our protagonist leaps from the train into a conveniently-placed haystack, then staggers forward as the camera pulls toward the London horizon. Then the logo: Assassin’s Creed Victory.

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I know many gamers will be saying this leak is perhaps too soon and Ubisoft should concentrate on other games that are coming out next year, but in all fairness this franchise is their biggest money spinner. Also in their defence they have many studios with 100’s of staff members, so if any studio can pull this off, I believe Ubisoft are very capable.

Ubisoft has released a short statement in response to this leak and it all but confirms Assassin’s Creed: Victory’s existence and express their disappointment at the leak, and at least they’ve not denied all knowledge with the generic “we don’t comment on speculation” statement.

It is always unfortunate when internal assets, not intended for public consumption, are leaked. And, while we certainly welcome anticipation for all of our upcoming titles, we’re disappointed for our fans, and our development team, that this conceptual asset is now public. The team in our Quebec studio has been hard at work on the particular game in question for the past few years, and we’re excited to officially unveil what the studio has been working on at a later date.

In the meantime, our number one priority is enhancing the experience of Assassin’s Creed Unity for players.

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What are your thoughts on Assassin’s Creed: Victory, is it too soon after the problems of Unity? Should the Assassin’s Creed series take a year off and can they avoid another disastrous launch? Let us know in the comments section below.

My review for Assassin’s Creed: Unity has been postponed of late, due to a corrupt save file, meaning that I had to start the game again. But since Unity had received its third major patch, the game is now running far more smoothly, so you can expect our review very soon.

P.S After the second big leak in a row to Kotaku (the first being AC: Unity), I think a Ubisoft employee could be getting a P45 before the fourth major patch is released for Unity.