Assassin’s Creed is one of the most popular and recognizable video game brands of all time. It combines science-fiction and fantasy ideas with historical fiction and provides action/stealth gameplay within well beautiful open worlds that capture that part of time wonderfully. Part of the fun of the series is wondering where the next entry will go next. Two of my dream destinations have already happened, Victorian London and Ancient Egypt in Syndicate and Origins respectively. So with no entry scheduled to come in 2019, we have to wait quite a while until we unearth the next entry, which gives us plenty of time to speculate on a destination. Bear in mind that this isn’t based on any leaks of theories but rather, personal opinion.

FEUDAL JAPAN

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first, shall we? Fans of the historical/sci-fi/fantasy series have been clamouring for Ubisoft to send them to Feudal Japan and explore the vast Japanese wilderness decked out as a truly exceptional ninja working for the Brotherhood. Assassins’ Creed has been making great strides in its open world design, with Ancient Egypt and Greece being massive and detailed playgrounds. Many of those mechanics, such as horseback navigation, sailing between islands, and strongholds would translate easily to a Japanese setting. The series has made a radical shift to a more combat heavy approach as of late, with combat being dictated by a hit-box system and perks that seemingly encourage duels rather than sneaking. If we do get to hide our faces as a ninja during the Feudal times, we hope Ubisoft will put more of an emphasis on stealth gameplay than sword combat. We have Ghost of Tsushima for that. With the Feudal systems in place, Conquest Battles from Odyssey could return and allow our ninja to turn the tide of battle should the game be more combat focused, or ideally, a balanced approach between stealthy missions and katana-wielding bloodshed. In terms of a concrete setting, somewhere between the Kamakura period (1185-1333) to the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600) could be appropriate settings as we’re further removed from the Colonizing periods and gameplay would be more focused on blades than gunpowder. The image below is the Battle of Sekigahara, which saw 160 000 men fight each other in October 1600 and perfectly compliments the Conquest battle system. 

THE JACOBITE RISING

Of all the eras in the Assassin’s Creed timeline, the studio seems to have a particular fascination with the 18th century. And we can’t blame them, a lot happened in that century and the series has explored a lot of it, from the French and American Revolutions and the Golden Age of Piracy. But we think it would be particularly interesting to play as a Highlander in 1700s Scotland. As fans of Outlander will no doubt tell you, Scotland was a brutal and violent country during the 18th century, thanks to British subjugation and a Scottish claim to the British throne through Charles Stuart. What could make this an interesting setting is that the Risings fail, which could be an interesting change of pace for the narrative, especially if the Templars are involved with the British. Perhaps this could be like Empire Strikes Back and we see the villains win this one. Mechanically, playing as a Scotsman would put a giant target on your back. Navigating the open world could end up being much more challenging, as British patrols would be on the lookout for you. Simply paying your bounty won’t be enough. Gameplay would deal heavily with stealthy sabotage and other guerilla warfare tactics. This setting, being home to the Scottish clan system, would allow for the series to bring back the homestead mechanics we saw in Brotherhood and III, where we can take our income and spend it on refurbishing our clan castle.

THE VIKING SAGA

AC fans really like their naval elements and what better way to encourage it than by playing as a Viking, circa around 845 A.D. The Vikings were expert seafaring people and are historically the first Europeans to land on the New World. But this game should focus on the player as a full-blooded Viking with no immediate ties to the Brotherhood, not unlike Edward Kenway in IV. Players will get the chance to play on both Norse or Danish open-worlds and then sail over to part of England. Like Odyssey and to a lesser extent, IV, this setting can allow for the player to interact with the world in a less noble manner. From there, finding a piece of Eden in a monastery in England on a raid opens the door to the political theatres of East Anglia and Mercia and dissent among your ranks on return voyages. And sailing should make you feel like you can get lost at sea, especially if Ubisoft keeps Exploration Mode (and they should!)

THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

Fans of Assassin’s Creed will no doubt remember that the series’ roots can be traced back to the Prince of Persia franchise. That parkour/combat heavy game would eventually become the template for the historical assassination series but we have since lost the Prince to the sands of time due to the insane popularity of the Creed franchise. With that in mind, wouldn’t it be cool to have AC take place during the same period in time as the Prince of Persia games? We think not only would this be a great tribute to the once popular gaming franchise but would be a really cool portion of history to explore, especially coming off of the Ancient Greek setting, where the Persians were not so loved by the Greeks. But whereas Odyssey took place in 431 B.C., I think jumping the period to match that of Prince of Persia, being around the 8th or 9th century would offer a fresh outlook that it’s separate in both visual style and narrative from Odyssey and it’s geographical closest counterpart, Istanbul from Revelations. 

THE SPANISH INQUISITION

We got a peak of the Spanish Inquisition during the historical events of the Assassin’s Creed movie, but those scenes were definitely the B plot of the film and thus, we didn’t get to spend too much time there aside from the action set pieces. For that reason alone, it would be very interesting to visit Spain during the high of the Inquisition in the late 15th century. As we know from the film, this period was a hotbed for the Templars and would be the perfect nesting ground to further explore the events that happened at this time. By setting the game in European cities again during the Renaissance years, we’d bring the action back to cities that have very narrow streets, allowing for more traditional parkour action to take place, something that’s been a bit lacking with the last few entries and something fans have been asking to see returned. 

So those are my top picks as to where I’d like to see Assassin’s Creed go next, where would you like to see the historical action-adventure series go in the future? Let us know and be sure to check out our latest on Ghostbusters 3 and our Top 20 most anticipated movies on the year!