Ryan Taylor
According to a report from Kotaku, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is set to receive a remake. It is in very early in development and is likely years away, but combined with an earlier report from Insider Gaming, this would mean that 11 Assassin’s Creed games are currently in various stages of planning and production.
Also read: Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag: Is a Remake of the Massive Acclaimed Entry on the Way?
October will see the release of Assassin’s Creed: Mirage set in 9th Century Baghdad, allowing players to live out the early years of Basim, who we first met as the Viking Eivor during the events of AC: Valhalla.
Five other titles have also been officially announced as well as Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed Infinity” platform, a hub that will connect all mainline series entries going forward after Mirage. The first of these five Assassin’s Creed games is “Nexus“, a VR experience for the Oculus Quest set across three previously visited historical periods.
Next, we have Codename Jade, a mobile exclusive entry set in China. Both of these titles are expected in 2023. Following that there is Codename Red, Codename Hexe, and Codename Invictus.
Red is an open-world RPG set in feudal Japan. Hexe is said to be a brand new type of experience for fans of the franchise but Ubisoft hasn’t elaborated any further, though the imagery hints at the setting being the European Witch trials. Invictus is an online PVP title that is presumably a revival of the fan-favorite mode last seen in Black Flag.
These entries are expected between 2024 and 2026.
Beyond that, Insider Gaming mentions a further five games in the conceptual/prototyping stage, all with codenames:
- Nebula (single-player)
- Raid (multiplayer)
- Echoes (multiplayer)
- Nexus 2 (VR)
- Black Flag remake (single-player)
The Future of Assassin’s Creed Games Looks Busy
So Assassin’s Creed fans have a lot to look forward to over the coming months and years. But it does beg the question, at what point does quantity sacrifice quality? We’ve seen the effects of yearly releases on many franchises, sometimes to the point that developers and publishers rethink their strategy and take a break. This has even previously happened with the Assassin’s Creed games themselves.
The series saw a release of at least one game every year from 2009 to 2015. Many fans began to feel what can only be described as franchise fatigue. Is Ubisoft risking that happening again? It’s certainly a possibility but it is worth noting that the upcoming games are much more varied than their predecessors.
While Assassin’s Creed II through to Syndicate followed much the same formula bar new locations and protagonists, the list above mentions a broad mixture of genres: RPG, multiplayer PVP and coop, VR, and possibly even horror, if speculation around Hexe is to be believed. Could this stop the series from getting stale? Or should Ubisoft adopt a less is more approach and focus on depth rather than breadth?
PlayStation exclusive Ghost of Tsushima from Sucker Punch Productions is often compared to the Assassin’s Creed franchise in terms of its overall structure and gameplay, but as though it’s Assassin’s Creed with near-Rockstar levels of polish and detail. Rockstar, famous for the Red Dead Redemption and GTA series, notably tends to release franchise entries many years apart. It has been almost 10 years since the original release of GTA V, though Rockstar has supported it with many online content updates and multiple generational upgrades since then.
Rockstar’s games are almost universally praised as the most detailed and expansive games on the market. Contrast that with any of the recent Assassin’s Creed games, which are usually dragged down by unnecessary bloat, being large in terms of the actual map size but feeling empty or repetitive. What would you prefer? Many potentially shallower experiences? Or is it worth the extra wait for something special?
Sources: Kotaku/Insider Gaming
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