The newest installment in the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise has finally arrived, launching on April 21 in the Americas and April 22 in Europe. Before the launch, Ubisoft released a brand new trailer for the title which gave a glimpse into the way assassinations work in the new game, as well as a preview of the story.
The new game is set in China, exploring new grounds for the franchise. In the 16th century, the new Jiajang Emperor has just finished terminating everyone who he deemed a threat to his throne, which included the Chinese Brotherhood of Assassins. However, Shao Jun, a member of the guild, escapes to the West where he’s taken under the wing of none other than Ezio Auditore.
Now, he’s back in China trying to put the Brotherhood back together. The game is a more unique title than most previous installments in the series, in that it’s not a 3D game but rather a 2D one. Or rather, it’s based on a concept known as “2.5D”, which was already used on “Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery”. Many critics were impressed by the way the developers have handled the transition to the new perspective this time, as it was reportedly executed even better than in the last similar installment in the franchise.
The game itself reportedly plays relatively smoothly and offers a good experience for what it’s worth, though of course fans waiting for a “full” experience in the traditional “Assassin’s Creed” style will have to wait a little longer.
On the other hand, Ubisoft are looking into expanding “Chronicles” as an entire sub-franchise with two more installments to follow, set in India and Russia respectively. Judging by the response to “China”, there could definitely be strong potential in this idea, though of course it’s also quite important to see how the execution will be handled.
The franchise has been expanding very rapidly, with new installments being developed in various different styles, and it’s clear that Ubisoft are looking to realize the full potential of the series as quickly as they can. This is probably a smart move in the end, as they can only keep releasing new “Assassin’s Creed” games for so long before people get bored of the idea as a whole.
The brand name has become so popular that it’s now also transitioning to other media as well, such as a film production that’s currently in the works. It’s not known if Ubisoft are planning to take that idea further or if it’s just a one-time experiment, but if the film proves successful, we wouldn’t be surprised if we saw sequels following it as well. At this point, only time will tell.