For the first time in years, there wasn't an annual Assassin's Creed release in 2016. Ubisoft decided to give the series a bit of a rest and refresh before launching a brand new adventure in 2017. An adventure tipped to be called Assassin's Creed Empire.
Although Ubisoft has yet to officially announce the next Assassin's Creed, there's plenty of information about the game leaking all over the internet.
With the last two entries in the main Assassin's Creed series falling flat, there's plenty of pressure on the next game to be seriously good. After all, with Assassin's Creed Unity launching with more bugs than a touring flea circus and Assassin's Creed Syndicate failing to sell as well as it needed to, Empire could be the game to revitalise the series.
Until Ubisoft officially announce the next Assassin's Creed, we'll be collecting all the gossip here from Assassin's Creed Empire release date teasers, news, leaks and other tidbits.
What makes us think it's called Assassin's Creed Empire?
Rumours of a game at least codenamed Assassin's Creed Empire surfaced on 4chan boards back April 2016. An anonymous poster claiming to be a Ubisoft developer stated that Assassin's Creed would skip a 2016 release and that the game launching in 2017 would be called Assassin's Creed Empire.
This NeoGAF thread has everything posted to 4chan by the tipster.
Of course, part of this information was then confirmed when Ubisoft revealed Assassin's Creed series wouldn't launch in 2016.
"This year, we are also stepping back and re-examining the Assassin's Creed franchise," explained Ubisoft in a blog post in February last year. "Since the release of Assassin's Creed Unity, we've learned a lot based on your feedback. We've also updated our development processes and recommitted to making Assassin's Creed a premier open-world franchise.
"We've taking this year to evolve the game mechanics and to make sure we're delivering on the promise of Assassin's Creed offering unique and memorable gameplay experiences that make history everyone's playground."
The Empire name has also been independently corroborated by various Kotaku sources, at least as a code name for the game if not as the final title.
Are we really going to Egypt for Assassin's Creed Empire?
All the leaks so far from Kotaku and 4chan have pointed to an Ancient Egyptian setting for the next Assassin's Creed, which should launch in 2017.
But there's been a few other clues too. Back in February 2016, a leaked image appeared on Reddit that seemed to show an assassin-type fellow standing in front of an entrance to a pyramid. The image has, of course, since been deleted.
It's also worth noting that this character and a shot of some pyramids can be found in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag if you trawl through the Abstergo emails.
Along with the above screenshot, a video emerged for something called Osiris. Originally it was thought to be connected to a Prince of Persia game, but according to that 4chan poster, Ubisoft isn't making anymore Prince of Persia titles.
"Forget Prince of Persia. It will never come back. The reason why AC exists at all is because PoP meant Ubi has to pay for license, since they don't own the IP. AC is Ubi's own IP, so merchandising and all that s**t is there's to keep. PoP is financially not worth it."
This Ancient Egyptian setting is also supported by a side quest in Watch Dogs 2, believe it or not. The mission sees you attempt to steal an unreleased game trailer from a mock version of Ubisoft's HQ. The trailer is very much for a sci-fi/space adventure game, as you can watch below, but it's the conversation you overhear between two "Ubisoft" employees that piqued our attention:
"Can you assure me [the trailer won't be leaked]? After what happened with Unity, Syndicate, Osiris…"
There's already been Assassin's Creed Syndicate and Assassin's Creed Unity released in 2016 and 2015 resepctively and both titles were leaked before Ubisoft had a chance to officially announce them. Osiris seems to be the code name for this next Assassin's Creed title and Osiris just happens to be the Ancient Egyptian god of the dead and ruler of the underworld.
But who's taking us there?
At the moment we're still awaiting concrete details regarding who our Egyptian protagonist will be, but there are a few cheeky details out there.
According to that original 4chan poster, you will play as either a slave or ex-slave, who looks a lot like Altair from the original Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed II, but with "darker skin". From the sounds of it, he's not going to be an Ezio Auditore character with lots of charisma. Instead, he's going to be an almost mute protagonist, which doesn't sound that great to us.
As for a name and background, we're still not sure. But, according to the leaks, this character may be the focus for a trilogy of games that could explore Rome and Greece.
There's already been an unidentified Egyptian assassin featured in the Assassin's Creed comics. Set in 1250, the Egyptian assassin was tasked with bringing the Scepter of Aset to the Mamluks as a gift to help them revolt against the Ayyubid tyrants. According to the comics, this eventually results in the foundation of the Bahri dynasty after the Mamluks use a piece of Eden to depose the Ayyubid government.
And what will they be doing?
Because it's set in ancient Egypt, you should apparently view this as a prequel to all Assassin's Creed games. This is a time before Assassins and Templars even existed, so may be a kind of origin story.
According to the 4chan leak, Assassin's Creed Empire has a "lot more story than any of the rest". It's believed that Ubisoft has chosen to go back to Ancient Egypt in order to allow more freedom with the storyline. Going so far back in time means there are fewer major historical moments to tie to the events of the game.
Allegedly the game is going for a Witcher feel with character progressions, freeform combat system, horses and even boats making a reappearance in the series. It's being made by the same team that brought you Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
The biggest difference will supposedly be in the art style, according to the 4chan post. It'll be incredibly colourful with "blue skies, lush vegetations and desert sequences where you get mirage[s]".
When will we be able to play Assassin's Creed Empire?
Well, we're now deep into 2017 and looking at E3 in June to set the scene for when we can play Assassin's Creed Empire.
"We can't say much about that yet," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot admitted when asked about the next Assassin's Creed during the company's earnings call in September 2016. "We are working hard on this game, and it will be launched when ready."
"And it's a great game; looking good," added Ubisoft's CFO Alain Martinez.
We're putting our money on Assassin's Creed Empire arriving in October/November, as has been the tradition with Assassin's Creed games in the past. Potentially with another May reveal, as has happened with the last few titles in the series.
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