Yep, Assassin's Creed Infinite is going for multiple open-worlds, in a kind of mmorpg, heavily co-op focused model. Let's take a look at the deets!
Assassin's Creed Infinite will take the franchise in a wholly new direction, and it might be just what the franchise always needed. We already knew some of the following details, but a recent leak has revealed so much more. Including how Assassin's Creed Infinite will work and what historical settings we'll get to visit.
How will Assassin's Creed Infinite work?
Assassin's Creed Infinite will feature a social hub area like Destiny's Tower, and from this hub you will go to different open-world environments based on various historical settings. Each time you go to a new setting you will do so as a new character each time, sort of like Simpsons Hit & Run and the different areas of Springfield available to each member of the Simpsons family. See, it wasn't a silly title!
Here are the historical settings we know about so far:
- Occupied France during WW2
- Rome in 1502
- China in 1634
That's the basic outline of the leak, but here's the thing in its entirety. This is from a since deleted Reddit-post from someone reportedly working in Ubisoft, under the account u/throwawayubi2021, enjoy:
- The title is planned to be supported on Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X and S consoles, PC via Ubisoft Connect, Google Stadia and Amazon Luna at launch. No word on a PS4/Xbox One version currently.- The game's structure is highly based around both solo and cooperative play with a high level of player customization, moving towards a Destiny 2-like experience.For example, there is a shared hub world, much like the Tower in Destiny 2. This is set in the modern day, where your created protagonist will be able to move about, talking to NPCs, getting different quests and progressing further through the main story. Other players are visible in this area.Adversely, there are multiple different time periods to travel to, called "Eras", much like how planets in Destiny 2 function. Here, you will play as your Animus Avatar, who you will also create during the tutorial section of the game. This character carries across all time periods in both appearance and stats/gear.
The story is fairly straightforward, that you, along with many other Assassins in modern day have gathered and are working together to uncover all of the pieces of Eden before the Templars do. Most of the game takes place in the different time periods you travel to, but at key points in progression, such as the tutorial and during other solo-locked content/quests, you will play as your modern day character. This includes some full story quests where you will be stealthily sneaking around Abstergo facilities, using social stealth around a city area, fighting security guards, etc.- The different Eras are aiming to please as much of the market as possible, so there are both familiar locations from the older games in the series, as well as new ones unique to this game. That being said, many new gameplay mechanics are being incorporated as well. I'll detail some of them below.- There are set to be multiple Eras within the game at launch, all with different stories, and more coming post-launch in the form of Seasons, with each Season adding a new Era and questline to play through.
The current Eras that I'm aware of are the following:Rome, 1502 - This is the first Era available to the player, and you play as one of the many Assassins recruited by Ezio during the events of AC: Brotherhood. This is where the tutorial takes place, as well as the first main questline.Occupied France, 1943 - This Era introduces a new mechanic and a first for the series, that being fully-fledged firearms. The gunplay mechanics are largely being pulled from Watchdogs: Legion and tweaked to fit the rest of the game, though melee combat is still very much viable. The story of this section is centered around a group of Assassins working with the 2nd Armored Division to help liberate Paris and hunting down Axis officers and leaders with connections to the Templars.China, 1634 - You and other assassins assist a local peasant rebellion during the Ming Dynasty. Not sure of the rest of the story here, as things are still pretty early in development. From what I understand, there are 2 more Eras to be available at launch, but they are yet to be determined.
This could be a fantastic move from Ubisoft, but a lot of the recent franchises we've seen attempt the transition to "service" games have failed very badly, so we're as nervous as we are excited.
If you're looking for stealth in the meantime...
When will Assassin's Creed Infinite be released?
Assassin's Creed Infinite is a hugely ambitious project and Valhalla is still being supported, so you shouldn't expect the game any sooner than 2023. Unfortunately, that's all we know at this point, but if you're desperate for your AC fix, then check out the DLC that's going to turn Valhalla into God of War.