Assassin’s Creed Teaser Reveals Next Mainline Game, Set In Japan

The next mainline Assassin’s Creedgame will finally take players to feudal Japan, as revealed during today’s Ubisoft Forward September livestream. The long-running Assassin’s Creed franchise has been set in a wide variety of locations and time periods over the years, from the Third Crusade-era Middle East of the original Assassin’s Creed to the British Isles of last year’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.Along the way, players have taken the role of numerous members of the ancient Assassin order, each one carrying their own personal reason for joining this band of warriors as they battle against the sinister Templars in a conflict that connects the past, present, and future.

One famous historical location that fans have been hoping to explore in an Assassin’s Creed game for quite some time has been Feudal Japan, with many fans even going as far as to create prototype trailers for this would-be sequel using Unreal Engine 5. It isn’t hard to imagine why this location and time period would fit well for Assassin’s Creed, as would the ninjas, samuari, mercenaries, and daimyō leaders of the Edo Period between 1603 and 1868. However, some worry that a Feudal Japan-focused Assassin’s Creed game would feel too similar to Ghost of Tsushima, and argue that a Japanese Assassin’s Creedshould instead take place during the Meiji Restoration at the tail end of the Edo Period, which would see the aging Tokugawa Shogunate come into conflict with US forces in a way that would tie in to the themes of the franchise quite nicely. In either case, a Japan-based Assassin’s Creed game has merely been the subject of rumors and wishful fan speculation until now.

Near the very end of today’s Ubisoft Forward livestream (which is available to watch on the Ubisoft YouTube channel), Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate Creative Director Marc-Alexis Côté presented viewers with a brief teaser for the next mainline Assassin’s Creed game, one that is tentatively titled Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red. This trailer opens with a bright orange sunset in a feudal Japanese town, with an unidentified ninja Assassin leaping onto a rooftop with a katana in hand. The warrior reveals that they are also armed with Assassin’s Creed’s signature Hidden Blade before a cloud of smoke covers them and the scene transitions to a blood-red Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red logo. Côté later elaborates on Codename Red, stating that it will be the next mainline open-world Assassin’s Creed game, and it is currently in development at Ubisoft Quebec – a longtime developer of the series since 2010’s Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood.

The Next Assassin’s Creed Will Be Set In Feudal Japan

Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red wasn’t the only exciting new Assassin’s Creed project unveiled during today’s Ubisoft Forward September 2022 livestream, which also saw the reveal of a mobile-based spin-off set in ancient China and tentatively titled Assassin’s Creed: Codename Jade. Additionally, fans got to see the first official trailer for Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which will follow Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s Basim as he develops from a lowly street thief in Baghdad to a capable Assassin in his own right.

To many fans, Japan seems like a natural fit for the Assassin’s Creed series, given its rich history involving ninja warriors with stealth skills on par with the Assassins that players have been controlling since the franchise’s genesis. Now the next Assassin’s Creedgame will finally take these players to the Japanese setting they’ve been waiting for, but little else is yet known about Codename Red – including its actual title.

Source: Ubisoft/YouTube