The rumor mill around Ubisoft’s next Assassin’s Creed has found something new to chew on. Two images that supposedly come from Assassin’s Creed III have started making the rounds online today, and if they are genuine, they would be the first look at the next numbered entry in the stealth series.
That is a big if. The pictures turned up on an image hosting service with no clear indication of where they originated, and Ubisoft has not acknowledged them in any way. There is no watermark, no press release and no developer commentary attached, which makes it impossible to say whether we are looking at early concept work, a piece of internal material that slipped out, or an elaborate fan creation. Reaction so far has been split, with some viewers pointing out that the scene appears to suggest the era of the American Revolutionary War and others doubting that the images are legitimate at all.
Ubisoft Has Promised A New Assassin’s Creed This Year
What we do know is that another Assassin’s Creed game is coming this year. Back in February, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot said that a new packaged entry in the series would launch in 2011, and as Shacknews reported from Kotaku’s account, more information is expected in May. Ubisoft has not said what that game is called, which hero it stars or where it is set. It has also not said whether this year’s release is the long awaited third numbered game or another chapter along the lines of Brotherhood.
That uncertainty is exactly why images like these spread so fast. The series has moved at a rapid clip since the original Assassin’s Creed arrived in 2007, with Assassin’s Creed II following in 2009 and Brotherhood landing on Xbox 360 and PS3 last November. Each game has reinvented its setting, from the Crusades era Holy Land of the first game to the Renaissance Italy of Ezio Auditore’s adventures, so fans have spent years trading theories about which period the Animus might visit next. The modern day story of Desmond Miles also left plenty of loose threads at the end of Brotherhood, and players are eager to see where that goes.
Why A Revolutionary Setting Would Catch Fire
A colonial or revolutionary American setting has been a popular pick in those discussions for a while, so it is not surprising that images hinting in that direction would catch fire. Popularity is not proof, though, and it is just as easy to fake a moody piece of concept art as it is to leak one.
Until Ubisoft shows its hand in the coming weeks, the safest approach is to file these pictures under rumor. We will be watching for May, when the publisher has promised to say more about its plans for the series.
Take a look and decide for yourself. Legitimate leak or clever fake?