As Ubisoft hosts an art stream with BossLogic to reveal the setting for the next Assassin’s Creed, it seems the name may have leaked. A domain for Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla was recently registered by Gandi Sas. The name will seem familiar – looking up the domain registration for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will reveal the same name but with Ubisoft Entertainment as the registrant.

Take this with some grain of salt until the stream ends or an official announcement is made. If the next game indeed takes place in the age of Vikings, Valhalla wouldn’t be a terrible name choice. It also ties somewhat into Ragnarok, which many assumed was the actual subtitle.

The next Assassin’s Creed doesn’t have a release date, though it’s rumored to be releasing by March 31st 2021. Reports indicate that it will release for the PS5 and Xbox Series X but we’ll have to wait for more details to be sure. Stay tuned in the meantime.

After a year of leaks and speculation, Ubisoft are finally unveiling the next Assassin’s Creed game (as was rumoured earlier today). The publisher is hosting a livestream that serves as a teaser for the game, which you can view below or on their Twitch channel.

To be more specific, the stream is teasing the next game’s setting (supposedly based in Vikings times, according to several leaks). Artist BossLogic’s creation of the game’s key concept art is being shown in painstaking detail, with the silhouette of what looks like the main character standing in front of two backgrounds on both sides, one showing a field and mountains with a castle on top of them during the day, and the other showing the sea and snowy mountains at nighttime. Definitely looks like a Vikings setting. Take a look below.

Presumably, this will end with a title reveal of the game and with some more concrete details, so stay tuned for those details.

The next Assassin’s Creed game has been in the rumour mill for about a year now, but it seems Ubisoft will soon be officially unveiling the game. Industry insider Shinobi, who recently teased that an announcement for the same was coming soon, recently took to ResetEra and suggested that an announcement related to Assassin’s Creed, PS5, and Xbox Series X would be made later today.

In addition to that, Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad also added fuel to the fire on Twitter, sharing an update by Ubisoft on Chinese social media website Weibo teasing an announcement later today at 8 PM Chinese time (which would be 5 AM Pacific Time or 12 PM GMT), before saying that it would be “worth paying attention to Ubisoft social media outside of China too”, both today and tomorrow.

Multiple leaks over the last year have claimed that the next Assassin’s Creed game will be set during Viking times and that it will be a cross-gen title, out later this year. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for any and all updates on this story.

Ubisoft China is teasing an announcement for April 29, 8pm (China time).

They set a notification on Weibo for it. pic.twitter.com/HQoKMyUJLW

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 29, 2020

It’s worth paying attention to Ubisoft social media outside of China too. Both today and tomorrow.

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 29, 2020

The next Assassin’s Creed game has been at the centre of numerous leaks and rumours over the past year – as is often the case with Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed titles – but it seems it might be getting its official reveal not long from now.

Insider shinobi602 recently took to Twitter, and when asked about any new news about the new Assassin’s Creed title, simply responded, “Almost there.”

Assassin’s Creed’s next instalment was first leaked about a year ago, with many stating that it would be set in Scandinavia during the Vikings era, following which multiple other details of the game have also emerged. The credibility of many of these leaks remains in doubt, with reports that many of these details aren’t exactly accurate, but that a Vikings-era Assassin’s Creed game will be launching in the foreseeable future seems like a given at this point.

Ubisoft often lifts the lid on Assassin’s Creed titles during E3, and though E3 2020 has been cancelled, the company has said it is considering other alternatives to share its plans for upcoming releases- so a reveal for the next Assassin’s Creed game may very well be on the horizon. Either way, stay tuned, and we’ll keep you updated as soon as we know more.

Almost there.

— Shinobi602 (@shinobi602) April 16, 2020

Watch Dogs: Legion

Not even delays could dull the potential of Watch Dogs: Legion. Slated to arrive later this year, it’s set in the UK as DedSec recruit followers to topple CtOS and the government’s surveillance. The key gameplay mechanic is being able to recruit and play as any NPC, each with their own unique perks, abilities and stories. It’s wildly ambitious, especially in terms of the overall scripting and gameplay variety done. Expected later this year, Watch Dogs: Legion will be coming to current gen platforms along with Xbox Series X and PS5.

Ubisoft’s financial results for Q3 FY2019 are currently available, outlining the company’s plans for the coming year. It revealed that five new triple-A titles would be released between April 1st 2020 and March 31st 2021. Three of these titles will be Watch Dogs: Legion, Gods and Monsters and Rainbow 6: Quarantine with the other two being from the publisher’s “biggest franchises.”

But before you get hyped about the potential return of Splinter Cell, Kotaku’s Jason Schreier said that the remaining two titles will be Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry. A sequel for Assassin’s Creed, codenamed Ragnarok or Kingdom or what have you, has been expected for a while. However, Far Cry 6 – if that’s what it ends up being called – is an intriguing new development.

One could expect to see Watch Dogs: Legion, Rainbow 6: Quarantine and the next Assassin’s Creed releasing this year while Far Cry 6 and Gods and Monsters arrive in 2021. Regardless, given the disappointing results that Ubisoft had with Ghost Recon Breakpoint and The Division 2, the coming fiscal year is looking to be a big step up. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

Anyone holding out hope for Splinter Cell is, once again, going to be disappointed. Sorry! (It’s AC and Far Cry.) https://t.co/7hKDV3y5QS

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) February 6, 2020

THE VIKINGS ATMOSPHERE

The star of the show in any new Assassin’s Creed game is always the setting, because the place and the time period where the game is set is what ends up defining so much of the experience, from the tone and the atmosphere to the story and oftentimes even major mechanics. With the upcoming Assassin’s Creed game, something we know for sure is that it will take place in Scandinavia during Viking times- and that’s an incredibly exciting prospect. From the pirate-infested seas of the Caribbean in Black Flag and the revolution-torn streets of Paris in Unity, from the industrial London in Syndicate to the vast and vibrant Greece in Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed has always put authenticity and atmosphere front and centre with its settings, and similar treatment for a Nordic Vikings setting would immediately make a game infinitely cooler. And so that’s out first wish for this game- that it does as much justice to its new setting as previous games in the series did to theirs.

DIVERS ENVIRONMENTS

Environmental diversity is something else that Assassin’s Creed games usually excel at, and nowhere was that more apparent than it was in 2018’s Odyssey- especially its expansions. With the next Assassin’s Creed game though, Ubisoft have the chance to completely outdo their previous efforts, and that’s because of the central conceit of players taking on the role of a Viking. The Vikings were historically notorious for their tendency to sail to various parts of Europe to claim territory, and if that is what we’ll be doing in this year’s game as well, that would give Ubisoft the chance to take players to a lot of diverse and unique places, in terms of both visuals and their atmosphere.

NO BLOAT

Bloat is an issue that has become increasingly common in Ubisoft games, with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey pretty much being the poster boy for open world bloat- and that’s an issue that the next game in the series needs to address. A smaller, densely packed world with meaningful variation in its locations is what we’re hoping to see, instead of a massive world that refuses to end and is packed with more side activities than you could get to in three lifetimes. After the disaster that was Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Ubisoft have been making major internal changes to make sure that their future games are more unique and don’t keep making the same mistakes, and while there’s a pretty good chance that Assassin’s Creed 2020 may have been too far along in development before that came into effect, we’re still hoping that that will have had at least some impact on the game’s design.

LESS STRICT LEVEL GATING

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (and Origins, to a lesser extent) suffered from an issue that essentially forced players to play through its side quests and indulge in its side content, because of how it gated its critical story missions behind high level recommendations. It was something that contributed significantly to the game’s issues with bloat, which we’ve discussed already, and also led to issues with how Ubisoft monetized it, which we will discuss shortly. So here’s our plain and simple wish #4 for the game- balance the level gating. Ether significantly reduce how high level requirements could often be in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, or just… not have level gating at all.

NO LEVEL SCALING

The progression in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was flawed in other ways beyond just level gating, with its biggest issue being something that has been an issue in so many games throughout the ages- level scaling. This isn’t something that’s exclusive to Odyssey, it’s just a bad concept in general, and very rarely has it been executed properly. The point of progression in RPGs – or any game, for that matter – is to make sure that players get more powerful constantly, and feel more powerful constantly. But if enemies are always levelling up right alongside you, what’s even the point of levelling up? Just as an example, in the fiftieth hour of our playthrough, if we go back to an area from the beginning hours of the game, we don’t want the enemies to be just as strong as we are- we want to be able to bulldoze right over them like they were made of paper.

All of which is to say, please don’t have level scaling in the next Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft.

IMPROVED COMBAT

We’ve spoken plenty about how the next Assassin’s Creed game can improve upon its predecessors in terms of progression- but let’s give credit where it’s due. Odyssey was a marked improvement over Origins in many ways, especially the combat, which was faster, much more varied, and a lot more engaging than it’s ever been in this series. Odyssey’s blend of dodging, attacking, parrying, and using a plethora of abilities kept every encounter interesting, and we’re hoping that the next game in the series will continue in that vein and introduce even more movements. Given its Vikings-centric setting and conceit, combat is undoubtedly going to be a major part of the game, and hopefully, it’ll be just as visceral and entertaining as you’d expect from a game about assassins and Vikings.

IMPROVED STEALTH

While stealth was definitely better in Odyssey than it was in Origins, it still had a lot of room for improvement. For starters, nobody would say no to seeing the iconic hidden blades make a return again, while there are many who would argue that stealth-focused buffs and unlocks in the skill tree need to be much more powerful and effective. The AI also definitely needs to be improved upon a great deal- more than anything else though, Ubisoft need to give players more ways to interact with the game in a stealthy way. For years, Assassin’s Creed has been making use of the same stealth mechanics – hiding in bushes or haystacks, blending into crowds, and the like – and while we are hoping for improvements to these cursory stealth mechanics, we’re hoping that more complex mechanics will be added as well, to give players even more options during stealth. The most recent leak of the game made mention of things such as using the snow or mud to camouflage yourself, or using various outfits to blend into crowds, and while there’ve been some question marks over how accurate that leak is, let’s hope that part in particular at least in true.

MORE IMPACTFUL CHOICES

One of the biggest changes Odyssey made to the Assassin’s Creed formula was turning it into a full blown RPG, where choices made by the player would affect the story. And for the series’ first crack at that sort of an experience, it was an excellent effort. So what do we want from the sequel? Well, quite simply, we want more- more, and better. Assassin’s Creed needs to continue building on Odyssey’s excellent foundations, and it needs to make sure that the choice and consequence mechanics are even more fleshed out and even more impressive.

LESS FOCUS ON ABSTERGO STORYLINE

Though the present-day Abstergo storyline was one a big part of the franchise (at least in its earlier years), as time has gone on, it’s become increasingly disappointing and needless. Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey’s present-day stuff was somewhat more focused than what the series had been focusing on ever since the end of the Desmond arc, but let’s face it- it was still pretty underwhelming. Very few people care (or care enough) about what’s going on in the present day, and even fewer care about Layla Hassan as a protagonist. Ubisoft either needs to focus on that stuff much less, or make major improvements (like introducing a protagonist we don’t want to strangle, for starters).

NO MICROTRANSACTIONS

This is a wish we can apply wholesale to any upcoming AAA game, but it’s doubly pertinent in a Ubisoft game. Let’s be fair though- after Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Ubisoft have been pretty open about admitting their mistakes, while they’ve also made it clear that they’re going to make sure those mistakes aren’t repeated. Our only hope, then, is that as a result, Ubisoft will find a better way to monetize the next Assassin’s Creed than what we saw in the aforementioned Breakpoint, or even Odyssey, which, as we’ve discussed, was accused very commonly of using its combination of level-gating, bloat, and grinding to push players into spending money on booster packs.

Assassin’s Creed games getting extensively leaked before they’re officially unveiled is a time-honoured tradition in our industry, and that tradition has bee upheld gloriously with the upcoming Assassin’s Creed title later this year, reportedly titled Ragnarok.

Following speculation in April last year, it was confirmed by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier shortly afterward that the next Assassin’s Creed game was going to feature a Vikings setting, which, unsurprisingly, has been followed in subsequent months by even more leaks.

Now, another massive leak has gone up on 4chan (via Reddit), detailing various pieces of information on the game. Given that this is an unverified leak, and one that emerged on 4chan no less (a site with a dubious track record, as far as leaks are concerned), it’s best to take this with a grain of salt for now- but it’s still worth reading through, given how interesting it is, if nothing else.

As per the leak, Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok is going to be unveiled at the long-rumoured PS5 reveal event next month (side note: many are speculating the long-teased Batman: Arkham Legacy will also be unveiled there), and will launch on September 29 this year. Players play as a character named Jora (whose gender you can choose), who used to lead a small band of 4 during their adventures.

This, in fact, is the conceit that also allows the game to have drop-in/drop-out 4 player co-op support, similar to Ghost Recon Wildlands. The game begins in the year 845 CE, which is when the prologue takes place. After the prologue, there is a time jump to the year 863 CE, where we take control of a teenage Jora. As far as how this ties into the whole Assassins vs Templars conceit is concerned, the leak doesn’t say much- but it does mention that the Assassins is believed to have a connection to Odin, and hence they adopt ravens for “Odin sight”- similar to the eagles in Origins and Odyssey (and Eagle Vision throughout the entire series, for that matter).

The game is also allegedly going to be a cross-gen title, which is in line with another leak from May of last year.

In fact, a lot of the information in this leak – on RPG mechanics, stealth, the world, and more – is in line with that May 2019 leak. As far as the RPG mechanics are concerned, the leak suggests Ragnarok will continue to take the franchise even deeper into RPG territory, just as Origins and Odyssey did.

For instance, as per this leak, there are now multiple character classes to choose from, and which class you select will bring about “mild” changes to skill trees- though it seems changing classes will also be possible. In fact, progression as a whole has allegedly been overhauled, and is now much more similar to the system we saw in Skyrim, with there being multiple skillsets that can be levelled up to allow players more control over build creation and variety. Some skills can be unlocked by levelling up skillsets, some by using skill points, and others through story progression. This overhaul also means that level-gating of missions and regions in the map has been done away with.

Combat has also seen improvements, the leak suggests, with more weapon types added, and each type having special abilities. Meanwhile, players can also add runes to weapons for elemental abilities like frost, fire, or lightning damage, while weapons can be upgraded as well. That elemental damage, in fact, also replaces adrenaline with something called a berserker mode. Meanwhile, the leak also claims that a durability mechanic has been introduced in order to encourage players to manage and use their weapons pool more effectively- durability of weapons can also be upgraded. The game is also supposed to be more difficult, and this challenge is based not on enemies having more health, but on “parry times, player health, and enemy reaction times.”

Stealth, it seems, is also getting a boost in Ragnarok, if this leak is to be believed. The hidden blade returns, which fans will be ecstatic about, and it can be upgraded to allow players to stealth kill enemies with one hit. The hidden blade can also be cosmetically customized.

A lot of emphasis is also seemingly being placed on physical stealth skills. For instance, in addition to crouching in tall bushes and hiding in bales of hay (typical), it seems players can now also hide in mud and snow. Meanwhile, it is also possible to hide in crowds of civilians, though how effectively you do that will depend on what outfit you are wearing, and whether or not that allows you to blend in.

Your outfits also play into a reputation system, which is a new feature that the leak claims is being added in with Ragnarok. Your reputation with various kingdoms will be decided by several factors, including things such as mission completion for civilians or town officials, your outfits, any crimes you’ve committed, and more. Some missions, in fact, can only be done if you have a certain reputation level with the relevant kingdoms.

The leak also goes on to mention that the conquest battles of Odyssey will be making a return. These revolve around players retaking territories from Templars, while these battles can also supposedly be tackled in various ways. Capturing settlements throughout the game’s map also comes with gains in trade and currency. Players can, meanwhile, also organize raids on forts and cities, and you can do so either solo, or with nearby friendly Viking camps- or perhaps even wait on the sidelines for said Vikings to do all your work for you.

Interestingly enough, as per this leak, it won’t just be the player who will be engaging in large-scale battles in the game. Supposedly, kingdoms in conflict with each other can dynamically enter battles with each other, and players might chance upon these randomly occurring battles out in the open world.

And it seems there’s going to be a lot of kingdoms- the leak claims the map in Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok is huge. It allegedly covers all of Northern Europe, and includes several major cities like York, Kiev, London, Paris, and more. Meanwhile, Ubisoft has also made the effort to ensure that every individual kingdom feels unique.

Where traversal is concerned, naval traversal is going to return, to no one’s surprise, but it seems it will be much more focused on exploration than it will be on combat. Meanwhile, parkour has also supposedly seen improvements, with newer animations, and the ability for players to climb trees.

Again, given the nature of any such leaks, and given the source where this one in particular originates, it’s best to not take this as confirmation just yet. That said, it’s also worth noting that over on ResetEra, the aforementioned Jason Schreier seems to believe that there might be some truth to this leak. Schreier said plenty of details in the leak are in line with what he’s heard about the game himself, before also adding that it “seems like a realistic leak as opposed to someone’s fantasy list of bullet points.”

If this is indeed true, we won’t have to wait long to get our first look at Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok. Stay tuned, and we’ll keep you updated on any and all new info that comes our way.

Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed have had a terrible history with leaks, and that trend has continued over the past year with the next game in the series, which is rumoured to be called Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok. It started when an easter egg image found in The Division 2 pointed to a Vikings setting for the next Assassin’s Creed game, and this was followed shortly afterward by a confirmation from Kotaku’s Jason Schreier that that was indeed the case. And since then, it’s been a deluge of leak after leak.

Now, we may possibly have another leak. A listing for Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok – Valhalla Edition allegedly popped up on Amazon Germany. Take this with a grain of salt though, because something like this could very easily have been faked- the listing, if it was indeed real, seems to have been taken down. All we’ve got is a screencap (via Metro), which you can view below.

Ubisoft confirmed not too long ago that they had two unannounced AAA releases planned for FY 2020-21, and it’s very likely that an Assassin’s Creed game is one of them. Whether or not they have chosen to push back its launch date in the wake of Watch Dogs: Legion’s delay remains to be seen though.

Ubisoft recently dropped the bombshell that a string of their upcoming releases – namely Watch Dogs Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Gods and Monsters – had been delayed into financial year 2020-21 (which runs from April 2020 to March 2021).

In that same investors call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot also confirmed the new release windows for these games. Guillemot confirms that Watch Dogs: Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine, Gods and Monsters, and Roller Champions will all still release by the end of 2020. All of these games will also be optimized for next-gen consoles.

Meanwhile, in addition to those games, Ubisoft has two more AAA releases planned for FY 2020-21- and no, Skull and Bones is not one of them. These are two new, unannounced titles. Most likely, one of them will end up being the frequently leaked Assassin’s Creed sequel, rumoured to have a Viking setting. What the other AAA game is anyone’s guess at this point.

It’s certainly been an eventful few hours, with many major releases getting delayed. Outside of Ubisoft territory, The Last of Us Part 2 has also suffered a delay, while Sony has reportedly internally delayed Ghost of Tsushima as well.