Assassin’s Creed: Origins hasn’t even been officially announced yet and we know practically everything there is to know about the game. It’s not even funny- there’s been a gazillion leaks. And now we have another one, and quite a hefty one, too.

We already know about the Game Informer leak, and it came with a great deal of new info- you can check it out here. But there’s a lot more info in that Game Informer article that we haven’t covered earlier, so here’s all of it now- the most interesting parts, anyway. Firstly, the leak says that the game will take place in the Ptolemaic era, which, to be fair, we all roughly knew for sure anyway. Some of the most important stuff the leak reveals, though, is the fact that the game’s protagonist will start out in his 30s as a Medjay (“a sheriff type character”) and will ultimately end up becoming the founder of the Assassins’ Brotherhood- it’ll be interesting to see how that is done in context of the series’ lore.

Players will now also be able to equip two bows and two melee weapons at once, while the game also makes it possibly to simply use your character’s fists as a weapon once again. Oh, and you can also fire two arrows at the same time. You can read all the details here, on NeoGAF. Meanwhile, we’ll be bringing you all new updates – if they haven’t been leaked already – from E3 so stay tuned to GamingBolt.

Assassin’s Creed Origins may not even have been officially announced by Ubisoft yet, but thanks to a number of leaks in the past few weeks, we know a great deal about the game already. Most notably, we know that it is set in ancient Egypt, going the farthest back in time that the Assassin’s Creed series has ever gone.

Obviously, it promises to be a very different Assassin’s Creed game- that means that the protagonist is going to be quite different too. And as per another leak, it looks like that is exactly right.

A picture of a t-shirt provided to GameStop for retailer promotion and merchandising has been leaked, and it shows the protagonist of the game in full view. He can be see holding a bow and a shield, similar to earlier pictures that show him holding a shield and a spear. The picture also reveals his name- Ba Yek. You can take a look at the image below.

Ubisoft are bound to officially confirm a great deal if information on Assassin’s Creed: Origins at E3 next week, including the game’s release date, so stay tuned to GamingBolt for more updates.

The new Assassin’s Creed is bound to be officially announced soon, and while there’s been no announcements by Ubisoft yet other than the one that confirmed its existence (which didn’t need announcing, to be honest), we do still know a great deal about the game, thanks to a number of leaks. The one thing we hope it does away with more than most, though, is also incidentally the one thing that has been a constant fixture in most modern Ubisoft games- especially Assassin’s Creed. And that is incredibly cluttered maps.

Sure, side quests and collectible quests and other similar quests do add a great deal of replay value and value for money to a lot of games, but in Assassin’s Creed, they seem to go a bit overboard. Maps in Assassin’s Creed games are cluttered with literally hundreds of icons for all manners of side quests- so much so that often it almost looks intimidating, or just plain annoying. Look at a game like The Witcher 3, which had a great deal of side content on offer, but was never aggressive in promoting it- it was always on the back burner, and fans could tackle it at whatever pace they were comfortable with. And best of all, it all tied into the main narrative of the game excellently.

We’re not asking for something exactly like that, but Assassin’s Creed Origins does need to do away with a lot of that clutter, most of which probably arises from the typical Ubisoft map towers gameplay structure (which we won’t get into right now- that’s an entirely more detailed topic/issue). Thankfully, it does seem like Ubisoft are taking this criticism to heart. First and foremost, there have been a lot of details the the game’s map is going to take cues from titles such as Skyrim and The Witcher 3, while other reports state that towers will not be making a return in the game.

What’s more, Ashraf Ismail, who was the director of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and is also probably working in the same capacity on Origins (or whatever it is going to be called), recently liked a post on Twitter that seemed to suggest that Assassin’s Creed needs to do away with its trademark map clutter (you can take a look at the tweet at the bottom of this post).

All things seem to point toward the fact that this will no longer be a problem for the series going forward. We can only hope that that turns out to be true.

Please, just don't do this again. @UbisoftMTL @ubisoft @AshrafAIsmail pic.twitter.com/9GhTnDi7l9

— Hype Your Games (@HypeYourGames) May 16, 2017

If you’ve been following Ubisoft over the last few years, you know that they’ve settled into a sort of a cycle for every year. They have a number of major IPs that sell like hot cakes, including the likes of Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and a large number of Tom Clancy sub-franchises, and most, if not all, of these receive annual releases. 2016, though, was quite unusual for Ubisoft, in that what is arguably their biggest franchise, i.e., Assassin’s Creed, took the year off.

However, 2017 promises to be a very big year for Ubisoft. They have already had great success in the recent past with games such as The Division and Ghost Recon: Wildlands, while titles such as The Crew, Watch Dogs 2 and Rainbow Six: Siege have also done very well in their own rights. Ubisoft’s 2017 lineup, though, has the potential to make this year one of the biggest in their history.

2017 will see, first and foremost, the return of Assassin’s Creed, with the release of the recently leaked but as-of-yet still officially unconfirmed Origins. The game looks to be just the breath of fresh air the series needed, taking the story back to its starting point, with changes to the gameplay that seem to be letting go of Ubisoft’s tiresome tower unlocking open world formula and going for the smoother, more nuanced gameplay we seen in games such as The Witcher and Skyrim.

We’ve also got Far Cry 5 on our hands- we know for sure that there will be another Far Cry games this year, and fans of the series know why that is cause for excitement. Far Cry 3 and 4 were excellent games in every sense of the word, and made for some of the best open world first person shooter experiences in the history. And while Primal was not quite at the same level, it still did a lot of things right. There are rumours that Far Cry 5 will be a game set in the wild west or Montana, and the prospect of playing something like that is mouth-watering, to say the least.

And then there’s The Crew 2. The original Crew failed to live up to the lofty expectations fans had of it, but it still had some neat ideas. Ubisoft have confirmed that they will be releasing a follow up to the racer this year, and while we know nothing about it other than that fact yet, we can be sure, or at least be hopeful, of the fact that Ubisoft will be working hard on improving on The Crew franchise however they can.

There’s usually a lot of skepticism surrounding anything to do with Ubisoft these days, and to be fair, they’ve earned a lot of that with their antics. However, if they do things right, which they do indeed have the ability to do, 2017 can truly be one of the best years in their history.

While officially Ubisoft have revealed nothing of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed game – hell, officially, it doesn’t even have a name yet – we already seem to know plenty about it, thanks to various leaks and rumours (in true Assassin’s Creed fashion). Basic details such as its name being Assassin’s Creed Origins, the ancient Egypt setting and a possible return of multiple playable characters and naval gameplay are more or less common knowledge right now, but there’s plenty of other details that have come to light as well.

It looks like the game is taking a lot of cues from The Witcher 3 (much like practically every open world game these days). Other than the obvious quest structure, the game also seems to have a Witcher-like free-form combat system, not to mention the fact that there will be seamless world exploration design, meaning that players can traverse across water and into cities without an loading screens along with explorable interiors. The game will also have weapons such as shields, spears and a bows.

Also, the famous Eagle Vision mechanic that has been in the series since the very first game will receive a unique twist in Origins, with players being able to control a pet eagle this time around. It also looks like the game is going to be very colourful, visually speaking, but that much has been apparent for a while now, what with the setting and the leaked screenshot and everything.

According to details, Ubisoft will reveal the game at E3 and go into full-on marketing mode, with the game expected to launch around October for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t look like it’ll launch on the Switch.

As usual, take this report with a grain of salt but all of this information is coming from the same insider who leaked the first in-game screenshot from this year’s Assassin’s Creed.

[Reddit]

The fact that the Assassin’s Creed franchise took a year off in 2016 is quite a hotly discussed one, and as such, the rumoured but as of yet unconfirmed 2017 installment of the series has been the source of plenty of intrigue for the fans. As per a great deal of rumours, the game is supposed to be called Assassin’s Creed Empire and will be set in Egypt.

We now have some new information surfacing, and it looks like the game will no longer be called Empire, but will rather be titled Assassin’s Creed Origins. As per sources cited by WWG.com, Assassin’s Creed Origins will feature two main playable characters, much like its predecessor Syndicate, and though we do now know if they will be siblings, we do know that one of them will be male, while the other will be female. The game’s story will revolve around the very first assassin’s guild, hence the title Origins.

Additionally, as per the report, not only will the players have access to all of Egypt, but they will also be able to go beyond, into the Mediterranean, and possibly even as far as Greece. Traversal for this will, of course, be done through ships, meaning that naval sections will be making a return (yes, naval combat in a game set in Ancient Egypt).

As you have noticed, the game seems to be pretty massive in scope, and that is exactly what the report says as well. It is supposedly the biggest Assassin’s Creed game ever, and has been in development for a number of years now. There’s supposed to be a larger emphasis on exploration this time around. Sounds like Ubisoft are trying to make their very own version of The Witcher 3 and Skyrim. But as usual, take this report with a grain of salt.

With E3 nearly upon us, we’d say there’s going to be official word on the game very, very soon. So stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we’ll keep you updated on just how much truth there is to these rumours.

We still haven’t actually seen or heard much of the new Assassin’s Creed game, and the first one since 2015, when the franchise went on break after a series of underperforming, underwhelming titles. We know that Ubisoft is taking its time to reinvent the franchise, and rumors peg the new game to be named Assassin’s Creed Empire, set in ancient Egypt, and far predate all other games in the franchise.

Now, according to this newest rumor posted on Reddit, we may know a bit more. According to a user who works at a retailer in the US, the next Assassin’s Creed is allegedly called Assassin’s Creed Origins, and is in fact set in ancient Egypt. In fact, even the leaked images that Ubisoft said were not real may be very legitimate, according to this user.

Take all of this with a healthy pinch of salt- but if it is true, then given that retailers are already being sent merchandize for pre-ordering, an announcement should be imminent. We’ll know soon.

Games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn have upped the ante on what players should expect from open world games significantly- so much so that the traditional Ubisoft open world formula is beginning to wear thin by comparison. With a new, ambitious Assassin’s Creed game in development, is Ubisoft concerned about the competition that these games pose, and the resultant rise of player expectations from their games?

Ubisoft’s Head of Content for Assassin’s Creed Aymar Azaizia recently participated in an AMA on Reddit, where he tackled this question. “Man, I started on ACII and we were released among Mass Effect 2, Uncharted 2, etc… It’s good for gamers, and it pushes us to improve even more. I mean, if you look at MGSV, Zelda, future Red Dead 2 there are so many great games to learn from (which means, I will play them and say I am doing researches). We welcome more good games, and whenever we will release, we will be ready for the competition, so in a nutshell… BRING IT ON.”

At the same time, Azaizia also confirmed that the images that have been leaked for the game are not real. If so, they certainly are very elaborate- and one has to wonder when we will, at last, see more of Assassin’s Creed.

It’s good to hear that Ubisoft won’t develop in a bubble, and that it is eager to learn from the advancements coming as a result of all the other games in the industry. It should be interesting to see what the newest Assassin’s Creed game will be like.

Just a little while ago, we reported some new details for Assassin’s Creed Empire that have apparently come to light- and it sounds like we may not have to wait too long to see if they are accurate or not, at least if this other rumor is true. If we put stock in this rumor, then Assassin’s Creed Empire is due out later this year- in October, specifically.

That’s because major Swiss retailer World of Games lists the game for an October release. It would make sense, too, as previous Assassin’s Creed games have traditionally released in that window- but again, this is unconfirmed, and for all we know, a placeholder date that the retailer arrived at using exactly that same logic.

Assassin’s Creed Empire (the name itself is unconfirmed) is due to launch, allegedly, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and also on Nintendo Switch. If the game is indeed coming out later this year, we can probably expect to hear more about it come E3.

Assassin’s Creed Empire, the next entry in the franchise that is reportedly set in Egypt and set to be a full reimagining of the series, has still not been officially announced (though Ubisoft has discussed it officially previously). However, thanks to leaks, it sounds like we are getting a clearer picture of what to expect from the game whenever it does come out.

According to a report on GRYOnline.Pl (translated on Facebook, obtained via NeoGAF), Assassin’s Creed Empire is set to be a prequel to the franchise. The game is being developed by the same folks who made Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (arguably the best game in the franchise), and has us playing as a former slave, and a distant ancestor of Altair. The map size will be over three times what it was in Black Flag– and it was already pretty big there.

As of right now, this remains unconfirmed, but nothing here is all that outlandish. Until Ubisoft announces something officially, take this with a pinch of salt- but do consider taking it.