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

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.

We’ve all grown used to Assassin’s Creed getting leaked, but the intensity of leaks for the series’ 2020 entry has still been quite surprisingly, especially since we’re still only in the beginning of the year, months away from the game’s purported launch. However, as it turns out, much of what we’ve heard about the game in recent days might not be true. 

As per Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners – who goes by ZhugeX on ResetEra – a lot of the information that’s emerged on the game (supposedly titled Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok) has been inaccurate. Ahmad says on ResetEra that “some” of the details have been true (such as the improved combat), by and large the leaks are inaccurate- in fact, according to him, the game isn’t even called Ragnarok.

“For what it’s worth, all of the new AC leaks so far have been incorrect. It’s not even called Ragnarok,” he said. “Sure. Some of the details are right. Like improved combat or whatever. But in general they’re not that accurate.”

Ahmad says that the latest leak for the game is based on the original Kotaku leak from last year– as such, though some details are correct, much of it is an educated guess based off of the previous leak.

“These recent leaks are based on the original AC Kingdom leak from Kotaku itself,” he wrote. “So some of it is true or not far off the truth. But mostly it’s a bunch of educated guesses.”

If Ahmad’s assessment is correct, that would give rise to plenty of questions, and how much of our expectations – which were based on these leaks – need to be reassessed. It would seem like other than the basics – such as the Vikings setting and some of the gameplay improvements – much else might still be up in the air. 

Either way, stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we’ll keep you updated as this story develops further.

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.

Let’s take the first Destiny. You spend years, grinding away and completing activities for the best gear. You complete dozens, if not hundreds of raids, for the chance at a Vex Mythoclast, Necrochasm etc. If not that, then maybe you’re spending all that time in Trials of Osiris, attempting to go flawless. But don’t worry – if you can’t really get into either, there’s plenty of Triumphs, shaders and emblems to unlock as well. At the time, a small amount of stuff was available in the Eververse Shop and required real money to purchase. Dismantling Eververse items for Silver Dust was a thing, for sure, but you weren’t getting Eververse cosmetics at a rapid clip or anything.

"It also doesn’t help when the new title fails to provide any compelling new things that fans could aspire to."

Anyway, after spending all that time and effort, taking down Atheon, Crota, Oryx and that other guy, seeing the return of classic raid weapons and armour in enhanced forms, Bungie announces Destiny 2. You’re excited, of course. Why wouldn’t you be? Unfortunately, nothing carries over. Absolutely nothing. If you play on Xbox One or PS4, you’ll get a nice intro cinematic detailing your past raid encounters and who you fought with. But that’s it.

Destiny launched in September 2014 with Destiny 2 arriving in September 2017. Three years sounds like a reasonable time frame to just abandon everything and move on, right? However, many of the ways that Destiny 2 bungled this progression was in not really acknowledging the player’s past exploits outside of that intro. Heck, for a while, the game seemed like a reboot – the Speaker was prematurely killed; very little acknowledgment was made of Oryx, Prince Uldren, Rasputin or any other characters; and even Saladin of the Iron Banner didn’t acknowledge the events of Rise of Iron. It’s one thing to pretend that the player’s past loot didn’t exist (and sell it back to them but that’s a different argument). It’s quite another to pretend that the previous three years could be retconned when players had their best moments in them.

Again, this is only for people who want to move on. I could see it applying to Borderlands 2 when Borderlands 3 releases or even for Diablo 2 when Diablo 3 arrives because of (a) the time gap between the games and (b) they’re not live-service titles. Even after all the updates and DLC, players would have stuck with relatively static games for years and years before wanting something new. That’s not the case with games like Destiny 2 when they first launched.

It also doesn’t help when the new title fails to provide any compelling new things that fans could aspire to. The abysmal loot system and reduced customization is what most afflicted Diablo 3 and made fans yearn for the good ol’ days. Even Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel wasn’t more loved than Borderlands 2 because laser weapons, jet-packs and stomps weren’t enough to replace the cool weapons, bosses and classes left behind.

"If Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok is such a natural follow-up to Odyssey in terms of content, there’s a chance that very same fatigue could emerge."

So how does all of this apply to Assassin’s Creed, especially with the rumored Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok apparently releasing in 2020? It’s also rumoured to be called Kingdom but we’ll stick with Ragnarok for the purpose of this article.

Though strictly rumours and unverified reports, there’s been enough indication that the next Assassin’s Creed will be a lot like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Conquest battles are apparently coming back. There will be multiple kingdoms split into separate regions with their own economies and customization, and there’s a much heavier focus on exploration. These are all rumoured to be included in the next Assassin’s Creed. And that’s all perfectly fine. It all sounds like a return or natural evolution to the mechanics seen in Odyssey.

It’s also very likely that the current action RPG focus with loot, build optimization and a Prestige system for increasing particular stats will return. These were all natural aspects of Assassin’s Creed Origins that were expanded upon in Odyssey (or newly introduced). Given how successful Odyssey was and how well it fits into the games-as-a-service model that Ubisoft has been pursuing for its games, it makes sense to build upon that.

However, if Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok is such a natural follow-up to Odyssey in terms of content, there’s a chance that very same fatigue could emerge. A good number of people felt fatigued with a new Assassin’s Creed releasing every year since it meant a whole new swathe of collectibles, missions, upgrades, Towers and whatnot to unlock. Though Ubisoft sort of fixed that problem with long-term support for its games – as seen in Ghost Recon: Wildlands and The Division – it’s in a rather strange spot with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

"Maybe the coming year between Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Ragnarok will afford enough time for the former to simmer with players."

There is so much content to go through with so many different missions, side-quests, end-game systems, loot, builds, customization, random contracts, premium shop items, DLC, free quests, open world events, Mercenaries and so on that it’s obscene. That’s without factoring in New Game Plus and other additions that the development team will make in the future. It also doesn’t include upcoming episodes for The Fate of Atlantis DLC.

This isn’t me telling people not to get excited for Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok. I mean, Vikings? Especially after seeing what Ubisoft Montreal could do with For Honor? It sounds incredibly hype. Improvements to the combat system, co-op, more nuanced exploration that will serve the impetus for better loot? Mjolnir? There’s a lot to unpack if any of this turns out to be true.

Hilariously, if Assassin’s Creed Odyssey had turned out smaller in scope, a gap of two years between it and Ragnarok would have been pretty good (assuming the latter is out in 2020). But again, I can’t help feel that the same complaints and fatigue will eventually emerge again especially if many of the same types of side-quests, random contracts, loot and outposts make a return. Even if Ubisoft acknowledges the investment that players have put into Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, from the decisions made to story twists experienced, if Ragnarok isn’t a significant step-up in terms and gameplay, it will still wear on them after a point.

Maybe the coming year between Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Ragnarok will afford enough time for the former to simmer with players. Perhaps a meaningful end will be provided to Odyssey‘s support and fans will be content to leave it all behind for a new experience. Plus, you probably get to wield Mjolnir. That’s a step up from flaming swords and axes, right?

"Ubisoft is also very good at accommodating the fatigue that Odyssey players may feel."

From a business perspective, understanding why Ubisoft could go with the same formula isn’t hard. This is a model that’s worked out for them. The company is undoubtedly a leader in the open world genre, cranking out quality experiences in a short period of time across a variety of genres and stories. Besides, Ubisoft is also very good at accommodating the fatigue that Odyssey players may feel. What’s that? You don’t want go join Ragnar Lodbrok and help create the Great Heathen Army? That’s perfectly fine. Look at all these other alternatives like Ghost Recon Wildlands which blends stealth and shooting in a fun co-op package.

Do you want a narrative-focused open world with first person shooting? A proper looter shooter with heaps of support and fast response times from the developer? Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is ready to serve. Or maybe you’d like to play some competitive multiplayer to cleanse yourself of all the AI enemies and grinding. Perhaps you’d like to hack someone apart in For Honor or tactically take down a squad in Rainbow Six: Siege (which both have their own respective progression grinds but still).

Something releasing in the next year or so perhaps? Well, maybe you’d like to go to London in Watch Dogs 3 (if the rumours on that have any credibility). Perhaps a new Splinter Cell will be announced that’s more story-focused. With Ghost Recon Breakpoint releasing in October and offering some new survival mechanics, classes and a new setting to distinguish it from its predecessor, why not spend some time with that to cleanse the palette?

"Some people get invested in a specific game until they decide to invest their time into another. This applies for both college students and adults with full-time jobs."

Players fatigued with the open world action RPG gameplay of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey could thus engage in some tactical shooting while the Wildlands players enjoy Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok. It sounds hilariously ironic but it’s only natural to corner so many different market shares across so many different genres.

Besides, for Ubisoft at the end of the day, its games-as-a-service model isn’t just about singular titles. It’s about long-term support and building enough good will to encourage additional in-game purchases. From a cynical perspective, it may look like the company isn’t innovating at all and that Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok will just be more of the same with a few gimmicks thrown in.

However, again, Ubisoft’s open world titles are successful. For those who like playing these games, having an open world title that’s another $60 and much more massive than Odyssey while featuring heaps of improvements, new features, a new story and so on is a crazy good deal. Because again, some people get invested in a specific game until they decide to invest their time into another. This applies for both college students and adults with full-time jobs. It’s the industry, after all.

Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok could be a massively unique experience that has no grinding, loot or objective checklists for players to mull over. It could be a highly cinematic game with a critical story path that involves ignoring all of the side content and just completing the main quest in 15 to 20 hours. All that side content could have interesting stories and narratives that veterans will be swept away in.

There’s a fine balance to be had where the resources to collect, min-maxing to be done and open world activities to finish co-exist well with a complete, coherent experience. But then we’d probably be back to square one with people complaining about how the new Assassin’s Creed sequel is just another story chapter without a conclusion with a massive world and tons of stuff to collect. It’s almost inevitable.

Personally, I’d still like to get lost in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and then see what Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok has to offer when I’m ready. I’d like to create a few broken builds in both games and engage with an intriguing cast of non-playable characters while taking in the sights. Hopefully, Ubisoft can create an interesting enough structure in 2020 that doesn’t just feel like a colder version of Ancient Greece.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Leaks and Assassin’s Creed go hand in hand, and the next instalment in the series, reportedly due out next year, has been part of a few. Not too long ago, an easter egg spotted in Ubisoft’s The Division 2 hinted at a Vikings setting for the next Assassin’s Creed game, while follow up reports confirmed that that was indeed going to be the case, and the game, currently in development under the codename Kingdom, would indeed be coming in 2020.

Now, a new leak surfacing on 4Chan (via ResetEra) has revealed more new details on the game. Considering the source, the leak is best taken with a grain of salt – 4Chan leaks haven’t always been the most reliable – but a lot of the information here is coinciding with what we’ve heard before, while the leak is also accompanied by screenshots of the game grabbed off a screen, so there might be something to them. You can view the screens in the gallery below.

Now onto the details- the game, codenamed Kingdom, is actually going to be called Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok. You will be playing as an ally of the legendary Viking warrior and conqueror Ragnar Lodbrok (who fans of the television series Vikings will be very familiar with), and will aid the Scandinavian king in the formation of the Great Heathen Army.

The protagonist will eventually become an Assassin, and will be making use of the hidden blade as well. That said, the leak claims that the game’s story is going to focus on the First Civilization much less than what we’ve seen in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey– though there will still be some supernatural elements. For instance, players will at one point find an ancient hidden vault, wherein they’ll find Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor.

The map in the game, it seems, is going to be a fairly substantial one, and will be split into several different kingdoms. These kingdoms will be the entirety of Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark. These kingdoms will further be split into various regions, with each region possibly having settlements within. Settlements, in turn, are customizable, and will have in-game economies for you to manage.

It also seems like the large scale conquest battles seen in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will be making a return. Naval traversal and exploration will be making a return once again, though it seems that specific part of the gameplay is going to be much less emphasized than what we saw in Odyssey, with much of the focus being more on exploration this time.

That focus on exploration, in fact, is looking to encourage much more organic exploration, and will be removing question marks from the map, encouraging players to explore their surroundings to find better loot (comparisons have been drawn to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild). The eagle from Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey will be returning, while RPG mechanics seen in both games will also be making a comeback, with a greater focus on builds and armour usage than before.

Players can also change their outfits on the fly, which will have an impact on your notoriety in specific regions. Changing outfits can, for instance, also stop sheriffs in different regions and kingdoms from being able to find you. Notably enough, it also looks like co-op gameplay – last seen in Assassin’s Creed Unity – will be returning as an option, and can be use in most of the side quests that will be available, as well as during open world exploration.

The game is reportedly being developed by Ubisoft Montreal, the same team that worked previously on the likes of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed Origins. Ashraf Ismail, who was director of both those games, is said to be returning in the same role. Meanwhile, Darby McDevit, who wrote Black Flag and Revelations, among others, is acting as Narrative Director. Ubisoft Sofia is also aiding with development, but are reportedly also working on an expansion in the game that will be set in Iceland, and will see players using Yggdrasil to travel across the nine realms.

Most interesting of all is the claim that Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok is going to be a cross-gen title, and will be launching next year- which is in line with reports of the series skipping 2019, as well as reports of next gen consoles making landfall later on in 2020.

Again, there’s no way to verify the veracity of this leak, but the information mostly seems in line with everything that we’ve heard of the game below, while the screens (see below) also do lend at least some credence to the whole affair. Even so, it’s best to not take this as confirmation just yet- even though Ubisoft do seem to have a terrible history with leaks, especially those concerning Assassin’s Creed games.

Either way, stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we’ll keep you updated with any new info that comes our way.

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