Ezio and Altair are finally on their way out the door (and off a ledge, and into a conveniently placed haystack), and that's a very, very good thing. After all, Revelations marks the third entry in the story arc AC II kicked off. Ezio's getting old, and - depending on who you talk to - so are his high-flying, face-piercing antics. So, what's next for the series? A much-needed vacation? Hardly.



“Assassin's Creed is a big brand not just for us, but for the industry,” Ubisoft senior VP of sales and marketing Tony Key told list. "The meta story is supposed to be carried on forever. We can go on with this brand where we want to – that's the exciting part about the way it's constructed. As we've said all along, this is the end of Ezio's story arc; it's a great place to jump in the franchise and anyone who has played the previous games should have some satisfaction with the answers they get at the end."

The gaming industry, of course, hasn't gone a holiday season without having Ezio leap down its chimney since 2009. Key, however, insists that the yearly model doesn't come at the expense of quality.

"One thing I keep hearing is, 'How can you make it in one year?' We work on it a lot longer than one year and that's part of it; we have multiple studios. Assassin's Creed is a blueprint brand. What that means is it has a lot of resources focused onto it. We constantly have people thinking about it, so we have a lot of people working on future iterations, while these games are being made we're already thinking about the next one," he explained.

"I hope people are getting over the idea that we rush them out; we don't make Assassin's Creed games in one year. That's something we want people to understand, and hopefully the message can get out."

Regardless, 2012 will almost certainly see yet another entry in the ornately cloaked parkour through time simulator thanks to a certain series plot element. Will it finally be a major change of pace, or simply more of the same? Fingers - symbolically chopped off to make room for a hidden blade or not - crossed for the former.

A number of Assassin's Creed fans have received a survey asking them where they'd like to see Assassin's Creed set. It's multiple choice, which means we get to see the options that Ubisoft are considering. Eurogamer got hold of a screenshot of the survey from Empire State Gamers, which offers eight different settings that range from Medieval China to the American revolution and Victorian London. But which is your favourite?


The violent conflicts of the Imperial Dynasties in Medieval China
The advent of the mighty British Empire during Victorian England
The culmination of the Pharaoh Reign in Ancient Egypt
The invasion of the Americas by the Spanish Conquistadors
The confrontation between British colonists and native Americans during The American Revolution
The overthrow of the Tsar Empire by the Communists during the Russian Revolution
The Warlord Battles in Feudal Japan
The rise of Cesar's Empire in Ancient Rome

 
Of which Victorian London is the correct answer. Okay, I'm a little biased, but hear me out. Assassin's Creed is great at giving major historical figures cameos. Think of the people you could meet in Victorian London. just replace Brotherhood's army of assassins with loyal chimney sweeps, Leonardo Da Vinci with Thomas Edison. Jack the Ripper can be a rival assassin. Queen Victoria could be a Templar commander. IT ALL FITS.

Medieval China would be great, too, as would the Russian Revolution and feudal Japan, and I'm surprised the French Revolution isn't being considered (Assassin's Creed in Paris, anyone?). Which of the choices above is your favourite? Or is there a setting not listed that you think would be perfect for an Assassin's Creed game?

The latest issue of PSM3 contains some interesting rumours regarding the future of the Assassin's Creed series, hinting that Assassin's Creed 3 could be set in ancient Egypt. The rumours have been spread by the ending of Assassin's Creed: Revelations, so beware of spoilers below the cut.

Near the end of Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Altair's son, Darim, tells his father he's taking one of the pieces of Eden to Alexandria, the ancient capital of Egypt.

It's a subtle hint, put it does suggest pyramid climbing could feature in future games. There's also the image below, which surfaced last year, and we now suspect is related to Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Encyclopaedia. Of course, Assassin's Creed hints have mislead us before, with the ending of the first game suggesting feudal Japan as a setting, rather than the Renaissance Italy we eventually got.

What time period would you like to see Assassin's Creed visit next? Our own Tom Senior desperately wants to see an 1800s version that sees you team up with Lord Byron.

 
"There comes a time in every man's life when revenge is not enough" grunts the Assassin's Creed Revelations launch trailer. That time came for me yesterday when my housemate ate the last cupcake, for Ezio, that time will come on November 29 when Assassin's Creed Revelations hits PC in the US, and on December 2 for those in Europe. No series does hitting men in the back of the head with maces better, and the third entry in the Assassin's Creed 2 trilogy should hopefully answer some big questions. Will Ezio get the answers he seeks? how does his fate tie in with Altair's? Will Desmond get a personality? If we don't find out this time round, there's always next year's entry.

http://youtu.be/uC-FSEdPW-c

All of the trailers for Assassin's Creed Revelations have so far concentrated on Ezio and Altair's interweaving story. There is an important third character that has been left out, the city of Constantinople itself. It has all the right ingredients for an Assassin's Creed city, rival rebellious factions, a clash of cultures, power struggles at the top and a sense of simmering social unrest.

More importantly, it'll also have lots of convenient poles, sturdy hanging flower baskets and an insensible number of minarets to climb. I was bouncing around Rome's crumbling Colosseum in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood last night, and it looks as though Ubisoft have significantly improved on the level of detail in their architecture for Revelations. It's out at the start of December after a bit of a delay on PC, filling in the gap between Batman: Arkham City and Star Wars: The Old Republic quite nicely.

I think Assassin's Creed might be kind of a big deal. I mean, 31 million games sold in four years? If you can sneeze at that, then you're quite the prodigious sneezer indeed. So it's no -sized surprise that Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot laid out plans to keep the historical sci-fi-flavored gravy train rolling right into 2012 and beyond.

No further details were provided, unfortunately. Given certain events within the franchise's narrative, though, fans can probably see where this is going. I, however, am still holding out hope for a synchronized haystack swan-diving competition spin-off. But I feel like I might be in the minority on this one.

 
Get with the 16th century, Ezio! What do you mean you've never heard of a shrapnel packed tripwire bomb? They're all the rage these days among the assassins of Constantinople. The Templars seem to have grown from a sinister behind the scenes force infiltrating the upper echelons of the world's most powerful regimes into a loose collection of artfully armoured jerks who go around menacing peasants and stealing their apples. The Ottoman assassins idea of a proportionate response to this is a lethal explosive, but their experimental bombs look more interesting, the coin bomb that sends peasants scrambling for loose change is especially neat.

 
"When I started this fight, I did not think that it would span a lifetime," says Ezio. But then Assassin's Creed 2 sold so well, and he's had to come back for one game, and now another. That's no bad thing. Ezio's charm and exuberance has gradually turned into grizzled awesomeness. Now he has to track down the clues left by his more boring and angsty ancestor, Altair, and figure out what the hell is going on with those ancient gods and magic orbs, and all that stuff about the garden of Eden. The Assassin's Creed Revelations PC release date was pushed back recently. It'll now arrive on December 2.

The release of the PC version of Assassin's Creed Revelations has been delayed by a couple of weeks. It'll hit consoles on November 15, but Eurogamer report that the PC version will come out on December 2.

So that's another Ubisoft gamed delayed on PC. From Dust, Call of Juarez: The Cartel and Driver: San Francisco have all received similar delays. It could be worse, though. Previous Assassin's Creed games have taken months to reach our machines. We should just start mentally adding a few weeks to every Ubisoft release date to avoid future disappointment.

More in-game footage cribbed from Ubisoft's press conference yesterday shows Assassin's Creed Revelations being played on the big screen. In terms of movement, combat, and animation, it looks exactly the same as the well-received Brotherhood, but Ezio (still a sprightly fellow at 50) has a new trick up his literal sleeve. The video shows his hook-blade, a handy fast-travel device that lets him connect to ziplines across Constantinople (Istanbul in modern Turkey) and whizz about the place. See the second half of the trailer after this invisible line, and we've also put up the gorgeous CGI trailer for your delectation.