In an announcement via his Facebook page, Adi Shankar revealed he’ll be working with Ubisoft to develop and Assassin’s Creed anime series. We saw this coming during a March Reddit AMA when head of content for Assassin’s Creed Aymar Azaizia confirmed a TV show project was in the works. Shankar’s a busy man it seems, having recently developed an anime show based on the Castlevania series for Netflix, which debuts July 7. The trailer is fairly promising, so if any of its style and self-serious melodrama makes its way into the Assassin’s Creed project, I’m on board. Shankar’s full statement follows:

It’ll be an original story set in the Assassin’s Creed universe, but we don’t know much more than that. What network it releases on, what brooding male protagonist looks like, what time period it’s set it, and exactly how anime it will be still up in the air—but, really, if it’s anime, what can go wrong? Seriously, if it's better than the movie (which should be the easiest thing in the world) I'll be happy.

Thanks, Gamespot.

The best sidequests in PC gaming have historically, for me at least, been few and far between. That is to say: while I've thoroughly enjoyed certain quests in certain games, far too many side ventures eschew narrative reward, often serve as filler, and are ultimately plain boring. This is particularly true in open world games—The Witcher 3 is perhaps the exception—however the Assassin's Creed series is looking to improve its side quest design into the future.   

Officially revealed at this year's E3, Origins will reduce its icon clutter by introducing a new "quest system". 

Speaking to our Samuel on the show floor, the game's creative director Jean Guesdon said: "That's one of the three main things that we reworked a lot. Traditionally in past Assassin's Creed [games], we had what was called a mission system. So, it was really about missions, but missions are really good to tell a little bit, a chapter, of a big story. So we had a main story and side activities, basically, which were not really supportive of narrative. 

"This time we're embracing a quest system, much more [like an] RPG, where you have dozens of them in the world, meeting different people, and each quest this time is a different story. We wanted that first to give a lot of meat to the world, to have the player really understand the world, and it's really allowing us to depict the setting well, because Ancient Egypt is incredible. It's a long lost world—we did a lot of research, and through the quests, we have a [chance] to help you experience that."

Assassin's Creed: Origins is due October 27, 2017. Here's its latest trailer:

If there's one dependable lesson to be learned from E3 every year, it's that consumerism is good. And that's no better demonstrated than by this ludicrous Assassin's Creed: Origins edition. Tidily dubbed the Dawn of the Creed Collector's Case – Legendary Edition, it'll set you back $800 (or $1,250 in Australia).

Rather amusingly, this pack doesn't get you absolutely everything offered in the bajillion (ie, five) other special editions of the game, but crucially, it does get you a 73cm figurine in resin (it's in resin, you see). The game is there of course, as is a season pass, a physical world map, and an eagle skull amulet, which is nice.

The full rundown of what's in it can be perused over here. Or you could watch this video. Scroll to the bottom for an image showing everything in the edition.

Ubisoft rolled out another Assassin's Creed: Origins trailer at its E3 press event today, this one showcasing animals, action, and the "Mysteries of Egypt" in glorious 4K.

With ten years of Assassin's Creed behind it, Ubisoft "wanted to go back—very far back—to show how it all began," game director Ashraf Ismail said. Egypt "challenged us to fundamentally reinvent what it means to be Assassin's Creed," he added. 

The trailer is pure teaser, but if you'd like to scope out some proper gameplay we can help with that too: A trio of new videos including a mission gameplay walkthrough were released yesterday at Microsoft's E3 presser.   

Assassin's Creed: Origins is set for release on October 27.   

At is pre-E3 press conference today, Microsoft unveiled the debut Assassin's Creed: Origins gameplay trailer, finally confirming that the new game will depict the origin of the Brotherhood in ancient Egypt. 

Origins depicts "the birthplace of the Assassins Brotherhood," creative director Jean Guesdon said, and is "also the story of one man, Bayek," the last Magi and the protector of his community—something of an "Egyptian sheriff," he explained. Naturally, stealth is central to the experience, but there's plenty of action as well, and Guesdon said Ubisoft has "added many RPG elements to a huge systemic world.

A second trailer, depicting a short mission in which Bayek returns to his hometown of Siwa to kill the fake oracle Nedunamum, was also shown at the event and can be seen below. We'll have more information about Assassin's Creed: Origins, as it becomes available.Update: Following the (finally) official announcement, Ubisoft posted another video taking a more behind-the-scenes look at the development of Assassin's Creed: Origins. 

Update: Following the (finally) official announcement, Ubisoft posted another video taking a more behind-the-scenes look at the development of Assassin's Creed: Origins. Enjoy!

A slew of leaks has already revealed the high points of Ubisoft's next Assassin's Creed, an ancient Egyptian adventure subtitled Origins. And today, thanks to a Redittor who posted pictures of the latest issue of GameInformer on Imgur, we even have a release date: Barring delays, the game will be out on October 27.    

The image of the inside cover indicates that Assassin's Creed: Origins will be available for purchase in four separate editions: standard, Deluxe, Gold, and Gold Steelbook. And in case the title wasn't sufficiently on-point, the cover itself strongly suggests that the game will depict the origin of the Assassin brotherhood, stating, "As an empire falls, a brotherhood rises." 

We called Origins "one of the worst-kept secrets in videogames" yesterday, but today I think that's actually overstating it. I mean, is anyone even trying to keep their mouth shut at this point? It would be tremendously funny if all this virtual Egyptology turned out to be a great misdirect from Ubisoft, and that the real game is going to be a sci-fi extravaganza set in the far-flung future (Assassin's Creed: Andromeda, anyone?), but come on—that's not going to happen. 

Despite all the leakage, none of this is official, and it will remain that way until Ubisoft's pre-E3 press event, which we will be covering for you at 1 pm PT/4 pm ET on June 12.

One of the worst-kept secrets in videogames right now is that the next Assassin's Creed will be called Origins, will take place in ancient Egypt, and will be released sometime this year. We've got a whole roundup post about it right here, in fact. But in case you needed more convincing, an image of a preorder card that leaked out of Target and landed on Imgur makes it all very clear. 

The card confirms both the title and the Egyptian setting, and also reveals the preorder bonus (from Target, at least) as a mission entitled Secrets of the First Pyramids. A season pass will be offered, which comes as absolutely no surprise at all, and included with a "Gold Edition" of the game that also comes with a "Deluxe Pack", whatever that is, and what I'm sure will be a very nice Steelbook case. And the fact that the card exists right now pretty obviously points toward a release sometime before the end of the year.

It's not exactly a revelation, then, since it's really just another nail in the foot of what we already know. And the full facts will presumably all be revealed very soon anyway: Ubisoft's E3 press conference, which I'm pretty sure will make some mention of the new Assassin's Creed—and which we will be covering live—will take place at 1 pm PT/4 pm ET on June 12.   

Ubisoft announced today that four of its biggest franchises will be returning for its 2017-18 fiscal year (which we're currently in, and ends March 31, 2018). Far Cry 5 and The Crew 2 are both on the way, and the oft-delayed South Park: The Fractured But Whole is (hopefully) coming, too. The publisher also teased a new Assassin's Creed, although details—like, for instance, a subtitle—are being held back, possibly for a full-on E3 reveal. (Though Egypt is heavily rumored to be the setting.)

"Over the last three fiscal years, Ubisoft has—with remarkable success—created numerous new brands and rebooted Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in a statement. "These successes have strengthened our visibility for the coming two fiscal years, with a line-up of releases principally comprised of established franchises. In 2017-18 we will see the exciting returns of Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, The Crew, and South Park." 

The Crew is probably the one semi-surprise of the bunch: It had something of a rough launch in 2014, and it was actually one of last year's Ubisoft anniversary freebies—not exactly a sign of a highly lucrative money-maker. On the other hand, Ubisoft recently announced that it had hit the 12 million player mark, which is no small feat, and it hasn't given up on the game by any measure either, releasing the cops-and-robbers expansion Calling All Units in November 2016. 

It's an ambitious lineup, but a strong FY2017-18 (and beyond) has to be even more important than usual for Ubisoft: The conflict has gone quiet in recent months, but Ubisoft is still facing a possible hostile takeover attempt by Vivendi. The company needs to do everything it can do to bolster its position—and as quickly as it possibly can.

Naturally, details are in very short supply at this early stage, but tweets from Ubisoft UK at least give us some logos to look at.   

WWG reported last week on a rumor that the next Assassin's Creed game, set to be revealed at E3, will be called "Origins," and will be built around a "vast open world experience" set in ancient Egypt. That rumor has now been strengthened by the appearance of an image on Reddit depicting a character on a boat, armed with a bow, arrows, and shield, pursuing a mission called "Assassinate the Crocodile"—and which Eurogamer claims has been verified by three separate sources as a legitimate AC: Origins screenshot. 

The image indicates that the player must "follow Shadya to Khenut's Villa," possibly (probably?) a reference to an Egyptian Queen of the Fifth Dynasty, wife of King Unas, and possibly the mother of Queen Iput I. The relative lack of historical information about Khenut could be a way for Ubisoft to ground the game believably in ancient Egyptian society, without having to tie itself down too tightly to a particular real-world narrative.   

The timing is right—E3 is just a month away, so this is when you'd naturally expect things to start leaking—and the report also jibes with our January breakdown of everything we think we know about the next Assassin's Creed game: That it will be set in Egypt, that the game world will be much bigger and more open than previous games, and—this is the big one—that boats will be back in all their Black Flag-style glory. (And horses, too, but let's face it, the nags are always in there and boats are where it's at.) 

I've emailed Ubisoft for confirmation that the image is legit. Given the proximity to E3, when the game is expected to be properly revealed to the world, I don't imagine it'll want to drop the dime now, but I'll let you know if it happens.

It'll strike most as the most redundant of truisms, but making blockbuster video games involves a fair bit of compromise. If you're the 'creator' of the game, you need to not only collaborate with hundreds of people on its creation, but you also need to please the businessfolk upstairs. And that holds especially true when it comes to a series as massive as Assassin's Creed. Recent comments by its creator Patrice Desilets are exemplary.

Speaking to Gameology, via Gamespot, Desilets laid out some of the reasons he left Ubisoft shortly after the release of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood in 2010. "My biggest struggle with being in an organization is that I was the guy at the end or in the middle also… I was the guy doing interviews like what we're doing right now and I had to come up with political lying and I would receive comments and decisions made by other people and not me because it's all about compromising when you're in a big organization somehow," he said. 

"And as my role, the creative director, it's tough to live by the decisions of others when being in front of the camera or Skype and I said I'm not a really good liar so I can't do it anymore. And then I also realized that when you do a really big franchise, you also make money for other people and they don't really care about you. So I said, enough! if I do another Assassin's Creed at least it would be for me and my guys and also for Quebec and for my people in Montreal."

Desilets inevitably worked for Ubisoft again, when the publisher bought THQ Montreal. He didn't stick around though, and amid a confusing flurry of legal squabbles he left and joined Panache Studios, which is currently developing Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. It looks like we'll be hearing more about that during 2017.