According to boasts by Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed was one of their most successful franchises. They sold millions of copies last year, and the PC version did very good in sales, despite it being leaked.
Ending in a cliffhanger, Assassin’s Creed begged a sequel, and now it’s going to get it. Ubisoft officially confirmed the continuation, Assassin’s Creed 2.
Ubisoft announced its financial results for the six-month period which ended on September 30, 2008. The report revealed that sales were up 31.8%, driven mostly by casual games and the company’s distribution business. Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft’s CEO, announced at a follow-up conference that they are hard-working on Assassin’s Creed 2.
No release information has been provided, but what rumors we’ve gathered point to the fact that the game is set roughly 500 years after the original in the 1700s, probably during the French Revolution.
The sci-fi twist at the first game’s conclusion hinted at such candidates for the sequel’s location as ancient china or Feudal Japan, making the French Revolution somewhat of a dark horse candidate.
The rumor comes from analyst Michael Pachter, who was a guest on Gametrailers’ show Bonus round, who during the course of the show said that the next Assassin’s Creed would be set “several hundred years” after the original, “sometimes in the 1700s.” Going into specifics, Pachter then went on to “speculate that the French Revolution could be a potential setting.”
The French revolution, one of the defining moments in the world’s history due to its ramifications to this day, began 1789 with the storming of the Bastille, and was one of the bloodiest changes of government ever recorded. The Great Terror which ensued saw leader Maximillien Robespierre put thousands of nobles and other political opponents to the guillotine. Irony bit Robespierre like a sharp blade to the throat as he faced the guillotine himself in 1794. Implications of the involvement of Knights Templar’s descendents into the revolution set it up as a good candidate for the conspiracy-inspired meta-background of the franchise.
The bloodletting and urban chaos of the period would also lend itself well to the concept of a game set there, as well as the fact that it’s close to Ubisoft’s collective heart: Ubisoft’s headquarters are based in Paris.
Nevertheless, this is just a rumor. Pachter politely declined comment when asked to elaborate, and Ubisoft have not responded to requests for comment.
Another concern is that the breeches-and-powdered wigs (albethey bloody considering the goings-on) of that era may not be as attractive to gamers as the original medieval setting of the game. Nevertheless, while leaping from rooftops in Jerusalem, gliding like a ghost through souks in Damascus and slitting throats in Acre may be fun, there’s no reason to keep the same setting considering the possibilities afforded by the story. We don’t know whether it will be France or Kyoto, but we all can’t wait for the next chapter of Assassin’s creed

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