Assassin's Creed, which setting for the next chapter?

Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed Valhalla has not yet enriched itself with the first of its expansions (The Wrath of the Druids, recently postponed) that for a few weeks the rumors about what to expect from the new chapter have begun to circulate. The most quoted rumor is the one that would like the Hundred Years War as a historical period but there is no lack of other settings such as South America, in the period of the Conquistadores, or even a direct sequel to the first that would therefore still see the involvement of Altaïr Ibn- La'Ahad.

This last hypothesis is in our opinion the least plausible, because if on the one hand it is true that we would play on the nostalgia factor to recall one of the most appreciated characters, on the other Altaïr said all he could say: his doubts, his growth, the return to Masyaf and his fate, have already been exposed in both the original chapter of the saga and in Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines - not to mention the mentions during the Ezio trilogy Auditore.

In short, we would immediately reject this possibility, with the hope that Ubisoft will not really attempt a sterile nostalgia operation and try to make better use of its vast narrative universe. For the rest, instead of analyzing these rumors we would like to offer you our ideas about what the setting of the next Assassin's Creed will be, analyzing the material that the saga itself makes available.

Roman Empire, 1st century AD - Leonius

Surrendering to the fact that many ideas have been wasted in favor of the comic strip (first of all Elijah Miles and his confrontation with Juno, which would have been perfect for at least a couple of chapters), the element on where we will hit the nail the most will be the Sanctuary of Monteriggioni: seen, as you can guess or know, in Assassin's Creed II, it was built to honor the memory of seven great assassins of the past. If the presence of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad was obvious and his figure had already been exploited in two games, we had to wait for the change of direction of the series with Assassin's Creed Origins for the topic to be touched again: Amunet, or Aya , is one of the statues present and so is Darius - covered in the DLC of Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Assassin's Creed, Leonius The new course taken by the series, at least as regards the settings of the past, had led us to believe that Layla Hassan's trilogy was a so-called "classic" trilogy and therefore, after Egypt and Greece, it would logically go towards imperial Rome. It would have been completely consistent and a very good connection with what the very ending of The Legacy of the First Blade had suggested to us. With a real Kansas City move, on the other hand, we found ourselves in the Norse epic of Eivor, probably to ride the wave of the Viking setting, disregarding the potential narrative logic of which they had laid the foundations. We will therefore hardly see the assassin Leonius in action, in 41 AD, since the meeting point was completely overlooked, but we do not feel to exclude the possibility. This, however, would make it a red drop in the sea, a chapter without rhyme or reason that should be considered in its own right and not be linked to any new protagonist of the present (which Valhalla suggests but we will not tell you to avoid spoilers). Difficult, as we have said, but it costs nothing to hope.

Babylon, 4th century BC. - Iltani

Assassin's Creed, Iltani Staying on the line drawn by the Sanctuary, the next assassins could constitute a potential oriental trilogy. The first of these would be Iltani, who lived in the 4th century BC. in Babylon and murderer of none other than Alexander the Great: part of the Babylonian brotherhood, later known as the Order of Iltani, in 323 BC. poisoned the Macedonian conqueror, who had exploited a Staff of Eden after finding it during his campaign in Asia. Alexander was buried with him in his tomb in Alexandria, access to which was blocked until 48 BC. when Aya and Bayek reopened it. This would therefore create a link to the most recent trilogy.

Although Iltani's story has been a bit deepened in Assassin's Creed: Initiates and Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India, this character's main problem is retroactive continuity brought by Assassin's Creed Origins on the birth of the Assassins, which effectively pushed to eliminate any mention of Iltani as a member of the Brotherhood. Nothing that cannot be fixed, since it must be said that in recent times consistency is not exactly at home in the series (in short, the times when the crossbow was eliminated in Altaïr because it does not conform to the historical period are far away). Furthermore, the possible introduction of a character like Iltani, who seems to us more inclined to act in the shadows, could move the series away from those rather noisy and "caciaroni" tracks of the last two chapters.

China, 3rd century BC - Wei Yu

Assassin's Creed, Wei Yu A century away from Iltani, and like her complex to introduce since she belongs to a Brotherhood when - according to Assassin's Creed Origins - the concept did not yet exist, we find Wei Yu: it is of a Chinese assassin who operated during the Qin dynasty and killed its founder, Emperor Qin Shi Huang (or Shi Huangdi) in 210 BC For the uninitiated, he was the commissioner of the imposing terracotta army and the initiator of the great wall of China. Not much is known about Wei Yu, except that he was involved in assassinating the emperor by piercing him with his own spear, nor are there artifacts of Eden linked to his events: this makes him a bit of a white fly in the narrative universe. of Assassin's Creed but represents the last known member of the Chinese Brotherhood before Shao Jun's arrival on the scene, centuries later. The possibility of taking advantage of the Chinese setting and leaving behind the inflated Japan, which is part of the leaks, would be great for having a look at Asia that is not almost exclusively aimed at Japan.

Mongolia, XIII century - Qulan Gal

Assassin's Creed, Qulan Gal To close this possible oriental trilogy in chronological order we find Qulan Gal. This assassin has much more role in the narrative universe than the previous two, being mentioned in the novel Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade, but this does not prevent its introduction at a videogame level: first of all due to the presence of Altaïr, to whom Qulan Gal asks help to kill Genghis Khan around 1227, which would support the potential nostalgia operation but would not see him as the protagonist - thus bringing a certain freshness despite everything; then for the Sword of Eden, already in possession of Deimos (or Alexios) in Assassin's Creed Odyssey and later wielded by Attila, Arthur Pendragon, even Odin up to Genghis Khan.

Non it is clear if it is the same sword that has survived the centuries, or there are several, the fact is that in both cases it would be an excellent connection with other chapters of the saga and, indeed, could possibly open the way to the much vaunted medieval setting during the Hundred Years War, as Joan of Arc took possession of it. In short, both in terms of setting and historical joints, a chapter on Qulan Gal would be interesting and would make it even more interesting if thought of as the closure of a hypothetical oriental trilogy: the complicated characters in this sense would be Iltani and Wei Yu but, after what has been done In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, we're sure it wouldn't be too problematic to make ends meet - consistently or not, even if we hope for a sensible solution. This would finally close the parenthesis of the Sanctuary of Monteriggioni, which has been open for too long.

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