Five other time periods that Assassin’s Creed can explore

In the Assassin’s Creed franchise, we’ve explored some colourful historical terrain already. The Middle East, Italy at the height of the Renaissance and America when it fought for independence. But that’s the beauty of this franchise, as it can take place anywhere, at any time. Here’s five such time periods we’d like to see the white hoodie pop up next.

The Wild West

   

(Image credit: MorganaGod)

Yeah yeah, I know we just got out of Assassin’s Creed 3 and it’s revolutione setting, but hear me out on this one. Picture a scene, where you’re chasing down a stagecoach of Templars, where you then proceed to draw two pistols and fire away, before switching to your hidden blades and jumping on top of the coach, killing your way through the soldiers on top, before taking control of the horses before the inevitable crash over a canyon.

And that’s just one scenario. If Red Dead Redemption could breath some life back into that old rattlesnake of a genre, imagine what a fully realised Assassin’s Creed could do, with the romanticism and mythic settings of the Old West.

Feudal Japan/ China

(Image credit: 574471986)

Enough of Italians and Native Americans! Let’s go east! Assassin’s Creed: Embers still set up the idea of the brotherhood being a more global initiative, and what better way to celebrate such an out-stab program than with some colourful flare from the land of the rising sun. And China. Also, there’s a  reason why this locale is so damn requested!

Let’s be honest here, pilfering a combat system from Arkham Asylum and then attempting to disguise it, is not the revolutionary new way of playing AC that Ubisoft promised us. The franchise is in need of a better, less complex combat system, and ditching fancy swords for Kung Fu and samurai combat could be the key here.

You’ve got a ton of material to work with here as well, with rich histories, martial arts and cultures to fill up the bulk of not only one game, but maybe an entire new trilogy as well.

The Boer War

Look, if there’s one thing that people in this country can’t get enough of, it’s hating the British for crap that happened a century ago, as they feel that they’ve somehow been slighted by them. Bearing that idea in mind, with a taste of patriotic fever, khaki hats and more lines of British soldiers than that UK Twilight premiere that got out of hand, sounds like a good idea to me.

An Assassin’s Creed game that has you running missions for General De La Rey and taking a young Winston Churchill hostage when his train crashed while he was out on assignment? That would sell millions, as well as set up a new gaming market for zealous local historians that are obsessed with that time period.

World War 2

Quick, name a decent sandbox game set in the midst of World War 2? If said The Saboteur, then you guessed right! Essentially an Assassin’s Creed clone, but with far more creative palettes. the Pandemic developed game may not have been perfect, but it was far removed from terrible.

Now imagine that title, but dressed in the garb of the Assassin hoodie. You’ve already got Nazis, the perfect guise for the Templars, and a chance to do what Captain America does for a living: Punch Hitler.

Hell, that might just be the most satisfying assassination in the game series. That, or a patch that allows me to stab those damn orphans in AC3.

Victorian England

I’ve got to give Geoff credit for this idea, because what better way to portray a stab-happy assassin in the time period of steampunk and Sherlock Holmes, than by making that Assassin, Jack the Ripper?

Ubisoft has managed to put a terrific spin on familiar figures in their franchise, and doing so with the notorious British slasher could give the game the edge that it needs. Plus it would also explain all the dead mutilated prostitutes, or Templhores as we call them.

Today

If there was one part of Assassin’s Creed 3 that stood out, it was the sequences in which Desmond finally became an effective assassin. Stripped down, bare bones gameplay that took the best of the combat that he had been taught over several games, this was the AC game that we should have been playing already.

With Desmond operating at peak capacity, alongside his faithful gang of Scoobies, we’d get a game that would really appeal to longtime fans, while paving the way for newcomers to experience an AC title that takes full advantage of the stealth and combat mechanics built up over several years of sequels and tie-ins.

Although for Minerva’s sake Ubisoft, stop devolving poor Desmond! We’ve already got plans for Neanderthal Creed!

Last Updated: December 3, 2012