While the Assassin's Creed series has visited various different historical settings, the open-world franchise has ignored an obvious mechanic to explore locations more thoroughly. Ubisoft's flagship franchise has taken fans to Ancient Egypt, Victorian London and hundreds of years of history in between. Most games manage to recreate their chosen time period with impeccable accuracy, but simply focusing on one time period is growing stale.
The franchise has taken players all across the world and throughout centuries of history, but some of the most perfect Assassin's Creed settings have yet to be explored. The upcoming open-world RPG Assassin's Creed Codename Red, for example, is set to finally explore Feudal Japan after years of fan requests. Assassin's Creed Mirage will take players to the Golden Age of Baghdad, meanwhile, with the mobile game Assassin's Creed Codename Jade delving into the violent history of Medieval China. Each of these games will immerse fans in a fascinating new historical setting, but settling for just one time period seems unnecessary.
Assassin's Creed Can Put Two Time Periods In One Game
The chance to explore one historical setting is great, but the Assassin's Creed series could double down on its concept by making one game in two time periods. The franchise's Animus technology justifies the ability to relive an ancestor's genetic memories, so exploring the lives of two Assassins doesn't seem very far-fetched. Many possible Assassin's Creed time periods are filled with engaging events beyond the scope of a single human lifetime, so following two protagonists in a single location hundreds or thousands of years apart could make for a riveting experience. Modern gaming hardware could also let players seamlessly jump back and forth between two time periods without worrying about loading.
Many Historical Settings Deserve More Than One Assassin's Creed Game
Many of history's most prominent cities would be able to support an Assassin's Creed game across two lifetimes, given their incredibly long list of significant events and inhabitants. Rome would be an ideal example, with a game possibly splitting itself between Julius Caesar's rule and the Italian Renaissance period inhabited by Ezio Auditore. This could be a novel way to revisit classic Assassin's Creed settings, with one time period being intimately familiar while another feels like an entirely new game. London, Paris and New York City could all fit into this formula by letting players experience both the formation of each city and the height of each city's power.
Each entry in the Assassin's Creed series has brought players to a single historical setting, but many of the world's most interesting locations could support multiple different time periods. A time travel mechanic could let players explore Paris in both the 1700s and 1940s, or recreate New York City during both the American Revolution and Great Depression. This would let Ubisoft bring fans to multiple Assassin's Creed settings in a single game without actually featuring two geographic locations. By leaning into the development that occurred between both time periods, an Assassin's Creed game split across two lifetimes could be the ultimate illustration of human ingenuity.
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