Gadgetory

- E3 will be here in just a couple weeks. And, as it always goes this time of year, some games are getting leaked. And the big one right now is Ubisoft's next Assassin's Creed. Supposedly titled Assassin's Creed: Origins. Now, a couple weeks ago, we did see a screenshot supposedly for this game that made it look like it would take place in Ancient Egypt. Well, now, we have a very short, very poorly recorded trailer for the game that does specify that it takes place in Thebes in 1354 BC. Now, this particular time and place makes a lot of sense for an Assassin's Creed game for a few different reasons. It's near the end of one of the more prosperous times for Thebes under the rulership of Amenhotep III. There was a lot of construction and expansion going on right now. And a lot of major monuments and landmarks are built, such as the Luxor Pyramid. So, it perfectly fits the Assassin's Creed love of taking place in very large cities with lots of stuff to climb. Another reason this is a really good fit is that the Assassin's Creed franchise loves to focus on times in history when there's a lot of turmoil. Whether there's a war going on, some kind of political infighting, or a change in power structures. Now, like I said earlier, this is near the end of Amenhotep III's reign. Four years after the time posted in the trailer is when his son, Akhenaten, takes over and stuff gets a lot darker for Thebes. He outlaws worshiping any of the traditional Egyptian gods in favor of monotheism. And much of the expansion and building that was happening under Amenhotep III has stopped. So, how does this fit into the rest of the Assassin's Creed franchise? Well, to begin with it's very, very true to the name Origins, if that's actually the title, because, currently, the oldest Assassin's Creed game on the timeline is the first one, which is in the 12th century during the Third Crusade. This is over 2,000 years before that. Which is really interesting, too, because the original game kind of set up an origin story for Assassins. But this would then set up an entirely different reasoning that might be very closely tied into the gods of the time. One of the really kind of big weird overarching themes of the Assassin's Creed storyline is that there's this sort of precursor ancient race that a lot of popular mythological gods are named after. So far, it's mainly been Roman-based ones, like Jupiter, Juno, Minerva. But, during this time that's actually when many of these mythological deities are being worshiped, it could be possible that we're throwing some Egyptian gods into the mix as part of how the Assassin's Order was founded. Aside from specifying the time and place for the setting, the trailer did have a little bit of opening dialogue, as well, that was very, very vague. It references Abstergo, which is the modern day Templars. Basically, the main recurring bad guys in the franchise. But it also alludes to there being something bigger and badder than them, which is probably Juno. One of those demigods I mentioned earlier that's been causing problems for everyone since Assassin's Creed III. Now, this trailer is not the only thing that's been leaking a little bit of info. There is also a t-shirt recently that looks like it's showing off the main character of the game. He's wearing the traditional Assassin's Creed-style robes that are all white with the hood. It has the Assassin's Creed symbol in the corner that's mixed with that and the symbol for Horus. And it shows off the name of the character, which appears to be, and I think I'm pronouncing this right, Bayek. Now, aside from these two little leaks, there have been a couple other rumors circulating about the game that actually make me a little hopeful for it. I kind of have a bit of a like-hate relationship with the Assassin's Creed franchise. The first one was okay. It was very bare bones, but had a cool concept. Two was really good. But then I played it two more times with pseudo-sequels that got annoying. Three was an actual dumpster fire. Four was really good but was more about pirates than Assassins. Five was Dumpster Fire Part Two: Electric Boogaloo. And six is probably the best one that's actually about Assassins and not pirates. Now, if you're a superstitious person, this would make you think that we're probably screwed on this one, because it's an odd numbered entry. But there's two reasons why I'm actually kind of hopeful that's not the case. First off, I really like the fact that they're moving to a more ancient civilization. One of the things that's really bothered me about later Assassin's Creed games is it just doesn't make sense in the context of guns existing. You can take several bullets before dying. Aiming them is always annoying. So, moving to something that's actually using simpler, more primitive options, or even just a bow and arrow, just seems to make a lot more sense. The other reason is, supposedly, the lead dev for this game is going to be the same one that worked on Black Flag, which was the fourth game. As I mentioned earlier, best one in the franchise. So, this one might actually not suck.