There has been one major Assassin's Creed game every year since Assassin's Creed 2 in 2009 and this year there will be two; Unity and Rogue.
That's a lot of games but Ubisoft says the vast majority of the series' fanbase is happy with the regular flow of new titles. Speaking to Eurogamer at gamescom today, Rogue producer Karl von der Luhe said he believed it only "a vocal minority that feel" that Assassin's Creed games are released too quickly.
Unity is heading for PC, PS4, and Xbox One while Rogue is bound for PS3 and Xbox 360. Explaining why both are in development, Luhe says:
"There are the hardcore Assassin's Creed fans that are happy to play two games and there are of course many fans who have not yet made that financial move to go to next-gen. And these are the guys that we're really catering for – they're thankful for the fact that they will have a compelling Assassin's Creed game to play on either their Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3."
In Rogue, players take on the role of Shay Cormac, a Templar, and Luhe comments that the idea for letting people see the other side of the Assassin war has been around since 2007.
"The idea of being a Templar has been around for years – ever since AC1. Locking down the actual idea and story, that was around two years ago."
Rogue is set 20 years after Assassin's Creed 3 during the Seven Year War and New York has changed dramatically in the period since with criminal gangs playing an important role in the makeup of the city. The game will have a bigger land area than Black Flag as well as the North Atlantic Ocean to explore on Cormac's ship, the Morrigan. In all, there will be over 20 hours of gameplay.
Haytham Kenway, the father of Assassin's Creed 3's Connor and son of Black Flag's Edward, is now the leader of North America's Templars and "You'll see a lot of him in the game," Luhe reveals, adding that he'll accompany Cormac on a "bunch" of missions. There will also be a modern day section but Luhe wouldn't provide details.
You can check out land and sea-based combat videos from gamescom here.
Assassin's Creed Rogue launches for PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 11th and Assassin's Creed Unity is set for release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on October 28th.
