The Assassin’s Creed franchise has been the subject of much rumour-mongering and numerous leaks over recent months. From Assassin’s Creed Infinity, to the Baghdad setting of the now confirmed Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the leaks coming out of Ubisoft pertaining to the Assassin’s Creed IP had been plentiful, but today’s Ubisoft Forward live stream played host to the confirmation of both aforementioned titles, but also the next couple of chapters in the beloved and acclaimed franchise. After initially revealing the entry that fans have been begging for, for decades, Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red, the first Japanese chapter in the franchise, Ubisoft then followed up with a far darker game, a horror-inspired title, Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe.
Coming from talent responsible for Ubisoft classics such as Far Cry 2, and Watch Dogs Legion, and helmed by Ubisoft stalwart Clint Hocking, Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe is seemingly far different tonally to any Assassin’s Creed title that has come before it. Speaking about the existence and nature of Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe, Assassin’s Creed franchise boss, Marc-Alexis Cote said to Video Games Chronicle, “Hexe is a bit further out, but will live concurrently to Red eventually. One of the things that we’ve learned with Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla is that we don’t need to come out with an RPG every year. These games have a much longer tail, and can sustain the engagement and interest of players for a long period of time, especially if we support them well through our post-launch efforts. Hexe will provide a different experience in terms of game and game structure. That will eventually come out as we reveal more.”
Unlike with the reveal of Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red, Ubisoft was being far more cagey with the reveal of Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe, tweeting out far more subdued commentary to accompany the reveal, “We work in the dark… That’s all we can say for now about Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe.”
A few rumours have been swirling about Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe prior to this official reveal, with insiders such as Tom Henderson, Jeff Grubb, and Jason Scheier all reporting that Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe would be exploring the era of “witchcraft”, specifically the era where humans believed in such a thing and killed anyone they believed to be a witch. It’s a dark time, a dark tone, and could make for a wonderful change of pace for the franchise’s established tone and feel, one that has typically been more vibrant.
Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe does not yet have a release window, but with Mirage slated for 2023, and presumably Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red slated for 2024 or perhaps even 2025 you can imagine that Hexe isn’t scheduled to arrive until 2025 or 2026 at the earliest.
