UPDATE: Most likely fake, at least as far as the screenshots are concerned.
Everyone’s favorite leaking grounds 4chan has leaked some juicy information regarding the next Assassin’s Creed game which we all know to be codenamed Kingdom. Before we get into the details, do remind yourself to take everything you read below with a grain of salt as usual.
So if the leak is true, then the next Assassin’s Creed will be titled Ragnarok (an awful lot of products with that name these days) will release in 2020, and will come out on both current gen consoles as well as next-gen. As it is a Viking themed game, players will be put into the shoes of the role of an ally of the legendary Nordic king of Ragnar Lodbrok that will aid in the formation of Great Heathen Army (fans of Vikings TV show would be so happy).
Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok is said to be developed primarily by Ubisoft Montreal, it’s Creative Director is Ashraf, and Darby McDevvit is its Narrative Director. Ubisoft Sofia is also assisting but is planning on creating a DLC set in Iceland and using Yggdrasil to move across the 9 realms.
The map is split into several kingdoms encompassing all of Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland (that’s a bit too big if you ask us, but hey when that has ever stopped the series? and Kingdoms are split into regions that can hold settlements (obviously). Taking this further, settlements will have some customization and in-game economy systems (maybe similar to Mount & Blade series?)
Large scale “conquest” battles from Odyssey will return and can be used to weaken enemy hold on regions and parts of the story. Unlike The Player does become an assassin and use the iconic hidden blade (a welcome change
The major change here is the return of co-op which has been absent from the series since Unity. Furthermore, co-op can be used in most side quests and exploration of the world. Along with co-op, RPG mechanics, eagle ally, and ship combat is all returning. But the ship combat will be toned down to give more emphasis on exploration.
Speaking about exploration, the game is more focused on that aspect this time around, removing question marks on the map, and making players want to explore locations for better loot (like Breath of the Wild)
Larger emphasis will be put on build and armor usage and players will have the ability to change outfits on the fly (which can speed up or slow down notoriety build up in different kingdoms and stop Sheriffs coming after you).
This leak does come with its own set of WIP screenshots which, to be fair doesn’t look a lot like what we expect the next AC to look like and is more similar to some indie projects. But I suppose games very early into production can’t look that pretty.
Whether this leak is fake or not, we’ll probably hear an official announcement during E3 2019.