After over a year of waiting and guessing, we’ve finally learned a little more about what Assassin’s Creed Infinity is. As part of today’s Ubisoft Forward Assassin’s Creed Showcase, it was said that Infinity is a “hub” that will link future Assassin’s Creed games together. But, after an in-depth interview with the project’s leader, Marc-Alexis Côté, IGN has learned much more about Infinity.

Assassin’s Creed Infinity will be a home for a variety of games of different genres and lengths. It will mix premium boxed games with paid-for and free content. There will be a multiplayer mode that will unite the franchise’s eras. And it will be the place where Assassin’s Creed’s modern-day story will now live.

But let’s start with Infinity’s core concept. It is not a video game, nor is it a replacement for traditional Assassin’s Creed games. It is a platform that will host both past and future Assassin’s Creed entries, starting with Codename Red, a Shinobi-themed RPG coming sometime in the future. This full-price, single-player, open-world RPG will be purchased just like any other Assassin’s Creed game.

“You can absolutely buy [Codename Red] as a box product,” confirms Côté, vice president executive producer of Assassin's Creed. “But the first thing that you'll see [when you boot it up] is the Infinity [hub] that makes it coherent. But you can buy [Infinity’s second game] Hexe separately as well. This is how we envision things today. So it is still the same games that we were building, but bridged together in the Infinity hub. And obviously if you're in the Infinity hub playing Red, you'll see Hexe come and be available as a memory that you can explore.”

So Infinity is somewhat of a launcher. But rather than displaying games as a library-like collection, like in Steam or Ubisoft Connect, Infinity will wear the guise of an in-universe Animus interface. New entries in the series will be displayed as DNA memories rather than games. Côté notes, however, that we should expect Infinity to be more than just an Assassin’s Creed-themed launcher, and for it to evolve over time.

“So [Infinity] will not start out as a game,” says Côté. “The version of Infinity that we launch will not be the final version of Infinity. It's something that will evolve through time as our experiences grow and we can connect them more together. So I think it opens up a world of possibilities as to what we can do that go far beyond being just a launcher for our different games.”

While Infinity is not technically a game, it will have elements that we’d associate with the Assassin’s Creed games. From now on, Infinity will be the home of the modern day or ‘meta’ storyline of the series.

“People who love just immersing themselves in the past will be able to jump right in there and never be interrupted or need to know who Desmond and Layla is,” says Côté. The implication, then, is that the main games will now be solely set in the past.

So if Infinity does feature a storyline, but is not a game, does that mean we won’t be controlling a modern-day protagonist any more? I ask if the meta storyline will be limited to things like audio logs and email chains.

“The way we tell the story will evolve with time,” says Côté. “It's something that we're doing for the long term, not for the short term. But the abstraction that we want people to have is [Infinity] is your Animus. It is your DNA explorer on your desktop. You are the main story character.”

To provide an example of one element of traditional Assassin’s Creed games that will be moved across to Infinity, Côté points to codex entries. “We used to have an encyclopedia in our games. But to make it feel coherent, like something that always grows through time as you explore the past, [the encyclopedia] would be something that would be in the Infinity hub.”

Cutting the modern day storyline out of the core games will no doubt come as fantastic news to a segment of the series’ dedicated and vocal audience. But Infinity doesn’t stop there in addressing audience criticism. Future Assassin’s Creed games released in Infinity will vary in both size and genre. Codename Red is an RPG in the tradition of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, but Codename Hexe will mark the start of a less formulaic period for the series.

“What I can confirm to you is that [Hexe] is not an RPG,” says Côté. “When I say it's a different type of game, I want people to go beyond the expectations of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. They're all an iteration on our RPG design, right? But Hexe and Red are taking different tracks.”

“I think this Infinity approach is allowing us to have different experiences of different sizes as well,” he adds. “Not everything has to be a 150 hour RPG, right? To bring more diversity to the places we choose to visit and to how we choose to represent those periods.”

While not part of Infinity, 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be similar in length to the earlier games in the franchise. I ask if we can expect more of those scale games, or even smaller, in Infinity.

“Yes, absolutely and priced accordingly,” Côté affirms. “Sometimes you'll have free experiences as well, which I think is a great way to entice players to either come back.”

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has clearly been a testing ground for what’s to come in Infinity. Its DLC has varied wildly, with free offerings ranging from small in-game events to a whole roguelite mode, while paid-for content starts as small as cosmetics and goes as large as a 30-hour expansion pack. It seems like we can expect this sort of approach going forward with Infinity.

But one thing Valhalla did not experiment with is multiplayer, something Infinity will bring back to the series in the form of ‘Invictus’. Said to be a standalone game delivered through Infinity, my initial instinct was to assume it will be free-to-play.

“We have not finalized our plans for the business model for Invictus, but it is a possibility [that it will be free-to-play],” says Côté.

So while we know Infinity will feature free experiences of some kind, we currently can’t say if Ubisoft plans to use Invictus in the way Halo Infinite and Call of Duty uses their own multiplayer/Warzone offerings. However, like Warzone, it appears that Ubisoft plans for Invictus to unite the many eras of its single-player games.

“I think the concept art that we had for Invictus kind of hints to this possibility of crossing over characters from different periods,” says Côté, referring to a piece of art shown at a press briefing that showed numerous characters from different games standing side-by-side. “So I think you can see the intention there of Invictus allowing us again to bridge our different games together.”

Meta stories, new genres, and multiplayer are all fascinating aspects of Infinity’s promise. But it seems that the platform’s biggest aim is to provide much, much longer periods of support for each individual game. Rather than discrete offerings, a new Assassin’s Creed will become part of Infinity instead of just living (and, eventually, dying) on its own. I ask if that means that new games won’t have a hard end cap on developer support.

“Exactly,” says Côté. “That's not how we're seeing things. We want to support everything that comes out on Infinity for a much longer period of time.”

“What I'm very excited about with Infinity is not just our big games, but this idea that we don't replace the games with another game, you [don’t just] supplant your new RPG,” Côté explains. “I think these games can live for a longer period of time and we're architecturing them differently than in the past. If you look at a game like Valhalla, most of its expansions were kind of around the game. Now one of the things that we're thinking about is how can we grow this experience, this world, more like an MMO? Think of it as a single player MMO [rather] than what we've done in the past.”

Infinity sounds much less disruptive than I’d first imagined. This is clearly not Fortnite for Assassin’s Creed. The series is still (at least as far as we can see) built around the concept of single-player adventures in historical open worlds. But Infinity promises to make those worlds less static and more malleable. We still know very little about what it will eventually deliver, but whatever it is, Infinity sounds a fascinating response to the seasonal content factories that are gaming’s multiplayer monoliths.

For more from Ubisoft Forward, check out the latest details about Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and the mobile game Codename Jade.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

After over a year of waiting and guessing, we’ve finally learned a little more about what Assassin’s Creed Infinity is. As part of today’s Ubisoft Forward Assassin’s Creed Showcase, it was said that Infinity is a “hub” that will link future Assassin’s Creed games together. But, after an in-depth interview with the project’s leader, Marc-Alexis Côté, IGN has learned much more about Infinity.

Assassin’s Creed Infinity will be a home for a variety of games of different genres and lengths. It will mix premium boxed games with paid-for and free content. There will be a multiplayer mode that will unite the franchise’s eras. And it will be the place where Assassin’s Creed’s modern-day story will now live.

But let’s start with Infinity’s core concept. It is not a video game, nor is it a replacement for traditional Assassin’s Creed games. It is a platform that will host both past and future Assassin’s Creed entries, starting with Codename Red, a Shinobi-themed RPG coming sometime in the future. This full-price, single-player, open-world RPG will be purchased just like any other Assassin’s Creed game.

“You can absolutely buy [Codename Red] as a box product,” confirms Côté, vice president executive producer of Assassin's Creed. “But the first thing that you'll see [when you boot it up] is the Infinity [hub] that makes it coherent. But you can buy [Infinity’s second game] Hexe separately as well. This is how we envision things today. So it is still the same games that we were building, but bridged together in the Infinity hub. And obviously if you're in the Infinity hub playing Red, you'll see Hexe come and be available as a memory that you can explore.”

So Infinity is somewhat of a launcher. But rather than displaying games as a library-like collection, like in Steam or Ubisoft Connect, Infinity will wear the guise of an in-universe Animus interface. New entries in the series will be displayed as DNA memories rather than games. Côté notes, however, that we should expect Infinity to be more than just an Assassin’s Creed-themed launcher, and for it to evolve over time.

“So [Infinity] will not start out as a game,” says Côté. “The version of Infinity that we launch will not be the final version of Infinity. It's something that will evolve through time as our experiences grow and we can connect them more together. So I think it opens up a world of possibilities as to what we can do that go far beyond being just a launcher for our different games.”

While Infinity is not technically a game, it will have elements that we’d associate with the Assassin’s Creed games. From now on, Infinity will be the home of the modern day or ‘meta’ storyline of the series.

“People who love just immersing themselves in the past will be able to jump right in there and never be interrupted or need to know who Desmond and Layla is,” says Côté. The implication, then, is that the main games will now be solely set in the past.

So if Infinity does feature a storyline, but is not a game, does that mean we won’t be controlling a modern-day protagonist any more? I ask if the meta storyline will be limited to things like audio logs and email chains.

“The way we tell the story will evolve with time,” says Côté. “It's something that we're doing for the long term, not for the short term. But the abstraction that we want people to have is [Infinity] is your Animus. It is your DNA explorer on your desktop. You are the main story character.”

To provide an example of one element of traditional Assassin’s Creed games that will be moved across to Infinity, Côté points to codex entries. “We used to have an encyclopedia in our games. But to make it feel coherent, like something that always grows through time as you explore the past, [the encyclopedia] would be something that would be in the Infinity hub.”

Cutting the modern day storyline out of the core games will no doubt come as fantastic news to a segment of the series’ dedicated and vocal audience. But Infinity doesn’t stop there in addressing audience criticism. Future Assassin’s Creed games released in Infinity will vary in both size and genre. Codename Red is an RPG in the tradition of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, but Codename Hexe will mark the start of a less formulaic period for the series.

“What I can confirm to you is that [Hexe] is not an RPG,” says Côté. “When I say it's a different type of game, I want people to go beyond the expectations of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. They're all an iteration on our RPG design, right? But Hexe and Red are taking different tracks.”

“I think this Infinity approach is allowing us to have different experiences of different sizes as well,” he adds. “Not everything has to be a 150 hour RPG, right? To bring more diversity to the places we choose to visit and to how we choose to represent those periods.”

While not part of Infinity, 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage will be similar in length to the earlier games in the franchise. I ask if we can expect more of those scale games, or even smaller, in Infinity.

“Yes, absolutely and priced accordingly,” Côté affirms. “Sometimes you'll have free experiences as well, which I think is a great way to entice players to either come back.”

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has clearly been a testing ground for what’s to come in Infinity. Its DLC has varied wildly, with free offerings ranging from small in-game events to a whole roguelite mode, while paid-for content starts as small as cosmetics and goes as large as a 30-hour expansion pack. It seems like we can expect this sort of approach going forward with Infinity.

But one thing Valhalla did not experiment with is multiplayer, something Infinity will bring back to the series in the form of ‘Invictus’. Said to be a standalone game delivered through Infinity, my initial instinct was to assume it will be free-to-play.

“We have not finalized our plans for the business model for Invictus, but it is a possibility [that it will be free-to-play],” says Côté.

So while we know Infinity will feature free experiences of some kind, we currently can’t say if Ubisoft plans to use Invictus in the way Halo Infinite and Call of Duty uses their own multiplayer/Warzone offerings. However, like Warzone, it appears that Ubisoft plans for Invictus to unite the many eras of its single-player games.

“I think the concept art that we had for Invictus kind of hints to this possibility of crossing over characters from different periods,” says Côté, referring to a piece of art shown at a press briefing that showed numerous characters from different games standing side-by-side. “So I think you can see the intention there of Invictus allowing us again to bridge our different games together.”

Meta stories, new genres, and multiplayer are all fascinating aspects of Infinity’s promise. But it seems that the platform’s biggest aim is to provide much, much longer periods of support for each individual game. Rather than discrete offerings, a new Assassin’s Creed will become part of Infinity instead of just living (and, eventually, dying) on its own. I ask if that means that new games won’t have a hard end cap on developer support.

“Exactly,” says Côté. “That's not how we're seeing things. We want to support everything that comes out on Infinity for a much longer period of time.”

“What I'm very excited about with Infinity is not just our big games, but this idea that we don't replace the games with another game, you [don’t just] supplant your new RPG,” Côté explains. “I think these games can live for a longer period of time and we're architecturing them differently than in the past. If you look at a game like Valhalla, most of its expansions were kind of around the game. Now one of the things that we're thinking about is how can we grow this experience, this world, more like an MMO? Think of it as a single player MMO [rather] than what we've done in the past.”

Infinity sounds much less disruptive than I’d first imagined. This is clearly not Fortnite for Assassin’s Creed. The series is still (at least as far as we can see) built around the concept of single-player adventures in historical open worlds. But Infinity promises to make those worlds less static and more malleable. We still know very little about what it will eventually deliver, but whatever it is, Infinity sounds a fascinating response to the seasonal content factories that are gaming’s multiplayer monoliths.

For more from Ubisoft Forward, check out the latest details about Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and the mobile game Codename Jade.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Ubisoft is changing the way it tells the modern-day Assassin’s Creed storyline by pulling it out of the games and making it a part of Assassin’s Creed Infinity.

Revealed at a press conference ahead of today’s Ubisoft Forward, vice president executive producer of Assassin's Creed, Marc-Alexis Côté, explained to journalists that the upcoming hub platform for the series will be the new home of the Assassin’s Creed meta storyline.

In an interview with IGN, Côté explained further: “I wanted [Infinity] to perfectly be a good entry point [to the series],” he said. “And that's where extracting the meta story from our games and making it live at the platform level is an important change for the franchise.”

The launch of the Infinity platform and its first game, Codename Red, will mark the start of what Ubisoft calls Period 3 of Assassin’s Creed. Period 1 covers the series from its inception to Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (essentially the action/adventure era), while Period 2 covers the RPG era of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. This new period has been designed to be a good place for new players to join, and as such it made sense for the more complex, ongoing meta story set in the modern day to be separated from the standalone historical tales.

“People who love just immersing themselves in the past will be able to jump right in there and never be interrupted or need to know who Desmond and Layla is,” said Côté.

As explained as part of today’s Assassin’s Creed Showcase, Infinity is not a game, but rather a launcher-like hub for the series. That means the modern day storyline will likely not be told through a playable character like Desmond or Layla. Côté held back on explaining exactly how the story will be told, but did say that we should expect the method to change as time goes on.

“The way we tell the story will evolve with time,” Côté said. “But the abstraction that we want people to have is [Infinity] is your Animus. It is your DNA Explorer on your desktop. You are the main story character.”

For the full details we have so far, check out our full Assassin’s Creed Infinity interview with Côté. And for more from Ubisoft Forward, take a look at the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the upcoming Codename Red and Hexe, and a mobile game set in Ancient China.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Ubisoft is changing the way it tells the modern-day Assassin’s Creed storyline by pulling it out of the games and making it a part of Assassin’s Creed Infinity.

Revealed at a press conference ahead of today’s Ubisoft Forward, vice president executive producer of Assassin's Creed, Marc-Alexis Côté, explained to journalists that the upcoming hub platform for the series will be the new home of the Assassin’s Creed meta storyline.

In an interview with IGN, Côté explained further: “I wanted [Infinity] to perfectly be a good entry point [to the series],” he said. “And that's where extracting the meta story from our games and making it live at the platform level is an important change for the franchise.”

The launch of the Infinity platform and its first game, Codename Red, will mark the start of what Ubisoft calls Period 3 of Assassin’s Creed. Period 1 covers the series from its inception to Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (essentially the action/adventure era), while Period 2 covers the RPG era of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. This new period has been designed to be a good place for new players to join, and as such it made sense for the more complex, ongoing meta story set in the modern day to be separated from the standalone historical tales.

“People who love just immersing themselves in the past will be able to jump right in there and never be interrupted or need to know who Desmond and Layla is,” said Côté.

As explained as part of today’s Assassin’s Creed Showcase, Infinity is not a game, but rather a launcher-like hub for the series. That means the modern day storyline will likely not be told through a playable character like Desmond or Layla. Côté held back on explaining exactly how the story will be told, but did say that we should expect the method to change as time goes on.

“The way we tell the story will evolve with time,” Côté said. “But the abstraction that we want people to have is [Infinity] is your Animus. It is your DNA Explorer on your desktop. You are the main story character.”

For the full details we have so far, check out our full Assassin’s Creed Infinity interview with Côté. And for more from Ubisoft Forward, take a look at the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the upcoming Codename Red and Hexe, and a mobile game set in Ancient China.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Ubisoft has announced Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, a new game in the series set in Ancient China. It features “classic” Assassin’s Creed gameplay and takes place in an open world, but is a mobile game rather than a console release.

Revealed as part of today's Assassin's Creed Showcase but in only a small amount of detail, Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade has been built to play like a traditional Assassin’s Creed game just with touch controls. Vice president executive producer of Assassin's Creed, Marc-Alexis Côté, promised that players will explore China in the year 215 BCE, and be able to not only parkour across the Great Wall of China, but also create their own assassin protagonist for the first time ever in the series.

No gameplay was shown, but an in-engine trailer did reveal what we can expect Codename Jade to look like, and it’s promising. In fact, it doesn’t look too far off a last-generation Assassin’s Creed game.

We also learned today about three new mobile games coming to Netflix's gaming platform from Ubisoft, including another (different) Assassin's Creed mobile game. The other two will be Valiant Hearts 2, and a sequel to The Mighty Quest. And of course, Ubisoft is still working on a live-action Assassin's Creed series with Netflix, too.

For more from Ubisoft Forward, take a look at all the new details about 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage. You can catch up on everything announced at today's Ubisoft Forward event with our full roundup.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Ubisoft has announced Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, a new game in the series set in Ancient China. It features “classic” Assassin’s Creed gameplay and takes place in an open world, but is a mobile game rather than a console release.

Revealed as part of today's Assassin's Creed Showcase but in only a small amount of detail, Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade has been built to play like a traditional Assassin’s Creed game just with touch controls. Vice president executive producer of Assassin's Creed, Marc-Alexis Côté, promised that players will explore China in the year 215 BCE, and be able to not only parkour across the Great Wall of China, but also create their own assassin protagonist for the first time ever in the series.

No gameplay was shown, but an in-engine trailer did reveal what we can expect Codename Jade to look like, and it’s promising. In fact, it doesn’t look too far off a last-generation Assassin’s Creed game.

We also learned today about three new mobile games coming to Netflix's gaming platform from Ubisoft, including another (different) Assassin's Creed mobile game. The other two will be Valiant Hearts 2, and a sequel to The Mighty Quest. And of course, Ubisoft is still working on a live-action Assassin's Creed series with Netflix, too.

For more from Ubisoft Forward, take a look at all the new details about 2023’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage. You can catch up on everything announced at today's Ubisoft Forward event with our full roundup.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Ubisoft has fully revealed Assassin's Creed Mirage, a new action-adventure game in the series focused on stealth and parkour.

Revealed as part of Ubisoft Forward's Assassin's Creed Showcase, Assassin's Creed Mirage casts you as Basim Ibn Ishaq and is set in the city of Baghdad, twenty years before the events of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It is designed to be a modern take on the original gameplay template for the earlier Assassin's Creed games, with developer Ubisoft Bordeaux using the same three design pillars as the original game: stealth, parkour, and assassinations.

No gameplay was shown, but a CGI cinematic trailer focused on the rise of Basim from a simple street thief to a master assassin. He does so under the tutelage of Roshan, a Persian assassin played by Emmy award-winning actor Shohreh Aghdashloo. Narrative director Sarah Beaulieu said that we can expect the duo's story to involve numerous historical figures, including political leaders.

In an additional briefing shown to the press, Ubisoft Bordeaux revealed a number of additional details. Much like the early entries in the series, this is a city-set game, and Baghdad is split into four different districts. Beyond Baghdad we'll also visit Alamut, the fortress headquarters of the Hidden Ones.

The world has been designed with both parkour routes and stealth in mind, so expect plenty of pathways up to rooftops and hiding spots. A new, more granular detection system has been made to allow greater detail in stealth encounters. Ubisoft says you can also expect the return of some classic parkour moves, including the corner swing, and for the pace of freerunning to be faster than in the older games.

The move back to a more classic game template also means that the RPG structure of modern Assassin's Creed games has been removed; Mirage is described as a more linear game with a heavy focus on story. Like the original games, there will be stretches of linear mission chains, and then segments where you will be able to choose from a number of different available quests.

Some of those quests will be what Ubisoft call 'Black Box missions', which are the main assasination quests. Not many details were given, but it was said that they provide "opportunities to define the means and path to take down the next target." Perhaps they draw on AC Unity's assassination missions, which provided a number of different ways to infiltrate and area and kill a target?

While Assassin's Creed Mirage is certainly looking back to its roots, this modern take on those ideas does introduce a few new concepts. The eagle companion, first introduced in Assassin's Creed Origins, is back. Ubisoft say that using the bird's vision is helpful for identifying stealth routes, but to be aware of new archer enemies that can shoot your eagle out of the sky. Basim will also have acess to 'Assassin's Focus', an ability that slows down time and allows him to perform multiple assassinations at once. It sounds somewhat like Assassin's Creed's answer to Splinter Cell's Mark and Execute system.

Beyond these additions, it appears that Basim's kit is within the tradition of the series, including a blowdart, traps, and mines. He'll also be able to pull scaffolding down on enemies and other such contextual environmental kills.

Assassin's Creed Mirage will launch in 2023 on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, and Amazon Luna. Three editions are planned; the $50 standard edition, $60 deluxe edition (which comes with "additional content"), and the $150 collector's case which includes the deluxe edition plus a 32cm statue of Basim, a replica of his brooch, a map and art book, a soundtrack, and a steelbook.

You can catch up on everything announced at today's Ubisoft Forward event with our full roundup.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Ubisoft has fully revealed Assassin's Creed Mirage, a new action-adventure game in the series focused on stealth and parkour.

Revealed as part of Ubisoft Forward's Assassin's Creed Showcase, Assassin's Creed Mirage casts you as Basim Ibn Ishaq and is set in the city of Baghdad, twenty years before the events of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It is designed to be a modern take on the original gameplay template for the earlier Assassin's Creed games, with developer Ubisoft Bordeaux using the same three design pillars as the original game: stealth, parkour, and assassinations.

No gameplay was shown, but a CGI cinematic trailer focused on the rise of Basim from a simple street thief to a master assassin. He does so under the tutelage of Roshan, a Persian assassin played by Emmy award-winning actor Shohreh Aghdashloo. Narrative director Sarah Beaulieu said that we can expect the duo's story to involve numerous historical figures, including political leaders.

In an additional briefing shown to the press, Ubisoft Bordeaux revealed a number of additional details. Much like the early entries in the series, this is a city-set game, and Baghdad is split into four different districts. Beyond Baghdad we'll also visit Alamut, the fortress headquarters of the Hidden Ones.

The world has been designed with both parkour routes and stealth in mind, so expect plenty of pathways up to rooftops and hiding spots. A new, more granular detection system has been made to allow greater detail in stealth encounters. Ubisoft says you can also expect the return of some classic parkour moves, including the corner swing, and for the pace of freerunning to be faster than in the older games.

The move back to a more classic game template also means that the RPG structure of modern Assassin's Creed games has been removed; Mirage is described as a more linear game with a heavy focus on story. Like the original games, there will be stretches of linear mission chains, and then segments where you will be able to choose from a number of different available quests.

Some of those quests will be what Ubisoft call 'Black Box missions', which are the main assasination quests. Not many details were given, but it was said that they provide "opportunities to define the means and path to take down the next target." Perhaps they draw on AC Unity's assassination missions, which provided a number of different ways to infiltrate and area and kill a target?

While Assassin's Creed Mirage is certainly looking back to its roots, this modern take on those ideas does introduce a few new concepts. The eagle companion, first introduced in Assassin's Creed Origins, is back. Ubisoft say that using the bird's vision is helpful for identifying stealth routes, but to be aware of new archer enemies that can shoot your eagle out of the sky. Basim will also have acess to 'Assassin's Focus', an ability that slows down time and allows him to perform multiple assassinations at once. It sounds somewhat like Assassin's Creed's answer to Splinter Cell's Mark and Execute system.

Beyond these additions, it appears that Basim's kit is within the tradition of the series, including a blowdart, traps, and mines. He'll also be able to pull scaffolding down on enemies and other such contextual environmental kills.

Assassin's Creed Mirage will launch in 2023 on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, and Amazon Luna. Three editions are planned; the $50 standard edition, $60 deluxe edition (which comes with "additional content"), and the $150 collector's case which includes the deluxe edition plus a 32cm statue of Basim, a replica of his brooch, a map and art book, a soundtrack, and a steelbook.

You can catch up on everything announced at today's Ubisoft Forward event with our full roundup.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.

Today at the D23 expo, the audience was treated to a handful of new clips from Avatar 2: The Way of Water, showing everything from the beautiful world to the new stakes in the world of Pandora.

Pandora’s beauty awaits.

Brand-new concept art has arrived for #AvatarTheWayOfWater, in theaters December 16. #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/dNAEqwhluz

— Disney (@Disney) September 10, 2022

The first scene was mostly showing off how gorgeous the world looks, with Na'vi diving into the water, alien fish swimming by, and Na'vi children playing with the fish.

The second scene took place in a lab featuring Sigourney Weaver's human form talking into a video diary. The Na'vi kids and one human kid are in the lab watching, asking who "knocked up" Weaver's character.

Next, the Na'vi were navigating a rainy forest at night. The Na'vi kids appeared to be captured by Na'vi wearing Earth soldier uniforms and holding guns while Na'vi wielding spears stalked them in the dark. The Na'vi used bird calls as signals as they worked to rescue the kids. A fight ensues, as one Na'vi warrior was shown shooting a Na'vi soldier in the eye with an arrow. Eventually, the kids use a smoke grenade to escape and run for cover.

The fourth scene shows the Na'vi back at home. The kids are eavesdropping as Sully and Neytiri argue. Sully wants them to leave, but Neytiri says they can't abandon their home.

The next scene showed Na'vi gathering at a tent over the ocean. Two new Na'vi criticized their daughter for bonding with an outcast.

And finally, the last scene showed a group of Na'vi wast-deep in the ocean. An ocean Na'vi introduced them to a stingray-like alien while feeding it fish. A group of Na'vi kids were shown riding the stingray creatures underwater.

The first teaser for the movie arrived this year, and it had an absolutely enormous first 24 hours online. Director James Camerion has been talking about Avatar 2 since 2010, and it was eventually announced that Avatar 2, 3, and 4 were all being developed simultaneously. As if that wasn't enough, there was also a script for a fifth film in the offing.

After many delays, Avatar 2 went into production last year and wrapped with Avatar 3 close to finishing shooting too. The sequels have cost $1 billion to produce.

You can catch up on everything announced during today's showcase in our full roundup.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Today at the D23 expo, the audience was treated to a handful of new clips from Avatar 2: The Way of Water, showing everything from the beautiful world to the new stakes in the world of Pandora.

Pandora’s beauty awaits.

Brand-new concept art has arrived for #AvatarTheWayOfWater, in theaters December 16. #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/dNAEqwhluz

— Disney (@Disney) September 10, 2022

The first scene was mostly showing off how gorgeous the world looks, with Na'vi diving into the water, alien fish swimming by, and Na'vi children playing with the fish.

The second scene took place in a lab featuring Sigourney Weaver's human form talking into a video diary. The Na'vi kids and one human kid are in the lab watching, asking who "knocked up" Weaver's character.

Next, the Na'vi were navigating a rainy forest at night. The Na'vi kids appeared to be captured by Na'vi wearing Earth soldier uniforms and holding guns while Na'vi wielding spears stalked them in the dark. The Na'vi used bird calls as signals as they worked to rescue the kids. A fight ensues, as one Na'vi warrior was shown shooting a Na'vi soldier in the eye with an arrow. Eventually, the kids use a smoke grenade to escape and run for cover.

The fourth scene shows the Na'vi back at home. The kids are eavesdropping as Sully and Neytiri argue. Sully wants them to leave, but Neytiri says they can't abandon their home.

The next scene showed Na'vi gathering at a tent over the ocean. Two new Na'vi criticized their daughter for bonding with an outcast.

And finally, the last scene showed a group of Na'vi wast-deep in the ocean. An ocean Na'vi introduced them to a stingray-like alien while feeding it fish. A group of Na'vi kids were shown riding the stingray creatures underwater.

The first teaser for the movie arrived this year, and it had an absolutely enormous first 24 hours online. Director James Camerion has been talking about Avatar 2 since 2010, and it was eventually announced that Avatar 2, 3, and 4 were all being developed simultaneously. As if that wasn't enough, there was also a script for a fifth film in the offing.

After many delays, Avatar 2 went into production last year and wrapped with Avatar 3 close to finishing shooting too. The sequels have cost $1 billion to produce.

You can catch up on everything announced during today's showcase in our full roundup.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.