Ubisoft Is Taking Away Everything I Was Excited About With the Next Assassin’s Creed

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The Assassin’s Creed series has launched more than a dozen games, all built around a core blend of stealth and action that spans different historical periods. While each new game features a different character, location, and time, players generally know what to expect. However, every so often, Assassin’s Creed takes a risk and significantly changes things up.

Look, as an Assassin’s Creed player, I’m always hoping for something new to shake things up. Sometimes it’s a big change, like when Black Flag let you be a pirate – that was awesome! Other times it’s adding multiplayer, like in Brotherhood. Those kinds of things keep the games interesting and make them stand out. I was really excited about Hexe because it looked like they were going to add magic, which could have been a huge deal and really reinvented the series. But now I’m hearing that they’ve pulled back on that, and honestly, that’s disappointing. It felt like a chance to bring something totally fresh to the franchise and attract a new wave of players.

The Next Assassin’s Creed Is Scaling Back The Supernatural Elements

The past year has been a period of significant change for Ubisoft, with both cancellations and renewed focus on key game franchises. The Assassin’s Creed series remains a major focus, and one particularly promising project is Assassin’s Creed: Hexe. This new installment is reportedly set during the 16th-century European witch trials and appears to be taking the series in a more supernatural and horror-focused direction, differing from previous games in the franchise. While details are still limited, early hints suggest a unique and potentially darker experience.

Recent reports indicate the game is undergoing a significant change in direction. This follows a major internal restructuring that included the departure of the game’s director and the removal of numerous developers. Some planned features, like mechanics involving witchcraft and even possessing a cat, appear to have been cut during development. It’s currently unknown how much supernatural content was originally intended, but it seems the developers are scaling back those elements. This shift aims to make the game feel more consistent with previous Assassin’s Creed titles. While this could help maintain the franchise’s established aesthetic and story, it’s also a bit of a letdown, as the game initially showed promise for a fresh, innovative approach.

Assassin’s Creed Is Best When It Shakes Things Up

The Assassin’s Creed series has been popular for over two decades, and while each game features a different story and location, the core gameplay often remains consistent. This can make many of the games feel repetitive, with similar combat and missions. However, the series is at its best when it takes bigger risks and tries new things, like the focus on stealth in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows or the pirate adventures of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

That’s what made Assassin’s Creed: Hexe so promising. Instead of the usual sci-fi explanations for strange events, it explored magic – or what seemed like magic – which allowed for new gameplay possibilities, especially in how players approached missions. These supernatural abilities could have created exciting new ways to interact with the game world and tackle challenges. It also had the potential to expand the Assassin’s Creed universe and add depth to the overall story, which had begun to feel stale.

This new direction had the potential to really shake up the Assassin’s Creed series. However, recent reports indicate the game will likely stick to a historical setting, but with a more realistic feel similar to previous titles. I was hoping to see Assassin’s Creed explore a fantastical world, even if it was just a fresh take on the core idea. Now, Assassin’s Creed Hexe seems to be shaping up as just another installment in the series, which is disappointing considering it could have been a completely new beginning.

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2026-05-02 19:11