What you need to know
- Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot conducted an interview with Ubisoft to discuss the publisher's focus on different games in the coming months and years.
- Guillemot noted that in addition to new games like Assassin's Creed Shadows and Codename Hexe, Assassin's Creed players can look forward to some remakes.
- Guillemot says these remakes will allow Ubisoft to "revisit some of the games we've created in the past and modernize them" for players.
- In June 2023, a report from Kotaku indicated that Ubisoft was looking to remake Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, a game that first released in 2013 and is widely considered a highlight of the franchise.
It looks like players will be revisiting some older, beloved settings.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot spoke with Ubisoft on Thursday, outlining some of the plans that the publisher has for the coming years, including what kinds of games are on the way. Speaking on the Assassin's Creed franchise, Guillemot noted that new games like Assassin's Creed Shadows and Codename Hexe are on the way, but that there will also be some remakes.
Guillemot says that "players can be excited about some remakes, which will allow us to revisit some of the games we've created in the past and modernize them; there are worlds in some of our older Assassin's Creed games that are still extremely rich."
Which Assassin's Creed games will get remakes?
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While Guillemot did not go so far as to confirm exactly which Assassin's Creed games are getting remakes, we've got a good idea of at least one title being rebuilt for a new generation of hardware.
In June 2023, Kotaku reported that Ubisoft was working on a remake of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. The sixth mainline entry in the franchise, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag first released in 2013 across as a cross-generation launch title for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Per the report, the game was said to be "a few years away" at the time, though it's certainly possible things have changed since then.
Featuring protagonist Edward Kenway, Black Flag gave the game an open world pirate setting, unleashing players on the Caribbean and allowing them to command their own ships. It was critically praised and commercially successful, with over 11 million copies sold by the end of 2014.
Analysis: Sure, why not?
I'm certainly not opposed to some remakes, and while Black Flag is perfectly playable on modern hardware, it's status as a fan-favorite could certainly warrant more investment outside of a simple framerate bump or new coat of paint to spark new interest for returning players.
I'm curious what games would see remakes outside of Black Flag. The obvious answer is the original Assassin's Creed, a game that had great ideas for its time but can be frustrating to play now due to the archaic gameplay systems. The real question for me is if Ubisoft would push for remaking the Ezio games? That's the golden goose for many players, myself certainly included, and I can absolutely see a true remake of that trilogy selling ludicrously well if given the time and care it deserves.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to Assassin's Creed Shadows. My colleague Zachary Boddy got to preview this upcoming game when we were in L.A. for Summer Game Fest 2024, and they write that "With Assassin's Creed Shadows, it seems like Ubisoft may have finally found the sweet spot. The setting is perfect, the visuals are absolutely gorgeous, and the core gameplay we've seen so far is the perfect evolution to AC that Ubisoft desperately needed to find."
Assassin's Creed Shadows is slated to launch on Nov. 14, 2024 for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, Amazon Luna, Mac, and PlayStation 5.
