January 2018’s “For Honor” pack for “Assassin’s Creed Origins” already introduced a Viking element to the franchise. Image: Ubisoft via AFP Relaxnews
An otherwise innocuous piece of background art in March computer and console game “Tom Clancy’s The Division 2” lends weight to an existing rumor that a future “Assassin’s Creed” game will be set in Viking times.
As brought up by a user of the Assassin’s Creed Fandom wiki, a poster found within “The Division 2” recreation of Washington D.C. depicts a Nordic warrior holding a pole in one hand and a golden sphere in the other.
The poster is entitled “Valhalla”, emphasizing its Viking connections.
The sphere is identical to a recurring piece of “Assassin’s Creed” iconography, the Apple of Eden, and could strengthen suscpicions that Ubisoft is developing a Viking-themed entry to the franchise, or merely represent acknowledgement of an existing fan theory.
The action game franchise allows players to interact with historical figures, potentially changing (or correcting) the course of history. So far, “Assassin’s Creed” entries have taken place in 12th century Middle East, the Italian Renaissance period, Colonial Era North and Central America, the French Revolution and the Victorian era.
The 2017 release “Assassin’s Creed Origins” took players to Ancient Egypt, and 2018’s “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” immersed itself in Ancient Greece.
In February 2018, an ex-Ubisoft concept artist had been found having posted Viking-themed artwork to their online portfolio.
One of those images, since removed, had a filename that contained the string “assassincreedragnarok,” though both artist and publisher said it was for a personal project.
Another rumor doing the rounds is that “Assassin’s Creed” is heading back to Roman Italy through a 2020 franchise entry called “Assassin’s Creed Legion”.
Previously, Ubisoft had hidden a teaser for in-development science fiction game “Pioneer” inside “Watch Dogs 2”.
The “Assassin’s Creed” franchise is to skip 2019, with Ubisoft thought to be preparing a new game for the military stealth series “Splinter Cell” as well as a third “Watch Dogs” release. CE/JB
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