Assassin's Creed 3 takes place in...

[jakonovski]

The American Revolution!

Major retcon from the looks of it, apparently Ubi was not confident enough to make George Washington a bad guy.

edit: linkity link http://kotaku.com/5889489/is-this-the-star-of-assassins-creed-iii

[Ruvaldt]

At first glance I thought this was a joke.  If you want to move that far forward from the last few games why not just set it during the french revolution?  It would've been more fitting, and running around Paris would've been a lot more fun.

[K9]

I agree, 17th century France would have been an awesome setting for this series. Assassins Creed: Musketeers? Hell yes.

Perhaps they just want to bring the series up to the present/near-future in fewer iterations.

[Velorath]

If I'm not mistaken, this game is supposed to finish off Desmond's story arc.  After that, I would think they'd have more freedom to jump forward or backward in time as needed to whatever setting they feel like doing next.

Edit:  Or at least it's been the rumor that Desmond's story will be completed, which would be nice since I've already grown sick of that plot and I still haven't even played the last two games.

[luckton]

[Hawkbit]

In all their metagame stuff, there's a really big point of lore that has yet to be explored in (i think) upstate New York.  They even had GPS coordinates for it; it is a farm or farmhouse IRL. 

I suspect they'll explore that, maybe.  I played and liked AC1, loved AC2, only made it halfway through AC:B and haven't even tried AC:R. 

I wouldn't say it jumped the shark, just based on their metagame stuff from the last three years.

[luckton]

I wouldn't really know.  I played AC1 and thought it was alright, never finished due to getting burned out on the repetitive objectives and missions, and that basically kept me away from the rest of the series.  When I saw the American flag and musket, jumping the shark was the first thing that came to mind, as if they were just trying to squeeze whatever content that's possibly left in this franchise.

[rk47]

S0 they're the ones who killed Lincoln!

[TheWalrus]

I wouldn't really know.  I played AC1 and thought it was alright, never finished due to getting burned out on the repetitive objectives and missions, and that basically kept me away from the rest of the series.  When I saw the American flag and musket, jumping the shark was the first thing that came to mind, as if they were just trying to squeeze whatever content that's possibly left in this franchise.

AC1 was an excellent climbing simulator.

[HaemishM]

I liked AC1 right up until the final boss where the entire metagame changed from stalk-and-kill singular enemies to ZOMGHORDE!!!!!! And then the whole Desmond arc just... stops. ... the fuck? I haven't even bothered with 2 or the later ones because of the Ubi DRM shit (meaning I'll never buy 2 on the PC) and I have more interesting games to play. But the American Revolution?

Weak sauce.

[Surlyboi]

I have never played Assassin's Creed.

[kildorn]

Washington not being a badguy seems to go against all the lore. That said, AC2 and AC:B are really solid games. AC1 is a bit weak on the gameplay side. AC:R I've yet to get through because it just feels like AC:B to me. And some of the set pieces are just frustratingly stupid.

[Mazakiel]

I dunno, based on just one picture, I don't think we can say they've done a retcon.  There are lots of ways it could play out. 

Anyway, while the first game was pretty rough to slog through by the end, I've greatly enjoyed every game since, though I wasn't much of a fan of the tower defense part of Revelations.  I'd been guessing we'd be going to France based on some of the clues, but I have no problem with it going to the American Revolution instead.  There's still plenty of stuff they can utilize for their conspiracy threads. 

[jakonovski]

Ubisoft released the official cover art:



Signs point to milquetoast patriotism ruining a good conspiracy. Coz America was supposed to be the Templars' grand experiment, but somehow it's now about Ezio Gibson stabbing redcoats.

edit: me pessimist? Never!

[Paelos]

The hood looks ridiculous in the American setting. He needs a hat over the hood!

[Nightblade]

I honestly thought this was some more image macro bullshit from 4chan when I first saw this thread.

[jakonovski]

So...any bets on whether slavery exists in the AC3 world or not?

[CmdrSlack]

I've really enjoyed the AC games, in particular because the Desmond storyline plays out in AC2, AC:B and (I hope) AC:R (which I have yet to play).

Granted, I play them on a console, because they feel more like console than PC games to me, so I've never had any DRM issues.

[Ingmar]

The hood looks ridiculous in the American setting. He needs a hat over the hood!

Yeah this. I don't necessarily mind the setting in general though, the American Revolution is practically untouched territory for gaming.

[Rokal]

I'm actually pretty excited about AC3 after hearing this. They spent too long in 15th century Italy and I lost interest in Ezio's story after AC2. It didn't help that they were doing yearly sequels. I think it's great that they're getting far away from Ezio's story and Europe for the next main-numbered sequel.

[Lantyssa]

They should have made Natty Bumppo be the assassin.

[pxib]

In the first game the outfit matched what at least SOME people in the world seemed to be wearing. In Italy, you at least looked like some sort of street performer. In Revolutionary America? My disbelief doesn't stretch that far. Also, yes: I think they're missing a great opportunity to turn it into a conspiracyfest against the Freemasons.

[LK]

I haven't played Revelations, but I'm so god damn glad they're moving out of that time period that has dominated the last several years.

[tmp]

Guessing Benjamin Franklin will be filling in for Leonardo, then?

prefer my american revolution games with more point and click, though

[koro]

And with more Spanish apparently.

[tmp]

It was either that, or german.

[Furiously]

Next up, Assassins Creed: kill Hitler.

[MuffinMan]

[apocrypha]

Seems like a risky period to choose (American revolution I mean, AC: Kill Hitler would be all sorts of  ) from a PR point of view. I mean, America is the land of "history seen through politically-tinted specs" - a country where the past is changed so frequently that you even invented a word for it! You guys nearly retcon as much as Stalin did!

I can foresee all sorts of nutty groups deciding that the representation of whoever in this isn't to their liking and kicking up a fuss about it.

I've only played AC2, but this thread has reminded me that Brotherhood & Revelations may be reduced to sensible prices by now so I shall go have a browse on Amazon.

[Rokal]

That sort of controversy would probably lead to more sales in this case. I'm willing to bet that this game will do extremely well in NA compared to AC2/Brotherhood/Revelations, regardless of what controversy it sparks or does not spark.

[rk47]

So Assassins are native indians huh.
Can't wait to climb trees and canyons.

[Mrbloodworth]

lol.

[Simond]

Signs point to milquetoast patriotism ruining a good conspiracy. Coz America was supposed to be the Templars' grand experiment, but somehow it's now about Ezio Gibson stabbing redcoats.

edit: me pessimist? Never!

Yeah, bearing in mind that the US Seal is a Masonic(/Illuminati/Templar) symbol and a significant number of the Founding Fathers were Masons themselves, having Altair running around stabbing Redcoats is a little...odd. He should be helping the rightful government of the colonies put down the Templar-led terrorists instead. 

[tmp]

Clearly, unlike you guys Altair didn't get fooled by obvious decoys and is onto real conspiracy

[Viin]

Signs point to milquetoast patriotism ruining a good conspiracy. Coz America was supposed to be the Templars' grand experiment, but somehow it's now about Ezio Gibson stabbing redcoats.

edit: me pessimist? Never!

Who the heck says 'milquetoast'?