‘Assassin’s Creed: Empire’ Release Date Revealed? Ubisoft Hints At 2017 For Egypt Setting

The Assassin’s Creed: Empire release date has been teased, much like most information about the upcoming Ubisoft open-world sandbox title. However, a tentative Fall 2017 window could still be changed.

The only thing that has been confirmed is the game’s setting and time period, a time when slavery was the norm in Egypt. In that way, Adewale’s spinoff title Freedom Cry may have been our first actual taste of what is to come in Empire.

This would likely mean that the assassin protagonist will rise from his (or her) role as a slave, kill a few captors, and spend most of their time freeing the rest of their kin. The adversary for this adventure could be one of the first great historical figures since Pope Borgia, the main antagonist in AC II.

King Khufu was one of the most despotic of the Pharaohs, and his reign was one of the shortest at 23 years, ending when he died. His heir, Prince Kawab, had died before Khufu, and historians believe it may have been the result of foul play, a possible assassination by his other son, Djedefre. Khufu had overseen the building of several pyramids, including the legendary Great Pyramid of Giza. He had also dabbled in magic, allowing a practitioner to attempt a resurrection.

The story of King Khufu could easily be the focus of the next Assassin’s Creed video game, and it’s very likely that “Empire” is simply a stand-in title. Ubisoft has done this before, with Rogue originally known as “Comet.” It was the last of the major entries for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, mostly retreading the naval combat of Black Flag and the terrain climbing of AC III.

However, Rogue launched alongside what is considered Ubisoft’s worst launch in history. Unity was released with game-breaking and often unintentionally hilarious glitches, and Ubisoft doesn’t want that to happen again. The sales for Syndicate were a slow burn, mostly due to the reputation of its predecessor, and further titles would likely suffer the same fate.

For this reason, the official Ubisoft blog post from February 2016 states that there wouldn’t be a new major Assassin’s Creed title that year due to company re-thinking the way the game should play. They said mostly the same thing about Unity without taking a year off, and it ended up changing little more than multiplayer and combat elements and eschewing the playable modern-day scenarios from the Desmond Miles era.

As expected, now that it’s 2017, many gamers’ patience is wearing thin as they wonder where the screenshots or gameplay trailers are. As the Sun explains, unless Ubisoft decides to take another year off, fans should expect to see an Assassin’s Creed: Empire release date around late October or early November. This is the usual release window they aim for, cashing in on the holiday season as people often do their shopping early to beat the Christmas rush.

One thing Ubisoft might want to avoid is using the changes seen in the 2016 theatrical release starring Michael Fassbender. Fans panned it for the way the film changed the animus to a mostly impractical mechanical arm with a neck attachment. While the sequel, if it happens, could end up making the animus much closer to the games, nobody knows for sure what changes will be made in the upcoming Egyptian video game entry.

Mic stated that Ubisoft might bring an element of Far Cry Primal into the gameplay, possibly using the iconic eagle to scout ahead for threats, going for a more literal meaning of “eagle vision.” Rumors also point to the return of horses, though camels would be more fitting in the desert. Just as questionable is the possible use of boats, as what use a boat would have in the desert remains to be explained (fast traveling through the Nile, perhaps?).

Last year, Ubisoft even took to Reddit to gather feedback on the game’s economy and how it should work.

Keep it in mind that even though the games were often a year apart release-wise, each one had actually been in development for at least two years, with a rotation of teams within the company. This is the same thing Activision does with it’s Call of Duty franchise.

Do you think we’ll see trailers and screenshots for a possible Assassin’s Creed: Empire release date in 2017 soon?

[Featured Image by rayints/Shutterstock]