Assassin's Creed III

"Assassin's Creed is the story of one man reliving the lives of his ancestors. Altaïr was the middle of a very very long time-line. There are still many places to explore. Assassin's Creed has always been planned to be a trilogy, and Desmond is going back in time, using the Animus to eventually become the ultimate Assassin."

- Patrice Désilets, Creative Director of Assassin's Creed.

Assassin's Creed III is an upcoming game developed by Ubisoft and set for release on October 30th, 2012. Ubisoft has claimed that the game will be bigger than its previous console installments, and will complete the story of Desmond Miles.

The game will be set between 1753 and 1783, and will focus on a new ancestor, Connor, who fought during the American Revolution.

Development
As of February 15th 2012, Ubisoft has worked on the title for three years. In a statement made by Yves Guillemot, he shared that "what we have seen is just fabulous."

The game has been made on a completely new Anvil Engine. There will be seasonal changes, meaning that the sun will shine during summer and the landscape will be covered in snow during winter, subsequently affecting gameplay.

In winter, soldiers will move more slowly and stumble about in the snow, and lakes and rivers will freeze over, allowing Connor to access new areas. Another technical aspect of the engine is that it can depict up to "a thousand" troops engaged in a battle, and apparently detailed close-ups.

Navigation
Exploration will be based around a large countryside area known as the Frontier, which is one and a half times larger than Rome in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and not as empty as the Kingdom in Assassin's Creed, as one third of the quests and gameplay content are in the Frontier. The cities of Boston and New York may also be explored, and will have new details and ambiance.

Since there is going to be a lot more travel in the game, fast travel is making a return, but there is now a whole new system of unlocking it, which is integrated into the natural game progress.

More varied methods of movement have been added as well, including climbing trees and other natural elements, leaping over wagons, or sliding under obstacles. Other Freerunning elements also have you jumping through windows, to trees, then onto rooftops.

Combat
Players can dual wield weapons, while fighting and stealth have been completely overhauled with new features, such as "double-counters," "multiple take-downs," and chain kills. Connor will go into battle with a wide variety of weapons at his disposal, including the knife, tomahawk, flintlock pistols, bow and arrow, and Hidden Blade.

Context sensitive actions, such as using enemies as human shields, will be included. The target locking system is gone, replaced by a automated enemy selection, changing the combat dynamics.

The combat system has been greatly improved, as there are thousands of new animations, none of which are carried over from previous installments. It is now focused on putting the player on the offensive side and based on speed and momentum.

Memories
Desmond will use the new Animus 3.0, and will find himself reliving “significant events”. 100% synchronization in memories returns, though will be an achievement treated similarly to a levelling system in an RPG, except with a finite amount of XP available.

Activities completed within missions have their own value. The more in-synch you get, the more you fill your sync bar, which can also be increased through replaying missions. Checkpoints will also be introduced to mission replay, meaning you do not have to replay an entire mission to get 100% synch.

Others
Economy in the game will be different, as Connor can now hunt animals, and sell the resources found in them. The quality of the kill, such as the number of hits it takes, also increases the value of the resource. A new property system will be implemented as well.

There will be puzzles similar to The Truth, but they will not be given by Subject 16.

Platforming missions, like the Lairs of Romulus, are making a return, though it is unconfirmed in what way they will be implemented. "People like those. It's not something we'd remove," says Corey May.

Multiplayer is also making a return, though Ubisoft is staying tight-lipped about it and its features.

Source

 * Gameinformer Issue 228 April 2012