Assassin’s Creed 3 Revealed: Why The American Revolution Is The Perfect Setting

You’ll have to bear with us in this blog because some of us are unabashed history nuts here on X360. It naturally explains why the Assassin’s Creed games have always appealed to us so much – as well as being fantastic open world stealth games they bring periods of time we’ve studied and enjoyed to life in an unparalleled way. They say life is stranger – and it’s certainly deeper – than fiction, and the grounding Ubisoft has given Assassin’s Creed by placing it within history gives it a depth nuance and context you could never get from a fully fictional world – no matter how big a Codex you created for it. It’s taken us from the Crusades to the Renaissance and just beyond so far, and each time we’ve gotten not just a better narrative but a deeper open world game packed with atmosphere. So why is it so exciting that Assassin’s Creed III is set in Colonial America in the Revolutionary War? Here are a few ideas:

 The American Revolution : It’s A Key Point In History

Just as with the Crusades, the Renaissance and to a degree the peak of the Ottoman Empire, the American Revolution is a key turning point in history. The world was changing, and the American Revolution and war of 1775 was the first major republican revolution in the world. It was sparked by European ideas that also shortly afterward led to French Revolution in 1789  – and that pretty much put the western world onto the path towards our modern democracies. Why is any of that wonderful guff important for an Assassin’s Creed game? Because major political change on this scale is always violent and exciting to secure. Revolutionary America is a place of turmoil, war, spies and secrets. Not everyone in America wanted the Revolution and with King George III’s Redcoats clamping down on traitors it was a divided nation. There’s plenty of scope for assassination missions in the towns, secret meetings in the woods and rescues from armed forts. All the turmoil isn’t just restricted to the colonists and the English either ; the Native American  were their own nations and tribes, often allied or at odds with all of the factions, and with our new hero sporting a tomahawk and looking like he has something to do with the native tribes you’ll be in the thick of the action on all fronts. With a full blow war on we expect to take our new hero into huge battles against the English, which could lead to some awesome set pieces.

 An Assassin’s Allies : There Are Plenty Of Interesting Historical Figures

There are plenty of historical figures in this period for our new hero to interact with, not least of all America’s Founding Fathers like John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Just as Assassin’s Creed II did with characters like Leonardo Da Vinci and Machiavelli, we fully expect Ubisoft to weave these key figures into the Assassin’s Creed narrative. We know that previous Assassin’s Creed games suggested the Founding Fathers might be Templars who used the Apple of Eden, but they can’t all be bad guys can they? This might give the series a chance to introduce a third faction or blur the lines between the good guys and bad guys of the series. If you’re looking for practical gameplay impact, it helps to remember that Benjamin Franklin was a renowned scientist as well, and made some important discoveries around electricity. Who better to play Q to our new Assassin and create him some interesting new weapons to murder the English with? We’ll bet you cash money on some kind of electrical stun gun appearing and that’s just for starters.

The Templars : We British Make Great Bad guys

As globally diverse as the Assassin’s Creed series has been up to this point it was only a matter of time before we got an American protagonist. Call us cynical but that’s just an obvious choice for a big franchise to make. You could make the argument that as the melting pot of the world America is the obvious place to take the franchise, and look at the fact that our new hero also seems to have Native American links, but we digress. Our hero is a Yank. On the other hand it means that the villains on the Templar side are bound to be British, and we’ll have to face off against the Red Coat soldiers. If decades of American games and cinema have taught us nothing else it’s that we British make fantastic bad guys. The Assassin’s Creed games have had several strong antagonists, most notably Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhoods Cesare Borgia, but we reckon a sneering, evil Royalist English man could make the best villain yet. Our choices to voice him? Either Jeremy Irons or Alan Rickman of course!

 Native American’s And The Wilderness Are Cool

So it looks like we’re getting an American Assassin, but it isn’t all bad as he looks to have some Native America links. It’s a great way to go with an Assassin, as who better to have the skills to hunt, stalk and assassinate than a native or at least native trained hunter? Moving out of just urban environments gives Ubisoft the option of making Assassin’s Creed 3 a bit like Red Dead Redemption, with towns for the main action joined by swathes of countryside filled with animals like bears to hunt. Better yet with much of the US still dominated by misty forests and wild spaces, we can see our hero hunting down Redcoats in the woods, like some kind of rural Batman. The Assassins Creed games have always been famous for their bloody killings with edged weapons, and while there’ll be more guns about we reckon you’ll get to do plenty of wet work with a tomahawk and bow and arrow.  If you want to get a better idea of what we mean just go watch Last of the Mohicans. Yes, that’ll be you my friend.

Those are just a few of the reasons we think Revolutionary America is the perfect setting for Assassin’s Creed III, but as Ubisoft further unveils it’s epic they will be plenty more. Come back on Monday to find out what we thought of the full reveal that’s coming.

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