Ubisoft recently announced a brand new installment in the Assassin's Creed series. This is a brand new title that features Ezio, the main character from Assassin's Creed II. Surprisingly, it will also feature multiplayer. Now that we know the rough time period in which the game will take place, we can narrow down a bit of the plot and place our bets on how multiple assassins will interact. Our best guess: there will be a lot of stabbing. Read on to see what the GamingLargest editors think about this announcement and how it will affect the series.

Gareth Magee: We've already predicted that the next Assassin's Creed experience will push us into the Age of Discovery, an exciting (and dangerous) period of exploration and colonization. Ezio will be back, but if he goes to the New World, his choice of towering buildings will be somewhat limited. But Ubisoft has been careful to say that this new experience will not be Assassin's Creed III. So it's entirely possible that the high-flying parkour acrobatics that the series is known for will be toned down in favor of on-the-ground stealth elements. I say bring it.

As far as the multiplayer component goes, I'd rather see cooperative than competitive multiplayer in the next Assassin's Creed game. Do I really want Ezio to stab Altair while fighting off Leonardo? Well, actually, now that I think about it, I do want that. But only for its novelty factor. What I really want is to partner up with my friends to take out targets. A true co-op stealth game set in the AC universe could be amazing.

Ashley Young: At the tail-end of Assassin's Creed II, when the city of Rome popped up as your next destination, my immediate aspiration was to scale the exterior of the Coliseum. While that wouldn't have made much sense given the story – but then again, neither did the ending – I still wanted to make my way to the top and inspect the structure's innards. If they're going to add an episode on to the strange ending to ACII, why not make it in and around the Coliseum? That seems to provide a cool enough environment for whatever multiplayer Ubisoft is planning to deliver (races, rescues or timed assassinations) and I'm sure there are plenty of people who would pay to see the famous Roman building rendered in Assassin's Creed II's engine.

Levi Buchanan: I'd like to see the storyline for the iPhone/DS Assassin's Creed II: Discovery taken further with the Templars determined to head to the New World. Not only does Discovery set up additional assassins for Ezio to work with (perfect for multiplayer), but the New World is a great location for what would essentially be a splinter chapter of the Assassin's Creed storyline. The main games include a lot of urban acrobatics and so setting Assassin's Creed III someplace without any great architecture to explore and master would be a huge disappointment. But in a side game, Ubisoft could easily get away with placing the action somewhere without massive, ornate buildings. Unless Ubisoft sent Ezio and others up the Orinoco and into the green hell to interact with the Incans, or into Central Mexico to meet the Aztecs. There is some magnificent architecture there, too, plus Ubisoft could go wild with speculative history about either vanishing civilization.

David Clayman: I'm right there with Nate. To show Rome's skyline without allowing players into the city was an absolutely ridiculous tease. Of course I'd be just as happy with a fully realized version of Spain that segues into the New World. More intriguing to me is how they'll handle the modern day portion of the story. Will Desmond meet up with other assassins and complete his training with them in the Animus? This would present an interesting "game within a game" scenario and could act as a setup for multiplayer. I'm really hoping that assassins from different eras are able to interact with each other in this theoretical training mode, setting up an epic Ezio vs. Altair duel.


Stephen Ng: There's been a bunch of threads on GamingLargest's AC boards ranging from feudal Japan (someone hints Mt. Fuji was in The Truth video) to Tsarist Russia and the American Revolution. Personally, I vote for Tsarist Russia -- one of the more interesting and intriguing times and settings. Considering the presence of Ezio though, AC3 may not fall far from the areas already visited in AC2.

Multiplayer in stealth games almost always boils down to the Snake vs. PMCs or Sam Fisher vs. Mercs deal where a bunch of players will be regular guards while one player (or a team of players) will be super-agile spies. With Splinter Cell Conviction moving away from the species team deathmatch (essentially what Spies vs. Mercs was), a multiplayer mode of Assassins vs. Templars may be the new SVM. Just wait until Peer-Gaminglargest sends out invites.

Having Ezio return as the principal character will be interesting. It also hints that Ubisoft Montreal may not want to spend more money on developing level assets from scratch, and simply re-use existing assets for a new game (much like Double Agent and Chaos Theory). I have nothing against Ezio personally, and his character is significantly deeper than Altair's (unless you count the events in the PSP and DS games).

Finally, there's only so many methods to traumatize human flesh with edged metal. Unless Ezio puts blades in his feet (quad hidden blades) and does some Voldo-like motions (ala Soul Calibur), it'll be hard to top the double hidden blade.

Daemon Hatfield: Man, I loved the holy hell out of Assassin's Creed II and probably spent more time with it than any other game last year. But do I want to play a multiplayer Assassin's Creed? I dunno. For me, the whole appeal of the game is being a lone executioner sneaking into a fortress, slipping past (and killing a few) guards, and landing a kill on my target. I suppose it might be cool if one player was the assassin, and a group of players had to defend one VIP from him/her. But then how would the counter and disarm combat systems work? They work great against dumb AI enemies, but you can't just wait for a human player to lunge at you and immediately murder them with their own weapon.

Setting the game in feudal Japan would be mind blowing -- ninjas are the ultimate assassins, right? But I don't see how Ezio would fit into that setting. Totally agree with Stephen that Ezio's return could mean they're making this game on the cheap using existing assets.