Assassin's Creed: Unity confirmed for PC, PS4 and Xbox One

Ubisoft's historical adventure will reach the French revolution later this year – but only on PC and "next-gen" consoles. Rumours suggest another title due for PS3 and Xbox 360

A robed figure looks on as revolutionary zeal grips Paris in this recently announced Assassin's Creed instalment

The camera pans along what appears to be a Parisian street into a vast square thronging with chanting crowds. On a rooftop a mysterious figure watches as the excitement below reaches fever pitch; and then a dramatic shot of the guillotine as the blade drops.
Last week, US news site Kotaku revealed that it had been sent screenshots of the next Assassin's Creed title – subtitled Unity – by an anonymous source. The site also claimed that publisher Ubisoft was planning to release the new instalment in its best-selling historical adventure series in Autumn, and that it would be for PC, PS4 and Xbox One only.

Its hand forced, Ubisoft announced on Friday, that Unity is indeed the next Assassin's Creed title, and that it has been in development for three years. The short trailer not only shows the setting, but almost certainly the new assassin lead character – looking down on the revolutionary chaos. Little else is known about the game right now – apart from rumours of a four-player co-op mode. It's likely Ubisoft will be making a big reveal at this year's E3 video game event in Los Angeles. Interestingly, while the last title in the series, the critically acclaimed Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, was a cross-generational release, it seems this title will be on PC and the "next-gen" machines only. Meanwhile, Kotaku and other sources have hinted that a seperate adventure – allegedly codenamed Comet – is being developed for the PS3 and Xbox 360. So, on which side of the French Revolution will our assassin sit? And what legendary figures will form part of the cast? Certainly the period is rife with the sort of intrigue and conspiracy that the Assassin's Creed development team adores. Theories abound that the conflict was actually ignited by the Bavarian order of the Illuminati and the Masons, rather than simply popular discontent with King Louis XVI (who will surely get at least a cameo in the game). Whatever the case, it's an intriguing follow-on from Assassin's Creed III, which took in the American War of Independence from the decade before. And a decade after the French Revolution? We see the emergence of Napoleon Bonaparte whose empire building may well form the basis of Assassin's Creed: Comet. After all, this happened right in the middle of the Napoleonic Wars...
                                                                                                                                                             Next stop, E3. •  
                                                                                                                                                            Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag review - plenty of plunder in store