Hey MyIGNers! As the year progresses, it makes us wonder why Ubisoft hasn't made an announcement of any upcoming games for their most successful franchise. Is it because they've just released a few games already with Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD and AC: Pirates for all you Captain Eddie fans but could they also be setting up a huge announcement for 2014? I mean this time last year, we already received word of a brand new game set in the good old land which was most frequently used by Disney in Pirates of the Caribbean. So in this case, will we see an announcement of a future AC game, possibly Assassin's Creed 5 or games in just a few weeks and if so what will be the game be based around. In this blog, I will be talking about the most latest rumours of the mysterious game and my own thoughts on what this might feature and where the series could be heading. Enjoy! 
Introduction
Assassin's Creed's most recent installment, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag offered many clues and hints as to where the series could go next ranging from all kinds of settings and near enough to the modern day but I think this should be taken like a grain of salt. Sure, many of the hints could be true and become the basis for the next game and may even be very obvious as the setting of Assassin's Creed 3's American Revolution became possible within Brotherhood's Da Vinci Disappearance and also in the Lost Archive DLC where by the people speeches were heard a few times. However if Assassin's Creed 3 took place right after AC2 without Brotherhood and Revelations and merely remained with the setting we had, would we have known the setting of AC3? Of course not! Okay, maybe there was hope for the game to take place during that era and the time difference between AC1 and AC2 gave the impression that it could just as well take place 300 years after but overall there was no sign. Although it did have a feature as a puzzle within the game of AC2 so this could just as well be like AC4. It may not even have a connection to the settings and if so, probably not in the order we would think. In my opinion, Assassin's Creed should always be about the mystery and if the setting is made too obvious, then it would lose that aspect and maybe Ubisoft think the same.
Russia
From the few hints we have been given though, there have been substantial yet unofficial leaks of a name titled, Assassin's Creed: Great Fall and a journalist's insight of a completely different setting.
With the sound of the Great Fall, many people believe it could be a link towards the Russian setting shown in The Fall which could make for an interesting setting but I have some doubts. If we look back to Daniel Cross's and Subject 16's storylines, they seemed like they were going to have significant impact by the time AC3 arrived but their stories were short changed even more so with Cross's made almost ludicrous in AC3 after the comics and the storyline of what the Revelations multiplayer was amping up to. So in this case, since Cross was the one who generated a wave of panic for the Assassin order during the modern day, could this also mean the next game is referring to the modern day more than the historical perspective and if so, could this be a prequel to the original series? It would make a lot of sense and clarify much of the story especially for players who have never read the comics. I would always love to see a prequel series about the Abstergo test subjects and this way, they could branch out the series! Especially if their stories will return for the future.
Talking about this era in particular, of course, the modern day may not be the whole game and it could very take place as a new character or even someone we know like Lucy Stillman. Plus, we don't have to see the whole story of Cross again. We could see his transformation after the events and the impacts of the era around them such as the elections of Al Gore or ManBearBig!
Even if it doesn't take place with Cross in the past, the events of AC3 means that Abstergo could easily have preserved his DNA for analysing and most likely, they have Subject 16's too! Depending on whether his body became crazed up in a glitch after that fight, we could very well see a return to the Russian era. Maybe not with Nikolai as the main lead but maybe featuring him as a key role in a new storyline. Maybe he could indirectly affect a life of another character during his adventures or even train up an assassin.
Industrial Revolution
Now, the view of the journalist stated something much different about a character known as Samuel Fey who is more of an entrepreneur kind of guy during the age of the Industrial Revolution. I don't know about you but I see huge potential in this possibility! As an entrepreneur, he could deal with setting up the assassin order, he may just supply weapons towards the assassin order and maybe, he could be the head of the assassin order. The biggest positive I see out of this would be that he may not actually fight at least not for the whole game. If you think about it, why would a business person who is probably focused too much on securing resources and whatever, be concerned about assassinating a few people in funny looking hats? Most likely, he would or should send a few assassins to do the deeds for him and this could be intriguing. Especially as it would make more sense to trade and send assassin recruits all over Europe in fully playable missions. This way, it could give us an insight in to the characters we're playing as and also develop the creed which was not developed since ironically, the very first Assassin's Creed game.
The story may even have a huge effect on the modern day. I mean this is a time of business and a growing sense of capitalism so could this create a new story with the very birth of Abstergo? Sure the villainous organisatiion was officially established just around after the events of World War 2 but could this be pre-Abstergo in nature. Maybe the main character could turn or the firm may be bought by Templars? That is my speculation for the 2 possible settings of the game but there's rumours that there could be 2 games set for release this year. One for the current gen and another exclusively for the next gen. When I say current gen, I am referring to the consoles of the PS3 and Xbox 360 since we weren't using current gen when the Wii U was released, why change all of a sudden. Also, I don't have a next gen console yet. 
Kenway Saga
It's very possible that the next gen consoles could move on with the storyline with a brand new modern day character and historical setting whilst the current gen could tie up the loose ends of the Kenway family or even Ubisoft may be using the Kenway series for the next gen instead as a way of transition towards a new modern day character. Whatever it might be, what I would like to focus on is the stroylines that already exist. Connor's storyline is still left a mystery, we still don't really know whether Aveline's just a computer simulation for the Abstergo console and what about the Templars at the beginning of AC3? Plus with so many settings around the era, they have to at least include some of these characters for a future game. Despite the responses of AC3 and Connor, I do see great potential. Already his character's grown and we are left wondering what he will do next and what he thinks of the current Patriots and Red Coats. There could a story focusing more on his character and the Native Americans remaining which could be interesting as AC3 did show some hints of the future troubles of the region such as discrimination and lands becoming privately owned and this could allow us to question whether he did make the right choices.
In fact, could Connor potentially believe in the Templar order? As shown in AC3, there wasn't a direct motive of freedom. Merely being the goal of what a crazy holographic woman wanted and with all this chaos taking place within the Americas, could this eventually come to haunt him in the near future? The Templars themselves did have a sort of positive purpose towards the world during the American Revolution of overcoming future conflicts and so maybe Connor could while not be a complete Templar, begin to resent the people around him for what happened to him and finally what has happened to society.
If the next game did go down this route, then Canada or Hudson's Bay at the time as well as the expansion of the Americas could be enjoyable especially since it could bring some aspects of what could have taken place in AC3. Such themes including ambushing and the aspects of Native American traditions and mythologies and thus making use of the Frontier which was seen as a problem for Assassin's Creed's biggest game. However moving down this route would probably be more like AC4's example of less involvement in the Assassin order and whilst it would be interesting to uncover more about the Native Americans, I still believe there is much more left to another side of the story.
On the flip side, there is much tension in world at the time particularly in Europe with the approaching French Revolution and it would truly make sense for this to become more of a direct sequel with the involvement of the French in AC3 and so it's very clear to see a game with Connor, Aveline especially since she could act as a translator and possibly returning characters from AC3. Although if this is to become the final Kenway game, it would cool to reinforce the involvement of the British Empire and the Georgian Era. Especially with the characters at the beginning of AC3 since the Templars may have remained in the UK or at least resided in Europe in order to fulfill a new plan and maybe the mission to the Americas was simply a diversion and the Templars knew that it wouldn't be successful. They could even be interfering within the French Revolution themselves.
There has been much hate for Connor's character and I can't really relate but I think as a final Kenway game, it could easily feature all of the Kenways or perhaps most of the family members we've seen. Even if there's not much role in the story, it would be nice to see some epilogues like we didn't see in Revelations. Maybe we could see the story through Connor uncovering the hidden life of Haytham but overall, so much of their lives have already been told through novels and games so why not introduce a new character connected to the Kenway family? Possibly view their lives through devices similar to Masyaf keys or just have a collection of stories within the Animus. I mean, it was called the Kenway Saga for a reason and I think sagas are more than 2 installments.
When we consider Connor's character though and since the French Revolution would be a very different setting, could we see another character as the main lead? It would be interesting to see Connor and Aveline team up as a new form of gameplay introducing or becoming part of the Assassin order there as well as how the events may impact them. Then again I could imagine Connor wearing a disguise for the first part of this possible AC game, finding a character in France and introducing him/her to the order and that would make sense since it would provide a new story whilst connecting the one of the previous games.
Even if Connor isn't featured as the main lead, it would be interesting to see multiple assassins navigating the world, visiting colonies owned under the British Empire such as Australia and India and once again, this could tie in with the growing levels of discriminatio and slavery and you of course, new assassin recruits! 
Maybe the characters at the beginning of AC3 were sent around the British Empire and thus became scattered? Whatever happens, I just hope that these settings don't go to waste just because of some dislike for a particular character.
Modern Day
There was an interesting picture posted a while ago which showed up as a possible title for a future game in the series by the name of Rising Phoenix.
This game I believe has something linked with the ending of AC3 and quite possible, something that has a connection to the Piece of Eden that was locked away for being too powerful. AKA It could turn back time. Whether my theory is true remains a mystery but it could very likely point to something very powerful as radioactive masks could be used to collect the Pieces of Eden. Maybe Abstergo is trying to design their own device or maybe could be based on the discovery of the Animus. As shown by the name, maybe it refers to a device or even a person of immense power. Maybe my dream of an Assassin's Creed prequel game could become a reality.
By the look of the game, there isn't much I can really back up on. It appears to be an Abstergo facility maybe and could be related to AC4's modern day experience but reinforced with a sense of mystery. Maybe it could be a game where we can see multiple characters especially if it's based on the development and origin of the animus cloud allowing many characters to be understood and maybe we could see multiple settings or even settings that were scrapped by Ubisoft in favor of others.
For many, people believe that it could be a game for the PS Vita but if that was the case and with how things are going with cross play, maybe it could release for all current gen consoles. Although there's not much to suggest that the game's still in development. It's possible that the game is under the title of a name completely different from this one and may have already have provided the basis of AC4 rather than a full game just like how a potential Maya setting was utilised for AC3 and AC4, the only Kenway games released as of yet. Maybe it could have been scrapped shortly after AC3's release.
To many of you, this might sound crazy but I don't currently own AC4 nor do I have plans to buy the game but I do think that this game was pushed forward as a means of filling the gap between the next AC series. Let's face it, there will eventually be another modern day character and I think that AC4's modern day was only testing the ground and providing certain events that will lead to the release of future installments in the franchise. In essence, I see it as the single player version of the Revelations multiplayer. It provided some fragments of the story that would lead towards AC3. Most never came in to being but with AC4's single player, that could be different. As well as comic books, it's likely that upcoming games which could be set for release exclusively for the current gen platforms, could lead up to the next series with a new modern day character or even set of characters. However I just hope that the games that will be released will extend the stories that we already know rather than just being used to gain an extra profit.
The fact of a set of games exclusively for the current and another for the next gen may not even be permanent and could only apply to this year or even the next few years to come. It's really not known how long the current gen consoles will maintain their use and it's possible that Ubisoft have a set of plans ready for a certain line of games. Eventually, the current gen will become a thing of the past with the next... next gen consoles.
So after my long line of theories, these are just ones reflecting the possible information that has been leaked which could be false but sometimes games become leaked especially with Ubisoft a few days before an official announcement so I could be right with my possibilities. If I was to consider where I would want the series to take place next, I would be designing multiple blogs which might be too much!
Also in my previous blog, I mentioned how I probably wouldn't be blogging as much. Well this blog is an exception since I have a feeling that Ubisoft could announce their next game or games any day now so I decided to beat Ubisoft to the punch!
So do you think the leaks of the Industrial Revolution and Russia are true or are you hoping for something else? Do you agree with my ideas?
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed.