Ubisoft has announced that 20th Century Fox and the team of VR wizards at Practical Magic are working on an interactive experience based on the Assassin’s Creed franchise. The project is based on the movie scheduled to release later this year, rather than the video games that spawned it.
First announced in 2011, the Assassin’s Creed movie will center on Callum Lynch, played by Michael Fassbender. Much as in the video games, Lynch will become embroiled with the sinister Abstergo Industries and will use the company’s Animus technology to live out the memories of his ancestors.
The film sees Lynch’s consciousness transported back to 15th century Spain, and it seems almost certain that this will be the setting for the tie-in VR experience. Laying in the Animus and being transported back in time is a staple set-piece of the video game series, and it seems like a potent scenario to translate to VR.
However, don’t expect to be performing assassinations and leaping off rooftops, as this experience will be a little more sedate than standard Assassin’s Creed gameplay, according to a report from PC Gamer. Ubisoft has made it clear that this is a promotional tie-in for the movie, rather than a new video game installment.
In fact, the video game portion of the Assassin’s Creed franchise won’t make an appearance in 2016 after fan backlash to 2014’s Unity and a muted response to 2015’s Syndicate. It’s understood that the series is to undergo a retooling, with the plan being to relaunch after a successful cinematic release.
Assassin’s Creed is scheduled to hit cinemas on December 21, 2016. While no release date has been set for the VR experience based on the movie, you can expect to see the content drop as the hype machine whirs to life later in the year.
