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The next Assassin’s Creed game reportedly delayed to spring 2023

By Cristina Alexander Published July 22, 2022

Ubisoft on Thursday announced that it delayed “a smaller unannounced premium game” to next year along with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. It turns out that the premium game in question is Assassin’s Creed Rift, and it has been delayed to spring 2023, Bloomberg confirmed on Friday.

An unnamed source familiar with Ubisoft’s plans told Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier that the game publisher’s office in Bordeaux, France, which is heading the project, asked for more time to develop and polish Assassin’s Creed Rift because it was falling behind in terms of the development schedule. The spring 2023 release window means that it could come out anywhere between March and June of next year. Ubisoft said in a press release that it would release the game in fiscal year 2023-24.

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“While this additional development time is a reflection of the current ongoing constraints on productions across the industry, we are hard at work to design the most efficient working conditions to ensure both flexibility for our teams, as well as strong productivity. while delivering the best experiences to players,” the company said.

Assassin’s Creed Rift was originally going to be developed as an expansion of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, but Ubisoft decided that it would be a standalone game to fill the void in its release schedule for the current fiscal year, which already has Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Skull and Bones coming out in October and November, respectively. And instead of setting it in Norway like the base game, Assassin’s Creed Rift will take place in the Middle East. Whether that encompasses the entire region or a particular Middle Eastern country remains to be seen.

Although Ubisoft hasn’t publicly announced Assassin’s Creed Rift, it might reveal more information about it while discussing the future of the Assassin’s Creed franchise in September. The company is also planning on releasing a massive live service title called Assassin’s Creed Infinity, which is currently in the development stages.

Cristina Alexander

Gaming/Mobile Writer

Cristina Alexander is a gaming and mobile writer at Digital Trends. She blends fair coverage of games industry topics that…

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Gaming

The best Naoe skills in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Naoe from Assassin's Creed Shadows leaping in the night sky.

Now that there are double the protagonists in Assassin's Creed Shadows, there are twice as many skills to learn. Earning XP, as well as the new Knowledge Points, will let you access six skill trees for both characters, with around a dozen or more skills in each to unlock. The game is long enough that you could unlock them all, but that would require a lot of time or grinding. Plus, not all the skills are as useful as the others. Building up both characters is important, but we will be focusing on the most powerful skills you should be getting with the shinobi Naoe.
Double Assasinate

First introduced in Assassin's Creed 2, the ability to stealth assassinate two targets is a mechanic you won't feel complete without. You need to have a Tantop equipped to make it work, but it is worth taking up a slot even if you dislike its moveset. After all, this skill is all about avoiding open combat. Guards move and stand in pairs more often than not, and there is no good way to peel one away without alerting the other. This skill streamlines your stealth approach by letting you take down a pair with ease and not risk raising an alarm.
Melee Expert

Gaming

How to get Knowledge Points and what they do in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

One of the protagonists in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

By the time we get to Assassin's Creed Shadows, most of us will be familiar with how the games work. Since transitioning more towards RPGs than stealth games, the titles have not only gotten longer but also embraced skill trees. Naoe and Yasuke each have unique progression paths to work through, but right away you will notice that most of the best abilities are gated off. Like Scouts, Knowledge Points are a new feature that you will need to master if you want to be the best assassin possible. We'll share all our knowledge about Knowledge Points with you.
How Knowledge Points work and how to get them

Knowledge Points are a separate system to XP that allows both Naoe and Yasuke to unlock the better and more powerful skills in all their skill trees. Unlike XP, you can't earn them by performing normal tasks or taking out enemies. Instead, Knowledge Points are rewarded for doing specific non-violent activities in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Gaming

How long is Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows fighting an enemy. He's dressed in his samurai armor.

It's no secret that the Assassin's Creed games have gotten longer and longer over the years. This is typical for Ubisoft open-world titles, but many are hoping that Assassin's Creed Shadows has scaled back on the bloat a bit. There's always fast travel and finding the fastest ways to earn XP to cut down on the grind, but there's only so much time that can be saved. If you're worried that this game might be another 100-hour time investment to fully complete, let's use our Eagle Vision to scout out how long Assassin's Creed Shadows is before you start playing.
How long is Assassin's Creed Shadows?

As you would expect, the amount of time you could put into Assassin's Creed Shadows will vary wildly based on how you approach it. You can focus on just the story and nothing else, tackle a handful of side missions and activities, or attempt to complete anything and everything the game has to offer.