Michael Fassbender leaps into action in new 'Assassin's Creed' movie clip

By Rick Marshall Published December 2, 2016

This year’s Game Awards honored some of the biggest and best video games released in 2016, but it also highlighted at least one noteworthy moment from the movie side of things.

During the awards show, 20th Century Fox debuted a new extended clip from the upcoming Assassin’s Creed movie that’s based on the hit game franchise, and it featured a pretty impressive action sequence, with star Michael Fassbender navigating a fast-paced chase sequence as only an elite assassin can.

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Titled “Carriage Chase,” the 80-second clip begins with Fassbender’s character, Aguilar, dispatching a group of soldiers with some help from a fellow assassin before pursuing a carriage ferrying a young child — in a cage, for some reason — away from the battle. As the chase rapidly nears the edge of a cliff, Fassbender’s character cuts the rescue as close as possible while battling the child’s kidnappers.

Directed by Justin Kurzel (MacBeth), Assassin’s Creed also stars Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises, La Vie en Rose), Michael Kenneth Williams (12 Years a Slave), and Ariane Labed (Before Midnight). Fassbender plays a dual role in the film as both a modern-era character named Callum Lynch and Callum’s ancestor, an elite assassin named Aguilar.

In the lead-up to the film’s release this month, the studio has unveiled several videos that put the spotlight on the “Animus” — the fictional device that allows Fassbender’s character to access (and essentially relive) the life experiences of his ancestor. The movie’s plot revolves around a mysterious organization’s attempts to unlock a terrible secret using the ancestral memories of Fassbender’s character and other descendants of a shadowy guild of assassins.

Encompassing nine major titles and a long list of spinoff and tie-in releases, the Assassin’s Creed franchise sold more than 93 million copies as of June 2015. The movie features original characters created for the big-screen franchise instead of characters from the game series, but is based on the same core concepts of the franchise.

Assassin’s Creed is scheduled to hit theaters December 21.

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Gaming

The best Naoe gear in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

One of the protagonists in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Assassin's Creed Shadowsintroduces a few interesting twists on the series' established formula. There are new features like Scouts and a fully upgradable hideout, but the big change is the addition of two distinct protagonists Naoe and Yasuke. Unlike Syndicate, these two characters serve vastly different roles, with Naoe being suited more towards stealth and Yasuke a better fighter. Each one has their own skills to unlock, but just as important is equipping them with the best gear. You will be drowning in loot over your playtime so knowing which is worth keeping and upgrading can be tricky. If Naoe is your preferred character, these are the items you should be using to maximize her potential.
Best Naoe gear

Naoe can hold two weapons, plus armor, headgear, and a trinket. These are the ones we found to be the most powerful for her.
Weapons
For Naoe's katana, the Bloodshade legendary katana has the most powerful bleed abilities in the game. It obviously inflicts bleed, but its special perk is that bleed buildup doesn't drain over time so you don't have to be overly aggressive to get it to proc. You can find this katana on a ship to the west of Osaka on the coast of Amagasaki in Izumi Settsu.

Gaming

The best hideout upgrades in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Yasuke trains outside in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

There have been various forms of upgradable bases in Assassin's Creed games before, but none as deep as in Assassin's Creed Shadows. Besides being a relaxing location where Naoe and Yasuke can hang out with their various allies, you will also be building entire structures that add new functions to the game. You're tutorialized on them only to get access to Scouts, but the rest of the buildings and upgrades are up to you. Since resources are so precious, investing in the wrong structures can set you back hours. Instead, we best hideout upgrades you should get in Assassin's Creed Shadows.
Best hideout upgrades

The most obvious tip to start with should go without saying, but don't bother purchasing any of the decorative buildings until you have built and upgraded all the ones that provide benefits. Unless you're mainly interested in playing Assassin's Creed Shadows as a mini Animal Crossing game, leave that until the end.
Stables
Your first order of business should be to upgrade your stables. This building is a little misleading since it has nothing to do with your mount but actually relates to those stockpiles you will come across in various camps and castles. These are packed with resources, but you are required to mark them for Scouts to collect and bring back to your hideout. The Stables first allow you to even use this feature, and upgrading it increases how many supplies you get from each pile. This will help fund all future upgrades so should be done as early as possible.
Study
Speaking of Scouts, you will need them quite often throughout the game for revealing quest locations and gathering supplies. Unless you pay, you can only use a scout once per season, and you only start with three. Building and upgrading your Study not only gives you more scouts to work with but also increases their scouting range on the map.
Tera
Don't overlook this smaller building in the lower sections if you're trying to earn XP. This building can't be upgraded so all you need to do is get it once and you're done, but it increases all your XP gain, no matter what source it comes from, by 10%. That is massive if you're trying to power level your characters.
Forge
Finally, the Forge can be left for last in our opinion. You will have a quest to build one, but that's all you should do with it until late into the game, if at all. Each upgrade increases the maximum level you can upgrade your gear in, which is great, but completely unnecessary for most of the game. You are always finding new gear at your current level while completing quests and looting chests so spending your resources to buff a weapon or piece of armor tends to be a waste when you find something better right away. The later upgrades do allow for better engraving, but again, this is best saved for the end game when you know what gear you want to stick with.

Gaming

The best ways to earn XP in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Yasuke fighting in the snow in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Assassin's Creed Shadows is still an open-world RPG at heart. It has some new features like Scouts and two protagonists, but you will still be leveling up, investing points into skill trees, and getting better gear over the course of this adventure. There are a few wrinkles here, such as Naoe and Yasuke each having their own unique skill trees and Knowledge Points acting as a progression gate, but your main concern will still be gettin XP as fast as possible to boost your stats. There are a ton of things to do in Assassin's Creed Shadows, but not all give XP equally. If you want to power level your characters fast, here are the best ways to earn XP.
Best ways to earn XP

Assassin's Creed Shadows makes it somewhat easy to know what is in it for you to do each specific task. When you highlight any objective on the map, you will see the XP rewarded alongside any other items or gear. That's a good place to start, but it doesn't tell the entire story since some tasks can be done very quickly and others might take the better part of an hour.