One Assassin's Creed Shadows Mechanic Has Me Way More Excited For AC Hexe

Assassin's Creed Shadowsadds a solid variety of interesting new ideas to the all-too-familiar formula, and one concept in particular feels like the perfect basis for an even more interesting implementation in Assassin's Creed: Codename Hexe.Ubisoft announced Hexe in September 2022 with a reveal of its project title and logo, teasing the future of the series at the same time as the announcements of Mirage and Shadows (then called Codename Red).

Ubisoft hasn't yet revealed much about Hexe beyond its project title and logo, some leaks and rumors have naturally swirled around the game, and they make it sound like a major departure from other recent titles. By name alone, it's easy enough to hazard a guess that it's a bit more interested in the occult than Shadows is, a concept that could make for an even more shadowy take on the franchise. As luck would have it, Shadows' own name is more than window-dressing, and the light-based stealth that it introduces could be the perfect ingredient for Hexe.

Assassin's Creed Hexe Sounds Like A Horror Spin

A Darker Take On A Pulpy Franchise

The rumors surrounding Assassin's Creed Hexehave painted it as something closer to a horror take on the franchise, which seems well-enough supported by the tone of the reveal teaser alone. Hexe is the German word for witch, suggesting a setting that focuses on the witch trials that took place in 17th century Germany.

Aside from Hexe, the only other announced Assassin's Creed games are the mobile title Jade, a standalone multiplayer experience called Invictus, and a Netflix project.

The concept makes sense as a next step for the series, which hasn't yet set a game in Germany. The 17th century is also a major chronological gap. While the Ezio trilogy covers the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Shadows steps into the late 16th, and Black Flag, Rogue, 3, and Unity all squeeze into the 18th, the Assassin Brotherhood's activities in the 17th century have only been covered in auxiliary media.

Alexios, Ezio, and Yasuke in various poses in a collage of images from Assassin's Creed, Odyssey, and Shadows.

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According to a report from Insider Gaming, early Hexe footage shows a protagonist named Elsa using witchcraft while on the run from German soldiers on dark city streets. This apparently builds on the fear system found in Assassin's Creed Syndicate's Jack The Ripper DLC, revisiting the strengths of one of the franchise's most interesting expansions.

Shadow-Based Stealth Would Be Perfect For Hexe

Light Matters Even More In Horror

Going off of that description, it sounds like a focus on light and shadow as stealth opportunities would be even cooler in Assassin's Creed Hexe than in Shadows. I've had a ton of fun using the cover of night and tossing shurikens to take out lights in Shadows, and it's certainly appropriate for the shinobi fantasy. It's not a game that's built around night or shadows at its core, though, and while other conditions like fog and rain are equally interesting, I've infiltrated just as many castles by avoiding sight lines in traditional ways while broad daylight streams down.

Naoe crouched on a ledge, overlooking a courtyard, with a throwing knife in her hand in a screenshot from Assassin's Creed Shadows.

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Leaning into more of a horror-tinged take on 17th century Germany could shift the focus on shadows to be at the core of the overall game experience. Media centered around the supernatural has long focused on light and shadows, from Dracula's aversion to sunlight in Bram Stoker's original novel to the high-contrast German expressionism that defined classic monster movies.

If Assassin's Creed Hexe is a smaller-scale game, it could focus on discrete nighttime story segments rather than accepting a continual flow of time like Shadows does. In an allegedly "dark and gloomy setting" of "cobbled streets," hiding down alleyways might be more useful than crouching in tall grass or even running on rooftops

Hexe Has Interesting Opportunities, But It May Not Explore Them

Still Too Early To Say

Assuming Elsa does indeed have witch-like powers, the role of moonlight in witchcraft also makes for some interesting dynamics. I'd be fascinated to see the game explore trade-offs between the covers of shadow and power that could potentially be associated with the moon, providing the opportunity to fluctuate between a subtler focus on stealth and a riskier interest in power.

Naoe and Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows

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We don't yet know for sure if other Assassin's Creed games are adopting the new stealth mechanics introduced in Shadows, but Shadows director Charles Benoit did tell me in a Screen Rant interview that he plans to keep using it if he directs another Assassin's Creed game himself. While Hexe is being developed by a different team over at Ubisoft Montreal, I'm certainly hoping that some of Assassin's Creed Shadows' advancements have managed to sneak into the game during development, and light-based stealth is the one I'd like to see most.

Source: Insider Gaming