Assassin’s Creed Red’s female protagonist has seemingly leaked online. As per Eurogamer, Ubisoft writer Pierre Boudreau inadvertently set his LinkedIn header image to feature the unnamed lead, who is seen wearing the iconic hooded cloak against a red background, while wielding a katana. The original photo featuring the signature logo has since been replaced with an image of Eivor, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s protagonist. This aligns with the studio’s own claims from a 2022 presentation, where it confirmed that players will be sent into feudal Japan for its upcoming instalment, which is said to revisit open-world RPG elements.
Currently, Assassin’s Creed Codename Red does not have a release date, though a 2024 window was rumoured earlier this year, which goes in line with Ubisoft’s annual launch cycle formula. An InsiderGaming report further revealed that the game will feature two lead characters — the aforementioned female shinobi and an African refugee-turned-samurai, who seems to be inspired by the real-life Yasuke, who was active during the Sengoku Period in Japan. It’s unclear how these two characters will co-exist in the game — as for whether we get to play as both or simply pick either one at the start, akin to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, remains to be seen. Despite, returning to the controversial open-world style, it appears that Assassin’s Creed Red will be heavy on stealth, as players hide in shadows and extinguish torches from afar.
Ubisoft Quebec — known for developing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey — is tasked with creating Assassin’s Creed Red under Jonathan Dumont’s direction. It is part of the publisher’s upcoming central hub called Assassin’s Creed Infinity, which is designed to tie in a bunch of different AC titles together, with plans for some standalone multiplayer experiences in the future. “Infinity is going to be a hub that will unite all of our different experiences and our players together in meaningful ways,” Marc-Alexis Côté, VP, Assassin’s Creed, said at the 2022 Ubisoft Forward event. At the time, Ubisoft also confirmed a dark entry to the AC franchise, codenamed Hexe, which was set during the latter stages of the Holy Roman Empire, amidst the witch trials. A teaser for the same was also dropped, which revealed a talisman in the forest, shaped like the Assassin’s Creed logo.
Earlier this month, the publisher launched Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which became Ubisoft’s biggest new-gen launch in terms of unit sales, in under a week. In that time, players collectively took 60 million leaps of faith and spent 479 years parkouring the rooftops of ninth-century Baghdad. We also got a launch date for the long-gestating Assassin’s Creed VR project, called Nexus, which will play out from perspectives of three iconic assassins from the series — Ezio Auditore, Connor Kenway, and Kassandra. The game is now available to pre-order on the Meta Quest VR and launches November 16.
Currently, there is no release window for Assassin’s Creed Red, but when it does come out, we can expect it to launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X.
