TheAssassin’s Creedlore and the overarching storyline have become incredibly convoluted and confusing, even to the most die-hard fans of the franchise. The plot became even murkier after the conclusion ofAssassin’s Creed Valhalla. Some of the remaining questions may get answered inValhalla’sDLCs, but there will be plenty of points to address in the upcoming game, set for release in 2022.
RELATED:Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Surprisingly Accurate Historical Details
Revisiting events from the past and historical tourism have always been the strongest points of theAssassin’s Creedfranchise, so it should come as no surprise that the majority of fan theories regarding the future of the franchise focus on where the next title will be set and how it will play into the grander scheme. However, with the introduction of the Reader and the ending of Layla’s story, there is finally potential for addressing the issues that have been boggling players' minds for years.
Updated on January 21st, 2022 by Hodey Johns:As the date for the next Assassin’s Creed game is foggy, the fans can only help but guess what is being worked towards. The end of Valhalla asked more questions than answers, but the conversations around the development team have been that the next game is going to completely change the format and possibly move on. But this is, of course, reckless speculation. And hey, what’s wrong with that? These are harmless guesses, to be taken with not just a grain of salt, but the entire saltshaker. Three more theories have been added to this list that may generate some interest.
12The Black Plague
This theory, while certainly the least exciting of them all, is also a very likely one. It’s no secret that Ubisoft tends to reuse a lot of the textures and models from previousAssassin’s Creedgames to make the process of developing the next game more time and resource-efficient.
WithValhallaset in the Dark Ages, moving the historical plot to Europe ravaged by the Black Plague would be the most natural course of action. Considering how well-realized the cursed locations inValhallawere, these areas could prove to be a solid foundation for creating a dark, plague-ridden continental Europe setting.
11It Will Abandon The Current Storyline
This might seem implausible, but consider this;Assassin’s Creed Valhallahas a historically low completion rate, the lowest of its genre. Sinceless than one in five game owners even cared enough to see the main story through, it would be very easy to see the plot getting scrapped. Eivor isn’t entirely to blame, Desmond’s completely out-of-character and baffling decision at the end ofAssassin’s Creed IIIhas never been fully addressed either.
There would be questions left unanswered but, frankly, the player base has stopped caring to see them answered after getting strung along for such a disappointing conclusion (for the handful of people who stayed awake long enough to finish). Would it be so bad if the next game just said, “That’s enough of that mess, it’s time to be one ofthe most immersive PC gameslike it used to be” and move on?
10The Warring States Period
Given how popular theAssassin’s Creedgames set in ancient times are, the Warring States period of ancient Chinese history isone of the best settingsto continue this trend. Within a period of two hundred years, the region plunged into chaos, with seven factions fighting for control over each other’s swaths of land.
RELATED:Things Assassin’s Creed: Origins Does Better Than Odyssey And Valhalla
Multiple theories regarding a potential Warring States plotline have sprung up online in recent months.Setting out on a journey to unify China would be a dream come true for many players, but it’s also quite unlikely. First of all, it won’t let the developers reuse assets fromValhalla,potentially preventing them from meeting the fall 2022 deadline. Secondly, a story of making alliances and conquering regions in a land ruled by multiple factions might just prove to be too similar to the most recent game’s plot.
9Desmond And Layla Come Back
For those who missed it, Layla’s body is dead and she’s joined what audiences have assumed to be Desmond in some kind of perplexing afterlife. Layla never got to showcase her powers gained through ancestry. Desmond, likewise, only gave gamers a taste of what he was becoming.
Instead of robbing players of what they spent two different trilogies doing, the next game could finally be the big payoff. If Layla finds a way back, Desmond will too, and the moth of them could take onextremely realistic characters from historyor Abstergo’s higher-ups.
8Return To The Middle East
Eivor’s story inValhallacomes to its conclusion in the late ninth century, which is a mere three hundred years away from the events of the firstAssassin’s Creedgame. Setting the game in the Middle East during the first crusade would be the perfect way for the franchise to come full circle andreturn to its roots.
This potential plotline could follow the First (1096-1099) or Second Crusade (1147-1150), and follow the story of how the Order of the Ancients turned into the Knights Templar order, as well as delve deeper into the role of the Assassins in the Holy Land. Perhaps it could even allow players to assume the role of Al-Mualim, Altair’s mentor, leader of the Levantine Brotherhood, and the main antagonist of the firstAssassin’s Creed.
7Layla Goes Rogue And Forms A Third Faction
Avery interesting theorybegan circulating on Reddit two years ago. According to its author, Layla was supposed to go insane due to Isu manipulation and create a third faction, independent of the Assassins and Templars. The theory entails that she would get tricked by the ancients to create the new organization, but the events ofValhallacontradict these claims.
RELATED:Assassin’s Creed: Historical Figures The Games Nailed
However, it is still entirely possible for Layla to start a new faction. After going into the Grey with the Reader (many fans suspects that the Reader’s actually Desmond Miles), they could indeed establish a separate faction that would act out Layla and the Reader’s orders from the digital afterlife-like realm in the real world.
6The Assassins Go Evil
The gamers have prior experiences playing as the Templar but they’ve all been in situations where the character is an obvious villain. Haytham Kenway and Shay Cormac were merciless, devoid of relatability, and, at times, blatantly evil, no matter how much they claim their conscience struggles with it.The lore was spot onbut the characters weren’t trying to make any converts.
But the games have been hinting for a while that the Assassins have their own problems. Loki is their premier member and Eivor never even joined them in the previous installment. Freedom lovers may hate to side with the tyrants, but it’s not too much of a stretch to suggest Ubisoft could make a case for some form of authoritarian government and expose the Assassins as a liberty-at-all-costs bunch of extremists.
5The Final Years Of The Classic Maya Civilization
This is the only fan theory that allows the series to pick up right whereValhallaleft off. The end of Mayan supremacy in Central America is dated at around the year 900, mere twenty-two years after the ending of the last entry in the franchise.
Ubisoft has already created anAssassin’s Creedgame with a Native American protagonist, but they could go even further and expose the mainstream audience to this largely ignored period in the history of the Americas. Moreover, it opens up the possibility to easilycontinueValhalla’snarrative, given where Eivor was buried.
4Eivor Ending Up In Vinland
It is revealed very early on inValhallathat Eivor’s final resting place is in Vinland,all the way in North America. The game and its DLCs fail to present players with any hints as to why and how they ended up there. This opens up the possibility for the next title to continue Eivor’s story and establish how they have come to die in present-day Massachusets.
The Vikings' expeditions to North America are a well-documented historical fact. Should Ubisoft want to follow up on Eivor’s adventures, setting the nextAssassin’sCreedtitle in the Americas during the Middle Ages is the most logical solution.
3New Templar Antagonist
Shay Cormac’s adventures inAssassin’s Creed Roguehave proven to be wildly popular among fans of the franchise. Not only did the game expand on the engaging gameplay ofBlack Flag,but it also allowed players to murder some key characters that they helped, or even played as, in previous games.
RELATED:Assassin’s Creed: Things You Didn’t Know About The Templars
AnAssassin’s Creedtitle with a Templar antagonist could make players feel deliciously evil. It would be hard to top Cormac murdering escaped slaves and betraying the values of peace he pretended to espouse, but there are many villainous activities that could tear down everything and force following games to build from the ground up.
