Ubisoft’s wildly successful Assassin’s Creed franchise is breaking into new media. Revealed today, new Assassin’s Creed themed novels, podcasts, and cartoons will delve deeper into the time-hopping franchise.
Announced by Ubisoft, the upcoming spin-offs fit into three categories. First is Classics – content based on the characters and events of mainline games. Next is Chronicles, which follows the Assassin protagonists of previous games, in new stories. The last category is Originals, which focuses on new characters, eras, and scenarios. The format of these stories primarily focuses on novels, with separate adult and young adult ranges. This includes the young adult Fragments trilogy, set in Japan, Scotland, and France. Also, there is the Jade Seal Collection, which focuses on adventures in China.
Alongside the novels, Ubisoft is also working on graphic novels and webcomics. Two of three new lines will provide background to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, set just before Eivor’s adventure. The other is a webcomic named Assassin’s Creed Dynasty, already available in China, which explores the Tang Dynasty in the year 755.
Additionally, Ubisoft announced a line of audio and visual projects. Turbulence in the Ming Dynasty is a podcast series that will adapt one novel from the Jade Seal collection into a serialized podcast. Alongside this is a currently untitled Korean-produced webtoon, set to follow Assassin’s Creed Black Flag hero Edward Kenway after the game’s events.
Yet most surprisingly, Polygon revealed that the children’s series of Mr. Men books by Adam Hargreaves is getting the Assassin’s Creed treatment. Characters will include Mr. Ezio and Little Miss Eivor, in a twist on the games that appeal to adults and younger readers. Six books are currently in production, but their success could lead to more entries releasing in the future.
It seems Ubisoft learned from the failed Assassin’s Creed movie in 2016, as the Michael Fassbender-starring film flopped critically and commercially. This new multimedia project will try something different by diversifying the franchise, providing something for all fans to enjoy.
