For a company whose flagship series is focused on warring secret societies, Ubisoft struggles with keeping their own secrets. A lengthy piece on Kotaku leaked the next Assassin’s Creed setting well ahead of its planned reveal. The latest game will be purportedly titled Assassin’s Creed: Victory*, and it will take place in Victorian London.
While leaks are always unfortunate, this one seems particularly ill-timed after the backlash received by Assassin’s Creed Unity. Many of Unity’s bugs were attributed to rushed production—or the series tiring itself out—and so another Assassin’s Creed game may not be what many consumers want to hear about right now. Already, there have been complaints about the series not taking a “rest” year. Still more complaints have been leveled against the setting itself, claiming that Victorian London is not significant enough a departure from the setting of Unity.
It’s too early to discuss much of Victory with any certainty (such is the nature of leaks, after all), but let’s not dismiss the setting so readily. Victorian London’s historical, social, and political climate can merge seamlessly with the mechanics and atmosphere of Assassin’s Creed. In this spirit, I’ve put together a primer on Victorian Culture and how it might be awesomely represented in Victory.
London’s Streets
Assassin’s Creed has always had a remarkable attention to detail when it comes to their historical settings. It’s reasonable to expect a host of memorable people and places to appear in Assassin’s Creed Victory, and speculation is already running wild. Several of London’s iconic landmarks will no doubt appear as viewpoints or infiltration targets: the London Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, the London Tower…the list goes on. If Unity’s Time Anomalies return, the Shard and the London Eye may also make an appearance.
The largest change to Victorian London’s skyline came at the behest of the Industrial Revolution. In the leaked screenshots, factories dot the horizon and wheeze smoke into the sky. One interior screenshot depicts an assassination taking place in a railroad station. While these settings will no doubt add character to the environment, they’ll make for a more dynamic and interactive gameplay design. Already, in the leak, we’ve learned of combat atop chariots and trains alike; it’s possible that moving factory parts will also flavor gameplay.
While the railways system and factories were indicative of Victorian industry, few things from the era represented industrial and imperial progress more than the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the exquisite monolith of glass and cast-iron that housed it. The Crystal Palace occupied 990,000 square feet of Hyde Park, and its interior housed objects donated by over 15,000 contributors, including a printing machine for Illustrated London News, sculptures crafted from precious metals and jewels, and other marvels from all over the world. The Exhibition was an international attraction; people from all over the world traveled to London to witness its treasures. Unfortunately, the building burned down in the early 20th Century, leaving Ubisoft in a unique position to recreate it based on photos, descriptions, and their own imaginations. Rendering this touchstone of 19th century progress would be no small task, but it would be a spectacle to behold on the Anvil Engine (which will be carried over to Victory from Unity).
Victorian Personalities and Mindsets
Another series cornerstone is the presence of historical characters, who often serve as allies or enemies to the titular assassins. This precedence, arguably, was established by Leonardo Da Vinci from Assassin’s Creed II, who worked closely with Ezio as his engineer and friend. Since then, assassins have rubbed elbows with the likes of Napoléon, George Washington, and Blackbeard among many others. The Victorian Era is home to many equally renowned personalities. While predicting the exact cast is always daunting, big names like Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, John Stuart Mill, or Queen Victoria herself are likely to make an appearance.
The nature of combatants will also change. In 1829, the Metropolitan Police was founded. Often called “Bobbies” or “Peelers” after the Prime Minister Robert Peel, these early police officers carried wooden truncheons and rattles used to call for assistance. Due to concern over a militarized force among civilians, the early London Met did not carry firearms, but they were later authorized to carry revolvers in response to a rash of armed burglaries. If guns remain as potent as they were in Unity, this police force could cause trouble for even the most skilled assassins, given their firearms and ability to rally other officers.
Social and Political Climate
These personalities will most likely be embroiled in any number of Victorian issues. The mid to late 19th century, while a time for prosperity, was also a time of reform and changing mindsets. Reform laws developed workhouses in response to the growing poor class in London’s slums. The Great Stink of 1858 inspired reform in the treatment of sewage and motivated London to construct a massive sewage system. Factory work hours were limited; slavery was outlawed. New voting and property acts rethought women’s roles in society, and this saw the emergence of the New Woman—an educated, independent woman who exercised control over her own life. This setting of reform would’ve been ideal for introducing a woman assassin, though screenshots suggest that this won’t be the case.
In the very least, an Irish assassin would provide an interesting viewpoint. It was during this age that the Irish Question surfaced, prompting Victorians to debate over whether or not the Irish were capable of ruling themselves. Stereotypes—and racist cartoons in prominent publications—portrayed the Irish as brutish and uneducated degenerates. The Great Famine (1845-1852) saw an increase in the Irish population as many migrated from Ireland in hopes of finding prosperity and work in London, but most found themselves struggling with prejudice. This minority perspective would be an ideal background to give an assassin who, by profession, must already live among the shadows.
The climate of reform ultimately inspired a sense of social responsibility, which would make an apt background for the assassin’s own story arc. Victorians questioned their role in the world, their approaches to science and religion, and their perceptions of class, race, and gender. This age of questions resembles the personal development of past assassins, who often questioned their role in a changing Brotherhood. Victorian London’s wealth of reform and historical conflicts would make an apt setting to explore the moral ambiguity of the Templar and Assassin conflict.
A Criminal Culture
Assassin’s Creed: Unity introduced players to Murder Mystery side missions. These were a welcome change of pace from the typical cloak-and-dagger gameplay, but they, perhaps, felt a little out of place in the French Revolution setting.
In Victorian England, however, these Murder Mysteries would be a natural extension of the culture. After all, this was a society that reveled in murder as much as they were horrified by it. Sensational newspaper publications covered the murders, court cases, and executions in detail, and the emergence of a mass media culture meant that many had access to these pamphlets and broadsides. Museums dedicated to infamous killers were opened and featured “souvenirs” from crime scenes along with wax castings of the criminals and their victims. One museum, in particular, was entitled the “Chamber of Horrors” and shown at the permanent Madame Tussaud’s exhibition in London. Victorians gossiped about murder like how we gossip about the latest death on Game of Thrones.
Many have already anticipated the appearance of Jack the Ripper, but there are many other infamous criminals that might make an appearance: the prolific poisoner Adelaide Bartlett, the body-snatchers Burke and Hare, or the baby butcher Amelia Dyer. This was the era that modernized society’s perception of crime, and so a revamped version of the Murder Mystery side quests would make an apt homage to the climate of paranoia and sensationalism. Most importantly, I suspect that the Victorians might pursue the work of an assassin with equal enthusiasm, perhaps marking a return of the series’ notoriety system.
Trade and the British Empire
Many Assassin’s Creed games have a trading minigame, which allows players to generate extra cash. While this “trade” has been traditionally international, a game set during the Victorian period would allow this minigame to unfold during the height of Britain’s Imperial Century. At this point in time, over a quarter of the world’s population was under British rule. The invention of the steamship and telegraph reinforced their dominant position in international trade. Moreover, Britain’s economic and financial position allowed them to enforce peace on maritime trade, meaning that they policed the water for both pirates and slave ships. Britain was practically unrivaled in naval power and was a force to be reckoned with.
This would make for a far larger-scale minigame than we’ve seen in past incarnations. There could be more locations open for trade, the opportunity for managing even larger fleets, and the potential for naval combat against pirates or the Royal Navy.
Final Thoughts
There’s no shortage of fascinating historical property for Assassin’s Creed to draw on. To say that the Victorian Period was complicated is an understatement. It was a tumultuous age filled with conflicts and triumph, with prosperity and poverty. As such, this makes it an invaluable setting for a game as invested in history as Assassin’s Creed. While there’s understandably much doubt surrounding the series after Unity, the setting of Assassin’s Creed: Victory is reason enough for interest and, maybe, even hope.
*Author’s Note: Since the time of publication, Ubisoft has announced that the next game will be titled Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate and not Assassin’s Creed:Victory. I’ve since published another primer with more specific information, though I still feel that this original article offers useful insight into the history and climate of Victorian England at large.
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