Ubisoft are making a stealthy Assassin's Creed Valhalla spin-off, rumour claims

But what does stealth mean in Ubisoft terms these days?

News by Alice O'Connor Former Associate Editor

Published on Feb. 10, 2022

A planned expansion for Assassin's Creed Valhalla is instead being spun off into its own separate standalone game, a new report claims. The unnamed and unannounced game supposedly stars chaotic frenemy Basim, and will be more a smaller stealth-focused game rather than another rambling open-world murder-o-rama. But are we talking stealth-stealth, or Assassin's Creed stealth, or modern Ubisoft stealth?

Bloomberg's report, citing unnamed "people familiar with the project", says that the game is codenamed Rift. Supposedly it'll be smaller and more focused on stealth than open-world shenanigans, though the chat is vague enough that I wouldn't get my hopes up imagining any specific type of game just yet. Bloomberg claim it was meant to be an expansion for Valhalla but last year grew into a standalone game, and will launch either later this year or in 2023.

Rift's supposed star Basim is a Hidden One (forerunners of the Assassins) who crosses paths with Eivor several times during Valhalla. He gives her a wristblade, and they both end up tangled in that rubbish moonman jazz.

I do wonder what the stealth chat actually means. Assassin's Creed started out with fairly slimline stealth (compared to sneakers of the time, anyway) then over the years made its murderwizards more and more powerful. By now, I guess you can sneak around if you want, but you could also just tear an entire town limb-from-limb. So 'stealthy' compared to what?

What is definitely next for Valhalla is Dawn Of Ragnarök. The expansion will see Eivor all Odined-up with new ice and fire powers, fighting through the Dwarven realm of Svartalfheim. Moonman jazz, innit. That's due to launch on the 10th of March.

Further ahead, supposedly after Rift, is Assassin's Creed Infinity. This mysterious game is rumoured to be a live service doodad connecting different places and periods in some way. Ubisoft have confirmed that Infinity exists but not said anything about what it is.