EXCLUSIVE – Details on Assassin’s Creed Red’s Engine, Base Building, Combat, and More

assassins creed red

Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past year or so, you’ll know that Assassin’s Creed Red is the next mainline Assassin’s Creed title to release later year. Officially, we don’t know much apart from the game being set in feudal Japan and will be connected to the ‘Infinity’ hub – a central launcher for the Assassin’s Creed franchise moving forward. On the other hand, leaks and reports have shed light on what to expect, including our own reporting that revealed the title will have two protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke.

Today, I wanted to dive a bit deeper into the gameplay mechanics and engine of Red, because frankly, it seems like it’s being built for a ‘new era’ of the franchise.

To start, the Assassin’s Creed franchise as a whole isn’t moving to a new engine necessarily, but will be using a substantial evolution of it named the ‘Anvil Pipeline’. Sources explained that the Anvil Pipeline allows all of the various Assassin’s Creed studios (of which there are many) to work from one unified branch, rather than having different versions and branches. The most means that moving forward, Assassin’s Creed will benefit visually from the lines of ray-traced global illumination and virtual geometry.

The move to the Anvil Pipeline has meant that the teams have had to completely overhaul everything in the series, too, including animations, its parkour system, dynamic weather, and more.

Combat in Assassin’s Creed Red was described to me as being somewhat similar to Valhalla, but featuring a lot more gore, including blood, and decapitations. Stealth also plays a major role in Red, somewhat akin to Splinter Cell, the player can extinguish torches, hide in tall grass and bushes, and even go prone whenever they please.

Footage provided to Insider Gaming under the condition that the footage does not go public also showed a major evolution to the Valhalla Settlement feature. In Red, players will be able to build their settlement in a big way named the ‘Hideout’. The Hideout is where the player will be able to build, at their own will, the likes of an armory, dojo, alter, and more. These buildings are customizable, too, from being able to pick the building location, to being able to choose your roof design to the interior layout and where you can display the likes of your weapons and armor can be displayed.

Overall, the Assassin’s Creed franchise is taking a gigantic leap and our first glimpse will be with Assassin’s Creed Red, which is set to be revealed in the coming months.

What do you think of all the details about Assassin’s Creed Red? Let us know in the comments.


For more from Insider Gaming, check out our exclusive news on the next Battlefield game, which will have a free-to-play Battle Royale connected to it.


  1. Combat being like Valhalla is a major redflag. Valhalla and Odyssey were basically like Origins. So since 2016, the gameplay has been the same since.

    If they don’t drastically improve the gameplay in RED, it would be super difficult. I don’t think ANYONE wants another Origins/Odyssey/Valhalla experience.

    1. lmao what? those games are the most successful Assassin’s Creed has ever been. Speak for yourself. Odyssey is my favorite of the AC series.

    2. Weird, I ONLY want to play AC games with the same style gameplay as the “RPG trilogy” many have coined it. You’re free to have your opinion, just know that many (and I’d say the majority at this point) don’t agree with you

  2. They MUST change the robotic facial animations… this is a major point to me.. last proper animation was in Origins. After that all animations are shit.. Valhalla combat is boring… Origin and Odyssey are a little better.. Eivor was soo slow it bored me.. action should be fast paced.. well not like any Ubisoft exect will see my comments…..

  3. Personally, I loved Valhalla. I’m happy that they’re moving back toward that direction. I found Mirage disappointing.

    1. Valhalla was objectively rubbish, you started of Valhalla in the AC series then?

  4. Odyssey and Valhalla were great games. I’m glad they are bringing back some more gameplay instead of a short overpriced game like mirage.

  5. I have a soft spot for Valhalla (despite it now being the best AC game) the combat system was not that bad to be fair. Odyssey is overrated and so is origin (yes I have played all three, in fact I have played all the AC games since the time of Altair AC 1). Assassin Creed Red will be full of surprises and I look forward to some teases of gameplay once Ubisoft is ready to release it on YouTube.

  6. This sounds extremely promising. Sounds like they’ve really listened to the right feedback and improved in areas they’ve lacked in for almost a decade.
    I’m very keen to more about this, I’ve really like to see or head something from the development team soon.

  7. I hope for better facial animations during the cinematics a return to a Unity or Syndicate Level of Detail and the fact that you can build your own settlement yourself is clearly a big evolution from the Valhalla default building positions

  8. I love Assassins Creed.
    I only hope that the game is not completed within 24 hours, as was the case with Mirage.

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