Leaked T-shirt shows alleged protagonist of the new Assassin’s Creed

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After a month full of leaks, one more piece appeared on May 31, 2017: the image of a T-shirt with the alleged protagonist of the next Assassin’s Creed. The photo was first published on a Facebook fan page, Le Verità dell’Animus, and quickly spread across social media.

What stands out is the number of clues on such a simple item. The print shows a character with a bow and arrow looking down, the logo with the name Origins and the name “Ba Yek” written above symbols that resemble hieroglyphs. A small detail in the corner even indicated the year 49 BC. If the image was official, you could be sure: the game would be set in Ancient Egypt, a setting fans had been asking for for years.

Ubisoft did not comment on the leak. The expectation was that the official announcement would happen at E3 2017, in June.

What came next

The T-shirt was right on target. Assassin’s Creed Origins was announced at Microsoft’s E3 2017 conference and came out on October 27, 2017 for PS4, Windows and Xbox One. The protagonist is Bayek of Siwa, a Medjay seeking revenge for his son’s death in Ptolemaic Egypt, around 49 BC, and his journey leads to the founding of the Assassin Brotherhood.

You can see Ubisoft Montreal’s care on several fronts. Combat swapped paired animations for a more dynamic hitbox system, and the game gained RPG elements that changed the series from then on. A lovely touch is the Discovery Tour, a free mode without combat with 75 guided tours, with information prepared with historians and Egyptologists.

Reception landed between 81 and 85 on Metacritic, depending on the platform, and sales passed 10 million copies, with the first ten days doubling Assassin’s Creed Syndicate’s numbers. Two expansions followed: The Hidden Ones, in January 2018, and The Curse of the Pharaohs, in March 2018.