Ubisoft has finally unveiled the Animus Hub (previously codenamed Assassin’s Creed Infinity), and given us the first official details as to what exactly the Animus Hub is, and how it’ll operate.
Early discussions around Assassin’s Creed Infinity had it pegged as a live-service experience within which all the Assassin’s Creed games would exist, and that is pretty much exactly the case. In an introduction video for the Animus Hub, Ubisoft calls it “a seamless way to dive into the latest Assassin’s Creed games.”
The video introduces the four parts of the Animus Hub that’ll be available in its debut. Memories, Projects, Exchange, and Vault. You can check it out for yourself, below.
Memories is where players will find all of the games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. The video shows that at launch, you’ll be able to cycle through Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Valhalla, Mirage, Odyssey and Origins, with more to be added with new game releases.
As to why the rest of the franchise won’t be there since launch, while we can’t say for sure, it’s reasonable to speculate that the rest of the games will be added through the upcoming remakes that Ubisoft chief executive officer Yves Guillemot previously confirmed.
Projects and Exchange are where the live-service elements of the Animus Hub live. Projects are individual missions titled “Anomalies” that will be added for whatever the latest game is, which in this case is Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Players will complete these missions to unlock rewards that are lined up like a battle pass, including an in-game currency called Keys.
It’s not clear yet if Keys are a premium currency that can be earned through both gameplay and through being purchased with real-world money, but it is the currency Ubisoft highlights as the one to use within ‘the Exchange,’ which houses items that players can purchase with Keys, and use in games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Finally, the Vault is the branch that gets the most vague introduction. Ubisoft highlights it as where players can find “narrative content,” though says that the Vault’s content will become more available to players once they’ve begun their journeys in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
So we’ve finally seen what the future of the Assassin’s Creed franchise will look like, as Ubisoft ends the video out by saying that the Animus Hub will “continue to evolve and grow far beyond Shadows launch and the next Assassin’s Creed games, with new features, new content, and new rewards.”
It’ll be easy for players to wrap their heads around the idea of having all the Assassin’s Creed games in one place. Call of Duty already does it, Hitman did it. This kind of change isn’t something that’s inherently new. What will be more interesting is to see how Ubisoft navigates the live-service aspects of the Animus Hub, and how that impacts future Assassin’s Creed releases.
We’ll get our first look at that with how Ubisoft handles the first ‘Projects’ released for Shadows, following the game’s launch in March.