Assassin's Creed Mirage is about to release, and with that date coming up fast, fans have started to theorize about what the next big game in the series could look like. Assassin's Creed Codename Red stands to be the first Ubisoft mainline game set in Japan, so there's plenty of room for imagination. It's already being advertised as a shinobi fantasy, as the only trailer so far showed an Assassin wielding a hidden blade and a wakizashi.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla was the last game to promise such a fantasy, as it aimed to provide an environment and setting for the player to live out their dreams as a Viking warrior. That being said, it didn't please everybody, and there are still plenty of ways for Assassin's Creed Codename Red to improve on Valhalla.
10 More Precise Combat
Assassin's Creed Valhalla provided animation-heavy combat, with more of an emphasis on style and feel rather than precision. That worked for what was meant to be a Viking game, but Codename Red will need to do much more than this to satisfy fans, as the image of a ninja conjures a picture of immense skill and precision.
Codename Red will need to establish a different formula for combat, one that feels more like Ghost Of Tsushima than God Of War.
9 A Return To Odyssey's RPG System
​​​​​​Assassin's Creed Odyssey provided a deep and immersive RPG system, leaving massive amounts of loot for the player to find. Valhalla, however, massively stripped back the loot mechanics of Odyssey, making Valhalla a far less loot-focused experience.
To be able to live a shinobi fantasy effectively, fans will need the ability to swap and collect equipment on the fly, and this warrants an expansion to Assassin's Creed's loot system.
8 A Tighter, More Focused Story
Assassin's Creed Valhalla was long. With story completion time ranging anywhere from 50-80 hours; many players picked up the game and failed to finish it. To entice more players to complete the game, Codename Red should attempt to shorten the story.
A tight, focused 30-hour story with another 20 as a post-game story would suit Codename Red nicely, as it would enable players to play the game extensively, while also allowing them to have the satisfaction of a completed story.
7 Less Stat Based Progression
Assassin's Creed Valhalla had an extensive skill tree, but it was full of small stat buffs that slowly built the power of the player. By adding a more complete loot system, Codename Red could rely far less on stat buffs and have a more ability-based skill tree.
This is important, as it places more of an emphasis on progression and offers clear rewards to the player as they build out their ability pool and discover new weapons.
6 Far Less Grinding
Assassin's Creed can be a huge, expansive RPG without the need for grinding. Both the previous Assassin's Creed games suffered from a massive amount of grind requirements after hitting the middle of the story, which served to slow the pacing of the story and frustrate players.
This not only dissuades people from finishing the game, but it also loses Ubisoft the trust of players, as the huge grind in the midgame seems obligated, pushing people towards the EXP boosters in the cash shop.
5 More Stealth Options
Assassin's Creed Valhalla had stealth options, but none of them allowed players to truly live out the Assassin fantasy. The role of an Assassin has been on the back burner since Assassin's Creed Origins and Codename Red has a chance to bring back the spirit of the franchise by implementing better stealth scenarios and mechanics.
Assassination options, classic style missions, and more abilities based around stealth would not only make Codename Red more faithful to the roots of the series but would entice many fans, who felt that the last few games were lacking the original Assassin's Creed touch, to dive back in.
4 More Realistic Parkour
In the previous three Assassin's Creed games, parkour underwent a huge rework; almost every surface in Ancient Egypt, Greece, and England is climbable. This gameplay feature has received praise from fans, but Ubisoft has an opportunity to make Codename Red's parkour system truly special.
With extra flair and agility, as well as a rougher and more realistic parkour system, Ubisoft could make the movement in Codename Red feel realistic while also presenting it as difficult art being performed by an elite athlete.
3 More Assassination Opportunities
Ubisoft has the chance to reintroduce traditional assassination mechanics back into the Assassin's Creed main series by implementing more assassination opportunities for players to pursue.
After playing Valhalla and Odyssey, many players felt that the games had ventured too far from the games that began the franchise, as the protagonists lacked the ability to assassinate high-level foes. By focusing on shinobi as the home for the Assassin Brotherhood, Ubisoft could return to the series' roots and allow players to assassinate targets at any level, so long as the correct approach is taken.
2 Better Use Of Historical Characters
In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, historical characters featured regularly during the campaign. The problem is that most of them featured in a short section of the game; they were mostly involved in a quest to claim another territory and then were never heard from again.
The use of historical characters in past Assassin's Creed games was far more extensive, especially in Assassin's Creed 2. Characters such as Leonardo da Vinci were used regularly and returned repeatedly, which not only made for a fantastic grounding in history but added a new side to the personalities of historical figures that players had never seen before. It's this feature that helped make Assassin's Creed so special initially, and that's why, for Codename Red to truly impress longtime fans of the series, historical characters should be a cornerstone of the story.
1 A Deeper Focus On Immersion
Assassin's Creed Valhalla was a step forward for Ubisoft's tent-pole series in immersion, but there's still a ways to go before it reaches the likes of Tears Of The Kingdom. There are simply too many map markers and UI elements in Valhalla. Ghost Of Tsushima is the perfect example of how a game can organically lead players onward without overwhelming them with map markers.
​​The future of Assassin's Creed shouldn't rely on a checklist of waypoints but instead on a comprehensive map that's designed to naturally lead the player forward. Once Ubisoft realizes this, it'll make Assassin's Creed Codename Red a true improvement over Valhalla and mark a new direction for the Assassin's Creed franchise.
Assassin's Creed Codename Red is currently in development.