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After months of speculation and rumors, Ubisoft finally decided to make it official and reveal their last-gen Assassin's Creed title to fans. Titled Assassin's Creed Rogue, this PS3 and 360 exclusive will put a significant twist on the franchise formula, and will see players charting the icy waters of the North Atlantic circa 1750.

Rogue also serves as a perfect counterpoint to Assassin's Creed Unity, the current-gen AC title set during the French Revolution. Here, gamers will set off on a quest for redemption that features, for the first time ever, four-player cooperative missions. But most gamers already knew all that. It's only as the month goes on that things will start to get really interesting

As part of their August cover story, Game Informer has the exclusive on both Assassin's Creed Rogue and Unity, and over the course of the month they will share more about each game's story, new gameplay features, and how they factor into the larger Assassin's Creed universe. GI wouldn't say much at this early juncture, but they did tease more details about Elise, the Templar girl featured prominently in the latest Assassin's Creed Unity CGI trailer.

As the teaser video at the top of this post explains, Unity attempts to put its own unique twist on the traditional love story by matching our Assassin hero Arno with his sworn enemy. However, Arno's relationship with the Templars runs deeper than a simple love story, but Ubisoft isn't willing to say why exactly that is just yet.

On the flip side, Assassin's Creed Rogue's "hero," Shay Patrick Cormac is a defector of the assassin brotherhood who turned on his mentor and joined the Templar order. He also apparently has ties to the Kenway lineage in some form or another but, again, Ubisoft isn't saying much.

Even though some might scoff at the idea of dusting off their PS3 or Xbox 360 for AC Rogue, it turns out the game actually offers some compelling reasons to do so. There's naval combat and exploration, a story that ties in with AC 3 and AC 4, and a unique opportunity to play as a Templar — what more could fans ask for?

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Well, there is one dangling thread that Ubisoft has yet to even mention — one that, with past iterations, used to be a staple. We speak, of course, of the series' multiplayer component, which typically features a white-knuckle cat-and-mouse game where players try to assassinate each other.

So far, Ubisoft has yet to say anything about multiplayer — aside from Unity's cooperative options — leading some to believe the mode has, itself, been assassinated. Adding further fuel to the fire is a brief mention in Game Informer's story that Rogue is a "single-player only" game.

However, we are more inclined to believe that the single-player only qualification is meant to confirm that Rogue will not feature some form of co-op gameplay like its current-gen counterpart. Multiplayer, on the other hand, is a completely different issue, and although we're inclined to believe AC Unity might have nixed the mode in service of co-op, there's no guarantee Rogue followed suit. Or maybe multiplayer is a thing of the past for AC; we may find out later this month.

What do you think of Assassin's Creed Rogue? Next-gen graphics/improvements aside, which game sounds more intriguing to you?

Assassin's Creed Unity releases October 28, 2014 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Assassin's Creed Rogue releases November 11, 2014 for PS3 and Xbox 360.

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Source: Game Informer

Follow Anthony on Twitter @ANTaormina for more Assassin's Creed updates.