http://youtu.be/wvawTOW-FVI

The Assassin's Creed series already toys around with the idea of time-travel, thanks to the existence of the Animus: a machine that allows its users to re-live the events of their ancestors or, in the case of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, those you have the DNA of. So to see that the newest trailer for Assassin's Creed Unity reveals actual time-traveling, it's a bit of a surprise - Even more so when you consider the fact that the time-traveling is occurring while you're still running around in the Animus simulation as Arno.

Appropriately called the Time Anomaly trailer, and released by Ubisoft without any explanation or context, we're treated to a new Assassin's Creed Unity video showing the player randomly and suddenly fleeing from a collapsing French Revolution simulation, before jumping into an exit that transports him to Paris during what appears to be World War II. Even the trailer neglects to explain just what's going on, as a voice over can only tell the player to "watch out," before moving on to showing the player (still as Arno) scaling the Eiffel Tower and fighting off hostile planes with a mounted turret.

The glitching simulation and subsequent time-hopping will probably play into the present-day Assassin's Creed plotline, which you may recall includes fictional game company Abstergo Entertainment actually making Assassin's Creed games. What are the chances that the Assassins have something to do with the Animus freaking out?

It'll be interesting to see if Unity flings players to other time periods and locations, if only so Ubisoft can tease other locals. Or perhaps it's somehow tied to the leaked Rifts Challenge mode that will seemingly task players with completing specific goals using past Assassin's Creed characters like Altair and Ezio. The idea teased here though opens up incredible potential for what the game (when the game?) can explore.

http://youtu.be/42qLFPBlEYo

In other Assassin's Creed Unity news, Ubisoft released a trailer yesterday that shows off how the game will take advantage of Nvidia graphics cards to further enhance the visuals of the game. Using Nvidia Gameworks, increased performance, image smoothing, and reduced image flickering are all possible, so long as your PC can handle it. And for those who invested in the Nvidia Shield, Unity fully supports it. You can check out all the differences between original Unity and Nvidia-enhanced Unity in the trailer. They're not huge, mind-blowing changes, but if you've got a PC that can pull it off, may as well indulge.

Assassin's Creed Unity launches on November 11, 2014 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. If you feel inclined to do so, pick up the Season Pass, which gets you access to a new campaign story mission, and the standalone game Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China. And just in time for Halloween, the Phantom Blade replica is now available for $59.99, and comes with a code to download the French Cavalry Pistol in Unity.