Assassins Creed Unity Rob Zombie Short Film

Although the Assassin's Creed franchise has honed in on a formula that has worked over the past few games, the latest iteration, AC Unity, is taking the franchise into the next-gen in style. Developer Ubisoft has not only pushed the series into a new time period (the French Revolution) and added a new character named Arno, but they've also revamped Assassin's Creed's core gameplay pillars — those being stealth, traversal, and combat.

As part of their Comic-Con 2014 panel, Ubisoft gave attendees a closer look at the footage and trailers that were the focus of their E3 2014 presence for Assassin's Creed Unity. On top of that, they showcased a completely new CG trailer — one focused on some of the game's story elements - and unveiled a Unity tie-in short film created by Rob Zombie and Tony Moore. Granted, it wasn't an overwhelming amount of new content, but still enough to whet the average Assassin's Creed fans appetite.

Throughout the panel, Creative Director Alex Amancio danced around the Assassin's Creed Unity story, while not revealing anything too substantial. He confirmed that Arno's pocket watch, which has featured in many of the game's promotional materials, will have an important role to play, and teased a completely new artifact for the game.

For those who might not be familiar, Assassin's Creed Unity thrusts players into the center of the French Revolution. As Arno, players will try to navigate the various political factions that existed at that time, while also working to achieve the character's individual goals. Unfortunately, what exactly those are isn't entirely clear.

The new CG trailer, however, did tease a female character (potential love interest) for the game who, in the video, is mere seconds away from execution before Arno bursts onto the scene. Once he does, Arno frees the mysterious woman and the two prepare to face off with a growing contingent of French soldiers. Is this woman a member of Arno's assassin brotherhood? It's unclear, but before the trailer played Amancio stressed that this second CG trailer would give a better sense of the story, so it's safe to assume this female character will be important regardless.

In addition to the CG trailer, Ubisoft also showed off the Assassin's Creed Unity tie-in short film that was created by Rob Zombie and designed by The Walking Dead co-creator Tony Moore. The film (seen below) certainly looks the part of a Rob Zombie/Tony Moore collaboration, and adds some much-needed flavor into the Assassin's Creed Unity back-story. And in case you didn't know, the French Revolution was a brutal time for citizens living in the country.

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Although we would have liked to see the short tie in a little more directly with Unity's story, it did set an interesting counterpoint to what we have seen thus far. The moving comic book art style in particular is clever.

Overall, we left the Assassin's Creed Unity panel feeling like there was still plenty left to say about the game because Ubisoft clearly wanted to give those who didn't catch the E3 footage a chance to see the games inner workings up close and personal. But, now that we've heard and seen a little more about the story we're even more eager to know more.

What do you think of the Assassin's Creed Unity short film? How do you think the female character factors into the story?

Assassin's Creed Unity releases October 28, 2014 for PC, PS4, and Xbox 360.

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