The Assassin's Creed lore and the overarching storyline have become incredibly convoluted and confusing, even to the most die-hard fans of the franchise. The plot became even murkier after the conclusion of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Some of the remaining questions may get answered in Valhalla's DLCs, but there will be plenty of points to address in the upcoming game, set for release in 2022.

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Revisiting events from the past and historical tourism have always been the strongest points of the Assassin's Creed franchise, so it should come as no surprise that the majority of fan theories regarding the future of the franchise focus on where the next title will be set and how it will play into the grander scheme. However, with the introduction of the Reader and the ending of Layla's story, there is finally potential for addressing the issues that have been boggling players' minds for years.

Updated on January 21st, 2022 by Hodey Johns: As the date for the next Assassin's Creed game is foggy, the fans can only help but guess what is being worked towards. The end of Valhalla asked more questions than answers, but the conversations around the development team have been that the next game is going to completely change the format and possibly move on. But this is, of course, reckless speculation. And hey, what's wrong with that? These are harmless guesses, to be taken with not just a grain of salt, but the entire saltshaker. Three more theories have been added to this list that may generate some interest.

12 The Black Plague

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Cursed Area

This theory, while certainly the least exciting of them all, is also a very likely one. It's no secret that Ubisoft tends to reuse a lot of the textures and models from previous Assassin's Creed games to make the process of developing the next game more time and resource-efficient.

With Valhalla set in the Dark Ages, moving the historical plot to Europe ravaged by the Black Plague would be the most natural course of action. Considering how well-realized the cursed locations in Valhalla were, these areas could prove to be a solid foundation for creating a dark, plague-ridden continental Europe setting.

11 It Will Abandon The Current Storyline

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Tomb of the Fallen Artifacts

This might seem implausible, but consider this; Assassin's Creed Valhalla has a historically low completion rate, the lowest of its genre. Since less than one in five game owners even cared enough to see the main story through, it would be very easy to see the plot getting scrapped. Eivor isn't entirely to blame, Desmond's completely out-of-character and baffling decision at the end of Assassin's Creed III has never been fully addressed either.

There would be questions left unanswered but, frankly, the player base has stopped caring to see them answered after getting strung along for such a disappointing conclusion (for the handful of people who stayed awake long enough to finish). Would it be so bad if the next game just said, "That's enough of that mess, it's time to be one of the most immersive PC games like it used to be" and move on?

10 The Warring States Period

Assassin's Creed Chronicles China Promo Image

Given how popular the Assassin's Creed games set in ancient times are, the Warring States period of ancient Chinese history is one of the best settings to continue this trend. Within a period of two hundred years, the region plunged into chaos, with seven factions fighting for control over each other's swaths of land.

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Multiple theories regarding a potential Warring States plotline have sprung up online in recent months. Setting out on a journey to unify China would be a dream come true for many players, but it's also quite unlikely. First of all, it won't let the developers reuse assets from Valhalla, potentially preventing them from meeting the fall 2022 deadline. Secondly, a story of making alliances and conquering regions in a land ruled by multiple factions might just prove to be too similar to the most recent game's plot.

9 Desmond And Layla Come Back

Desmond and Rebecca in Assassin's Creed II

For those who missed it, Layla's body is dead and she's joined what audiences have assumed to be Desmond in some kind of perplexing afterlife. Layla never got to showcase her powers gained through ancestry. Desmond, likewise, only gave gamers a taste of what he was becoming.

Instead of robbing players of what they spent two different trilogies doing, the next game could finally be the big payoff. If Layla finds a way back, Desmond will too, and the moth of them could take on extremely realistic characters from history or Abstergo's higher-ups.

8 Return To The Middle East

Assassin's Creed Altair Overlooking Jerusalem

Eivor's story in Valhalla comes to its conclusion in the late ninth century, which is a mere three hundred years away from the events of the first Assassin's Creed game. Setting the game in the Middle East during the first crusade would be the perfect way for the franchise to come full circle and return to its roots.

This potential plotline could follow the First (1096-1099) or Second Crusade (1147-1150), and follow the story of how the Order of the Ancients turned into the Knights Templar order, as well as delve deeper into the role of the Assassins in the Holy Land. Perhaps it could even allow players to assume the role of Al-Mualim, Altair's mentor, leader of the Levantine Brotherhood, and the main antagonist of the first Assassin's Creed.

7 Layla Goes Rogue And Forms A Third Faction

Assassin's Creed Layla Angry Screaming

A very interesting theory began circulating on Reddit two years ago. According to its author, Layla was supposed to go insane due to Isu manipulation and create a third faction, independent of the Assassins and Templars. The theory entails that she would get tricked by the ancients to create the new organization, but the events of Valhalla contradict these claims.

RELATED: Assassin's Creed: Historical Figures The Games Nailed

However, it is still entirely possible for Layla to start a new faction. After going into the Grey with the Reader (many fans suspects that the Reader's actually Desmond Miles), they could indeed establish a separate faction that would act out Layla and the Reader's orders from the digital afterlife-like realm in the real world.

6 The Assassins Go Evil

Assassin's Creed Gathering Of Assassins In The Underground Tunnels

The gamers have prior experiences playing as the Templar but they've all been in situations where the character is an obvious villain. Haytham Kenway and Shay Cormac were merciless, devoid of relatability, and, at times, blatantly evil, no matter how much they claim their conscience struggles with it. The lore was spot on but the characters weren't trying to make any converts.

But the games have been hinting for a while that the Assassins have their own problems. Loki is their premier member and Eivor never even joined them in the previous installment. Freedom lovers may hate to side with the tyrants, but it's not too much of a stretch to suggest Ubisoft could make a case for some form of authoritarian government and expose the Assassins as a liberty-at-all-costs bunch of extremists.

5 The Final Years Of The Classic Maya Civilization

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Tulum Mayan Ruins

This is the only fan theory that allows the series to pick up right where Valhalla left off. The end of Mayan supremacy in Central America is dated at around the year 900, mere twenty-two years after the ending of the last entry in the franchise.

Ubisoft has already created an Assassin's Creed game with a Native American protagonist, but they could go even further and expose the mainstream audience to this largely ignored period in the history of the Americas. Moreover, it opens up the possibility to easily continue Valhalla's narrative, given where Eivor was buried.

4 Eivor Ending Up In Vinland

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Eivor's Grave

It is revealed very early on in Valhalla that Eivor's final resting place is in Vinland, all the way in North America. The game and its DLCs fail to present players with any hints as to why and how they ended up there. This opens up the possibility for the next title to continue Eivor's story and establish how they have come to die in present-day Massachusets.

The Vikings' expeditions to North America are a well-documented historical fact. Should Ubisoft want to follow up on Eivor's adventures, setting the next Assassin's Creed title in the Americas during the Middle Ages is the most logical solution.

3 New Templar Antagonist

Shay Assassin's Creed Rogue Shay Cormac Confronts An Assassin

Shay Cormac's adventures in Assassin's Creed Rogue have proven to be wildly popular among fans of the franchise. Not only did the game expand on the engaging gameplay of Black Flag, but it also allowed players to murder some key characters that they helped, or even played as, in previous games.

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An Assassin's Creed title with a Templar antagonist could make players feel deliciously evil. It would be hard to top Cormac murdering escaped slaves and betraying the values of peace he pretended to espouse, but there are many villainous activities that could tear down everything and force following games to build from the ground up.

2 The Edo Period In Japan

Lanterns In Feudal Japan

Around March 2021, a person claiming to be a Ubisoft insider shared some information regarding Assassin's Creed 2022 on a 4chan thread. Like most "industry rumors" that end up posted on 4chan, these "facts" need to be taken with a grain of salt. However, they do present an intriguing and feasible plot and setting for the next entry in the franchise.

According to the anonymous 4chan poster, the next game would be set in Japan during the Edo period (1603-1867), and feature a female-only protagonist named Akako Shiratori. The rumor also claims that the upcoming title would be exclusive to the new generation of consoles and PC. Interestingly, the game would expand heavily upon Valhalla's Jomsviking system, with recruiting new Assassins becoming a crucial aspect of the gameplay.

1 Looking For The Right Timeline

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Layla and The Reader

Now, this theory may seem outlandish at first, but given the wild twist at the end of Valhalla, it is more possible now than ever before. Fans have been calling for introducing time travel to the franchise for a while now, and Layla's unification with the Reader in the Grey during the final moments of Valhalla finally makes this concept feasible to implement.

Since Layla Hassan went into the Grey to look for a solution that would save the planet once and for all, it opens up the possibility for her to team up with Desmond Miles and hop around different time periods and alternative versions of events to search for a point in history that could reveal a way to prevent the upcoming disaster. It's highly unlikely since it would require the franchise to focus heavily on the modern-day storyline, but if the series was headed towards another rehaul, implementing this theory could justify it, lore-wise.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla was released on November 10th, 2020, and is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.

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