Assassins Creed Rising Phoenix

If we didn't know any better given the leaked image revealing something called Assassin's Creed: Rising Phoenix, we'd say Ubisoft has a few leaks in their studio. Although the image spotted online seems to reveal a currently-unannounced project in the Assassin's Creed franchise, there's no further information on what it could mean.

But given the logos seen in the Rising Phoenix screenshot, we'd bet that those die-hard Assassin's Creed fans will have more than enough to go on in spinning some crazy theories. Could Desmond Miles' story not be over just yet?

The image has been discovered by Eurogamer, yet it isn't known at present if it was leaked by someone within the studio, or simply dug up online. Credited as intended for circulation within the studio only, the image is also branded with Ubisoft Digital Arts' name - the branch of the company responsible for series development in non-game areas.

To date, the studio has only been put to work in producing the live-action Assassin's Creed: Lineage short film series exploring the Auditore family leading up to Assassin's Creed 2. Since Ubisoft is still in the honeymoon period of their Assassin's Creed 4 announcement, it seems highly unlikely that Rising Phoenix is anywhere ready to be detailed.

Whatever the case, take a look at the image for yourself, and see if anything jumps out:

Given that a PlayStation Vita-exclusive dose of Creed is expected this year, along with a possible social media tie-in game, Rising Phoenix could really be anything. Even a CG short film helping to explain the new mythology behind Assassin Creed 4's modern-day hero character would be welcome, since the developers are changing up the rules of their series a bit.

What stands out quite prominently in the image is the pair of lit insignia strongly resembling the corporate logo of Abstergo Industries, the modern-day Knights Templar. In fact, the logo is that of the Erudito Collective, a group organized specifically to oppose Abstergo (we don't get how rotating a group's logo 50 degrees embodies rebellion either, but what do we know?).

With Erudito's past efforts to expose Abstergo and contact Desmond directly in mind - and the use of a 'rising pheonix' in its name - we'd bet that this project has something to do with Desmond Miles specifically. We've been asking how Desmond would fit into Assassin's Creed 4's story for a while now, so we'll have to wait and see if Erudito may provide an answer.

What are your theories on Rising Phoenix? Sound off here, but try to keep spoilers out of it.

Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag will release on October 29, 2013 for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

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Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrew_dyce.

Source: Eurogamer